Blue Sloth

Coliseum

The Coliseum is complete. Kelly's lions grace the entrance. And the waves are almost upon us. Perfect timing.

Sloths Sculpting

Kids Arrive

Summer Sandcastle Contest VI

The kids arrive on the beach after their trip to Brookgreen Gardens with their Nana. I have helpers! And Nana has brought a cooler of drinks. There's nothing better than to sit on the beach after digging giant piles of sand all day long with a carving tool in one hand a a cold drink in the other, slowly whittling away the sand as the waves creep closer and closer behind you.

Kelly and Isabel set to building the monumental sculptures that would adorn the entranceway to the Coliseum. Yes, Alice got it right. I continued to carve out my archways, and Alex built some long lines of tanks and roads to be destroyed as quickly as they were constructed - and then he headed off into the surf.

You will now get to see the completion of the sculpture, and it's inevitable demise at the hands of the ocean.

Summer Sandcastle Contest: Day III

Sorry for the delay. Up 'till one this morning working on the angel before I couldn't think straight. Came inside and realized I hadn't eaten all day. Foraged for shrimp and potato salad. Collapsed. Couldn't sleep. Woke up at 4:14, tossed and turned. Gave up at 6:00. Back at work by 8:00. Isabel who had breakfast at 6:00 was carried outside by her big sister just as I was starting my first welds. "Daddy, daddy?" Woeful expression on my barefoot daughter's face. Her big sister has carried her outside. "Daddy? Isabel hasn't had breakfast yet." I shut down my torch, flip up my goggles, turn off my iPod, remove my noise cancellation headphones, set down my torch, filler rod, and steel. "What?" Kelly repeats, "Isabel hasn't had breakfast yet." She looks concerned. Let's not forget Kelly has just fixed her own breakfast with no problem not ten minutes prior, after oversleeping and missing her early-morning swim practice. "Yes she has. She had oatmeal and made Play Doh animals two hours ago." Kelly looks at me blankly. "Oh." I frown at my daughter. "Did you have breakfast today?" She looks at me innocently: "Yes." I smile back as I slide my goggles back down. "Good, Kelly she's fine. She had breakfast. Everyone brush your teeth, wash your hands, put on your shoes and come outside. It's beautiful out, we're going to have a great day." Of course I was wiped by 10:00 and started burning myself by 11:00. Since the burns are turning into scars that I will have for the rest of my life, rather than wounds that heal (think branding yourself with steel heated with a 2000 degree torch) I decided it was time to knock off for the afternoon. I have to drink water constantly with the heat. And add in my pot of coffee and I felt like I couldn't stop peeing. Sweat just pours off me. So hot outside. Came in, took my first shower since Monday and felt like a new man as I put on a real shirt (with collar! clean!) and took everyone for the fine dining experience of Bojangles. Ridiculously over-battered fried chicken never tasted so good. I won't even tell you what size family pack it takes to feed three beasties, one sloth and a mola these days. Alex has been begging for Boom Blox for Kelly's new Wii (birthday present) and we scanned the reviews before looking for a used copy after lunch (universally loved by critics). Got it home and it's safe to say it's one of the best games I've ever played. It's as close to virtual reality holodeck as you're going to get in the next five years. You can grab, push, yank and throw blocks. You can heave baseballs and bowling balls at blocks. You can create your own levels and designs. It is intensely fun for a family with school-aged children. It is even more fun if you can get the kids to give you a chance to play. Just amazing. Some of the multiplayers levels are like the world's greatest Jenga games (without having to rebuild the blocks afterward) where you try to remove blocks without toppling. Others are like the greatest games of "knock down the tower" with cows and penguins and pandas dancing and cheering you on (the soundtrack is addictive too - maybe I just need to get out more). Anyway, we played that until I looked at the kids around 8:00 and said innocently enough, "Are you guys going to want dinner or have you had enough to eat today?" Off to store. Back, Kelly cooked the burgers, I think I had everyone in bed by 9:45. Hey it's Summer. Wife creature came home about ten minutes after everyone had fallen asleep. Perfect timing. I cooked my steak, sat down to eat and realized I hadn't posted. Here I am. Steak is cold. I have movie to watch. I might make it through the previews before I fall asleep.

