Dear Sweet Peas

  I wanted to write about your Pappy. He's a pretty great guy, as you probably already know. Benji, when you were quite little you used to sit with Pappy in his big Pappy Bear chair and watch the racy cars with him. He was there when you were born! His first grandchild. Lucy, your Pappy was very tickled that he showed you how to scrunch up your nose to make a "mean face" last summer. He coached you how to do it, and demonstrated. You watched carefully and tried a little, but after you went home you showed that face off. We can't wait to visit with you both again real soon!


   Your Pappy has always built and fixed things, or taught himself how, if he didn't know. He built our house. He prepared and poured the foundation, shingled the roof, and everything in between! He also has a giving heart. He has helped people with his repairing and building skills. I wanted to show you what your Pappy has been up to lately. His current project is building a retaining wall (that is a wall that will hold back water or soil. It retains it in place), for the driveway. That will keep the driveway from washing away when it rains. That is so Uncle Aaron has a better place to park. The other project is for a boy who has a sick mommy. Pappy wanted to help the family by pouring a cement pad for the boy to play basketball. It's just a nice thing, to do something for people without expecting to be paid. 

 Here he is planning his projects.

 Here he's using a hammer to pound on the wooden forms to make the air bubbles come out of the cement.

 You can see the part of the wall that is completely dry and finished. 

Aaron is using this mixer to mix the bags of dry cement with water. The mixer turns just like a big cement mixer and then they dump it into a wheelbarrow and take it wherever they need it. Aaron is a good helper like you are for your daddy, Benjamin.