Father's Day 2013

R. and Me (circa 2005) - M. and Me  (Feb. 2, 2013)

Today was Father's Day.  It was a lot of fun to see pictures and tributes from friends, family, and other acquaintances to their dads yesterday.

I did a birthday post for my dad's birthday last year.  I'm not sure what else I can add to that.  He's still my dad.  He's still my hero.

The picture above is a composite.  The one on the left is from 2005.  It's a picture of R. and me and I have it framed and it sits in my office. I think it's from watching the fireworks for the 4th of July in 2005.  I love that picture.

The one on the right is from earlier this year and it's a picture of M. and I at S.'s basketball game.  I love how cute and chubby his little arm is and I love how his eyes are locked in on the basketball game.  I also love the way that his hand is resting on the basketball.  It's no secret that we love hoops in my family and I hope M. loves the game as much as I have.

The Rug Rats - June 2013

I'm not the perfect dad, but I'm trying to improve.  I still have a long ways to go. But I'm really grateful that I am their dad.  Happy Father's Day!

My Flower Girl

E. During a Recent Excursion to Legoland

I know next to nothing about raising girls.  And I can't say that E. has made it easy on me.  She is sassy and opinionated.  She is also a total Momma's girl.  She's also not afraid to express her opinions.  I have often wondered whether I'm having any impact on her at all.

But despite my doubts, I know that I have to keep trying.  And hope that eventually I will be able to break through her "tough" outer shell.  It helps that she's adorable.  Or at least that I think that she's the most adorable four year old girl that I've ever met.

E. at R's Piano Recital

I try to consistently let her know that she's cute, that she's smart, that she's special, and that she's loved.  I also try to do stuff like making sure that I give her a kiss and hug every morning before I leave for work and letting her know how excited I am to see her when I get home from work.

I think my efforts are starting to pay off.  E. likes to tease me in the mornings by pretending that she doesn't want a kiss and hug, but then when I head downstairs, she will run after me to chase me down.  She also has started walking me out to the car every morning (which is really cute) and telling me about her big plans for each day.

A White Rose From Our Neighbor's Garden

Today was even better.  As I loaded up the car, she yelled for me to wait for her in the driveway and to not leave.  Then she dashed off down the sidewalk.  I tried to pretend that I didn't see her stop at the neighbor's rose bush.  Then she was back--almost as quickly as she left--with the rose from the picture above in her hand.

"Here Dad, this is for you!"

Even though I'm not normally a big fan of receiving flowers, I was really touched by E.'s sweet gesture.  The fact that she did it all on her own made it even more meaningful.  Sometimes being a dad to a little girl can be a lot of fun...even if I'm still not sure that I know what I'm doing.  =o)

E. Helps Take Care of Her Little Brother--Love That Cute Toothy Smile!

Weekend Update

S. and R. with their  bikes and new helmets on our street today

Well, it's Sunday evening.  I hope that everyone has had a great weekend.  It was fairly relaxing for me, despite having a full day of baseball (2 games) and basketball closing social and potluck yesterday.  It was so busy that I didn't get to my workout until I did 6.2 miles last night (this morning) at 2 a.m.  Yes, I am crazy, but I really needed to get that run in.  And I was happy with my time, so maybe my preparations for Oceanside are coming along.

So without further ado, here is an update on some of the items that I've been blogging about lately:

The Parable of the Bicycle:
Remember this post?  Well, S. has loved his bicycle.  He got it on Monday night and I wasn't able to take him out for his bike riding lesson until yesterday (Saturday).  As I suspected, it took S. about 2 minutes to learn how to ride his bike.  He did great!  (And I feel a lot less guilt!)

He ran out today by himself and was doing laps on our street on his bike.  He will get more confident and faster as he gets more experience, but he is on his way.

After our lesson, I took S. and R. to our local Walmart to get them some new helmets (see above).  Mom, per your instructions, I used the birthday money you sent for S.'s new helmet.!  He didn't have one and he had a lot more confidence today now that he has a new helmet.  He was also really excited to get it last night!

I even took the rest of the kids out to go riding as well since the weather was so beautiful this afternoon:

M. really enjoyed his ride

E. was begging for me to keep doing lap after lap through the neighborhood

My brother even made a surprise visit and wanted to test out S.'s cool new bike

Baseball As Life:
R. had a game yesterday.  He was pretty nervous during batting practice beforehand, but we worked on it together and he actually put the ball in play both times he came to the plate yesterday.  I know that sounds kind of lame, but he didn't strike out and it was definitely an improvement.  I don't care whether he is the world's best baseball player or the world's worst, but I want him to learn to not give up and to keep practicing.  I'm so grateful that he made tangible progress yesterday.

