Dad's Day...

We had a great weekend long topped off with an exceptional Sunday. Ryan wanted nothing more than to clean out the garage - so we obliged. While we were busy throwing the most random stuff away like old paint brushes and instructions to things that we don't even own anymore,  the kids set up a giant fort made out of every single umbrella we own. 

And this is the part where I remember that I didn't take one dang picture of it. 

Ugh. 

It was amazing. Seriously so cool - they spent hours in that thing. Reading, playing, changing clothes(!), you name it. Just normal fun. We paused for lunch, cooled down for a bit and then headed back to finish our work. Then it was time for a family water balloon fight. 

Which basically ends in tears because those things HURT y'all. Radley and I started using them as baseballs and busted them with the bat - that was actually pretty fun!

And then we went around back, set up our WT water tower, and enjoyed the view. 

I walked over to Ryan, handed him a beer, pointed to the trampoline and said, "Happy Father's Day - I got you some kids." 

And he replied, "that's all I've ever wanted."

I'll never be a foodie blogger...

We love food around here. All different kinds, any flavor, texture, color or taste. We love food and there is pretty much nothing we won't try or make our kids try. We are always trying new recipes or making up our own. And, if I do say so myself, they usually turn out pretty tasty.

But. I could never be a foodie blogger. 

I mean, I start off strong enough documenting the process...

And then I get distracted or a kid needs to tell me something, tattle on someone or ask me a question that is really tattling on someone. 

(We ate in the dining room for the first time ever. Emmy set the table.)

Ryan has decided that Sunday's are his day to cook. The last three weeks he has spent all day in the kitchen cooking up a storm of delightful eats and treats. 

So, it should be pretty easy to document because I really only have to take pictures. 

But, the helpers are so much more fun to photograph.

Especially when they are sneaking tastes when they don't think anyone is looking.

We take food pretty serious around here. But, we also take the time we spend preparing the food and sharing the food serious. And those are the moments I'll keep trying to document. 

Father's Day Fun...

I'd say that Daddy's Day got started out just as it should... with donuts. I think our count ended at 10 for this one... and I'm not exaggerating. The girls loves a powdered donut. 

After breakfast, the men folk headed out for a round of golf while the women folk stayed home, churned butter, baked bread, and knitted socks. (Or just made potato salad, baked beans, and dessert... but same difference).

Ryan sent me a text around hole 15 to let me know that Radley was playing like Tiger Woods (which is code for, "can we please please please just join the Club already). They came home adequately tired and crammed in a quick nap before lunch. 

There is basically no transition sentence alive for this picture. My princess firefighter. With a wand that ironically looks like a Cruella De Ville cigarette. I think she pulls off the look well. 

And the only thing to cool down that heat... WATER!

A split decision to spend $8 ended up being the most fun afternoon for these four and the six adults that were watching. The giggles and squeals did not stop - the neighbors even came out and watched for a bit.

Uncle Pete lent a hand just to make sure the girls made it the whole way down.

But Radley's running start made sure that he hit the blue at the end (that and the palmolive soap we added).

I remember sitting at the luxurious Lake Bryan on Mother's Day thinking about how great life would be if we just celebrated every single day in the simplest ways.   

I love that these "Hallmark holidays" force us to stop and give pause. Force us to do what we should do every day -- celebrate those we love with the ones we love.

Create the most adorable moments that we should have all the time. Because you can't get away with showing your cheeks forever, right? 

I mean, when was the last time you stopped and put your mouth over a sprinkler to catch some water? We can't possibly do that anymore, can we?

And just as I was thinking about what fun childhood is to watch... I looked up to see this...

Out of all the things that I love about my baby daddy... this is at the top of the list. His ability to enjoy and laugh and joke and just BE with the kids. He sees so much fun in them. He LOVES their silly. He IS silly. He has sword fights. He lets them watch movies that he shouldn't. He plays dress up. He knows how to fix the girls' hair. He does the most annoying things that I can't help but laugh at. He makes me want to be better at appreciating those child-like moments of the kids that I feel like can "get in the way" of whatever task is on my list. 

He makes me give pause, kick off my shoes and enjoy the simple of life. 

And I really love him for it!

Happy Daddy's Day!

Happy Father's Day...

Ryan - Hi.

This is awkward, but I didn't get you anything for Father's Day.

Well, technically I "got" you, Radley, Emersyn and Landry which qualifies you for this holiday, so there's that.

But, I didn't really buy you anything. And I know you are okay with that. I know that because you are okay with being last. You are okay with missing out. You are okay with doing without. For us.