Bocce Racetrack

On a rainy day, I decided to try something new with the kids on the beach. I built a small tower of sand atop a sand berm and began slowly building a racetrack for the heavy bocce balls. It took trial and error to roll them a short distance and slowly pound out a hardened path for them to roll on.

The kids loved it and we built three side-by-side racetracks, with banked curves and long straight-aways. We continued to mark our "new record" rolls as they progressed further and further down the beach.

Arch Castle

The carving on the castle towers continue apace, and the finishing touches are applied as high tide draws near. The waves fill the moat at first, and the kids scramble to find a seashell that represents them and place it carefully somewhere on a tower. We then await the inevitable surge of water that will topple our all-day creation, marveling at the power of the ocean.

The shells become our avatars and there is some excitement about whose shell will survive the longest. Oohs and ahhs are heard as big waves splash over the battlements and sometimes re-arrange the locations of our avatars. There is usually some replacement of the shells as we speculate about rescue teams throwing ropes down cliff faces and lifting us back from partially collapsed buildings.

The seashells are rescued for good as the last of the towers fall and we stand side by side in the fading sunlight watching our million ordered grains of sand slip back into the waves.

Sculpting the Towers

Construction is completed and sculpting begins.

Building a Summer Sandcastle

I am building a sandcastle with my kids. The basic design has been laid out and a central mound has been created by throwing sand from the moat excavation into the center. Four bridges have been built with two towers guarding each entrance. There will be a central spire, in the form of a monumental arch, four smaller surrounding towers, and eight guard towers outside the four bridges. The twin towers which will make up the legs of the arch have begun to rise.

Kelly is involved in all facets of the design and building now, helping me conceptualize and even helping me dig (we bring four real shovels to the beach now). Isabel and Alex dabble all afternoon until we get to the carving process when they get very interested. The carving of the towers is the most fun, and all three beasties are getting good at it.

However, there are long stretches where everyone is surfing on their boogie boards, or eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches under the umbrella, watching dad work. It's hard to get good help these days . . .

Beach Beasties

Isabel in the Sand

Building sand castles with my kids is one of the nicest parts of being alive.

Sloth Recipe

Ingredients:

One medium-large sloth
Two bottles Aberdeen Cabernet
Three pounds of shrimp, fresh off morning shrimp boat
One pound lump crab meat
Half pound of butter
Dozen ears of corn from roadside market
One stretch of sandy white beach, three miles from inlet to inlet
One ocean, tide rising
One ocean breeze, 15 knots
One clear blue sky, no thunderstorms in sight
Four steel shovels, three buckets, two beach chairs, four towels, and two dozen assorted beach toys
One mini cooler full of soft drinks
Second mini cooler full of sloth drinks
Third mini cooler full of shrimp salad sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, and chips

Add:

Three exuberant beasties
Three boogie boards
One sloth willing to dig endless holes in sand
Good waves for surfing
One bottle of continuous spray suntan lotion

Directions:

Coat beasties with suntan lotion
Carry all ingredients save for shrimp and crab meat to beach
Dig hole for umbrella and arrange chairs, toys and beach towels for beasties
Dig holes for all beasties and four giant mounds of sand for sand castles
Alternate between surfing with boogie boards and building castles for six hours
Feed beasties and sloth as time allows
Mix with sunshine
Complete castles as high tide breaches the moats and begins to tear down ramparts
Watch the carnage (consumption of sloth drinks optional, but recommended)
Begin to marinate sloth in red wine
Move beasties to pool and throw five hundred underwater torpedoes for them to recover
Feed sloth shrimp dip and crackers
Continue marinating sloth
Bathe beasties, put them in pajamas and start boiling shrimp and corn
Prepare drawn butter for crab meat
Mix salad and slice sourdough bread
Prepare horseradish sauce for shrimp
Pour wine, seat beasties and season sloth to taste

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Kelly

Nine years ago my life took a giant leap forward and everything changed, all of it for the better. I'm so proud and happy and thrilled and blessed to have Kelly in my life. Happy Birthday little one.

