snow day in missouri, and Atticus owns his own truck now.

*I need to clarify that these photos were taken a couple days after Christmas, not today - today's high was 55 degrees and the kids were complaining that outside and inside felt like the same temperature, and therefore they were all bummed out because they weren't allowed to make hot chocolate after coming inside.  But in my defense, they had sweat dripping into their eyes as they were asking for hot chocolate.

*I also need to clarify that it is the middle of January and I still made them wear coats outside on principle, hence all the head sweat.  Ma Ingalls wouldn't have cared that it was 55 degrees; she would look at the calendar, see that it is indeed still January, and make the children bundle up anyway; and then, when the inevitable and yet still unexpected afternoon blizzard hit, and they were all saved from the icy hand of death because of her foresight, they'd appreciate her and immortalize her in print.  Oh, to be Ma Ingalls.

Anyway.  It snowed some time ago, and beside its unconvincing presence, there are two other items of note about that day.  First, CALLISTA IS THE CUTEST LITTLE BUDDY ON THE FACE OF GOD'S GREEN EARTH:

Subnote 1: I bought this gender-neutral coat at a garage sale for $2 when Atticus was a baby, and she is now the sixth VV kid to wear it.  I think I got my money's worth.

Second, Atticus, et. al., found it to be the perfect day to start building a truck.

Atticus has had this vision in his head for months of a truck he wanted to build out of lumber.  He had diagrams.  He had plans.  He had dreams.  But he didn't have lumber, or tools, or any way to actually make a truck out of lumber.

I told my mom about his dilemma when we were discussing Christmas gift ideas, and for Christmas she showered him (figuratively, because ouch) with pallet wood, and a hand saw, and a bunch of woodworking tools.  He is in heaven.  

 

These are just photos of Day One of his build project.  I'll have to share updated photos with you soon - he has bought industrial wheels for it.  It has a steering wheel, and a truck bed, and a hood, and a ladder rack.  It also weighs about forty kajillion pounds.

I am amazed by his skills and creativity.  I am also a little worried about how likely he is to bust a hole in the chain link fence once this boulder goes rolling down our (very steep) hill at warp speed.  But I suppose we'll cross (and fix) that bridge when we come to it.