Wendy House Repair

 Dad phoned me up the other day and said he had taken the roof off the old Wendy house. 

Dad will never admit when he wants or need a hand, and I could tell he needed one -

"So I've taken the roof off that old Wendy House..."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, don't think I'm going to be able to get it back on..." 

Long pause,

"Want me to come over?" 

"I mean only because you're coming over anyway..."

Dad, Dave (my brother) and me built this Wendy house for my sister about 25 years ago. I have some pretty clear memories of building it. 

New Play Area For The Kids

The kids love being outside at this time of year.

Crafts outside - painting money boxes!

This is great for me as it means I can get on with jobs outside whilst they flit between playing and helping me. They love playing in their Wendy house and have spent many happy hours in there, selling ice creams and being "mums and dads". 

At Christmas their grandparents (my wife's side) brought them a climbing frame. It's huge! I had no idea where I was going to put it up. Ideally it wanted to be somewhere I wasn't going to have to mow around (as I have no lawn mower at the moment) and near enough to the patio so if we have a BBQ we can still keep an eye on them. 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Sorry I've been off the blogs for the last week or so - I've been very busy in the workshop finishing presents - there's been some late night but it was all worth it when I saw their faces! They seemed pretty pleased with their new house! 

Yesterday was a mad day of putting it all up. I even sheeted all the windows on the one side of the house so they wouldn't see it. I managed to get it all finished before it got dark so we could put the children to bed together and leave out a can of beer and mince pies for father Christmas - it's magical at their age.

The windows sheeted up! Wonder what the neighbours thought!

Some of Christmas dinner fresh out of the ground.

Today has been a much more laid back affair, opening presents, watching kids films on TV, enjoying a beautiful Christmas dinner cooked by my gorgeous wife with six veg, five grown here, and then trying to stay awake on the sofa all afternoon! 

Hope everyone had the day they wanted and are surrounded by the ones they love.

Merry Christmas to you all!