Play as Work– #ThrowbackThursday

November 20, 2014 - Today's ‪#‎tbt‬ photo is one of my favorites because it really encapsulates the approach that my Mom took to training my brothers and I.  Mom, I am so thankful for how you emphasized that even our play was a training ground for real life. Thank you for all that you've done to prepare my brothers and I for life, and for your continued support as we prepare to someday raise our own sons.

1998 - At ages 2 and 4, Benjamin and I pulled our battery powered jeep into the garage, set up a work light, jacked up the car, and got our hands on a socket set.

2008 - Disassembling an engine with Ken and Nathaniel Bauwens.
I'm so thankful for the men in my life who took the time to mentor my brothers and I.

2008 - Benjamin and I are back in the garage together 10 years later.

2011 - All three of us are doing a tune up on the family van.

Mowing @ the Bauwens’ House

  Today we drove down to the Bauwen’s house to help them mow their lawn.  The grass was waist-height when they first arrived from Detroit, so they had to brush hog the field before mowing it.  There were a lot of grass clippings we had to rake up and haul away before we could begin mowing.

  Noah had a good time driving the pick up truck we used to haul off the grass. He said that he got about 30 minutes of driving in, but most of the time he was in reverse!

 

Benjamin on the tractor

While we were working on the yard Deanna was dismissed from the hospital and her family drove her home. A lot of friends and family stopped by to visit with her and say goodbye.

  The Bauwens will be leaving tomorrow for Detroit. 

A White Christmas…

…can sometimes be a bad thing.

When we woke up this Christmas Eve the yard was covered with snow and the snowflakes were still falling!

Benjamin shoveled our driveway and then did one of the neighbor’s driveways.

I guess that I was so delighted by the sights that met my eyes I forgot to check the settings on my camera and later found that it was still set to night photography from the night before.  Just in case you were wondering why the photos look like they were taken in the 1980s.

(Right) He’d l strike any pose as long as it wasn’t a smile (Left) What a menacing look! Now I know why he’s always the villian in our videos.

 

UPS stopped by a couple of times today to deliver some last minute gifts.

 

Our long time friends and cousins of the Bauwens family got to drive down from Detroit on Christmas leave. They came over to our house and visited-it was so good to see them!

We all really pulled together this evening and started getting the living room in order. Mom finished the trim, so we could move the piano against the wall.  Take a look at the time lapse video below of us tried to get our construction site ready for Christmas tomorrow morning.

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We laid down some of the left over carpet to use as a rug tomorrow morning

We were walking out of the van to meet up with Grandma & Glenn when they called and told us that they had slipped on the roads and were in the median of a highway. By the time that we grabbed a tow strap and drove to where they were a couple of people had stopped including a guy with a big truck who towed them out. Their Mustang (rear-wheel drive, big engine, light car) hit some ice and spun around for awhile, when it stopped they were facing the oncoming traffic so they slid backwards down the hill. Thankfully neither of them had gotten hurt even though they were a little shaken up and also the car didn’t get messed up.  Glenn turned the car around and we followed him back home. The roads were in pretty bad shape and we had a slow drive back home.

We still had some wrapping to do and had to setup some decorations before going to bed and we fell asleep from 2am-3am.