It's (Going to be) a Boy!

What up now, estrogen house??  It's official that the new baby is a boy.  Kim called it this time.  I knew Elise would be a girl and Kim knew this baby would be a boy.  We're going to name him Liam Brandon McKendree.  Not that we named him after the actor, but it would be awesome if one day he could destroy people like Liam Neeson in Taken.  A son any dad could be proud of :)

On a serious note, just as with Elise, I hope Liam grows up to do great things.  And not necessarily on a success scale as we might normally view it (although I hope they do achieve greatness in that aspect) but on a deeper level.  I hope they love people with unconditional love.  I hope they realize much younger than I did that the church isn't just a building or an institution, but a group of people reaching out to God and others.  I hope they bring joy to people's lives because they were kind, funny, or knew how to make someone feel good.  I hope they bring joy to people who are suffering because they want to extend the love of Jesus.  I hope they stand up for the weak and choose justice over popularity and reputation.  

I'm looking forward to seeing him and can't wait for a lot of things.  I can't wait to shoot basketball with him.  I can't wait to play video games with him.  I can't wait to take him fishing (even though I'm not much a fisherman myself).  I can't wait to have another male in the house that I can blame messy bathrooms and open toilet seats on.  It's going to be great.

Thanksgiving and Washerball

The last few years, we've done Thanksgiving evening at Kevin and Alicia's home.  But, this year, Chuck, Alicia's mom, had some health issues and they were in Columbus much of the week.  Needless to say, hosting Thanksgiving would have been pretty difficult.  So, last minute, we decided to have Barbeque courtesy of Mark.  His brother Brad and sister-in-law Kim got him some goodies from his favorite BBQ joint in South Carolina a while back and he's been saving it.  Well, yesterday was apparently the time to break it out and we dined like the Pilgrim conquerors we are!  I kid.  We had a great meal though and personally, I enjoyed the BBQ more than I do traditional Thanksgiving food.

On top of the BBQ, the other non-tradition we partook in was hosting the meal at our home.  It was kind of fun.  Unfortunately for Kevin and Mike though, they missed the REAL fun.  They had just left and Elise had gone upstairs.  Kim and Sharon were up there and eventually, me and Mark made our way up.  Between Elise's room and Liam's future room, there's a small portion of wall that we put the newest addition to Elise's toy collection in front of.  Kim had an old toy washer and dryer from her childhood sitting in a storage room and we got it out a couple of weeks ago and cleaned it up.  Last night, I opened the lid to the washer and started shooting balls from the ball pit into the washer.  Then, Kim joined in.  Then, Mark joined in.  Sharon rebounded for us and Elise LOVED it.  We've dubbed the game: Washerball.  Here are some samples...

This was how we decided to clean up and put the balls back

Halloween 2013

This Halloween we had a little kitty with us.  She had a great time walking around the block..she even collected a little candy!  She's getting too big too quick.  Kim was able to wear her "Boo" shirt through yet another pregnancy.  I'm super proud of her for that accomplishment :) Notice that I sported my Jaguars shirt around the community.  If only they would make me proud to wear it...

Kim's Jack-O

My Jack-O

Myrtle Beach 2013

As with our last post, these are old, but blog worthy.  Some of these I'll leave uncaptioned just because there's so many.

 Mark, Me, Kevin before golfing at "Aberdeen Swamp" as I like to call it.  Actually, it was a beautiful course.  But, it was surrounded by a swamp which took me back to my mosquito infested memories of Florida :)

This was at the German restaurant we ate at one night.

We had our very own pool in front of the house and of course Elise goes everywhere except the pool

I don't know why, but this is definitely one of my favorite pictures.  Elise loved walking to the beach each day.

She's struttin'

Not sure how the planets aligned to get this picture with Elise posed really well..It just happened.