Burning

I burned the ever living crap out of myself today. Daily burns are part and parcel for oxy-acetylene welding. Burn too hot and the metal melts away from the desired weld. Too cold and the steel jumps to the welding tips, quickly boils, and pops - spreading red hot fragments like fireworks. My shirts - when I wear them - all have scorch marks, like dozens of tiny moths have attacked them.

I have singe marks all over my chest, arms and legs. Occasionally a filler rod spins from my fingers and really gets me good. That's like getting branded: the skin is instantly cauterized. Hurts like hell but heals pretty quickly. Without force behind it, the "brand" gets renewed within a few years as the skin regenerates.

Considering the amount of pain I'm in, and how dizzy I feel on a normal basis, I suppose the increase in burns is to be expected. I'd love to be able to report to you that my Mola mola is no longer an issue, that my feelings of pain and nausea have regressed, that my energy level has returned to normal, but I cannot. If anything I'm feeling worse than ever before.

Let me assure you that this is a physical state of being, not a mental or emotional one. I am embracing my world, my children, and my life in ways that make me both proud, happy, and excited each day. I can't stop coming up with ways to challenge, nurture and enjoy my children. They are happy in ways that defy expectation. I am sometimes struck by just how well some part of my subconscious brain is directing my arms and hands to create what I imagine in my mind. I'm pleased with my work, I'm thrilled with the opportunity afforded me, and I am determined to blow away my clients with the final work.

Perhaps the number of burns reflects the amount of work I'm putting into this creation. I have one or two kids with me at all times. Today Alex was sick for the first part of the day and stayed home, Isabel is done with school and I set the two of them up with Legos on a table in the shade away from the sculpture, where they could work, still talk to me and I could still weld.

There is a certain amount of "Daddy . . ." that comes out of any young child. Help me with this, look over there I see a bird, what are you doing, etc. The amount of time between one "Daddy . . ." and the next is somewhere between five seconds and twenty.

This makes serious artistic pursuit difficult. Not impossible. Just difficult. Burns ensue.

I am doing my best.

My children get my best. My neglect tends to manifest in serious burns to my body.

Such is life.

Childhood Revisited

Isabel is out of school! One down, two to go and then Summer begins in earnest. I collected Isabel from her little class party and watched as she received the "Best Artist" award, following in the footsteps of both Kelly and Alex who both received the same distinction from the same preschool. She was so excited to tell me, "School all done!" and then remind me that, "Tonight we see Indy-Jones!"

I have worked really hard outside the studio today, cutting steel and bending hundreds of new pieces, so that I'd be ready to go as soon as the big kids came home. They're back now and I need to shave, shower and get ready for the premiere.

I've been trying not to get too excited, or too detached, but now that the day has arrived I find that I am quite interested in seeing what Steven, George and Harrison have concocted after 20 years. Can they recapture the magic? I miss Harrison Ford from the Blade Runner, Mosquito Coast, Witness days. I miss him sitting in a bar in Raiders when he thinks he's lost Marion and his nemesis comes in to gloat and he stands up ready to end it right there . . . only to be saved by a gaggle of children. I miss him world weary, ready to rest for the first time in a long time, only to be wounded more by Marion's affectionate attention.

I was Kelly's age when the first film came out. Perhaps I can revisit my childhood tonight.

Sloth Notes

Important safety note: if you are standing on temporary scaffolding with your goggles on, iPod cranked up loud and one hand holding the next steel piece in place, do not scratch your bare leg with the welding torch no matter how badly it itches, especially when the torch is currently spewing flame.

