All Things Manly

Our garage was taken over by hoses, fans, bolts, tanks, and tools this weekend. Riley's Mustang engine was finally completed. With 270 hp and "stunt pulling power" this machine could be dangerous. ;) Oh I think I hear them now beating their chests and making Tim the Tool Man Taylor noises from the garage. Bill and Riley are having fun in the man cave today. A frozen man cave. I just stepped outside to ask them how to abbreviate the word horsepower and realized it is freezing out there! Hallie and I are perfectly content inside in the warmth by the tree. She is taking a much needed nap right now. I call it a pea-induced coma. Maybe I can use this to my advantage now. Just load her up on peas when I need to get something important done. Ok, back to the manly business....

The engine took a little longer to complete than Riley had planned so he is in a rush to get everything hooked back up and running before Christmas. Riley and Hallie took a trip to Enid early yesterday morning to go pick up the motor. Riley is so excited to include her in this rebuilding process because he likes the thought of this being her first car. Well, we may want to think twice before making it really nice if she's just going to hit curbs and ding doors with it. Hallie was nice enough to stop in and visit Grammy, Gman  and Aunt Sharon while she was in Enid. I don't even think my mom minded the text message I sent her at 7:30 that morning telling her that her favorite girl was coming over. They played and read books while Riley picked up his "Christmas toy" from Santa. A very expensive Christmas toy. I'm thinking of having Santa return all of his other gifts under the tree now. Only kidding. Santa is much too busy to be returning gifts. This engine will just be next year's birthday, anniversary, Valentine's, and Christmas presents all rolled into one. Hehe ;) Hallie was dressed for a day with dad but of course had a cereal explosion down the front of her so we chose something a little more preppy to wear...

"I can't work in this mom! Get me some overalls!"

I was having a grand ol' time on my own getting my hair did and shopping for more Christmas presents. I'm out of control and I'm making it official. I'm enrolling myself in Christmas shoppers anonymous. "Hi, my name is Ashley and I am a giftaholic." I had some time to finish all of my wrapping before my favorite duo got back home. Man, I miss that girl when she's gone!

Here are a few pictures that might force the women to start snoring and men to start making manly grunting noises....

The engine has arrived

There are some things in life that Riley is organized about....other things, not so much. But his garage is one of them. He had all of his parts laid out and ready for installation when Bill arrived.

Hallie was missing her dad and wanted to go check on their progress. And help of course....

"Dad, hand me the 3/8"

Hallie and I stayed inside and matched the testosterone levels with some estrogen. We sang songs, read her Bible, and tried on some cute clothes that have been hanging in her closet waiting for her to grow. Of course we had to keep the boys fed...after all, Bill was free labor. To thank him, Hallie cooked dinner tonight...

It must have been the extra energy they had from her meal but they finished the installation in record time. I'm not sure if that's the correct term for putting a motor back in a car but installation sounds good to me. They finally tried to fire her up around 7:30. Something wasn't connecting. So they jiggled some parts and wiggled some others and voila!! Unfortunately Hallie wasn't quite as prepared as I was for the horrible loud revving noise. Poor girl has never been so scared. She started with one of those cries that she has to build up silently and then finally let loose. It took me a good five minutes to calm her down inside. I laid her down for bed and went out to find that the guys had started a small fire. Hmmm. Glad I wasn't out there for that part. And glad Bill had an old t-shirt to beat the fire with. ;) Without further ado, here it is...

The next time you see this car it will go from rusty John Deere green to a beautiful sleek black! I have no idea how far down the road that is but I think I may finally warm up to the car once it gets a little cosmetic work done. Way to go boys! Job well done today!