My Husband - The Carpenter - part 1

So the Woodsman has become quite the carver over the past couple of months. He's carved spoons and ladles and bowls....oh my! And he's pretty darn good at it too. Eventually I want him to start his own blog for his carving adventures, but until then I want to show off for him! ;)

The following pictures show the process of carving a bowl from beginning to almost end. I don't have pictures of the final piece, but I will take some soon.

This is a piece of a cherry tree that fell at his parents house during the storms last year. The first step is to cut around the pith. The pith is the center of the log and can cause the wood to crack. Gotta get rid of that!

Next the Woodsman likes to knock the bark off the bottom so the log will lay flat while he's carving.

Back in the shop, the Woodsman uses a sharpie to draw what he wants the shape of the bowl to be.

Once the bowl is drawn, the fun part begins! He is using an adze to remove the big chunks of wood from the center of the bowl. The picture below looks like he's having a little too much fun!

After using the adze for a while, the interior of the bowl is really starting to take shape! I love all this tool marks and wood shavings.

Now its time to cut the bowl down to size and remove a lot of the extra pieces. 

Its startin to take shape.

The pelican box of tools. The adze on the right and all the carving knives on the left. There are several different knives and they all do something different. These are just the first of many more I'm sure we'll buy!

Let the carving begin!

Hard at work and ready for me to stop taking pictures.

Shelby likes to lay in her bed The Woodsman made for her when he first built the shop and watch as The Woodsman carves.

Little Bit turns 6 at the splash pad!

This year for Little Bit's birthday, we dedided to venture out for a change. Since her birthday is in the middle of summer, we've always been able to plan a great party at the house. With all the changes going on around here, we decided the splash pad would be an easy, fun idea. It was a great (and if I may add CHEAP) party! Too bad Miss Priss's b'day is in the winter, otherwise we would have another party here!

The birthday day girl loving the water!

Miss Priss and D discussing something important I'm sure. Probably more like Miss Priss trying to talk D into something! ;)

Little Bit and Little Bit - BFFs.

Buddies.

Katie (in the back ground) saying please don't leave me!

My dad thought this picture was funny. It was not a posed picture, he just happened to be across the park and captured what he called "Meg and her posse."

Papa Perry, Cindy and Mimi.

Sisters!

AJ and his goggles. Love this! What an awesome way to play at the Splash pad!

Getting ready for some cake. The wind was kickin' and made it hard for the candle to stay lit.

We managed and Little Bit officially turned 6 as she blew out her candle.

Brody eye-balling that cake! Katie better hurry and let that baby dig in!

Papa Perry and Mimi.... lookin' good!

The girls enjoying the yummy cake!

Brody-man!

Time for presents.

Opening....

looking at Granny T in disbelief.....

super excited about her new Merida doll.

Looks like everyone had a great time.

Happy Birthday Little Bit!!

(Thanks to Pop for all the great pictures!)

Little Bit graduates from Kindergarten!

I can't believe my baby has already finished her first full year of school. Man I am getting old! The kindergarten classes put on an adorable program and stood on stage to get their first certificate.

Waiting for the graduates to enter.

All the precious butterflies, bumble bees and spring flowers!

So excited to have her diploma.

Say cheese for Mommy again!

So proud!

Little Bit and her best buddy from the year. They were sooooo cute together! They think they are meant to be besties since they share the same name! Too cute!

The best kindergarten teacher ever. We love Mrs. Donna.

One down, only twelve more to go. And I'm sure they will just creep by right!?! EEK! ;)

 

Piano Recital

Miss Priss is really doing well with her piano lessons. She loves to practice and I love listening to her get better and better. Here she is at this year's end of the year recital. Her song was called the Ladybug Waltz. We were all so proud of her for memorizing her song and playing with both hands. Looking forward to hearing her get better and better as she continues to take lessons.

Miss Priss's piano teacher is also a voice teacher. At the beginning and end of the recital, all the students sing together (even the piano students). Miss Priss loves this! She always does such a wonderful job singing as well!

Hays Cemetery Decoration 2012

 I can't believe it's been a whole year since the last time we made the trip to the Hays Cemetery. We thought we were going to walk around the cemetery and get soaked, but thankfully by the time we arrived the rain had stopped. In fact (besides being WAY to hot for May) it turned out to be a nice day. 

 Papa Perry telling The Woodsman about the good ole days when he grew up in this area.

 Stanwick Hays - the oldest grave and the man responsible for all the Hay Clan buried here.

 Little Bit was a little bored!

 All the guys.

 The whole crew. 

Me, The Woodsman, Papa Perry, Mimi, D, Papaw, Laura, Brian, Courtney, Little Bit, Miss Priss, Drew and Gracie

 Miss Priss and Little Bit.

 Drew and Gracie.

 All 4 little munchkins.

After walking around and eating a fabulous lunch at Top Hat BBQ, we ventured over to Sulphur Springs for a little hiking. A very long time ago, there was a resort here for people to visit the springs and use their healing powers. The resort is gone, but the sulphur and rotten egg smell sure aren't.

 Papa telling the kids to jump across.

 Adventure bound!

 Here is one of the holes the resort put in one of the springs.

 They all had a blast venturing around the springs and the woods.

 Daddy and his girls. The tree they were standing in front of was HUGE!!

Playing in the mud

 Last weekend after helping me with a photo shoot, the girls asked if they could go play in the sprinkler. Not thinking about the sprinkler being in the garden I said SURE! Here is what I found about 10 minutes later:

 

 

 

Those crazy nuts made a mud hole and decided to take a mud bath! Of course they loved every minute of it. And who can get mad at those sweet little dirty faces?