So my gift is simply my gratitude.

Thank you for being the Dad that...

* Never ever made me change a diaper in the middle of the night with newborns. Not once. Not once do I remember doing anything more than waking you up to tell you the baby was hungry. You would go get him/her, change the diaper, and hand the baby to me. I would feed him/her, wake you back up and you would then go put the baby down.

* Thinks it's odd when you meet other Dads that don't know "how" to change a diaper.

* Has never once referred to watching our children as babysitting.

* Lets me think of crazy things to do, listens and then helps me figure out how to make it happen. Like dragging a bed in the middle of May out to a pecan orchard for the "perfect picture". Or stopping on the side of the road to pick some flowers. Or letting me think that driving for 20 hours with 3 kids in a small car was doable and would be totally fun. (And you would have done it, too!)

* Tries to be at everything. Sure, you miss out on some stuff. What parent doesn't it. But you try to change your schedule as much as possible to be able to see every show, attend every practice, be at every game, festival or week night event. Even if it means that you have to go back to work until the wee hours of the night to finish something.

* Supports my passions. My work, my volunteerism, my heavy load of whatever... you have done nothing but make sure that I am doing what I love to do. This allows me to be a better parent and I appreciate it more than you know.

* Traded in Dave Chappell, for Disney. ;) Haha... oh the TV you were used to watching has quickly become a forgotten memory that is replaced with the very real of today. (Although I hear some of the choices you make when it comes to TV as I am falling asleep).

* Takes the time to teach our kids. Whether it's soccer or sorting laundry... I always hear you talking to the kids about the "why" of a task. You never say, "because"... you take the time to explain the process and I love that.

* Buying random things in the store because it reminds you of one of the kids.

* Gets excited for any achievement that one of us has. Whether that's potty training, writing their name, or scoring soccer goals - you are so excited about their success and THEY are so happy to please you.

* Is my partner. You do some things differently than I would, and that's ok. We each have our strengths (yours is usually in patience, rational thinking and anything that doesn't include over-reacting) and I love that we compliment each other. Thank you for teaching me how to be better at lots of things.

* Calls us when you work late so that you don't miss prayer time. I love that we pray together as a family each night. I love that we trade who says the prayer. I love that we each pause to say what/who we are thankful for that day. I LOVE that you started this family tradition.

* Goes from playing ninja fighter with Radley to dress up with the girls in a matter of minutes. You are seriously the world's best fort builder, lego creator, hide and seeker, imagination maker ever. You remind me to enjoy the fun side of parenting. SOOOOOO often I am task to task to task that I forget to have fun. And you make sure that I don't.

* Enjoys the "softer" side of parenting... you can't get enough of the snuggle time each one of them and I love that you appreciate this tender age they are each in.

* Does bath time duties. The end. Period. THANK YOU!

* Makes me want to be the best momma and wife I can be.


This list could go on and on (and knowing me when I think of something, I will log back in and add it), but the point of it is to say thank you.

Thank you for being one of the "great ones."

Thank you for wanting to be a great dad.

Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for working hard for us.

Thank you for teaching us.

Thank you for loving us.

Thank you for you.

Happy Daddy's Day.

From this to THAT...

We love a project around here. We especially love a project that includes spending $15 or less!!!!  I am going to try to track our redoing, revamping, refurbishing addiction in a fun way to show you that if we can do it - you can do it!

So today, I present: From This to THAT: A wardrobe makeover fit for a princess! :) 

The girls love playing dress up and it just so happens that Santa brought them the cutest handmade by "elves" princess dresses for Christmas. We were quickly running out of dress up clothes space and I knew that we needed something to contain it all. I wanted something that would match Emmy's room and that looked more like a piece of furniture than a store bought storage unit. And then I remembered we had some old chest of drawers in storage. 

I thought that we could remove the top three drawers, add a dowel rod, paint it and voila! A princess wardrobe! (And that is where my contribution ended). 

So, Ryan drove to storage and got to work. 

First he removed the drawers and rails. Then he and Radley began the process of sanding and removing the veneer facade and sanding some more. 

Then he spray painted the interior this lovely aqua color and "killzed" the outside of the furniture. (We probably should have also killzed the interior, but we figured there would be a ton of dresses hanging inside and you wouldn't notice the blotchy spots.) On a whim I bought some aqua glitter spray paint and he added a light layer on front. And so ended my ban of glitter. 

He had to patch a few spots to get the wood even, then sanded the sides down and added one more layer of Kilz.

