For the Love of a Nephew

An Aunt's love runs deep. So deep in fact that she will bust out her crafty, I-Got-A-Degree-In-Art-9-Years-Ago-Skills and apply them to make a Lightening McQueen Crazy 3 year old happy beyond his wildest dreams...for a least 5 minutes.

My sister in her spare time took a big honk'n piece of cardboard and painted, then cut out, The Toddler's favorite Pixar character and brought him to life. Hours and Days worth of work, envy from other Quasi-Cousins, for several minutes of awe and marvel. It ended up being one of his favorite birthday presents, of course homemade presents always are the best.

Because when you get something this cool, everyone needs to pose with it!

(PS-I am so strong I can pickup an entire car - Hooah!)

Me:  Look what Aunt B made for you honey! 

Toddler:  LIGHTENING MAH-QUEEEEEN!!!!

Toddler: And who make me the eyes?

Me: Aunt B 

Toddler:  Ohhh, who made me the wheels? 

Me: Aunt B 

Toddler:  Ooohh, and who made me the lights? 

Me: Aunt B made it all for you, everything on Lightening McQueen she made just for you! 

Toddler:  Oooh, she do really good job!.....Mommy, who make me Francesco?

He really does love it, he even has to give Lightening a hug every so often.

And of course like a responsible car owner, he makes sure to take him for a drive regularly.

Go Ahead, Build My Fence

Saturday was spent lounging and wasn't all that exciting, but Sunday we made major progress on the fence in the backyard. My sister's family showed up Sunday morning and we even roped in her brother in law for a bit of manual labor.  The set up worked great, my sister stayed inside with the kids and the cousins played together and watched movies, while my Brother in Law and I got to work on the fence.  The kids made a few appearances, but it was pretty chilly outside so they were hood house-rats.

Our first step was to charge the batteries for the drills, and cut a corner.  We decided that because it was chilly and we didn't feel like digging out the last hole by hand, mixing more cement, etc.  Plus the cable/telephone line and gas line are very close to that spot.  So if any work ever has to be done it would take out our fence.  So we literally, cut the corner.  I personally like the look and have plans of a multi-level raised flower bed.

When we dug the holes for the railings to start with my One-Call wasn't done very well.  The telephone line and gas lines weren't marked.  So the corner post took out the telephone line.  Monday they came to replace it, dug up half the alley and discovered a gas leak.  Tuesday the dug up the gas line, again digging up half the alley and trenched all the way to the neighbors house and in the process hit their cable line. With that record we decided just to leave that area alone.

Cutting the Corner

Starting to screw up the slats.

My helper handing me screws.

My nephew doing some child labor

The Toddler felt bad for him and lent him a hand.

"Mommy!  You trapping me!"

(That is exactly the plan little man)

Lots of Progress!

Making sure my slats are straight.

Doing the Wilson!

My sister hard at work play.

Progress (same section of fence, different angles)

                          Before                                                                              After

Kid Herders and Fence Builders

Sunday was not a day of rest.  Sunday was a day of fence building...and child labor.

Double checking measurements and marking them with spray paint. 

Getting ready to start working...and my sister doing a weird excited dance move.

 The kids took frequent play breaks.

The Big D's need to be the center of attention also caused the adults to take some breaks as well.

 Check out the Toddler's frisbee skills!  I had no idea he could even throw a frisbee!

 Setting the stakes and string line.

We tried a couple different methods for digging post holes....I liked the Bobcat the best.

With the holes dug it is time to start lining up and setting posts (not sure if we already took out the neighbors telephone wire at this point or not)

 Leveling up and pouring the cement to set the posts.

Our quality of material inspectors.

Progress!

 Mixing the cement and happy little neighbor kids taking turns bringing the water.

Uncle D trying to teach an innocent little child pranks

It backfired, the wind blew the water right back at them...but she didn't forget how to operate the sprayer!

If I had to guess I would say the neighbors are wishing they would have stayed in their house and pretended they weren't home at this point. Haha.

 More Progress!

Clearly the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence!

I had an awesome crew of fence building volunteers!

 Checkout the grandpa/grandson team!

The Big D was not a lot of help, but he sure was cute!

Even More Progress! 

Literally wrapping up for the day!  The slats will go up this coming weekend.

 Taking a break for some much needed refreshments.

Did I mention my awesome Aunt-in-Law brought over this fully stocked cooler? She also brought over two pans of manicotti, salad, garlic bread, chocolate milk, mini angel food cakes, a loaf of short cake, whipped cream and a bottle of wine!  She said she wasn't much of a fence builder but she could cook.  So she brought over supper. So that I wouldn't have to worry about feeding everyone.  She also knew I had 8 pounds of strawberries in my fridge, hence the shortcake, mini angel food cakes and whipped cream.  It worked out perfectly! I'm actually thinking about making her an award.

Kid approved refreshment center!

 The Toddler getting his flirt on.

These two are the reason we need the fence :)

Its like a clown car, stuffing as many kids as will fit in the box of a pickup.

Good times, good times.

After a full day of work, the kids enjoyed play time.