Funny Chloe & Neil's latest project

As long as Chloe has been around, the one thing she has known about her father is that he can build pretty much anything.  These recent weeks as we've made plans for the new house, Chloe has overheard a lot of our discussion and has seen Neil start to put our plans to work in the garage.  I suppose that explains the reasoning behind this conversation she initiated over dinner the other night:

"Mommy, did Daddy buy you that wedding ring?"

"Yes...?" (a bit puzzled)

"Because he doesn't know how to build rings?"

Classic.  Neil and I both laughed.  Out loud.  For a good minute and a half straight.  No wonder she'd think something like this up after she's watched her daddy build and fix so many things over the years.  What's really funny though is that Neil did, in fact, "build" us matching titanium rings during his senior year of college, just after we got married (in one of his engineering classes).  So to answer Chloe's question, "Yes, Daddy can build rings!  In this case, he simply chose to buy one for Mommy instead!"  :)

Here's Neil's current project.

{photos courtesy of Pottery Barn Kids}

We have a large blank wall in our loft/play area upstairs begging for book shelves, so Neil is in the process of building some. He examined these in the store and then wrote up his own plan of attack.  He is building two of the tall skinny ones and one of the short wide ones, though the short wide one will be about a foot wider than the one pictured above (to more precisely accommodate the wall space).  He is just about finished, and then we can sand and paint.  I cannot say enough how amazed and impressed I am by Neil's ability to see something and recreate it, just like that.  He really has a gift, and I am grateful for it and for his passion for wood working in general.  I'll post some pictures once the shelves are complete and the loft area is a little more put together.