Alex is a few weeks away from a perfect school year of straight A's. So is Kelly. Isabel draws very nice cats. If they were graded, I would give them A's too.

My outdoor soccer team won the Championship.

My left foot is nearly healed. My right foot now has a very similar injury and hurts like hell. Overcompensation i guess. I am playing very good soccer right now, despite the pain.

The angel's location in Davidson should be completed in two weeks. I am to meet with the landscape artist to make sure we're on the same page.

Isabel gets out of school a week from tomorrow. Summer is right around the corner.

Kelly's team won their game tonight which makes five wins in a row. Kelly was 3-4 and made three nice plays at second base. The infield is really playing well together right now. The third baseman and shortstop trust Kelly and fire the ball to second for force outs. Our catcher even pulled off his mask and caught a foul ball tonight. Pretty amazing for an eight-year-old.

I repaired my riding lawn mower yesterday. The drive belt snapped, the fuel line was leaking, and the blades needed repair. I tracked down the spare parts and then Isabel and I fixed everything. Running great again. Grass looks really good.

I pitched to Isabel, Alex and Kelly at the park today. All three of them were whacking the ball. Then I let Kelly pitch to me with the machine and I hit with her little bat. I put Alex and Isabel behind me and took a couple of real swings. Third pitch I put over the two tennis courts, over the ten foot brick wall into someone's backyard in the patio homes.

Kelly watched the ball sail over the courts, waited for it to land, turned back and looked at me with an eye rolling, "Dad-deeeee."

"What?"

She shook her head. "Now you have to go get it."

Coaching Kelly

Baseball was fun last night. The Cardinals won the game in the bottom of the fifth and Kelly drove in her second run of the night with a single to seal things. She was 2-3 and had one ground ball hit to her at second base. She has earned the role of starting second baseman and she is very proud to jog out to her position at the start of each inning. We have practice Friday night, and a game Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.

Let's Talk Baseball

Kelly and I are walking to our baseball game on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. I'm carrying her equipment bag over one shoulder and she has her mitt tucked up under one arm. She looks like she's been playing ball all her life; she walks with that jaunty air of relaxed confidence. We're both silent, content to soak up the sound of the birds, the trees, the exuberant shouts of children ahead.

She's wearing the St. Louis Cardinals colors: red hat, red shirt, white pants, red socks, black cleats. I have a matching red hat on, and my coach's shirt. I could walk by her side forever - in these quiet moments I can place my fingertips lightly on her shoulder for an instant and tell her that I love her without a word.

We crest the hill overlooking the park and see three diamonds spread out beneath us. Spectators are sprawled out on the hillside, watching a softball game. It's Kelly's age group, and I can sense her interest.

"Do you want to watch for a minute?"

She nods.

Some girls from our street wave to Kelly from the bleachers, but her eyes are studying the game. The girls are wearing shorts, and long socks pulled up to their knees. A coach is pitching very carefully to one of the girls.

"They're pitching underhand," Kelly says with undisguised surprise.

"Yep, it's softball."

"And the ball is huge."

"And yellow," I note as the batter hits a dribbler down the third base line.

"It's so slow."

Some boys from the next field are beckoning. Kelly's name is hollered. "C'mon Kelly."

We resume walking toward her teammates and she looks up at me, "I'm glad I'm playing baseball."

"Little different hitting 40 mph pitches, huh?"

"Yeah, I think I would be bored in softball."

"Well I'm very proud of you for playing baseball."

She grins and runs ahead to greet her team.

And proud of her I am. She's not only bonding with her teammates and making friends, being a good sport, showing enthusiasm and spirit - all things I fully expected her to thrive at - but she's also becoming a solid player.

I have become the de facto hitting coach, and all the players are showing improvement at the plate. I have gotten so good with the pitching machine that I can put each pitch exactly where I want it, and I tailor the pitches to each hitter's preferences.

Kelly is an excellent contact hitter and I've been working with her to develop power, so that she can start driving the ball.

