What Happens When Papa Babysits...for 6 Days!

 I got to take my first ever Spring Break trip...to Palm Springs! With 2 of my favorite ladies, to see another of my favorite ladies. My great aunt lives there, so my aunt Cara, Mom, and I took a trip to visit her! It was fabulous, relaxing (I didn't have to feed anybody but me!! I didn't have to do laundry!! I slept in!!), and such a great time visiting Aunt Patty. 

Papa took vacation time and came down to babysit the kids so I could go. Is he the greatest or what!? These are the pictures he left on my computer from the 6 days I was gone...(the kids had an absolute blast, as you can see...)

 Papa can't visit without completing at least one project. For the record, I did NOT ask him to do any project except keep track of 3 very active kids and their various activities! Our playground in the backyard has wood chips. It's a mess, the kids hate it, I hate it...I've wanted to put sand in there but we've just never gotten around to it. Scott works at the sand pit a couple days a week, so he hooked us up with FREE SAND (we only had to pay a delivery charge!)!!! Anyway, Anna kept telling me that they had a surprise for me...

 It included 6 (or more?) pickup loads to the burn site... (you didn't let Isaac drive did you Dad?! ;))

...running around piles of woodchips (I think they were celebrating getting rid of them!)

 ...and a HUGE load of sand!

 Maybe a bit too much sand??

 Thanks, Scott!!

 I'm King of the mountain!!!

 Dad said to me, "You know your youngest one doesn't like fences or boundaries, right?" I just laughed.

 My tree bloomed while I was gone. Love it!

 Worn out little boy! Must have been all that sand mountain climbing!

 Of course, in order to get the sand truck close enough, Dad had to pull out part of the fence. And he moved the gate to the end for me. What a dad!

 Whoops...sideways. Looks like the kids got buried in the post hole!

 Notice Anna holding him down!

 It was hot...not in California. In Kansas!

 Papa took the kids to visit Jamie's family.

 Isaac loved the basketball goal at Hudson's house!

 Papa said Anna was such a big help. I could tell she was a little mama while I was gone...she had a hard time coming out of "Mommy mode" when I got home! :)

 After a few days of hot weather, it rained. And rained. And rained.

 Dad texted me this picture and said something about how she was too little to be going into that great big school (she's clear up by the door)! (She had art)

 They found the molding clay...

 He texted me this picture and asked if this was normal. I didn't tell him sometimes I hope this happens when we're running around!

 Isaac has always liked to pull hair. Anna still isn't used to it--Jacob has always gently twirled her hair.

 This picture just makes me laugh!!

 Looks like they made a pillow landing pad...

 He also replaced my kitchen faucet because it was leaking. How he gets any work done is beyond me with kids climbing all over him. But he does, and it doesn't bother him a bit!

 Yep, a pillow landing pad. 

 Dad said "Door open. Boy in." Yep, that about sums it up!

Clay creations!

I can't say thank you enough to Papa for doing this (all the projects, too!) so I could take this much-needed break. And to Aaron for letting me go. It was a wonderful trip. Soon I'll post all about it...with pictures :)

An Early Christmas Present

 I've wanted to replace the kitchen sink since we moved in. It was a nice porcelain sink, but it was a "prep" sink, which means one side was very shallow. The shallow side was also the the side the garbage disposal was on...which was a mess! So, I found a great black, quartz granite sink at Menards. Aaron measured the sink and I picked up the perfectly-sized sink. I texted Dad before I bought it and asked if he was okay with helping Aaron put it in when he came down the day before Thanksgiving. I accidentally left out the word "sink" in my text so he thought I meant a kitchen FLOOR and he still AGREED!!! Crazy man. (Don't ask about how his kitchen floor redo went!!) I think he was a bit relieved when he found out it was a sink and not a floor! But by the time it was over, maybe he wasn't...

No project ever goes as planned. Ever. Seriously, a kitchen sink replacement should be so easy! It was a mess and took way too long. The lady at Menards told me the holes were pre-drilled and all you had to do was "tap" them out. No drilling! So Thursday morning, Dad and Aaron unpack the sink, take the old one out (and carry it outside-HEAVY!). Dad starts "tapping out" the holes. It's not nearly as easy as it should have been. He gets one out and the next one...CRACK...the whole top corner of the sink breaks off! Did I mention I bought the sink at Menards? And the closest store is an hour away? And it's Thanksgiving Day?! And I'm hosting a big meal for 16 people that evening???!!! Oh man. So in goes the old sink (carried back inside). Nothing else can be done! They thought about going Friday early morning to Wichita, but when the girls reminded them it was Black Friday they decided to wait!

So we have the big meal that night and the next day we head out west for Thanksgiving. We get home on Sunday evening with plans for Dad to go to Wichita first thing Monday morning and get another sink. We had planned on going to Iowa on Monday mid-morning, but like I said...no project ever goes as planned!

