Senior Pictures, Tree Houses and Sunshine

We have been trying to get Kaytee's senior pictures taken for over a month. The first appt was ruined because Ashley visited and decided to take some of Kaytee's clothes home with her. What she chose was what Kaytee had laying out, the outfits for her portraits. We had no time to find new outfits so we rescheduled. The next appt it was raining. And the NEXT app it was raining. (We wanted some outdoor shots so rain was a big no-no) Finally, yesterday was a go. I love, love, love this photographer. She is very gifted, has a wonderful eye, and loves to do things that are very original. A lot of the seniors use the same photographer and all their shots look exactly the same. Just put a different person in the pic and voila. I hate that. The last part of the shoot was outside. We took a gold brocade love seat out to a field of flowers and shot there. The photos were amazing. I can't wait to show them off. The funniest thing, though, was it was along a busy road and the whole time people honked and yelled and waved and stared. Well, except for the time Kaytee was in the van. No one noticed us much then. LOL!

Today we began building Phase 1 of our tree house fort. I have designed it in three parts. We originally wanted to build a pirate ship (had the plans for a year) but it was clear the boys would outgrow it very quickly. So instead, we are building a set of forts, connected by rope bridges and zip lines, that will grow with the boys. We ordered all the supplies last weekend and had them delivered this week. We started at 9 am this morning and are stopping tonight at about halfway done. Contrary to the opinion of the testosterone-bound dude at the lumber yard, Chris is NOT doing it all. I, with only the help of the boys, built the deck for the fort. I am one handy Mama! (Well, Chris did show me how to use the table saw, but that was all!) The directions are pretty vague and lame, so when it said to use 2 nails, I used three screws. Hey, this is going to get a LOT of hard use. Stronger is way better!!!!

Today had to be the prettiest day of the year. Sunshine with small puffy clouds. About 80 degrees with a breeze. Blue skies, green grass, happy boys. (Okay, very dirty tired boys, but still happy!) I wish we could have a hundred days like this!!!!