In her first two games she was 1 for 3 and hitting ground balls to the first baseman. We adjusted her swing and stance, and I pitched her hundreds and hundreds of balls.

In her last three games she is 8 for 11 with a triple and three doubles. She has been ripping the ball up the middle.

I lobbied the head coach to move her up in the lineup along with several of the boys who have really been showing improvement and after looking at the stats, he agreed.

Last night Kelly came up with two outs in the third inning and two runners on. She took the count all the way to the seventh pitch and then drove the ball into left field for a double, scoring both runners.

In the sixth inning, with the game on the line she came up again with two outs and two runners on. She fouled off pitch after pitch and I kept trying to deliver them right into her wheel house. Finally on the tenth pitch, she hit a ground ball up the middle for her third hit of the night, scoring both runners.

The smile on her face was priceless.

Ready to Soar

Jedi Starfighter: Update 12

Building

Jedi Starfighter: Update 9

April 14, 2007

After two great soccer games and a delicious (if hastily devoured) breakfast at the Soda Shop, we bid Mama Sloth farewell and sent her on her grown-up adventure and set to working on our project in the backyard.

There's lots of measuring and cutting and hammering at this stage. In order to give the ship clean lines, I decided to create a visual border around the outside of the wings - think of using a black magic marker to outline a pen and ink drawing. It should give it a bold look.

However this has necessitated another set of structural spars, since the end of the planks which would have been secured at each end will now end six inches shorter than originally planned. Those boards need a place to be secured.

This also means that there is not a single 90 degree angle cut on the whole project, which means each board must be carefully measured and cut on both ends and then put together like a giant puzzle.

The kids love this of course.

To keep the ship from looking like it was assembled by Ewoks, I made Alex and Kelly a 'monkey board' for nailing in nails. You can see it in these pictures. Any errant hammer strokes fall on the 'monkey board' and don't leave those telltale half-moon marks on the wing.

Airframe

Jedi Starfighter: Update 8

April 13, 2007

Jedi Starfighter Day 9

I'm having more fun building this than I can describe. Kelly is old enough to really learn what's going on, and Alex is getting the basics of hammering, measuring, and so forth. They're all tuned into the notion that we've made a plan, and now we're executing it step by step.

As far as the actual ship itself, I'm very, very pleased with the structure rising up out of the ground. The lines are dead straight (not the easiest thing to do with treated lumber, particularly lumber that has been sitting outside getting wet, expanding and contracting under the sun and moon) and level, and it is positioned just high enough off the ground to appear to be floating over the surface.

We sank the last four posts for the wings on Monday - it took one more trip to the hardware store for 50 more pounds of concrete - and with 10 posts the thing is rock solid. We've been framing the wings for the last three days, finishing just before soccer practice.

Today we'll be designing the pattern of boards that will comprise the wing panels.

Designing the Wing

Jedi Starfighter: Update 6

April 11, 2007

Site Prep Pictures

Jedi Starfighter: Update 5

April 2, 2007

Here are pictures from the first two days of building the Jedi Starfighter. I have a wonderful group of wookie helpers - enthusiastic, playful and marvelously inefficient.

There's alos a shot of froggie's pond being filled in (no more mosquitos this year!) and froggie himself. No telling what color he is beneath all the slime. I'm sure he will be quite happy in the large pond by the 15th hole - there are thousands of frogs there, so he should do just fine.

Lying in the dirt late yesterday, I was able to solve the last of my design questions, so I'm eager to get outside and get building today. The wookies are bouncing off the walls with anticipation.

We need to make a trip to a junk yard later this week to look for blaster cannons and other materiel to trick it out authentically.

The cockpit will be fun to design, but will probably take a couple of weeks to get right. I'm trying not to get too far ahead of myself, but as my mind solves one set of problems it immediately races off to the next.

Drawing

South Main Project: Update 10

In the afternoons after preschool, Isabel lies in the sunshine and draws while I weld. From time to time I lie down with her and we draw together, adding to each other's creations.

I am in a groove right now.

