Father's Day 2014

Talk about packing in the celebrating while living with the Valentines! In our short stay which may feel long for two other people ; ) we have celebrated three birthdays, two anniversaries, Mother's Day & Father's Day. Sweet Charlotte asked me (again) recently "how many more sleeps till my birthday?" & "when is kid's day?" I told her everyday is kid's day with a smile on my face I could just not hide....she is so cute & that is SUCH a valid question for an almost five year old.  We are feeling the stress of living in transition so it did seem that Father's Day snuck up on me but we put together a mini makeshift banner with the supplies on hand & took a few pictures for the favorite Daddy around here....

My original plan was to have them ready in enough time to print from my favorite photo printing website but like I said, Father's Day was sneaky this year so I settled for uploading to Walmart on Saturday morning & going with family in tow to pick them up. Total BAD idea.....mostly Walmart, partly family in tow. I try to give Walmart a fair shot but I have not encountered too many employees that happen to have excellent customer service skills to put it nicely. I was a little ticked off....or maybe a lot ticked off because Robby was like "Whoa, calm down, what is going on?" So I had to ruin the surprise & tell him that I was getting pictures printed for him. After hearing me out he refused to let me pay them a penny for photos & said he wouldn't want them if they came from there. Ha! So, we finished up our shopping, headed home & planned to show him the pictures via laptop screen the following morning.

Sunday we hoped would be relaxing & it was partially. We fired up the smoker, filled up the mini swimming pool & played outside all day long.  By the end of the day we realized once again that there is just not a whole lot of relaxing with really young children near a hot smoker, a pool or a sandbox with tasty sand. We made the best of it though & look forward to a re-do next year ; )

In our time outside, Char watered the garden for Papa. We have been amazed at how quickly it has grown & all that we have harvested thus far considering it was all planted Mother's Day weekend. After our rain in the past 24 hours the far right is all taller than Charlotte. Crazy!

The pool was a blast for those who liked to act ridiculously crazy ...

Others (like Owee-O) were more comfortable watching from the side.

and Chubsters, he was happiest in guess what? His high chair, with food in his mouth. Here he is doing his best Jack Benny impersonation. I was unaware of this funny man from years ago but Bob noticed Anson doing this move often & said he looked just like Jack Benny so after a week of saying "Anson! Jack Benny!" He does this...

When not standing poolside or strapped in a high chair, these two stayed happy in their "pretty in pink" chairs.


Jack Benny got some sugars from that Daddy we were celebrating as he passed by to check on the smoker once again. He was hard to catch on camera that day do to his "smokin'" but we did get a few.

We saw a lot of this....

That was a DELICIOUS rack of ribs wrapped on the left. No matter how rough a go it is on the smoker for him, it is always amazing when we we sit down at the table. I am glad he keeps going back for another round!

Daddy & his girls...

Those two girlies were excited to show Daddy all the questions & answers from our Father's Day interview. 

All about my Daddy

By Charlotte

-Father’s Day 2014-

What is Daddy’s name? um Rob

How old is Daddy? 49

What is Daddy's favorite color? Gray
What does Daddy do for fun? Plays hide & seek tag with us
What does Daddy like to watch on TV? The horse race & race cars 
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? I love to color with Daddy 
What does Daddy say a lot? He says a lot of words to us like “we be disciplined”

Why does Mommy love Daddy? because He married you
What does Daddy do at work? He works with his friends & looks up stuff on his computer

Who does Daddy love? Mommy & he loves us too

Where is Daddy’s favorite place to go? Chuy’s

What does Daddy call you? He says “Charlotte” like “Moses” in that movie we like

What's Daddy's favorite thing to eat? Goulash that Papa makes
What makes Daddy laugh? Silly faces

What makes Daddy sad? When we disobey him
What makes Daddy smile? When we obey him 
How does Daddy help you? Daddy helps me learn how to obey

How do you show Daddy you love him? I obey him
What's your very favorite thing about Daddy? He has short hair

We were laughing so hard later about how much obedience/disobedience talk there was. I guess that reveals a bit of what has been going on lately ; ) He is sweet on his big girl though...

It was Eloise's first time with the questions & she didn't miss a beat....and she was hilarious.

All about my Daddy

By Eloise

-Father’s Day 2014-

What is Daddy’s name? Rob

How old is Daddy? 3

What is Daddy's favorite color? Black, like this (pointing at Daddy’s work bag)
What does Daddy do for fun? Plays wif me & he chase
What does Daddy like to watch on TV? The News 
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? I like when Daddy does that “sh sh” song so I can dance 
What does Daddy say a lot? He say that “sh sh” song

Why does Mommy love Daddy? Because he really cute
What does Daddy do at work? Plays with his friends

Who does Daddy love? Mommy

What is Daddy’s favorite thing to do with you? He yike to play chase & fight & tickle

Where is Daddy’s favorite place to go? He yike to go to work

What does Daddy call you? He calls me sneezy

What's Daddy's favorite thing to eat? He yike when I make him some goulash like Papa
What makes Daddy laugh? When I do this face (eyes to the side)

What makes Daddy sad? When I do this (makes a mean face)
What makes Daddy smile? When I make goulash 
How does Daddy help you? He help me obey

How do you show Daddy you love him? I make him goulash, I makin' him goulash right now!
What's your very favorite thing about Daddy? He play with me

It is pretty apparent that Eloise was hung up on goulash which was soooo funny to us. One night Bob threw some random things in with pasta/sauce & called it Goulash. It was pretty tasty, the girls are hooked on it & think that Daddy is too! 

