Father's Day

Father's Day this year is a little bittersweet for us. We had a great weekend because my mom came for the girls' dance recital and she brought two of my little nieces with her. We always love seeing our nieces, and although it was a short time they were here, we had so much fun with them. The younger one is hilarious, she's always cracking everyone up. The older one is such a sweetie, and she's just a year younger than Lindsay (and they're in the same grade) so they play fabulously. So the bummer is that my mom left today with my nieces and all of my kids. They always go to Grandma's house during the summer for about six weeks. It's nice for them because they get to escape the heat, they get to see a lot of family they don't get to see very much during the school year, and of course they get spoiled by grandparents. Not to mention we feel like it's good for them to have the independence of being away from mom and dad every year. My mom loves it because she always loves spending time with the kids, and I think this summer is going to be harder for her because my dad is never home (he's a long haul truck driver), so at least of the next six weeks she has the kids to occupy her. And we love it because it gives us some time to spend with just each other, focusing on our marriage and having a break from being mom and dad all the time. I really think this is one of the reasons our marriage is so strong. Beginning our marriage with one child and adding a honeymoon baby nine months later didn't give us the time together we wish we had back then, so it's really nice to be able to spend that time connecting with just my husband. This year was harder to say goodbye to them for some reason though. Usually on the first day, I might cry when they leave, but that's it for at least a week. Not today, though. I don't feel like I got to spend the time with them that I wanted to before they left, so I'm pretty bummed. As I told them when they left, though, I'll see them in just two weeks, so I'm trying to toughen up and enjoy my time with my sweetheart.

So I frantically tried to put together a good present for J the last couple days, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I let each kid write whatever they wanted to for their dad, I just gave them a couple questions they could answer so they would have an idea where to start. Bailey and Cole both wrote about why their dad is awesome, and Lindsay about why her dad is her best friend. I love that it's in their own handwriting and their thoughts completely.