
Month: December 2011
What is it?
In spite of the fact that Clare and I had a nasty cold over Christmas, we had a very nice time. We did end up not going over to Phil and Betty’s as planned, but we did manage to muster up enough strength between each blowing of the nose to play with the kids.
We spread out present opening over 2 days, which was a good idea. So on 24th we opened presents from each other, and on the 25th, we opened presents from “Santa Claus”. Spencer opened all the presents for everyone. He was very excited, and at each present would say “what is it?”
Train table
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0NhM8H0fus
The main change I made was that instead of making the table 24″x48″, I made it 38″x48″, to fit the tracks we bought. I’m glad that I waited to build the table until after we got the tracks, and that I tested them.
It ended up taking me most of the day on the 23rd to build it. The thing I am most proud of is that the only thing I bought was wood filler, and some 3d nails. All of the wood was just scrap sitting in my garage. Of course, since it was scrap, it wasn’t necessarily the nicest stuff. I had exterior grade plywood, which had quite a few knots, which required filling. So I ended up using a lot of wood filler. This was my first experience with using wood filler. There were many different brands to choose from. Most claimed to be stainable, but it didn’t seem like it took the stain very well. So the table doesn’t look that great, but it is sturdy. I think we will eventually paint it. Spencer doesn’t seem to care at all how it looks though. He likes it very much, and that is the important part.
For the legs, I used pine 1″x4″s. For the lip around the top I used 1″x3″ douglas fir, which I have been using to trim out the doors I have been slowly installing in the house. So that wasn’t really scrap, but I had already had them lying around.
Crashing
For the last several months, one of Spencer’s favorite games has been crashing. This involves running into each other and falling down. It is quite fun. Here he teaches grandpa how to do it.
Happy solstice
Santa train
Cookies
The cut-out cookie dough also seemed a bit stiff, even though I decreased the amount of flour. I’m still getting used to baking in a dry climate. I couldn’t get the cookies rolled out quite as thin as my mom does. Maybe next year I will be in better practice. After we finished the cut-out cookies, Spencer helped me deliver some cookies to the neighbors.
pictures follow
Dave and Ellen’s holiday visit
pictures follow
Christmas Pageant
Bathtime and teeth
A note for the history books – it’s not a good idea to flush scissors down the toilet. (Thanks a lot Spencer)