Best Father's Day Yet

I was a little torn on whether to name the blog post "Best Father's Day Yet."  My reasoning is that I hope each one is better than the year before and I won't be able to use the same name on the next year's post.  Anyways, this Father's Day was great.  I enjoyed time with Kim and Elise.  We spent some time with Kim's family.  And we called my dad and talked to my granny as well (Papa is deaf so I told granny to tell him Happy Father's Day).  Here are some pics.

 This is my gift from Elise.  It's a photo album of the two of us from her birth til now.  I actually knew about the other couple of things I got, but this was a big surprise and I love it.

The back of it

Inside flap

My new Crocs.  I've been wanting a pair of white crocs for a while.  I got some off brand crocs when we were in Myrtle Beach a couple years ago and I loved them.  But, they got dirty over time and I've been wanting another pair. 

I got this tuner too.  I actually have the same one on my other guitar because this guitar has a built in tuner.  But, I like to be able to look down at the head of the guitar while I'm turning the tuners.

We ended the day by going to the Athen's Lowes to get some organizing stuff for the garage.  Not only did Elise drive the #48 cart, but she drove BOTH steering wheels at the same time!  Our kid is going places.

Me and Elise in the front room of the house.  She's my little baby girl and makes being a dad the most amazing thing in the world.

New Kitchen Table

This was by far the most time consuming project I've worked on.  I'm embarrassed at how long it took me to complete it.  Last year, Kim and I decided that instead of doing anything for one another for our anniversary, we would get wood instead to build a table.  I got a lot of the work completed in the fall but the weather got cold and stayed cold...and cold...and cold.  During the cold time I couldn't stain or polyurethane because the garage isn't heated or cooled.  Finally, after it warmed up, I finished the project and it's awesome having a table this big!

Here it is after stain

Nice and shiny after the polyurethane.

There it is in the house

Kim had one major request with this project and that was for the benches to have storage.  I won't tell you how long I just stood in the garage staring at these benches like an idiot trying to figure out how to make it work while hiding the hinges and keeping the seat flush.  I finally ended up using my router to trim out an area on the inside of the seat and outside of the bench apron.  Worked like a charm.

It's not the most elegant or extravagant table ever built, but as an amateur wood worker, I have to say I was pretty pleased with the results!  

Elise having her first meal at the new table.  This is the reason we wanted to build it.  It's super easy to get caught up eating on the go and gathering around the tv to eat.  We do it ourselves pretty often.  But, we at least wanted to have a nice big family table to sit at and enjoy some meals together as our kid(s) grow older. It's not that we couldn't have done it with the old table.  But, it was small and this is something that we (Kim and I) made.  Without going into all the details, the table top is poplar wood planks.  I used a Kreg jig to drill pocket holes and Kim helped with that part as well as helping me screw and glue the planks together.  In fact, she was there when I was trimming the table top and accidentally sawed a small divot into it with my skil saw.  I was using an attachment on my saw to make straight cuts and it blocked the guard from automatically coming back down.  I set the saw on the table when I was done thinking the guard was down, but it wasn't.  I was devastated.  Kim told me it was like having my signature in the table.  That it was.  I added putty and it looks like a small imperfection that makes it our own.  And we'll remember things like that over the years as we sit at the table.

Easter 2013

This is pretty late to be posting, but I thought better late than never!  Easter was great this year especially with Elise getting her first Easter basket!

I have to say that I'm a blessed man to have such an amazing family!

Kim and I at church

Meet Esther.  We named the doll Esther because she got it on Easter Sunday.  Esther has become the go to doll for Elise now.  Anytime we go somewhere, even if just a walk, Esther has to come.  

Of course she wouldn't care about the toys...It was the colored Easter grass that caught her attention.

Easter with Pawpaw John and the grandkids

My 1st Easter

Mommy and Elise at church.  One of favorite pictures of them.

Even the dogs got Easter treats.

The irony in this picture is that she will NEVER wear those sunglasses.  We put them on her and she laughs and takes them off.  While the sun glares in her eyes.