He's pretty sweet on that littlest girlie pie too....

I did fail to mention that the night leading up to Father's Day was nothing less than exciting but looking at Charlotte's lip in the photo above is a good reminder of what should be included.  We put the girls to bed & expected them to stay there, like we do every night.... yet they came out, like they do every night. Although a common occurrence, this time ended with a lot of blood.  Somehow they crashed into each other in the hallway & we heard awful screams.  By the time we got to them, they had run all the way back to their room. Robby said he had it under control & closed the door but within seconds was yelling for me to get back in there. Char had her hands over her mouth until we could convince her to relax enough for us to take a look. There was blood all over her hands & mouth but once we figured out where it was coming from we stopped it fairly quickly.  Her top teeth on the left side had cut into the inside of her lip leaving some fleshy pieces dangling for lack of a better phrase. Sorry if that is too much detail. We were debating on heading to the ER. We called Grammy in for a consult since she took Uncle Steve to the ER for stitches quite frequently in his early years. I also gave my Uncle a call who happens to be an Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon, how perfect?! I described what I saw & he said we were probably good to stay at home. THANKFUL we took his advice because she has healed up quite nicely. 

If you remember, Char has most recently healed from her literal "run-in" with the big red truck which I missed while I was in Dallas for my interview. I had only heard stories of that husband of mine & his father of the year worthy interaction with a panic stricken child until the eve of Father's Day when I got to experience it first hand. I was utterly impressed by his ability to remain completely calm & in turn calm his sweet baby girl down. Even though I am a nurse, with my own kids, I can be a little extreme with the first reaction usually sending them into a new state of hysteria upon minor injuries. That being said, God knew that one of us needed to be cool, calm & collected so He gifted Rob in that way. I have a feeling with two boys bringing up the caboose, we may be just getting started on debating whether to go to the ER or not ; ) 

Last year in June, Owen & Anson were just barely four months old. MUCH has changed & I have loved seeing Rob be a father to four little ones including twins that are busier every day!  I love that the look like his baby pictures, especially Anson & their eyes are more brown than the lighter color they started. 

So, following our wild evening of contemplating a trip to the ER we decided to take it easy & relax on the couch once the kids were in bed. I had just filled up my nightly bowl of Blue Bell, collapsed in the chair & hit play on a show we were watching when I looked over & noticed some flashing lights. I asked Rob what it was from & he peeked out the front window & noticed an officer who had someone pulled over in front of the house across the street, cuffed & sitting on the sidewalk with one or two others. In the very moment he looked he yelled "No way! He's running!" & the guy took off to the back of the house with officers running behind. The other two walked back in the front door & then the "excitement" began.

Within minutes the street was flooded with flashing lights & officers everywhere. I was staying put eating my ice cream while Robby updated me from the window. All of the sudden he said in a very serious tone "get the kids out of the front rooms now!" I grabbed Elo who had been in our bed & threw her into Bob & Jeannine's bed then Jeannine & I scooped up sleeping babes & got comfy in their room with Eloise. The newest update was that their were officers with guns drawn at the house including one with a rifle hiding out behind the air conditioning unit about 8 feet outside the kitchen window. They were taking cover behind our vehicles parked out front! What??? It was crazy. They were on a loud speaker saying "We know you are in there, come out with your hands up!" One guy came out on his own & long story short, it went on for quite sometime so we put the pack in plays in the bathroom & put the boys back to sleep & moved Lolo back in with Char. I had already taken my melatonin pill to help my drift off sleep more easily & by the time we were an hour & a half in, I was nearly in Lala land so I had to lay down & be updated later. They never found anyone in the house & the street cleared up by the time we fell asleep but man oh man, two nights in a row of absurdity, one inside the house & one out!

All that to say, every Father's Day looks a little different & to reiterate, we are looking forward to a re-do in 2015 ; ) As I consider how thankful I am for my husband, I think of how he is steady day in & day out. He trusts the Lord, he gives & gives of himself to best care for our family, he recognizes my struggles & walks with me through them, he lovingly disciplines our children & helps me do the same. He is honest with me about his own failures. He is hilarious & finds humor in situations that are stressful. He is present with me in the craziness of life right now with the Fab Four & their unending needs. I love being his wife.

To help encourage him to find humor in potentially stressful situations ie parenting, I got him a copy of Jim Gaffigan's new book called "Dad is Fat". This guy is a stand up comedian with five very young children which provide for ample amount of "material." We have read a few chapters to each other once the kids are in bed & have shared some good laughs so far. I highly recommend laughing and this book : )