I *Heart* Tyler Haws:
I've been getting my basketball fix with the March Madness tourney.  BYU (and Tyler Haws) will be playing tomorrow night at the Marriott Center.  Too bad I'm not in town.  That would have been a fun game to take the boys to watch.

The BYU women's team is also in the NIT tourney.  They advanced to the third round by beating SDSU on Saturday at the Marriott Center.  They play WCC conference opponent St. Mary's (a team that they played twice this season--beating St. Mary's at home and losing to them on the road) on Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.  Go Cougs!

10 Things I Love About You (Baby M Edition)

February 1, 2013

M. and I got to spend some quality time at R.'s baseball game yesterday.  He is such a cute little guy to hold and I'm trying to enjoy him as much as possible.  He is almost 10 months old and I know that he won't be little forever.

M., here are 10 Things I Love About You over the past 2-3 months:

Holding M. at the game yesterday

10.  I love that he is our biggest baby.  He is chubby which is unusual in our extended family.  At his last check-up, he was in the 90th percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight.  The height thing is normal in our family.  The weight thing is not.  I hope he keeps growing!

Holding M. on my shoulders at Little League Picture Day - 02-23-2013

9.  I love that he loves to sit up on my shoulders.  He does really well up there--I think he appreciates the view!

M. on the swings - 01-24-2013

8.  I love his smile.  He usually gets a big grin on his face when he sees me in the mornings.  I like to call him "Smiley."

M. relaxing at the elementary school's Open House - 02-21-2013

7.  I love how he grabs at the hair on my arms or my shirt when I'm holding him.

M. at play - 01-10-2013

6. I love the way he gurgles and babbles since he's too young to talk.

M. chases down a mini basketball in church - 01-13-2013

5.  I love that M. loves to play ball.  It must be genetic.  :-)

4.  I love the fact that he goes right down at night after I feed him a bottle.

02-01-2013

3.  I love that he is the most snuggly of all our kids.

01-26-2013

2.  I love when he crawls over to me when I'm standing at the sink in my bathroom and stands up while holding onto my leg because he wants me to hold him.

01-26-2013

1.  I love that I'm blessed to be your dad!

02-09-2013

Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting...

After a fun afternoon at the dentist (seriously, I want to know who came up with the "brilliant" idea that Peach flavored fluoride was going to be "Ah-Mazing!"), I got home early only to be informed by J. that our oldest son, R., had a Tae-Kwan Do testing ceremony tonight.  She had some sort of girls outing, so I had no choice but to attend the kung fu event with all of the kids...

The testing ceremony started at about 4 p.m.  We got out of there at 8:30 p.m.  Dozens of kids got tested.  R.'s test lasted about 10 minutes.  That's about all you need to know about the evening....

Anyway, here's a couple of ideas for surviving your next Kung Fu event:

R. doing some sort of Kung Fu kick...but my favorite was his breaking the board in the video up top

1.  Get There Late
I got there about 6:30.  J. was a bit panicked that I would miss R.'s test.  Turns out I had about 45 minutes to kill.  Next time, I need a little bit better intel ahead of time.

2.  Leave Early
Actually, one of my friends did this.  He's the one that told me that he got there at 4 p.m.  Ouch!  He promised his daughter an ice cream cone if she ducked out of the the huge line for pictures following the test.  Best 99 cents he ever spent!

Another good reason to leave early--when the event rolls past bed time...

3.  Bring Your Own Entertainment
I brought a book.  Kudos to the random dude that brought his iPad and had his kid's eyes glued to a movie on that thing.  I really need to figure out how to download movies onto mine!

4.  Get By With A Little Help From Your Friends
Invariably, I always find another dad there that I know pretty well and it's fun to visit and catch up a little bit. I've even made a few new friends of my own with the dads that I keep seeing at these events.

5.  Have Some Great Kids
Despite playing Mr. Mom, tonight, I managed to juggle all three kids while J. was off at her event.  The kids and I really had a great time together...

These kids were great too!

5.  Stop At McDonald's On The Way Home
The boys wanted these fruit smoothies.  I tried the oatmeal.  E. demanded Chicken McNuggets.  When the Chicken Nuggets arrived, she wanted nothing to do with them.  I ate the nuggets and the oatmeal.

No sooner had I finished the last nugget, when she demanded nuggets again!  Tell me this hasn't happened to anyone else????