April - The Month Of...

 WOOD-WORKING.

This truly was a month long project! We worked on it over many days.

Disclaimer: it turns out that we always work on these projects on days when I don't have work and we look all grungy because we want to get messy before we go anywhere - so we're pretty much look like we're un-showered and messy in all of these pictures :)

It all started with a log.

 

I cut notches 1.5 inches apart

 

 

lined it up

 

and used the Miter saw to cut the wood discs.

 

I love this shot with the wood dust flying!

 

Jon cut the rest since he is much more efficient than I am.

 

Just like butter.

 

Inside, I traced 1.5x1.5 inch squares on the cut discs.

 

Then we cut out the cubes.

 

Mine were a little rough around the edges.

 

Jon and I decided to get out the table saw so that we'd be a little bit more safe.

 

His cubes looked amazing!

We let them dry over a couple of days.

Turns out we probably should have let the log dry out first... because they majorly cracked :(

 

So we went on a trip to Lowe's!

 

We picked out furrings which are already 1.5 inch square all the way around.

 

Kate was an excellent helper!

 

Back at home, we got out the Miter saw again and Jon cut cubes 1.5 inches at a time. I did the initial sanding with a coarse sand paper to smooth out all the corners and edges.

 

 

Jon followed up re-sanding them all with a fine grit sand paper to make the cubes extra smooth.

 

The blocks were then sealed in a food grade mineral oil.

 

Kate and I picked out a traditional font on the computer and printed out all the letters. Jon fired up the wood burning tool and picked a nice tip. He burned all of the lower case letters on one side.

 

And I burned all the upper case letters on the other side.

 

COMPLETE!

 

except CLEARLY I do not know my alphabet...

 

We had one block leftover which we decided to use for shapes. Jon designed and burned this block:

 

 

6 shapes in all.

 

 

And there you have it!

 

Kate's very own, handmade, wood blocks :)

 



The 28

It's time that we back track a little bit and shine a light on Jon!

This month of April is when we celebrate his birthday. This year he turned 28!

We spent his actual birthday with friends at a sushi restaurant that we love. Kate had her first taste of tofu. Yum yum!

It's so fun to see Jon enjoy sushi so much. I think he would eat it every day! Dragon rolls, cherry blossom and spicy tuna are his favorites.

That weekend we had a family dinner with Jon's parents, brother and sister-in-law, and younger sister Beth who was in town for spring break. Jon's brother Mike made a maple bacon cake. It was so delicious! Unfortunately I couldn't find any pictures :(

We acquired an obscene amount of bacon novelty items, including soda and a bacon air freshener for our car...

While the novelty of a bacon air freshener SOUNDS fun, I don't really enjoy the smell of smoked meat every time I get in the Explorer.

Needless to say, the bacon soda was also not a success. As Beth described it, it was basically like cream soda that had cheap bacon bits soaking in it.

eww.

We spent some time with my parents and sister as well. They got Jon a delicious chocolate cake with green writing - his favorite color :)

Dad and I couldn't find the candles... so we went with a question mark. haha!

 

Action shot of Jon blowing out the candle:

 

Yay birthdays!

 

I promise Katherine really was more excited than she looks:

 

Jon got a really good torch for metal work and some fun movies for his collection. We had a great time seeing friends and family and are glad to celebrate another year with him!

 

 

Jon has really taken to being a dad. He and Kate are great buddies. He knows all her good tickle spots and likes to make her smile. He is much better at getting her to eat solid food than I am :) I am so grateful for all that he does to take care of our family and it's so fun to see him bond with Kate.

And we are happy to announce that Jon officially has a new job! After a 2 week contract period he was offered a full time position with a national secret shopping business doing editing and proofreading of reports in their quality control office. We are really glad to be getting a foot in the door to bigger and better opportunities for Jon's career :)

Happy 28th Birthday, Jon!

This 29th year will be even better :)



Sasquatch Rising

 Magical creature night has become somewhat of a pastime for the Beverly's clan. The month of April brought BIGFOOT NIGHT.

 

Naturally we had BigFOOT pizza...

 

 

Drinks, ala bigfoot! Ingredients included bigfoot toenails, fur, and other unmentionables...

 

(aka root beer and squirt)

 

As the provider of Bigfoot night dessert, I scavenged some possible Sasquatch Hairballs. Commoners call these bird's nest cookies. We, of course, see them for what they really are.

 

 

As always, there were magical creature night crafts!

 

We made necklace charms. This sasquatch is eating berries:

 

I made him purple because of Shayla's tote bag, which you will see below.

 

 

Lindsay's tote bag:

 

The term "Sasquatch Rising" comes from the Georgia Bigfoot Society, which we discovered while preparing inspiration online for our bigfoot crafts. The society is a "no kill" and "no capture" society who communicates with the Sasquatch people. We support that.

Their book "Sasquatch Rising 2013:
Dead Giants Tell No Tales: How DNA Breakthroughs and Backyard Visits Reveal the Greatest Story of Our Time" seemed truly inspired. Hence, the title of this blog post.

 

My tote bag:

 

The idea here was to capture a full portrait artist's rendition of the face of a bigfoot. The simple bold statement "Bigfoot Lives." clearly sums up the truth, and the pine tree curving around the edge gives the impression of where such a majestic creature can be found.

 

Shayla's tote bag:

 

 

As you can see, she paired with Lindsay and also went with a full landscape scene. I love that her sasquatch is purple. It reminded me of Grimace.

 

Hug A Bigfoot.

 

The real tragedy of  this night is that our movie, Harry and the Henderson's, never came! I ordered it 3 weeks in advance, and we found out the day AFTER bigfoot night that it got lost in shipping :( We had to improvise and watched Legend instead...

 

 

Not the same.

 

I also didn't get a picture of all of us together like I did on Unicorn night :(

 

I did, however, get a picture of Kate and Lindsay's kitty having a staring contest:

 

Magical creature night will continue! Stay tuned for Genies, King Kong, and Godzilla in the months to come :)

 



The Incredible One-Toothed Baby

Miss Kate officially has a tooth!

 

 

It's on the bottom right. She's had it for a few weeks now and loves more than ever to chew on EVERYTHING within reach. I got home from work today and she saw me eating an apple, so naturally she squealed for a slice of her own.

 

What a beautiful girl.

 

These days at home are the best. I love sitting on the couch and watching her wiggle her toes as she holds her apple. Everything is so fantastic and new :)

 

I kind of wish these moments would never end.