“daddy will you carry me?”

  

“Daddy carry me?” she signed.  

Our family was trekking into a winter wonderland on campus for some photos.  We hadn’t gotten very far from our car when this request came.

His arms were full of camera equipment, and he shook his head no.   She wailed….."I want daddy to carry me!”  I ran to take the camera and the new fancy pants lenses so his arms could hold something even more precious.  As they walked ahead, I was able to snap some quick photos capturing this sweet little moment. 

She’s 5 and a half now…. How much longer she will want her daddy to carry her?   How many more times will she be able to close her eyes, throw her arms around his neck and enjoy a trek through the snow without getting her boots wet?  I don’t know….it’s one of those things that will stop happening at some point.  But on this day, on this snow covered trail, daddy picked her up and everything was right in her world. 

 

                  Source of picture

Grace's Smoothie Adventure

Grace loves to make smoothies to share with the family.
Everyday.
Seriously, EVERY.DAY she makes a smoothie.
Maybe this is just a phase....maybe she's on her way to spending more time in the kitchen than I do.  I'd love to have a mini chef.

One day while I went to work, Brian took the time to video this everyday occurance and make this movie.  I love how it captures her current smoothie obsession.   We are not sure why she is screaming her lines, but she says: "It's time to make a smoothie", "Now it's time for Orange Juice", "Now it's time for ICE"  (you can see she's signing that too) and "That's how you make a smoothie!"

I love, Love, LOVE this video!   My husband rocks.


Grace's Smoothie Adventure from Brian Trager on Vimeo.

100 days of school

 

100 days of school.

  100 plastic buttons. 

Awesome buttons, scored at a garage sale for $2.

I probably have 200 of them, which is A.LOT. 

I just *knew* they’d come in handy one of these days! 

Brian got a new camera lens and can take really awesome pictures.  

Who knew that pictures of buttons could look so cool……

Kaylee is wearing an eye patch 3 hours per day to try to remedy her Amblyopia.   She doesn’t mind it at all, and it seems to be working. 

Happy Buttons…Happy 100th day of school.

White Farmhouse table

Can you believe Brian made this table from raw lumber?   Impressive, right?

There’s something about a man, MY MAN, making something useful and functional that is downright attractive.  The hat?  Not really sexy, but building me a freakin kitchen table?   I love it.  Of course he builds computers all the time, but building a table?   I had no idea he could do that.  He still finds ways to impress me, after all these years!

Look at that grin on his face!   I think he enjoyed the process this time ….it was way easier than the playhouse (I twisted his arm) built last year.  This table though, was built during the month of December when the weather was decent enough to work in the garage.

He followed Ana White’s free plans for the Farmhouse Table, adjusting the length and width to fit perfectly with our built in window seats.  There are 18 steps, but Ana explains it so well it makes anyone feel like they could tackle it too!   Our previous table was a $40 find on Craig's List  that I spend a lot of time painting and distressing.   I loved it, but it had a crack in the pedestal base, so no matter what I did, it was wobbly.  So annoying. 

This baby weighs a TON and is the sturdiest table I’ve ever seen in my life.  After he completed the build, we moved the table into the living room for the month of January so I could work on the finish.    I wanted to take my time doing a nice job, just as he did in building it.    He gave me full permission to do anything I wanted to it, so I considered a blue stain, green stain, light walnut stain or white paint.

First I tried a light wood stain, but it didn’t take to the wood filler well. 

Then I painted it all white.   I hated it and sanded most of it off.

Then I put a dark stain over the paint and it looked good, but too dark for what I wanted in the kitchen.

So, I sanded that mostly off too then painted it a solid white.

It was too white…I knew that I couldn’t keep up a perfect white finish.

At this point I wanted to give up and just live with a wobbly table.   Brian sweetly offered to take it to the road for garbage pick up if I really hated it that much.  And he would never build me anything ever again.

My mom came to visit and helped me distress parts of the table, like the edges and grooves.  We looked on line for examples of distressed farm tables and saw some that looked great and were insanely priced.  ($1,300-1,800)   That made me feel better about my technique, especially since he bought all the lumber and screws for $105.  What a deal.

After a month of layering, sanding, staining and painting, I had a “new” table that looks “old”.   I sealed it with 8 coats of Polyurethane, sanding in between coats so it is super smooth.   There is so much texture and variation.  Anything the kids do to this table will only give it more character- genuine character!  LOL.

And the best part, for me anyway, is that it hides crumbs really well.  I clean it thoroughly once or twice a day, and that’s it.  If I can’t see it, it doesn’t bother me!  Now all I need is a new kitchen floor that disguises dirt and I’ll never have to clean again….

“No more jumping on the bed!”

Normally, that’s what Brian would say, but on this day he got a new camera lenses and wanted to see if it could catch the girls in motion.   

Kaylee signing “I really love you”.

Right now Gracie’s bed is on the floor, making it a sweet spot to land.

 

 

Surprisingly, this jumping on the bed episode ended with smiles all around.

My daddy…. 2012

For the past couple of years, I’ve asked the kids some basic questions about their dad for Father’s Day.   We always get a lot of laughs…..here are a few.

My daddy is______ years old.

