Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The 4 Four and Under Paint a Play House!

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I don't say this enough to him in person, but John is an amazing, outstanding, patient and loving husband and father. No one I know has ever seen a father so attentive as John is, so totally and completely involved in his children's lives. After recently reading his life history, a document that was buried under dozens of boxes in the basement, I learned that he was taught it from his father, who happens to be pretty much the best man I know.

Among the many things John has done for the kids, he has recently put together a play house/jungle gym for them in the backyard, made largely of salvaged material. Not only is he an accomplished play house designer and architect, but he's also frugal! What more could a girl ask for!

And to top it off, for this project he has let go the everything-has-to-be-perfect side of his psyche and decided to let the 4 four and under paint the play house themselves! I adore taking pics of my darling children, and I love to take pictures of painting activities, because there is so much color, so I probably went overboard, but here's how things are going so far!

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Thanks for listening!

P.S. My sister and I are finally getting skinnier!
See how we're doing it HERE! :)

12 comments:

chibbylick said...

now THAT'S a playhouse!!!
I'm jealous!

Luvmy9 said...

Oh my gosh. What a playhouse! John, you are so talented. I was blown away when I saw the whole thing. How long did that take to build, especially just using weekends? Wow!

Lydia said...

That is one awesome play house. I love that they got to paint it themselves. What memories.

ccc said...

I stumbled upon your blog and the title caught my interest! I have 11 children. Wow, what a playhouse. My husband puts up a huge ice rink complete with a heater house and fences to catch all the hockey pucks every winter. Yeah for those innovative dads!!

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Luvmy9, I think he's been working on it for a couple of months now. He has the help of two of our workmen, which is so nice, but you can bet he is out there all weekend getting things done!

Jessica said...

That is an awesome play house! Kudos to John!

alessandra said...

You are so right! pictures are gorgeous and the playhouse... what is more than awesome?

Rachel said...

Wow! That's the best playhouse I have ever seen (the ones made with love are just awesome!). Love the pics. Those are some keepers for sure.

Brian + Cheryl B. said...

Mornin Jen :-)
What a wonderful 'playhouse' structure - especially for boys!! good job John!!!

Jen, different things I noticed in the pictures:
~ Baby 'hippo' (as you have dubbed him) seems to have a very happy disposition. His smile is contagious!
~ In the picture where John is holding the can of yellow paint - I love how it looks like the paint has gone around the shape of a heart. And yet there are no brush strokes so you know it wasn't a purposeful thing.
~ While I get confused over which twin has the title of "A" or "B", I can always tell a part. The one is always so somber and more serious - even when smiling. And always has been.
~ I would encourage you to somehow remove the "Princess" sticker off of your baby swing. ;-p
Hey, doing so might get you another baby daughter - or even twin daughters. o;-)
~ Seeing the boys pain covered feet brought a friend to mind. When they redid the room in their basement, she had painted the walls a rather bright (but washable!) white, and then via painting her five sons feet and hands, put their prints along the walls, each son in a different color. It turned out ever so cute!!!

You ended with "thanks for listening". Your welcome! Thanks for spreading the smiles!!! ;-)

Jenna said...

That is incredible! You are one lucky woman! And I love that the kids get to paint it. (Kudos to you for being willing to clean THEM up too!)

Amie said...

SO fun! What a great idea.

*Dream Weaver* said...

:) lovely photos!!!
everything looks so colourful and fun. i especially love the photo of the rainbow coloured foot :)