Mother's Day at Uncle Aaron's

Well, Sunday actually came and went and it was a good time!  It was a packed day, but I do believe that fun was had by all, so that makes it all OK.

We started the morning by going to church to worship and we took some really nice pictures on our way out.

First, one of just me and kids...

Then one of all of us!

Then we headed home for lunch and nap, where I promptly broke down in my realization that I am nowhere near what a Proverbs 31 woman looks like.  My breakdown helped no one, and the time would have probably been better spent had I taken a nap myself.

Then, we hurried to get to Uncle Aaron's house on time.  We are always the ones that set the times that things happen since we are the only ones with kids, so I always feel kind of bad when we set a time and then are late anyway, but my rule is pretty much to not wake a sleeping child...ever.  So, that means that we are sometimes late for things in the afternoons because their naps can sometimes run long.  But I think that everyone, if they knew the alternative, would be happier that we were late than deal with the consequences of waking a sleeping child.

So, we arrived just fashionably late and the kids hopped out of the car, and ran off to say 'hey' to everyone.

Uncle Aaron gave them the tour of the yard, and because I am uberly proud of my brother and his ability to build things, I will post far more pictures than anyone else probably really wants to see!

First, there is his hammock in the back yard...

Then the fountain in the side yard...You can see the very edge of the screened in porch that he added to his house in this picture...

 Then there's the boat that he built!  Pretty neat, if I do say so myself! (Above his head you can see the master bedroom he added to the house above the garage.  It is beautiful with a gas fireplace, 2 walk in closets, and a full bathroom tiled in stone.  And behind him, to the left of the picture, you can see the workshop that he built to house all his tools and projects.)

But, of course, the neatest part was that he let the kids get in it and 'drive' it.  They loved it!

Isn't he handsome?  I always wondered why it took him so long to get married!  I guess he was just holding out for the right one.

We found Elizabeth in the basement playing on the piano that my brother built, (he also made the cabinet that's hanging on the wall)

and my mom admiring the bar he put in.

But I personally think that this is one of the most awesome aspects of the house...

He built his own cupola on the top of the house!  He took one of the bedrooms and cut open the roof and added stairs and put a little room up there!  Each step has a built in drawer where (yes, I peeked!) he keeps his wood working magazines.  I also like the built in bookshelf that can be accessed from the stairs.

These are the stairs going up...

Baby Jesse enjoyed exploring, too.

This is the view from the stairs looking into the room...

And this is from the room looking down the stairs.

My brother is just so talented.  I am constantly amazed by him.  He will see something he likes somewhere or on TV of something, and then just make it himself!

But this is my personal pride and joy:

This is the VW bug that I bought when we lived in Hawaii, and then my brother shipped it back here when we moved back.  Then, as our family grew, we traded the bug for some work that he did in our yard.  Aaron has now completely restored the bug and it is beautiful!

But now Jesse is awake, so I will have to write more in another post...