Barn raising

In the days leading up to Owen's big birthday bash, there was so much making going on around here that it filled many of our days.   We had decided that Owen's gifts from us would be handmade by us.  That meant spending many moments hiding out from our very curious boy while working on his gifts.   

This is the barn that Andy started a week or so ago with some wood we had hanging around our own barn:

And since Andy was building a barn, I thought I should try to make something to put inside of it. Somehow a pony seemed fitting.  This was my first shot at carving anything from wood (a big thank you to Kristen and Jason for the wood!), and I really had so much fun doing it.  I kept reminding myself that Owen will love that pony even if it ends up looking like some mutant draft breed.  
I know I included a shot of Andy carving a bit on the barn here, but we did more carving again this past Saturday as well.   He and I were sitting together on the front porch, each carving away on our own projects.  It was just such a pleasure to be working together in that way. What fun!

That boy loves his new barn and it is such a pleasure to watch  him play with it...

...and on it.