Anna decided to go with Papa to get the new sink. This didn't go as planned either...of course! First of all, I forgot to tell Dad there is a Menards on the west side of town (would have saved him at least an hour!). He gets to the store and they're all out of the sink!!!!! I couldn't believe it. The guy at the store said the west store's computer showed they had one left. So off they go. Anna, by the way, is not happy that it's taking so long. And when Papa told her they had to go to Maize to get the sink, she told me "and now we have to go through a maze to get it!!" Ha!!! They get to the next store and they're sold out!! That's when he finds out that the reason it shows there is one left is because the inventory system counts the display. Dad convinced them to sell him the display and they finally made it home. He also asked the guy at the 2nd store about just tapping the holes out. He laughed and said no, you need to drill them out. Luckily Dad brought his hole drill (what's it called??). So he starts drilling out the holes and it's not doing anything. He tries for over an hour...nothing. He went to the lumber yard to see if they have a Diamond bit. They don't and don't know where else he could find one. There's one in Hutch for almost $50 (plus the time it would take to go there and back!). The guy at the lumber yard did know a guy in town that would have one, but he wasn't home. Dad left him a message and waited for him to call back. By supper time he called back and said he had a bit Dad could borrow. This is why I love small towns! The guy had no idea who we were, we'd never met him, but he was willing to let us borrow a tool! And what do you know, those holes drilled out in seconds! So now we're home free, right? WRONG!

!

 They go to set the sink in and it doesn't fit perfectly (have I mentioned Dad is a perfectionist? I'm glad). There's a small lip on the underside of the sink so ONE CORNER of the sink doesn't sit flush on the counter. We're talking less than 1/4". But Dad didn't like that. Another glitch! Plus Aaron doesn't have the right kind of saw and he can't find anyone that does! The only thing he's got is a circular saw! Talk about dusty!!! So we put up sheets to try and contain the dust. Can you see Dad under the sheets?

It kept it better contained, but it was still dirty!

 Oh Papa! When will you learn to quit doing projects for my mama??!! Hahaha!

Got it cut! Ready to drop in.

Ta-da! (sorry--it's a cell phone picture) I love, love, love it! We didn't even have to get new faucets. And it only took 6 days!! Thanks, Dad!!!

Nothing Better...

...than a trip to the hardward store with Papa!

You know he spotted these John Deere mowers from 50 yards away!

Helping Papa load up the trim.

He had to try out every. single. mower. Only the John Deere ones, of course.

Naptime with Papa

-- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Dad's Surprise

I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post that Dad surprised me and remodeled our bathroom. Aaron & I had talked about doing it before Isaac was born but things came up (like Aaron getting seriously sick on his last recruiting trip and making 2 trips to the hospital!) and we weren't going to be able to swing it yet. We figured to just take the door to our bedroom out and then next year at some point do the rest. The day after Isaac was born (I think), Dad had to "go to the farm" to take care of something that came up. Mom said "something about the land". I didn't think anything of it, other than thinking it was bad timing for Dad to miss out on the new babies' first couple days. There were a couple things that should've tipped me off, but I didn't have a clue. The first being when Mom said "Dad says it's snowing in Sterling...and at the farm." I just figured she meant he'd seen the weather and the storm was over Sterling. The second being when Kim called to ask about dropping off a gift for Anna and Jacob before we got home. She texted and asked if my Dad was at our house. I told her he could be-he'd been at the farm but was planning on being back in Sterling when we got home. Then she called when she got here and said "I think your dad is here...there's a pair of feet sticking out from the bathroom sink!" I didn't really think twice about why he would've been under the sink. DUH! The crazy man didn't sleep for two days so he could get it finished before we came home from the hospital!!! I love it and can't wait for it to be completely finished. THANK YOU DADDY!!! (and Mom for picking out the sink & faucet...perfect! and Aaron for keeping the secret!)

I LOVE the sink. It's nice & deep (actually perfect for Isaac's baths right now!), has a much bigger surface than my old one, and I really like the material and color. The faucet is awesome-it moves so I can swing it out of the way when I'm giving Isaac a bath! Mom said she debated getting one like that with kids, but figured they didn't have to be shown that it could move! :)

The vanity was one that Aaron got when he worked at the wood supply company-for whatever reason it was going to be thrown away! So it's been sitting in our shed for a couple of years. We're going to have a friend build a floor-to-ceiling cabinet next to the vanity for extra storage (and a hamper in the bottom!). We kept the same mirror and light fixture since they match the new vanity. Dad also moved the toilet over (not an easy task when you have to crawl under the house!!).

I think my favorite part is the tile!!! It's heated! We'll also paint the walls...I'm thinking a sage green (or along those lines).

Papa's here!

I think I've heard "Papa play with me!" about a hundred times this afternoon. Papa is on his way from the farm to Jamie's & the kids are taking full advantage of the time he's here!
Sent from Jennifer's BlackBerry

Making Memories and Working Hard

There was work to be done! Aaron helped Dad move the electricity and water off the church since it's the same line that feeds Grandpa & Grandma's house. Did I say in the last post that the church is being burned down? It really needs to be done...it's in super bad shape and is just falling in on itself. Anyway, we went to the farm so Aaron could help Dad. Now usually, Aaron says that means he stands there and watches my Dad work. :) But this time, Aaron could actually do something Dad couldn't! This.....

I don't remember why they had to dig like this, but they did. And the farther back they got, the smaller it got. Dad is claustrophobic (thanks for passing that one along, by the way!). And seriously? Even if you weren't? That would be HARD to do. What the picture doesn't show is that his head is lower than the rest of his body and the hole beyond what you can see is narrower than his shoulders. He had to reach up and grab the top of the well-house to pull himself up, hand me an old ice cream bucket to dump and then go back down to dig some more (with the end of an old garden trowel!). He got it done!

Making memories :) This could so very easily be me and Grandma 25 years ago. Very few things have changed (and Anna looks a lot like her Mama)!

Binga found Jacob some great books at a garage sale that she sent with Papa. Jacob LOVES them! They are now his very favorite (Tonka books!).

Papa took the kids out to explore Sunday afternoon.