When I start dancing in the studio, I know I'm on the right track. Up to the kneecap on one side. And it was hot in the studio for the first time in months. So I was welding half-naked.

Cutting, Shaping, and Bending

South Main Project: Update 6

Kelly is determined to be an artist when she grows up. I remind her gently that she is already an artist and that she will learn and grow as both an artist and a person her entire life, that she will never stop the learning process. She was a big help over the weekend. In this picture you can see her helping me affix steel clamps to triangular cutouts so that I can shape them with a hammer.

The process of creating the thousands of individual building blocks that I will subsequently use to create the angel is detailed visually below. It is a laborious, time-consuming enterprise.

First I use a cutting torch to cut triangles of various size and shape out of the sheet metal. This takes a long time, and consumes a large quantity of fuel. The cutting torch gives each piece a ragged look, with organic edges, bubbles and splattered material that cools and hardens into fascinating shapes.

Here's a pile of one day's work, ready to be bent into shape by brute force.

Scale shot with Alexander's hand for reference. These pieces have been cut from the 10 gauge sheet, which is much thicker and harder to work with than the 16 gauge that I normally work with. I will be using the 10 gauge material for the legs and key pieces along the torso for extra strength and then tapering up to the 16 gauge material for the trunk, head and wings. To give you an idea of thickness, 10 gauge steel is 0.1345 inches thick. 16 gauge is .0598 inches thick.

Here is a piece before it has been bent.

And here is one after I have bent it with a clamp and muscle power. I start at the outer most edge of each of the three corners and then make minute bends to gently curve the material. This lends each piece a dynamic shape, creates interesting positive and negative spaces (and my monsters and angels are all about the creative use of negative space as you will see). This also creates stiffness in the metal much the same way a flange would. In the case of the 10 gauge material, I must clamp the piece and hammer it into the desired shape, loosen the clamp, move it a half inch, tighten the clamp, hammer the piece, ad infinitum.

Kids Workbench

As I mentioned before Christmas:

Kelly asked Santa Claus for a 'child-sized workbench' and a 'set of kid-sized tools that really work.' I explained to her that they don't make child-sized versions of tools, but that Santa felt she was ready for her own toolbox full of real tools. This pleased her greatly.

I then explained that a child-sized workbench would be too expensive in addition, and would be breaking the rule of 'one big gift from Santa.' She said that was fine before I could add, 'But I would like to build one with you and have it ready by Christmas morning.'

This set a huge grin on her face, and she set to drawing plans immediately.

Here is the end result.

I let the steel sit outside and age in the rain for a bit. When it had rusted to an interesting degree I brought it inside, which arrested the decay. After I cut it to size for the workbench, I scraped off the rough bits and smoothed it with a steel brush and steel wool. I then coated it with lacquer for a smooth glossy finish that brought the colors out. What we ended up with was a table top with a lovely patina, and a nearly indestructible work surface.

Christmas Eve

A glimpse around my world:

There are three Lego sets under construction on the Lego table in the Great Room.

Kelly is working on Creator 4894 Mythical Creatures. It was difficult to convince her to start another design since she had built five really cool little creatures this summer from this set. However after the initial sadness of breaking apart the finished designs, she is really into this big dragon that is taking shape.

Alex is building 7665 Republic Cruiser and Creator 4953 Fast Flyers simultaneously.

Thankfully each set is dominated by a different color brick: green, red, and white respectively. But it makes for a challenging search every few minutes and is frequently Dada who calls out, 'Can you help me find this piece please?' Their eyes are sharper it would seem.

We started the Cruiser on a Saturday afternoon in November and it has been slowly growing over the weeks. It's like watching a real ship being assembled in a ship yard.

I am enjoying having the kids home.

