"Grayson, how did you sleep?"

Gray's reply, "In my bed."

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day. It was also crazy busy! I didn't have the time to write what I wanted to about my dad, so I was going to just let it go. I was lucky to get something on here for my husband. But my sister just called and said she was expecting me to write something about our dad and that I should do it now. Better late than never, I guess. This is going to be a random writing of things that pop into my head, so forgive me.

The things I remember most about my dad are the things I have in common with him. He often fell asleep with his hand up in the air. I have caught myself doing this now and then. The man couldn't eat a meal without letting his shirt sample some! He knew how to pinch a penny until it screamed. And he loved playing sports and board games. In all of these ways, I am my father's daughter.

He had a rather adventurous spirit. He loved to travel. He wanted to sky dive. I really wish I had splurged and done that with him. But everytime he'd bring it up, I would say we couldn't afford it (which was true, but I could have done it for a birthday or something).

I will remember his interactions with my friends. He always conned my friend, Julie, into a slug bug match when we were all in the car. He called her "The Slug Bug Queen". (He continued this with many-a-grandchild.) I always got irritated by it and would roll my eyes...not really sure why. Julie always humored him.

Lynae always said, when he was smiling it was time to run!! You could be having a conversation trying to talk him into letting you doing something and when he finally got irritated/mad enough, he would smile. And that was the end of the conversation.

On one sleepover instance, Lynae was on the top bunk and I on the bottom. She was screaming for help in her sleep. I think she was having a dream that her leg was caught in a cave and I was leaving her there (but actually it was between the mattress and wall). Malissa (my sister) came running in from the room down the hall yelling, "Rape!". And my Dad came running from the other side of the house to see what was happening. Lynae said he always hated her since then! I just wish I'd woken up to enjoy that moment.

I will miss his salsa. I wish he'd used a recipe! It was always made from taste. Same goes with his homemade ice cream.

When one of his kids was going out he'd always ask, "What time ya gonna be home?". And we'd give him a time. And he'd ask again, "What time ya gonna be home?", and we'd lower the time each time. It would go on like this until we gave him a time that was acceptable.

I loved the Spring Break vacations. I attempted one last stab at this a few years ago. I don't think he really wanted to go, but he humored me. He was ready for his "world travels" and not these rinky dink Disneyland trips. But I'm glad he came, nonetheless. He did, however, love a good roller coaster ride. My mom didn't. He went on those alone a lot. I always thought that was funny. But I would do the same because Bret doesn't like them and I love them.

He never missed one of my games. You can imagine how great those must have been! A bunch of teenage girls playing softball, basketball, and volleyball. But he was always there, and always ready to offer advice to better my game. I wasn't a good listener! And I really disappointed him when I quit softball my junior year. He said (not just about me, but about many of his kids) "You don't have the stick-to-it-iveness". That was a favorite word, I use it often myself.

He taught us how to build lifelong friendships and the importance of those friendships. He was a good friend himself and that was plain to see when he was in the hospital/hospice. So many old friends wanted to come and see him, many I didn't even know in recent years. I had to ask my mom or brothers who they were. We received cards, flowers, calls from so many. I hope I can be that kind of friend to others.

There's much, much more that comes to mind, but this is already a really long post. I'll save those for me.

Red Rover, Red Rover send the neighborhood right over!

The kids were out front playing hide and seek Friday night. Then they stopped. They were bored. So I told them to try another game. They played Freeze tag. Then they stopped. They were bored again. They wanted to go inside. INSIDE! On such a beautiful evening. We keep telling them to enjoy this weather while it lasts because it won't last long. We've been telling them since early May, but the weather continues to prove us wrong. I told them to play Red Rover. "What's that?" they ALL asked. Have we failed them as parents? Never having taught them Red Rover!! Mind you, these are kids from four different families and none of them knew Red Rover! I am aghast!

So I explained the game. And they played.

And then we were reminded why we didn't teach them Red Rover. Both Cade and Aiden got clotheslined! Aiden's was the best. His neck hooked around their joined hands, his feet flew out from under him and he landed flat on his back. It was funny, but only because he didn't cry. He couldn't. The wind was knocked out of him.

So I taught them dodge ball. You know, the one with the circle. They loved it!

Next week, I'll teach them a little game I like to call "Kick the Can".

Seven Little Ducks went out to Play

This is what we found in our side yard on Thursday. We really aren't near any ponds or lakes or anything (except when the monsoons come, then we have Lake KB...ick!). I don't know how they came to be in the neighborhood, but there they were. We tried to catch them and the mom to haul them to a safer location (somewhere with less cats maybe??? Does that exhist?). But the mom was having none of that. They ran into our neighbor's back yard and Bret followed them. Then the mom flew out over to the green belt. Bret was able to catch all the babies and we just released them into the green belt with their mom. It was cute, the mom stayed as far away from us as she could and started calling for them and they ran right over to her in their little huddle (I wish my kids listened so well). Aiden is now asking for a pet duck. Fabulous.

There's something about baby birds and our house lately. We had two birdies who tried to fly the coop too early and ended up stranded in our backyard. Then one met our German Shepard, Oscar. The other managed to seek refuge in our garden so Oscar couldn't get him. He stayed for about a week and must have learned to fly (or maybe he finally met a neighborhood cat).

Dear Dad,

Happy Father's Day, Daddy, we love you! We love that you're kind. We love when you play games with us. We love that you work hard for us. That's it!

Love,
Aiden (his words), Grayson, and Mabel (and I'm sure they agree!)

And I agree, too! Love ya babe. Thanks for being such a great dad to our children!

Sooner or Later, it happens...

I knew this was coming. I just didn't think I would play such a huge part in it! Aiden cut his hair. I had trimmed him up and stupidly left the scissors sitting there on the bathroom counter. He later got them and took a little off the top. It could have been much worse. But as it is, he did such a 'nice' job of it that it looks like I just did a bad job cutting it. I actually had myself second guessing whether or not I had actually done this to him and finally asked if he'd done it. He cut a perfectly straight line across the top layer so he still has bangs down over his forehead and a nice line about 2 inches up from that. It's kinda difficult to see in the pictures but trust me, it's there.

I've never been more grateful for his high hairline than I was after this!

Mabel's Garage

NOW OPEN

This is what happens when Daddy's watching the kids. I was off to my sister's endowment session on Saturday (congratulations Kendra and Jay!). Bret later showed me this picture. I'm just glad I didn't have to wash this grease monkey off! Sorry it's sooo fuzzy. My camera is dead so he took this picture with his cell phone. We'll have to break out the old Kodak camera again.