Grace: 78

Kaylee: 24

Joshua: 31 exact years older than me.  (they share a birthdate)

My Daddy’s favorite color is:

Grace: pink

Kaylee: green

Joshua: red, because Mario’s shirt is red and he always picks Mario.

He weighs ______ pounds and is _____feet tall.

Grace: 3, BIG

Kaylee: 21 pounds and 20 feet tall

Joshua: over 100 pounds, 6.7 feet tall

My Daddy’s job is_____________.

Grace: to work with Brian Cornwell.

Kaylee: to keep us safe.

Joshua: work at RIT.

Daddy is happy when ___________.

Grace: we close the refrigerator door quick.

Kaylee: when I play games with him.

Joshua:  when I get a blue day.

The best thing about my Daddy is _____________.

Grace: when he takes pictures of us.

Kaylee: that he’s alive!

Joshua: that he loves us.

purdue fix

Brian attended Perdue University for one year, so he’s partial to their sports teams.    I think his mom bought him this t-shirt but he would never wear it because the “Purdue” decal stitching was scratchy on the inside.  When he said it could go in the donate pile, I got a little bit excited and asked if I could fix it for him.

Although I alter just about everything I wear, it’s not often I can do something for his wardrobe.

Red pen leaks from his back pocket? Nothing I can do.

Jeans shrink in length?  I won’t add lace or trim to extend it for him.

Oil spill on his shirt?  Adding ruffles to hide the stain isn’t going to work.

But scratchy?  I can work with that.

I used some of the leftover t-shirt material from Gracie’s dress and used “wonder-under” to glue a soft back to the inside of the shirt.

It looks a little funny on the inside, but the patch isn’t visible at all from the front!

He wears it every time it comes out of the wash, so I’m gonna call it a successful fix!

Built Strong to Last Long

I found a couple of recent photos of Brian that I liked.  I’m pretty sure he took them himself with a self timer, which makes me snicker. I guess he's given up nagging me to take more pictures.


I love this photo!  He looks happy, healthy and strong.   I couldn’t ask for anything better, except maybe a shave.  The other day I offered a trade:   I'd shave my legs if he'd shave his face.  I was surprised when he got right up and shaved it off.  I had no idea it would be that easy to get rid of the scratchy beard!



Ford:  Built Strong to Last Long
It’s a good logo for Brian too, and his favorite car company to boot.



This is Brian the intellectual, deep thinker pose. 
A little bit sexy and a little bit scary. 
Very intense, for sure.

Soon after posting his new profile picture, one of Brian’s students joked that he looked like the “Old World Thinker” pose.  The next day that student put together the two images and held them up to a camera at RIT.   This image has been displayed on a rotating basis for a couple weeks now on campus in Rochester, Dubai and Croatia!

Apple picking 2011

 

Fall….

Leaves.

Warm sweaters.

Bright red apples.

Hay rides and mud.

Honestly, it was AWEFUL getting everyone dressed, fed, and out the door on a weekend morning to go apple picking.   There was a point where“maybe we should just stay home instead of going out to have fun” crossed my mind.  I’m not sure if I said it out loud, or just in my head.   There was fighting, crying and whining….I put my hands over my ears during the car ride and told Brian he should turn his hearing aids off.

But then we pulled into Whittier Fruit Farm, where I’ve picked apples every single year of my life.

My face broke out into a huge smile.

Fresh air, green trees, red apples.

The sunshine broke through after a weeks worth of rain.

Even the kids couldn’t resist smiling.

Now that’s the kind of face I want to see!

A change of scenery….

A mission to pick the best apples on the trees….

A huge orchard to explore…

Cinnamon doughnuts to refuel from our picking adventure.

And here’s the face behind all the pictures!  I love that he is willing to capture the little moments for me.

Ribbons and curls

Is there anything better than watching the man you love playing with the kids you love? Screams of laughter are pretty much the only type of screaming I can tolerate, and watching them play is one of my favorite things to do.

Look at those happy little faces!  For now, he's the greatest guy in their life and I hope it stays that way for a long, loooong time.

A big shout out to my guy for sprucing up my little spot on the web and making it super cute.

He's amazing, really.

I can do some pretty cool stuff with ribbon, but a digital ribbon? That's all Brian.

Shelves, #2

I built two shelves for Joshua’s room. 

ALL BY MYSELF. 

I followed Ana White’s instructions for a $10 ledge.  If you google “Ana White $10 ledge”, you’ll find tons of people who have made them, so I’m not a pioneer in this project…but it’s still pretty freakin awesome!

I used the nail gun (oh yeah!) wood glue and 6 pieces of wood for the 2 ledges.   Really easy project.  really.

Brian helped me drill some screws into the studs of the wall, and they are super duper strong.  He also made triple sure that the ledges were level before drilling.    (I don’t think I’ve ever hung anything perfectly level in my life)

Joshua's wooden ledge has similar features to the gutter bookshelf that we installed in Kaylee’s room.    Both hold books facing outward so the kids can see the book covers easily.  The wooden ledges are cheaper to make and MUCH more sturdy.  I know Joshua has probably already hung off of them….Kaylee too, I bet.

We found the lime green chair at Target for about $25.   It’s actually comfortable to sit in and a great accent color in his room.

Sometimes I find him asleep in the chair with the light on and a book in his hand.   So, so cute…..