Handprints Forever

Although it wasn't as warm as it's been on other Saturdays during these days of quarantine, we were still back out in the yard today because we have some happy things taking place out there!

First, the little boys have discovered "the woods" in our yard!

Growing up in Oregon, I can remember going to the "woods" in our little Oregon farm town, with my brother and neighborhood friends, and we thought it was so cool in there! In reality, it was just a stand of tall fir trees. But those are the places for a child's imagination!

Tyler got busy and started trimming out all the low, scraggly branches, so that walking around in there was not so difficult.

With just a little hand saw, he even managed to cut down some dead trees in there!

In the meantime, Papa was over by the trees we planted last week-end with the little boys, getting ready for an addition beside them.

Claire had an idea that we should "mark" the trees somehow, so that the kids could come back to them through the years and watch "their" tree grow.

So something permanent is in the works, and these boys are loving hanging out in the midst of all this activity out here!

As cement is being mixed, the tree trimming continues, with lots of help from those boys! They think this is FUN!!

And there's a big pile accumulating for a bonfire later!

Aunt Claire is out here in the "woods" too, having fun playing with the boys and their branches!

I couldn't resist a nice photo of her since she blended in so well!

But as time was going on while we were waiting for the cement to be ready, the clouds started rolling in. Time to get going on this project!

Handprints in wet cement!!

To remember those cute little hands!

Judah might remember doing this since he's almost 4 1/2; Asher and Charlie might not remember this exact event, but they'll know these were their hands!

We decided to wait on Jenna, and let her plant a tree later when she can put her own cute hand into that cement!

As they were doing the handprints, the rain started coming down.

The gals ran inside to get umbrellas so we could finish up this fun event!

We were all laughing so hard as the rain came down!

Oh those cute boys with their umbrellas, loving permission to be outside in the rain!

Of course they wanted to stay and watch their dads write their names.

But then...the hail came! The boys and moms ran inside, but a few of us had to stay out so Tyler and Caleb could finish their work!

You can't see it or hear it, but it was hailing SO hard...and we were laughing even harder!

But you know what? Those names are in cement now, forever!

How fun it will be to remember the time we were all locked down, and spent every week-end together at Papa and Nonnie's house making memories!

We literally watched the storm pass over us as it turned back to rain, and we were all soaked.

Rain and hail with wind, equals wet coats no matter if you have umbrellas!

But this weather made for great burning of the wood pile, so Caleb lit it up.

And Tyler started bringing more of the branches over from "the woods"!

And it was a pretty perfect bonfire for a cool, rainy Saturday afternoon!

By the time it burned down, the sun had come out again and the air was so clean.

Hard to believe it was hailing just 45 minutes ago!