Best Daddy in the World

John is a wonderful Daddy!  People tell me this all the time and I guess I sometimes take it for granted.  I think the reason people tell me all the time is because it is so rare.  I think there are a lot of good men out there but I guess John just really enjoys being a father.  He is so involved and actually likes being with his kids.  I'm not sure what made him like this.  I know he believes that fatherhood is a very important job.  He loves the kids to pieces.  He doesn't mind doing for them or having them around.  When I sometimes ask, "do you mind taking (so and so with you)?", he always replies, "Ah No, they ARE my kids."  Two days ago, I worked for 8 hours which I do very rarely.  He had to be Mr. Mom all day for Molly, pick both kids up at school, get them fed, run a couple of errands, and take everyone to Soccer for J.D.'s last soccer game.  I got home at 6 pm.  One of his errands included bringing me something I needed from home to work.  He brought all the kids into the clinic to say hey to everyone.  When they left, I was practically pecked to death by several nurses asking me what makes him so special, and how on earth I got him to do all that all day long, and where did I find such a great man, and on and on and on.  It makes me proud and makes me thankful and I realize sometimes I do take it for granted.  Yesterday, after picking Emily up from school early due to a half day, he took the girls (Molly and Emily) to brickyard pizza and sat out on the patio to eat...what a sweet Daddy!

Coop

COOP UPDATE:

Our little chicken coop is coming along quite nicely!  On a side note, before John went and bought wood at Home Depot, he happen to come across some old wood at Water Oak Plantation.  He was out there taking Emily to piano lessons one day and saw that behind the barn, they had lots of old wood piled up.  He decided to ask if they were throwing it away.  Aunt Laura said he could have any of it that he wanted!  So he brought home tons of old barn and fence wood that has now become our chicken coop.  It was a litte harder but John is always up for a challenge.  He had to find wood to fit all the measurements he needed which meant he had to make some weird cuts here and there but so far so  good and he hasn't had to buy wood yet!  He also is using a lot of our old hinges from our doors in the house that he replaced when he did our remoldeling and our old towel rack from the bathroom is going to be the chicken perch....so the coop is mostly recycled stuff!  My Aunt D'Anna and my Mother will be so proud!  It also makes it kind of "farm-like."  He will be painting it barn red.  Looks like it might be ready next week!  Now we just have to find chickens!

A hiking hubby!

John is so cool! I say that becase I totally mean it!  I think my husband is the coolest!  He loves being outdoors, loves challenging himself and he is a woodsy manly man! John and his friend Jeff went up to North GA for three days and two nights to hike the Appalachian Trail.  They started at the real "start point" for the trail (it goes all the way to Maine from Springer Mountain near Amicolola Falls in N. GA).  They hiked, camped on the trail, pottied in the woods, boiled water for mixing up their freeze dried food, and purified their water from the streams.  Some of the hiking was straight up.  It rained the entire 3rd day which was kind of a bummer b/c John said it was a really pretty part of the trail. They met some vey INTERESTING people.....some that they swore were running from the law, some that were hiking the entire trail at once, some that looked like they had lived on the trail all their lives.  They  came across men called "trailrunners" that volunteer to sit at specific points and take note, keep track of those passing by.  The trailrunner at the top of Springer Mountain was this old mountain man with glasses on, no lenses in the glasses and a patch on one eye, and John said he couldn't understand a word the man said!  They learned that everyone has a "trail name".  The man that they hired to take them from their car to the start point so that they could then hike back to their car had a trail name that he went by on a regular basis..."cool breeze."  Jeff named John...UNO and John named Jeff..The Hammer.  It was a great memorable experience for them.  Next time Harriet and I are going with them...maybe her and I and the kids can hang out at a cabin and meet up with them at times...John and Jeff figured out if they did about 1 week a year they could do the whole trail in 25 years.  WOW!

Who ya gonna call.....????

So John left today to hike the Appalachian Trail with his buddy Jeff Brewer.  They left at 6 am from Madison and drove to Woody's Gap in North Georgia which is actually where their end point will be.  A guy named "cool breeze" is picking them up at Woody's Gap and taking them to Amicolola Falls at the base of Springer Mountain where they will start the hike.  Apparently the approach trail to the start of the Appalachian Trail is wicked!  They went back and forth about whether to do it or not...even my Dad knew of its torture!  The approach trail does not technically count as part of the AT so they can't count it on their "miles logged on the AT" if that sort of thing is important to one...which it is to John and Jeff.  To a hiker, outdoorsy type like my husband...the AT is very cool and kind of a status thing!  So once at Springer mountain they will hike everyday, all day, with a very heavy pack on their back (I couldn't even lift John's). They will sleep on the side of the mountain, cook their freeze dried food with water that was boiled on a little mini burner, eat plain rice, granola, and purify their own water from the stream.  They even have bio wipes for pooping in the woods! 

At the very same time my beloved husband is out of town, my parents are riding on a Baptist bus with a bunch of other Prime Timers from our church headed to Savannah, GA to visit the historical district and eat at some awesome restaurants.  They have never done anything like this and I'm so excited for them....

But how dare they all leave me at the same time!!!  I mean who am I going to call if my car breaks down, the AC at our house blows up, we have a huge leak that I can't stop, the car won't start, etc etc.....the choices left being my 87 year old grandparents, John's Dad who just had heart surgery, or my brother who would certainly do anything he could do to help me but his car is too small to carry my whole family and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how to change a tire (no offense...that's just not his thing) although I will add my  brother is great at getting a bird out of the house...been there done that with his help!.....so it got me thinking about who I would call in the above circumstances...because I am a helpless woman that does not want or desire to be a single mom or a "I am woman, hear me roar" type of girl....John was trying to teach me something the other day...and I said to him, "I don't want to learn how to do it, I just want you to do it!" 

So I thought and thought and decided I would call Paul Connell...the very trustworthy husband of my friend Ann...he is a deputy and a "save a girl in her time of need" type of guy and I'm pretty sure my friend Ann would lend him to me in an emergency....I am also pretty sure he is fairly handy....for goodness sakes he is babysitting my two oldest tonight along with his three oldest while Ann and I go to a homeschooling thing...Hopefully, he woudn't mind helping a gal out and at least that makes me feel better while the two most dependable men I know are out of the state!  And John Daniel told me he would take out the compost for me.....because he knows I hate that!  It smells!

Daddy and his Girls

John took the girls to the church's annual Father/Daughter Dance which was themed "50s" this year!  It was a nice change and the music was great!  My grandmother made poodle skirts for the girls and John got to wear jeans and a t-shirt!  The women at our church are amazing in that they are so creative and so willing to make events for our children fantastic!  I am very thankful for such "hands-on moms"!

MUD RUN