For the last several years I’ve had a dream. A dream of trading in our pool (which was so awesome as a young married couple but not so much with small kids) for a nice yard with grass and an awesome play structure. My dream was for a place where I could usher my kids to safely and happily play while I did laundry/cleaned the kitchen/cooked dinner etc.
***Sidenote crazy how your dreams change with parenthood huh? I mean dreaming of something that enabled me to clean!?! Or course this shift in paradigm was brought into major focus for me a few years ago when my greatest desire was for a power blender. Or when wearing jeans that had literally been peed on (by an infant of course, and just a little bit, and I had wiped it off) became not a huge deal. I mean really, when I’ve just gotten 3 boys and myself ready and there’s no time to spare am I really going to take the time to change pants for a few drops of pee? Cut a sister some slack! Ugh, cool 23 year old me would just cringe.***
Back to the dream. . .we left Dallas Friday to drive back to Austin for a fun weekend with Nanny and Paw Paw. This was their first time seeing our new house so we were excited to show them where we live. The drive took FOREVER-I mean like HOURS longer than it should have. There were three major wrecks on 35. Luckily, the boys and I had a great drive and nobody fretted about the time. We all thanked God that we weren’t a part of any of the accidents and prayed for the safety of those that were involved.
When we arrived Paw Paw and Jay were already working. Paw Paw had completely built this swing set in his shop and disassembled it to bring to us. All we had done back in November was show him a picture of what the boys wanted and he just ran with it. . .in a pretty amazing way.
Nuts, bolts, odds and ends.
Phase 1 of operation swing set.
It was so cool to watch it go together.
And I liked looking down from Lincoln’s window.
Jackson and Baron “helped” quite a bit. I can definitely feel your pain on a job taking about 3 times longer than it should when these sweet boys “help!”
Paw Paw’s organization of all of the random pieces was pretty impressive.
These poor guys work sun up to sun down.
Jackson was so proud anytime he got to help.
This sucker is big!
Jack’s first time on the tire swing.
Bear playing with Penny.
At one point the kids were going crazy with the “helping” and Jay asked if maybe I could take them some where. As luck would have it our neighbors had their boat out so the kids had a ball playing it in.
I just love that at any given moment there are a TON of friends out in the street-both for Jay and me, and for the kids!
I decided to take Lincoln’s 9 month pictures. Just in case you were wondering-for every picture like this:
I get 20 like this. . .
And even more like this. . .
You really should click on this to enlarge and see the super awesome expression on Lincoln’s face. Thank God for digital photography. Now if only I knew how to edit or use photoshop.
Bear and Paw Paw working on the ladder.
Looking at this picture reminds me that. . .
this picture seems like just yesterday. Yet, it was actually Thanksgiving of 2010. I guess time flies when you are having babies.
And I digress. . .now back to the amazing play structure.
Papa and Nana were super awesome and bought the swings/bouy ball/trapeze/tire swing etc. for the swing set for Christmas. I know it wasn’t fun for them to give back in December when they were put in the garage but trust me-the boys know where they came from and are definitely enjoying them!
The super awesome roof that Nanny painted.
Nanny was the foreman for the big project. She made sure that everything ran smoothly. Additionally, she did a super awesome job of cleaning out a portion of our garage while she was here-very cool. I so wish I had her organization skills!
Sweetness.
One of the very few breaks the guys took.
Almost done!
Nanny testing out the swings.
Love these sweet grandparents!
I took these pictures because I was just so impressed. I’m definitely not construction oriented. . .at all. It stresses me out trying to build anything (ie lego buildings)without complete directions. Paw Paw took the picture that I showed him (mind you there were no plans/blue prints/etc. and he completely drew up plans, figured out measurements and made it happen. Not only did he spend countless (seriously-I can’t count them) hours designing, planning, shopping for materials and constructing this thing but also made it with quality superior to that that which we could buy. I mean he thought of everything. Pretty freaking amazing labor of love.
See kids, math is important!
And the catalog that started it all. After looking at the price tag on these suckers I knew that I was dreaming.
The view from Lincoln’s bedroom window.
I’m pretty sure that the kids starting playing before Nanny and Paw Paw even pulled out of the drive way Sunday night.
The next morning it was like the skies opened up and the angels started singing as the boys wanted to be in the backyard swinging at 7:08a.m., seriously! Cooking breakfast was so peaceful that I started to think actual thoughts. (Sleep deprived mammas with 3 boys 5 and under that don’t attend preschool-I know you’ve got my back on this one!)
Thoughts like:
*maybe I should learn to sew. Yep, I’m gonna start making all of our clothes!
*I’m definitely getting a laminator. I’m gong to have so much free time that I’ll just laminate everything. You know when you see a mom laminating stuff that she’s got it together. I’ll laminate chore charts and daily schedules and. . .
*I need to hop on amazon and buy a dehydrator. I’ll make so many delicious snacks for the boys that pretty soon I’ll start selling them at the farmers market. And then I’ll get all “Baby Boom” (great movie if you’ve never seen it) and stuff and the possibilities will be endless!
It’s true-I went a little crazy. It was my first few minutes of peace in decades. . .or months but dang it, it feels like decades sometimes.
The finished product. A huge, enormous, insanely big thank you to Paw Paw and Nanny. I think you both know that this was not just a gift for the boys but for Jay and me as well. This monster will provide an insane number of hours of fun, imaginative and creative play.
I had a dream. . .and it came true.
Thanks Paw Paw!
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