Christmas Day

Here are a trio of video we took on Christmas day. In the first, Sean and Carter each are opening the presents they had specifically asked Santa for. In the second, Sean is taking his first ride on his brand-new, training-wheel-free bike. And in the third, he's practicing his first skateboard trick.


Playdate

Carter had a playdate with her best friend Olivia a few weeks ago, and I just now remembered that we had pictures. Enjoy!

Couple of Bowls

Here a couple of bowls I've made recently. The one on the left is from a chunk of spalted hickory, and it now sits atop our entertainment center in the living room. The one on the right is from a tree that fell across the path I cut in our back yard - which was actually the tree that got me interested in buying a lathe in the first place. I made it for Andi for her birthday.

Plate and Bowl

On the far left is a plate I made on the lathe out of a piece of spalted hickory I cut up two summers ago. And all the way to the right is a small bowl from some of the wood from the apple tree I helped a friend cut down in early November. In the middle is a small vessel made from hickory burl that I'm pretty sure I've posted here before.

Step Stool

To help Lori reach Carter in her new bed in order to tuck her in, I took a couple of hours one weekend and built this little step stool for Carter's room. I built it out of some of the red oak lumber I milled with my chainsaw last year from a tree that fell in our woods. So this stool went from tree to useable object all without leaving our yard! I really love the ray fleck in that oak. That's one benefit of sawing it yourself - you get to choose how you cut it. In this case, I chose to cut a few pieces quartersawn to expose the rays.

Raise the Roof!

Over the holiday break, I managed to get Carter's loft bed finished and set up in her room. It worked out great! It's high, but she can still sit up just fine. And her room is so tiny, that it made a huge impact in her available space. I think we almost doubled her play area by getting her bed up off of the floor. Both kids were most impressed with the fact that they could touch the ceiling now, without my having to lift them up. Sean's bed is about halfway done, and I should get it finished within the next couple of weeks. The beds are both built with just framing lumber, so they only cost me about $50-75 per bed in materials. They're finished with a whitewash finish, with two coats of polyurethane over the top. That whitewash finish should help hide the wear and tear on the bed much better, and is really easy to touch up.

Watercolors

When Ryan was sleeping over, Lori got the kids all to sit down for some painting with watercolors. I love their watercolor paintings now - they actually look like something. When they were younger, they would just mix all of the colors together and make a big brown muddy mess on a paper, which I had to pretend was beautiful. :) Now, I can actually tell what they meant to paint, and I don't have to pretend anymore.

Four in a Row

Ryan was stayed over our place on Saturday night for a sleepover, and at some point the three kids and I were all playing Super Smash Bros Brawl on the Wii. Lori caught this picture from behind of all of us lined up across the floor, sitting far too close to the TV.