My Husband the Carpenter

One of the things I love most (there are many) about my husband, is his ability to build stuff. Like with his bare hands from a pile of wood, no bought plans, just drawn up out of his imagination kind of build. I explain roughly what I want and he will make it happen. This winter we quickly realized that four small hooks on the wall would not hold all of the jackets, scarves, purses and diaper bags for a family of six, so I decided we needed another coat rack of sorts. Of course I was fine just going to Wal-Mart and buying something simple, but my husband, the carpenter, immediately began to brainstorm ideas of something he could build for me. Now, usually I would roll my eyes and say "ok honey... when you can find the time between a military work schedule, four kids, a wife, and normal maintenance around the house, get started on that for me..." But I really wanted this piece of furniture he was describing to me, so I told him to go for it. It took him a few days of being outside in the shed, but it was well worth it. He built me a beautiful, sturdy piece of furniture that I am so proud to show off. And not only does it compete with stuff I've seen in Pottery Barn catalogs, it cost us a fraction of the price :)

I of course stalked him with my camera as he worked because I knew this was something I wanted to blog about. I plan on somehow turning this little old blog into a book for my family some day and I want my kids to remember how talented and resourceful their daddy is. So here are the pictures from beginning to end.

Brainstorming food

Playlist for the project
(yes, we are from the south and love
bluegrass. Here is a sample of  some
Old Crow Medicine Show) 

Pile of wood before he got started 

Ready for me to put the camera down
(He secretly loves it when I watch him work) 

Finishing touches

Working into the night

Before it was painted

Isn't it beautiful?

Needless to say, I am such a proud wife. I love all that my husband does for our family and just wanted to take the time to brag on him a little.

*Funny side story... I was listening to Old Crow while writing this blog and Sophia came running in and said "Hey! Is that a farm song??" lol, that's my girl :)

Valentine's Day 2012

Valentine's Day was a little different this year.... normally Derek would take all of us to IHOP (it's what we did with my dad on Valentine's Day and has become tradition in this house). Then we would put the kinds to bed early and he would cook me an awesome dinner (he's an AMAZING cook!) But this year, Derek is underway... so we decided to have a party! We invited a few Navy wives over (two of them have husband's gone this year also) and have a little party for the kids and hang out. No one wants to spend Love Day alone, so why not? We spent most of the weekend making decorations.

we hung paper hearts everywhere!

these came in the mail from aunt lori (along with a TON of others from family)
photo by Karyl

photo by Stephanie

We started our morning with some yummy blueberry muffins (heart shaped of course)

eli absolutely LOVES blueberry muffins!!

Then around 11 our friends arrived and the girls were EXSTATIC! It was finally time to dig into those yummy cupcakes they'd been staring at all morning. We had a really great time! Ate lunch, did a craft, and the grown ups drank coffee and hung out... it surely didn't replace having my sweetheart here for Valentine's Day, but I think it was second best :)

I was really busy with stuff during our little party so I only snapped a few pictures... but, one of the great things about all four of my friends who were here is that they too are photographers! So we got some great shots between us, well three of us... Jessica is pregnant so we let her off the hook for not having her camera ;)
Anyway, here are the photos with credit to Stephanie Riley and Karyl Williams. You can also view their Flickr pages here (stephanie) and here (karyl) to see more of their photos :)

Having lunch 

it's been so fun to watch these three growing up together

is this not the most adorable thing you've ever seen??
photo by Karyl

cupcakes!!!!
photo by Karyl

they decorated their own cupcake
photo by Karyl

photo by Karyl

photo by Karyl

photo by Karyl

this is mary ellen (karyl's daughter)
photo by Karyl

yum

eli's very first cupcake... needless to say, he enjoyed it 

i got the idea from pinterest to freeze milk and add food coloring. as the ice melts it turns the milk pink.
photo by karyl

here is the craft they worked on 

me with my 4 little valentine's :)
photo by stephanie

stephanie stayed for dinner and when we opened
the frozen peas, they were in the shape of a heart!
photo by Stephanie

I hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's Day!!!!