September 03, 2011

Castle in the Sky

Sterling's POV

Man why does doing something good for the people I love have to be so hard? All I wanted was to build a nice, sturdy treehouse for Sonny and Kayleigh that they could play in with their dolls, toys and make up little plays with their wide and expessive imaginations that will amuse them for hours at a time with all new and exciting games that Kay and Sonny come up with for every new piece of clothing they pull out of the costume chest.

I still remember how much fun, Sammy,Spence and me, had in treehouse that dad built for us. We would spent hours up there making up skits, Sammy was always the damsal in distress since she was the only girl, I, the brave Knight ;) and Spence, my partner in crime, playing board games and Sammy playing Barbies and Spence and me cars. The treehouse was a place where our imaginations could grow, flourish and where we could express it anyway we wanted to and we were heartbroken when it got so woren and shabby that dad and mom forbid us to go up there anymore and dad actually destroyed it when I was in Grade 5,

Sammy, Spence and me were all saddened about the loss of our childhood hideout, I mean we didn't just play in it but we also had camp outs with our friends up in the tree house and it was always a place where we could go to hide from the world and its challenges and expectations and be kids for hours at a time. And I want to hopefully give those kind of childhood memories and experiences that I had to my own children which means I am building the girls a tree house in our backyard.

I am not going to try to convince Demi or myself that I am a handyman cause I would be lying. I have tried to be the handyman in the house, fixing up any problems the house gets like a leaky facuet or the washer breaking down but I always just make things worse. When I tried to fix the facuet, the water tempatures got mixed up so that the cold water came out of the hot water tap (man it was scalding) and the hot water out of the cold (the water was freezing cold) which wasn't fun when you are trying to do the dishes or have a bath. The handyman took one look at the facuet and washer and knew that I had tried to fix it cause I totally ruined it further. Thanks dude for the vote of confidence in mankind, now Demi will never let me go near any applience and fixture again without hanging over my shoulder worried about mine and our family's safety.

With my limited skills and knowledge of building, you would think that I would hire a contractor to build my angels' treehouse but being the stuborn and determind man that Demi fell in love with years ago, thanks honey I love you too, I decided to build the treehouse myself so that I can take pride in my work and effort of building the dream castle for my two little princesses and maybe even a place where my Queen and I can get away from the world's challenges and struggles and have some Sterling-Demi time alone time which since the girls' have arrived and our schedules have gotten even more hectic hasn't been a lot of time. Although Demi and I still go on dates every Friday night,whether it is going to the movies or going bowling as long as we are together having fun I am having a blast and loving each moment of it.

I had a weird experience at the hardware store, it seemed like everyone stopped what they were doing,turned to stare at me with wide eyes and open mouths and their eyes followed my every move. It was like it was really unusal for a celebrity, though I wouldn't consider myself a celebrity as I am just a guy who acts on TV but today I am a normal guy buying lumber for a project. As I went from aisle to aisle looking for the items on my list that I sat down with Demi to write to make sure that I got everything I needed to build the treehouse so that I didn't have to stop in the middle of the work and rush to the store to get the forgotten items. i could feel a thousand pairs of eyes on my back.

Even the associate that I asked where I could find a certain stronger, tougher wood, looked at me like she was dreaming that I was actually talking to her that she didn't say a word but only tried to squeak out directions and ended up just pointing to an aisle. Then when I said "thank you" and walked away she squealed and ran away to tell her co-workers about her brush with a celeb. Well I guess I should be glad that I made someone's day better but it irked me that I was being treated like I was some God. Really people I, Sterling Sandman Knight aka a husband and daddy, just came in here for some items, no big deal.

I had asked Demi if she could take Kay and Sonny away from the house cause I wanted to build the house without having two inquistives and trying to be helpful but unfortuantely getting in my way and making things 2x harder without meaning to be underfoot while I am working with heavy and dangerous pieces of wood and tools which could hurt anyone who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I hurt Kay and Sonny in anyway, I would feel so bad and be so apologetic, like staying by their side through their recovery even if it's a minor scratch. When any of my girls hurt, I hurt with them cause that is how much I love them.

