So I believe it was on Wed. that I decided to make T-Shirts to cheer the guys on during the marathon. I wanted to keep it a surprise. So that night I took JJ with me and we bought a shirt for Tanner and myself (I already had one for JJ). We then stopped at Liz's to pick up a shirt for her, it's not unusual that we were out that way and JJ wanted to see Damean, so Dave wouldn't think anything was up. When Dave went to his meeting that night I washed mine and Tanner's shirt and painted the front of Liz's and Jayden's shirt. And I hid them in Tanner's room to dry so Dave wouldn't see them.
They don't get their numbers until they picked up their packets, which Ralph and Andrew were doing Friday morning. So I left the spot for the number blank until I knew what it was.
I printed it out and then traced it onto the shirt. The boys shirts I could see through but the others it was a little hard. So I made my own light board... I used a glass cutting board and taped the paper to it. I took Jaydens lamp and took the shade off of it and put it on the floor. I spread my legs with the cutting board on them and the light underneath, and traced. If it was day light and warm out side I would have opened the window, pulled it out like I do when cleaning them and used that as a light board.
The front of Jayden's and Tanner's both said "That's my daddy #3361"
The front of mine said "That's my man #3361"
The front of Liz's said "That's my dad #3362" (we were afraid if it said "daddy" people may think it's the daddy of the baby in her belly, so we decided on "dad").
On Thursday morning before preschool I painted (yes, I used fabric paint and painted it with a brush) the back of mine and Tanner's and the back of Jayden's and Liz's and did Jayden's hand print. The hand print is supposed to be like a hi five. I decided then that I would go to AC Moore and buy 4 more shirts that anyone could wear, I knew Becky might change her mind and want to wear one and her sister, niece and parents might wear one too. And if they didn't we could hold it up like a banner. I washed those while JJ was still in preschool. You can read those four on the right of the picture below...
This is the back of Jayden's shirt...
This is the back of Tanner's shirt...
Then I think it was Thursday afternoon that I did the back of mine and Tanner's shirt and the front of the other 4 shirts. And I hid them in drawers in our bedroom to lay flat to dry. I used drawers that we don't normally use this time of year. And two of the drawers where in Tanner's dresser that I know Dave never goes in. I also put some in the top of some storage bins where I have the clothes the boys had out grown.
Around 1 p.m. on Friday Andrew texted me with their numbers. So I quickly painted it on the front of my shirt, the boy's and Liz's shirt. Dave was getting off of work at 2:30 and the paint says to lay flat to dry for 4 hours. I had to have these dry and folded up in the bottom of my bag before Dave got home. So I held a hair dryer on them for 20 minutes. They seemed pretty dry after that so I just put them in the living room under the ceiling fan until I had to pack them. I was watching Ben and Carolynn and Ben had walked into the room where the shirts were and JJ immediately said "Don't go in their, those are my Daddy's racing shirts! You can't ruin his racing shirts!" It was so cute!
I knew I wouldn't have time to paint the numbers on the back of Liz's shirt, the back says "and my brothers, #3360, #3361." So when Dave thought he was going to sleep with his parents so our boys didn't wake him up, I quickly used a fabric marker to write them on. Then I moved her shirt to the closet shelf to dry and a couple minutes later Dave came up and decided to sleep with me and take the chance of the boys waking him up. I was glad I moved it so he couldn't see it.
I had told Dave the boys and I were going to wear red to match him. I had their red shirts laid out and and had my on when he left to get Andrew and Ralph so I could get a picture before they left. Then I decided he would be looking for a group in red and decided to put my shirt on and show him. So he knew what to look for. He liked it but only got to read the front. He didn't see the back until after the race.
While I was waiting for him around mile 13 one of the runners yelled "I'm your man!" It was pretty funny. I got a lot of compliments on the shirts and one lady asked where I got them. I'm grateful for the compliments, it made me feel good. But I'm really glad the guys like them!
Jayden was the most excited about wearing the shirt! After I get it washed I think he's going to wear it to preschool.
