Chris's Say in the Blogging World

I thought I would show my honey all the awesome posts I've recently added so he could ooh and ahh over my expertise on chronicling what we've done this summer as I was starting to put together the post on going to the Hill Aerospace Museum.

"Where's the post about the arbor?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

"Did you even look at any of the posts? I'm working my way backwards because of all that needs to be updated."

"Why would you do that?"

Well, I couldn't really think of any logical reason except that I REALLY wanted to put pictures of the reunion on first, but then he decided he didn't want to do anymore house projects like this one until I've chronicled the latest one.

The arbor!


I wanted to say, "Because it's not finished yet," so that's why I haven't posted about it yet, but wisely chose not to. Instead, I'm interrupting my blog flow momentarily.

Besides, that hasn't stopped me from posting before, so I thought I better be a dutiful wife and show off my hubby's "Bob Vila" skills, as he calls them.


I tell you what, I'm loving Chris's job more and more because there are SO many skills officers have! Landon's still my best friend for doing such a good job on painting the house, but this time around, my new buddy was Deputy Green.

I've only seen Green in uniform, so it really threw me off to see him walk around in casual clothes (I could NOT get over the flip-flops!) so I busied myself taking pictures of their handiwork.

They wanted me to stand back to make sure the posts were straight, but I got a little distracted since I had the camera in my hand. Chris was reminding me to focus...

After Day 1. Eliza thought I was taking pictures of her, so she decided to strike a pose on the steps. I won't burst her bubble.

Day 2 of the Arbor:
Chris was on his own this time (well, he had me as a helper...so...he was on his own). Needless to say, he was very focused on getting the job done right the first time.

I made sure to keep him well-hydrated by constantly bringing ice water to him. If you look really closely, you can see all the sweat on his face.

Remember: tough manual work + hot sun = dehydration, people!

I'm actually sitting on the other end of this board to counter the weight, which made me feel like I was contributing in my own small way! The honeysuckle that's going to climb on the arbor is to the right of Chris.

Doesn't he make a handsome version of Bob Vila? ;)

Screwing away (no nails were needed) ...inside joke since I thought screws, nails and bolts were the same things...

It's all starting to come together!

Testing it out, and believe me, if it wasn't sturdy....

One thing that's been fun about all of these outside projects around the house is that we've been able to get to know a few of our neighbors. This is Morgan Hill from across the street, a carpenter (who actually just moved next to another one of our friends...we like to stay grouped together). He gave his seal of approval after spotting a few fixable things that Chris quickly remedied. I'm so proud of my hubby!

So where were the babies during all this?

Chris's mom stopped by to visit, so we took advantage of the free baby-sitting while she was cooing over her son and his skills (she bought all of his tools for Christmas presents over the years and couldn't get over how happy it made her to see them at work!)

Eliza would peak out at us and then run off to play with Nana and Auntie Denise.

Seth, on the other hand, wanted to be Bob Vila Jr., so he wasn't very happy being stuck inside. It really added insult to injury because he could see all the wonderful power tools at work through the glass door.

The (nearly) finished product. We were going to wait to paint until after putting the latticework up, but we forgot to purchase that during our Lowe's trip.

I took this picture intending it to be the end of Day 2.

The day wasn't over yet, though. While showing off, Chris's mom convinced him to get the paint out (I tell you what, the woman has some SERIOUS skills when bartering) and she continued watching the kidlets while Denise got hired out to help paint.

Well, she watched Eliza anyway.

We let Jr. out and gave him a paintbrush that had some dried paint on it, would pretend to dip it in the paint can and let him help. He was SO excited!

Chris and his sister Denise painting away. I ended up getting paint on my hands so I only took a few more pics before safely putting the camera out of reach of potential paint drops.

Like father, like son!

Proof of my uncoordinated skills occurred yet again as I got paint on the back of my head (exterior paint sticks REALLY well). Sigh. It's taken weeks to get out, but at least the camera was safely put away by then.

The arbor looks as if it was always meant to be attached to my house, so once we do the latticework, I'll show off my hubby's handyman skills yet again, so stay tuned!