Demi took the girls to the library to get some books for bedtime reading, Demi and I read to the girls everynight before bed to get them excited about learnign to read themselves one day, and to see the "Playtime Puppeters" put on the play "Cinderella", the girls' favorite fairy tale, in the local park before playtime in the playground. Hopefully the girls will be gone for awhile cause by the amount of pieces of wood and nails I bought, it will take me awhile and I don't want to have to make the backyard off limits to the girls until I finish their surprise cause that would make Kay and Sonny really sad cause they love going outside to play. Kayleigh and Sonny could spend all day outside, riding their bikes, drawing on the sidewalk with chalk and doing gymnastics on the front lawn and actually put up a fuss when it is time to come in for dinner.

Ok when I got home and looked at all the materials, I could feel my stress level increase and my gut tense up in anticipation of the many hours I will have to spend on the treehouse. Ok time to get down to business and hopefully it won't take me all day like I fear it will be. First of all I needed to read the directions before I started and darn it if the instructions weren't cystal clear or easy to follow, you know step by step instructions to make the whole process easier. They were like "Nail piece A into piece D with a 3\4 from the side" kind of thing and for a first timer like me, that was like another language.

I am glad that the girls weren't there at the moment cause man was it really really hard not to swear and beat up the material. They just weren't working with me, I kept getting splinters from the wood and hitting my fingers with the hammer which would make me stifle my curses and sucking my finger as I grimace with pain. I am pretty sure I looked like an idiot to my neighbours as I used one piece of wood to beat up the work I have gotten done in frustration and yell at it for not listening to me. But it did help my stress level and make me feel a little better so I guess my tantrum helped.

It took me awhile, like say all afternoon well into the early evening, when I hit the last nail and stood back to observe my work and I have to say that I did a pretty good job on the treehouse. I mean it had all the parts in the right place and was tough enough that when I did a test run it didn't fall apart. My neighbours probably thought I was the biggest kid ever, climbing all over up a ladder and entering a treehouse that obviously was way too small for me, my head kept hitting the ceiling but hey I needed to check out what my sweet, innocent angels would be playing all over so that I can be 100% certain it won't fall apart and hurt Kayleigh and Sonny badly cause then I will know that I didn't do my job of protecting my little girls of any hurt and pain.

When the girls came back, the girls were really anxious to see their new treehouse but Sonny came home all dirty, muddy and not understanding why she needed a bath before dinner. So after a nice, warm and a water splashing contest, both girls were clean and looking aodrable in their footie pjs. The girls gave a small protest when Demi and I said that since they were already bathed, in their PJs and already had dinner, that it was not the time to go play in the treehouse but that as soon as they got up and were ready for the day, they were more then welcome to play as much as they wanted in their new toy.

The only way that Sonny and Kay would go to bed without any fuss or protest which knowing little Miss Sonshine is quite an accomplishment is to see their new toy. According to my youngest sleep is boring and will try any tactic she can come up with in her little brain to stall going to bed to mine and Demi's utter dismay and make us fall into bed each night more dead tired then hours at the recording studio and TV station could ever make us.

By the girls' expressions you think we had given Kayleigh and Sonny their biggest dream or they saw their idols, Kay- Princess Cinderella and Sonny- Tinkerbell. Their eyes went wide and their mouths dropped open as they gazed up at the treehouse and walked slowly over to it. Then it was time for the girlie happy squeals complete with jumping and down while exclaiming "OMG daddy it is really purty. Mommy look at what daddy made us. Isn't it bootiful?".

Then both Kayleigh and Sonny glomped onto me; almost taking me down with their energy but I was thrilled that my efforts were being so greatly welcomed and appreciated with such enthusiam. I got kisses from all my girls, the girls rained kisses on my cheecks and Demi gave me a soft, tender and loving kiss right on the lips. Hmm I should do sweet and caring things more often, no matter how frustrated I might get, as long as I get a huge thnak you hugs and kisses from my three angels, the pain and frustration means nothing to me.