We had some cream paint in the garage that he used for the base. To give the piece that distressed look, he brushed on some dark wood stain and then painted it again. He repeated this process a couple of times to get that perfect distressed look.

He ran into one issue that we didn't plan for - the base of the piece broke off, so he ended up having to build one for the bottom drawer to work correctly. (I was at work when this happened and he didn't take pictures. I think it involved a saw, some sanding, some nails and wood glue). 

It basically turned out 100 times more adorable than I could have imagined!!!

(Side note: this picture illustrates perfectly why you shouldn't take photos in green rooms. Yellow caste pictures. Ick.)

We added some glass knobs to give it a girly touch and I would never have known that he added the piece on the bottom - super proud of my handy husband!

This is the perfect piece for all of their girly goodness!

And they were pretty ecstatic when they saw it!

Needless to say, only seconds passed before it was no longer an organized master piece. 

They have had the best time getting down their own dresses, picking out shoes, putting on jewelry and strutting around in their dresses. 

Thanks, babe for being such a wonderful Daddy! Our sweet girls are lucky to have you!

Daddy's Day...

We had to get a little creative when celebrating Father's Day this year. As I have learned all to well... planning really has no purpose. :) I decided to ride to Baton Rouge with Pops and Pete to visit MaMaw; we felt that it was smarter to leave the kids at home since it would be such a quick trip and we would be hanging out in a hospital for 24 hours. 

So, since I would miss most of Father's Day, we decided to start the celebration early. When Ryan got home on Friday we had a little craft surprise set up for him. And while Ryan was excited, can we pause to reflect on that cute little look Emmy is giving Rad.

We had to snap a quick picture before everyone was full of messes. I would also like to note that Radley practically jumped onto Ryan for this picture. 

Ryan is always up for time with the kids - even if it means covering his hands in paint at an attempt to create a keepsake that turned out less than adorable. So un-adorable that I didn't take a picture of it. We tried to make this little diddy that's been floating around pinterest except we thought it would be a good idea to use the colors of the rainbow and it turned out like some sad attempt at 1970s wall art.

But it's about making memories, right?

:)

Saturday morning we left for Baton Rouge and Ryan held the fort down. Saturday included time at the pool and ice cream for dinner along with some of the sweetest bed time prayers you have heard... 

Sunday he got them dressed and took them to church but not before sending me lovely pictures like of giant snot coming out of Emmy after a sneeze. Aren't I the luckiest girl around?  We gave MaMaw kisses goodbye and then headed back to CS where Pops got some Daddy's Day loving from these three...

Then we hung out with our Daddy who took us all out for some ice-cream in our pjs.

We gave him one last squeeze before sending everyone away to dreamland. 

A place where I think I get to live.

And while my life isn't a dream every moment of every day; I have been given a gift in this man. He is far from perfect, he drives me crazy faster than anyone on the planet, he listens about 45% of the time, and he has some 100 items unaccomplished items on his honey-do list.

But.

He is mine. He is ours. He lives for us. He gives us everything he has.

And for that, I am grateful!

Sick days....

Miss L can't seem to shake whatever bug she caught on top of her double ear infection so Ryan and I split baby duty yesterday. She woke up much happier today but since she had a fever last night, we kept her home again. And wouldn't you know it that Mommy caught some of her bug too. 

So we all stayed home today which let Ryan and I enjoy some 1:1 time with the baby of the family and allowed us to reorganize some of the mess that is our toys. I was going to do a "before and after"  post about how nice it is to clean out and see the kind of dramatic differences that just let you breathe easier...but it actually still looks the same. We just shifted things around so that it all fits better to allow the cabinet doors to actually close. We also cleaned out Radley's room and then got in a big "pro/con" discussion of having a toy room. Today the cons won, so Emmy and Landry didn't come home to a shared space. 

Ryan actually did most of the work and I just played around with my camera - trying to actually use all the settings to take pictures beyond using the "auto" setting. 

Luckily she's cute enough that the fuzziness of me trying to manually focus doesn't seem to matter. 

I eventually started getting a little better. 

Today I let her wear my crown...but only because she survived the ickies. 

;)

I think about the day my kids realize actually how many pictures we have taken of them. I see eye rolling, sarcastic comments and exasperated conversations about "did you just follow me around with a camera and take pictures?" 

Yes. Yes I did.

You are welcome. 

The sparkle is back in her eyes!

Wouldn't it be nice to freeze frame life like this? Just turn it into "black and white" and get rid of all the chaos that surrounds us to just be in the moment?

Turns out I really needed a fever to sit at home and enjoy the peace of just being.