Forgive me for being so lax about writing these last few weeks. I finally did what my Dr. advised me to do, I rested . I am not good at resting and even while recovering from my surgery I found things to do that kept the mind active but the body safely still. One of those projects was a to make my 26-year-old son a Minion welding helmet. He had seen them on-line and wanted one but was not able to afford the 175 dollar price tag. So he asked me if I could make something close to this.

I knew it would only take a couple of days and would look wonderful when finished. So while the weather was nice I took the old welding hood and washed any oil and dirt off. I ruffed up the old paint with a scratch pad and sprayed on a  couple of coats of bright yellow spray paint.

.

The details were painted with artist quality acrylic paint. The hood lens frame was painted after removing the making tape. Then I let the whole thing dry over night. The following day I masked off the black strap lines and added hair.I used a Sharpy black marker to block out the areas for the teeth and tong. Then painted in the details on the face. 

the eye-ball is actually painted onto a clear hood lens that can be removed at any time and replaces the blue/green lens that my son actually uses when working with his welding torches. The eye can be reversed so that it appears to be looking upwards.  Then I applied two coats of acrylic top coat to the paint. Let everything dry a couple of days and gave it to my son for his 26th birthday. He seems to really like it and I think the other guys at work will no longer mix his hood up with theirs!

Categories: Birthday, Cody, DIY projects, family fun, Personal art work, Uncategorized, welding Hood Tags: Art, Cody A Powers, DIY projects, Personal art work, welding Hood

Today is my oldest sons birthday and he is 23 years old and  few days ago was my husbands 50th birthday and we celebrated with a nice party with friends and family. It was a great ending to the month that has been very hard. Seems everyone in the family is facing some kind of health issue that needs dealt with in a serious way and it is draining. So a party was the very best thing I could think of  to lighten the load for everyone.

Thomas A Powers, Cody A Powers, Paige A Powers, Christopher T Powers at tom 50th birthday Party

It is the first time in several years that we were able to get some many of the family together in one spot. It has been years since Tom was able to sit a talk to his sisters and mother all together. I had not really thought about it while planing that party but we were all so lucky to see 4 generations together at this party.

Powers family photo, 4 generations of the family of Thomas E Powers and Wanda G Powers

It was this same week that we discovered that Toms mother is very ill and will be going to Mary Babb Cancer Center at the Ruby Memorial Hospital for treatments in Morgan Town, West Virginia. She will be finishing up tests this week and the family will have a clearer idea of what the future will hold for all of us. Making this birthday party even more meaningful for my son and husband.

Memories flood my mind as I look at the photos that I have taken over the years of my wonderful sons life and how we  are a really close family. That we are so blessed to see him and his wife every few days and share phone conversations sometimes daily. Not everyone has this and I understand it is a real treasure to have your children close to you, to spend time doing things, laughing and talking. It is hard to really grasp the amount of changes that children go through over the course of 23 years but here are a few moments in time that I found today.

Tom Powers holding week old Cody Powers

Thomas Powers loading a fishing hook for Cody Powers age 3

Cody Powers feeding the deer age 4

Cody Holding small mouth bass age 7

Cody smoken the tires in one of his first trucks age 17

Cody A Powers wedding day Dec 10th 2011

Cody Powers with tucker the blue tick hound

Cody, Jamie and Paige Powers a young family 4/2013

I hope that he has a wonderful day and that his life is full of love, adventure, and learning.I am so happy I am part of your life , Happy Birthday!

Categories: Birthday, Cody, Family, family fun, photo review Tags: Birthdays, Cody A Powers, Cody Powers, family fun, family parties, Party, Thomas A Powers, Tom A Powers