Sonny and Kayleigh were put to bed with miminal fuss or giving Demi and me a hard time. When the girls were tucked into bed, Demi gave me her own congrads, she was so proud of me that I was able to build the treehouse and not offend the neighbours with young children by swearing and carrying on cause she was sure that the building wasn't the easiest thing ever to do. In between cuddles and kisses, Demi dressed my wounds with neosporin and Scobby Doo band-aids and more of her loving, tender and loving kisses which totally made the cuts and scraps feel much better and pulse with more love then pain. Hmm I should get hurt more often for some loving care from my own nursemaid and get more kisses and snuggles from Demi. But for now it is nighty night until tommarrow when my angels can try out their new toy.

Demi's POV

I didn't think Kayleigh and Sonny could get anymore adorable then they already are, though everyday they surprise me with new ways to make Sterling and I go "aww" at our little darlings' actions and things they say about what is happening around them. I have to say as a biased mommy to two adorable, smart and sweet little girls that it seems like everything they say and do is adorable to me cause I love them with all my heart. But what happened this morning took the cake.

At 7 am, I was awoken by loud noises downstairs, I didn't think it were robbers cause who in their right mind would rob a house at 7am? But being the mindful and over protective mommy I am, I had to check on the girls but first I needed to check out the noise to make sure a stranger hadn't entered my house and wanted to hurt the people I love so I gingerly got out of bed since Sterling was so sleepy and sore from his hard work and needed his beauty sleep, though he is already handsome so he doesn't need beauty sleep.

The sight I saw in the kitchen made me both grimace and go "aww"; the kitchen was a diaster area; flour, surgar, and dough covered every inch of the counter and my wide eyed, flour and egg yolked covered little girls. Kayleigh and Sonny looked like they were in the middle of stiring the batter in the big bowl that was too big that neither girl could properly hold it so it kept crashing to the floor spilling some more batter onto the floor, good thing it was plastic or the girls would have to deal with glass in their tiny feet.

When the girls saw me, they ran to me, wrapped their little arms around my legs and at once exclaimed; "Mommy, please help us. We want to make panycakes for daddy to say tanks for the purty treehouse but it went heywire on us!" One look at their desperate looks and knowing that they had made this humogous mess to try in their innocence to do something sweet for their daddy as a thank you and I rushed into help them. How can I be mad at them for making a mess when it was for good intentions.

I helped the girls clean up the mess with lots of sponges and soap and then helped the girls make up a new pancake mixture while reminding them that they had to keep their voices down from squealing about how excited they are about being able to play on ther new treehouse and surprising their daddy with their special treat cause I didn't want to wake up Sterling and ruin the surprise we had all planned.

When the apple pancakes were all toasty brown and the tray was covered in a cup of hot coffee, the plate of pankackes, syrup and culterly, we climbed the stairs with me carrying the tray while Sonny held the rest of the pancakes on a plastic plate and Kayleigh with their sippy cups of milk. When we reached Sterling and mine's room, Kay and Sonny put their held items down on the carpet, rushed as fast as their little legs could carry them into the room, jumped onto the bed and started to jump up and down on it while yelling "Daddy, wakey wakey. We have a surpise for you. Well mommy helped but Sonny and I did the work too"

When Sterling woke up with a growl and lunge for the girls, gathering the girls up in his arms and holding them close while tickling the heck out them although from their playful screams and peals of laughter both Sonny and Kayleigh were enjoying every moment of their daddy attack. I picked up the items on the floor so they wouldn't get knocked down in case the tickling game moved from out of the bedroom to the rest of the house. After I had put the food on the bedside table I stood there with a sweet smile at how gorgeous picture my own little family was in front of me and capturing the moment in my memory.

Soon the game was over when Sterling noticed the tray of food and asked where it had come from. Sonny and Kayleigh explained in rush but excited tones about how they had gotten up willingly at 7 am without any help from anyone and had tried to make pancakes for their daddy to say thank you for making their new treehouse but it was a lot harder then mommy makes it out to be, aww thanks honeys, so mommy had to help them. We all got kisses as a thank you although lucky me got a warm, long, tender kiss right on my lips complete with a loving glance afterward from Sterling. Then it was time for breakfast of yummy, fluffy pancakes and talks about what Kayleigh and Sonny wanted to do when they get their hands on their new treehouse. Right now I am enjoying spending some quiet time with my family.

1 comment:

  1. I loved how they got up in the morning just for their daddy :D and the tickle monster awwww :)

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