Finding myself weakened by pain, my current day/night routine goes something like this: at night I struggle to fall asleep, tossing and turning as I replay each conversation I had with the kids during the day. I recount both sides of each situation, how I handled each confrontation, each lesson. I worry over being too hard on them, over spending too much time on things not directly related to their upbringing, over missed opportunities, and so forth and so on. My mind will not shut off. I worry myself into a fitful sleep where I then have dreams that border on nightmares that wake me up precisely at 4:00 a.m. every morning. I then lay awake until my wife's alarm goes off and little feet start thumping around the house. At this point I roll over and fall asleep for about an hour. It is the only good sleep I get each night.

During the day I enjoy them fully and completely.

Knowing that I have been torturing myself at night, I have forced myself to relax and just enjoy the flow of these special days where everyone is home. We ride bikes. We straighten a bit. We build things. We go for exploratory hikes. We laugh a lot. It's just perfect, and not the least of which is seeing Amy smile and laugh and relax and lounge around the house.

I made sure to have everything done and not just done but done with a capital D. The house is clean, organized, in shape. All closets ship-shape, current clothes fitting, rooms in order, decorations easily accessible. Nothing for a wife creature to do but sit back and enjoy her children. And cook if she so desires, which she enjoys doing with the kids very much. But not required. I don't bake much with the kids so it's nice to smell cookies when she's home.

Isabel is delighted to have everyone around. She works on moon sand, then playdough, then dollies, and on and on. Her current companion is a stuffed camel. Camel goes everywhere with us. To the store, to school, to bed. It's one lucky camel.

This morning the kids went off with Amy to get some errands done and I rolled over and went back asleep. I slept until 11:00 and I feel like a million bucks right now. Wow. I feel like it's the first real sleep I've had in ages.

Tonight we go to Amy's parents house for dinner and then home to put out cookies and milk for Santa. I will put on my Santa Sloth hat and do a bit of elf work while the fire crackles and Christmas jazz plays through the house.

I will kiss my children after they have fallen asleep and count my remarkable blessings. I could not ask for anything more in life.

Candids

Sometimes I just have to give up what I'm trying to do and snap a candid picture.

I asked Isabel to step in front of the sculpture so I could take some shots for scale. She of course loves the camera and if you ask her to smile she might grin or roar or generally carry on in some sloth-like fashion.

Christmas This Year

I gave Kelly and Alex a choice about Christmas this year. I asked them if they would like to do a scaled-back version where Santa would bring them one big thing and then they could ask for something special from mommy or daddy, like extra time doing an activity one-on-one.

They leapt at the idea immediately (I was thinking I might have to explain it a little first) and have embraced it since. Kelly knows exactly what she is going to ask for, and Alex is 'thinking about it.'

Isabel is too young to understand, so she'll be getting more little presents so she has things to unwrap on Christmas morning.

The kids will be giving each other one store-bought gift apiece, and then 'coupons' good for such things as 'one free room cleaning' or 'one hour playing exactly what you'd like to play.' This took a little more explaining to Alex, because when I said for example he might give Kelly an hour of straightening her room he looked at me with a concerned expression and said, 'I don't think that's what I want for Christmas.'

Kelly has asked Santa for a 'child-sized workbench' and a 'set of kid-sized tools that really work.' I explained to her that they don't make child-sized versions of tools, but that Santa felt she was ready for her own toolbox full of real tools. This pleased her greatly.

I then explained that a child-sized workbench would be too expensive in addition, and would be breaking the rule of 'one big gift from Santa.' She said that was fine before I could add, 'But I would like to build one with you and have it ready by Christmas morning.'

This set a huge grin on her face, and she set to drawing plans immediately.

I had been building Alex a surprise already, and have something in mind for Izzie, so this fits into our Christmas plans neatly without spending extra money - and still working to make it special.

So long story short, I began building Kelly's workbench yesterday afternoon, and I am pleased to find that I'm in such a groove of cutting, grinding, welding, and building that I think it will be complete sometime this evening.

I glanced at the tables available online - didn't like a single one of them. So I designed Kelly's in my head as I walked out the door to begin cutting steel yesterday and I haven't written down a single number or drawn a single sketch.