Patience, please

I have received many calls and e-mails from you all requesting pictures of our darling kids opening their Christmas presents and all the ensuing fun. Sam is not in school at the moment and my free time is severely limited so I will post pictures in a few days when I have time to really look at them all......Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all from the Hartley Family!!!

Pretty darn close

So, Ben says the baby is almost done. However, this morning at about 6:30 am Ben stripped the threads on his arbor (yeah, I don't know either...) Apparently it's super bad, but fixable and all the crusty old guys on the "Old Woodworking Machines" forum have taken our Ben under their wing to help repair "baby". We will keep you posted on the progress. Notice the custom made motor cover! It has all the guys on the forum talking!!

We are fine

Lots of people have called to see if everything here in Moline is OK. Thanks so much for your calls! We are fine and have power and the roads are great ect... It has been absolutely beautiful here. It's like living in a snow globe. I wish I was a better photographer so you could see what it really looks like!

Infinate patience

Sam and Lilly and I made Christmas cookies today. I wish you all could have been here. There were sprinkles and beebles everywhere! We used up a gallon of decorations and most of that ended up on the floor. (Notice the intense concentration...)

Random pictures from the snowstorm

These are some other pictures from the day it snowed.

sledding!!

So, Lilly got hooked into the sled and Sam pulled her around the back yard.

She didn't know what to think about it at first...

But, in the end she decided that it was really fun!

Except when it's over!!!

Winter play

This is from a few weeks ago, before we had any snow. Lil and Sam had fun playing on the climbing wall and going down the (wet) slide!

Lil likes spaghetti!!!

This wasn't the first time Lil had spaghetti but it was the messiest! This was followed immediately by a bath and we had to throw the washcloth away!

This is THE best

I don't think this needs any comment,......

Sam in the snow

This is just a silly little video of Sam playing in the snow. It was too cold for Lilly and I to come out and play so Sam went out with Camper.

We had a big ice storm yesterday that kept us cooped up all day long. The kids were crazy!!! They had so much fun playing with this laundry basket, they pushed it around for at least an hour. Go figure, about $1,000,000,000 in toys in this house and they are playing with a $15 laundry basket!!!

An update on the "Baby"

So this week the motor was installed on the Unisaw. Sam and Bob helped hoist the motor into place. Baby Unisaw is still having problems though, loose bands and a wobbly blade. Ben did say that he was able to cut wood with her for the first time so all's not lost. Check back for more updates on Ben's progress.....

An oldie but a goodie

This video was set to us by Sam's Aunt Chris. It was shot a long, long time ago,...about two years ago. When Chris was shooting this she had the monitor turned so Sam could watch himself as Chris recorded. It is so great to see how much Sam has grown and to see how much he and Lilly look alike. Do you think so???? Thanks Aunt Chris, you're the best!!!!! Kinda makes me all teary!!!