Father's Day 2013

The kids worked really hard to put together some surprises for Father's Day and came up with a game of Jeopardy - Father's Day edition (Mommy helped :) ), Father's Day menu, a banner, and some verrrrry special prizes (that's right, we made Jason work a little bit harder for his presents this year, it was pretty fun).

I was so proud of all their work, and so were they. So when the big day came we were all pretty excited to celebrate and to give Daddy some spoiling. 

I'm kind of in love with the fact that the kids came up with a way to the Father's Day banner together (they both wanted to color the whole thing and had a disagreement on the colors). As a result, the banner turned out super creative, even making the letters into people, and Jason loved it. 

Breakfast was a hit with everyone. I think those oatmeal fruit squares are going to be a new "special breakfast" favorite around here. Which is great for me because they are pretty easy to make.

We caught a great photo of the kids with Jason before we headed off for church. And even had our family home morning lesson beforehand as we knew we had quite a bit going on in the afternoon. We're early risers around here...can you tell?

The afternoon brought plenty of games, excitement, father's day wishes and fun. 

Luckily for Jason, he won the grand prize in the game of Jeopardy because the kids REALLY wanted to give it to him!

I mean, when you are planning on turning your Daddy into your own personal car mat, why wouldn't you be excited for him to open up his gift. 

The kids worked so hard coloring the shirt; Atticus on the letters and Milayla adding sunshine everywhere that they were pretty excited to finally get to use it. 

Jason was such a great sport about it. He quite enjoyed his little back massage.

 Then it was on to dinner. And with this picture, you can see the kids' handprints on the front of the shirt - so fun.

 We sure had fun surprising Jason. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Love for Daddy on Father's Day

It was an early Sunday evening when Jason decided to sit down at the keyboard and practice playing some hymns. 

He had barely pulled to cover off of the keyboard before Milayla pushed her chair over to the piano and sat down next to Jason. As soon as Atticus came into the room he quickly followed suit. 

As Jason played his chosen song, each child very thoughtfully pushed on their own notes, Milayla on the low notes and Atticus on the high ones; 

'I am a Child of God' has never been played with such a wide range of notes. 

The moment was beautiful. It was beautiful because it said so many things without any words at all. These kids love music. But, most importantly, they love their Daddy. 

They love getting to ride on his shoulders. They love getting tickles. They love having him join in for bedtime songs and books. They love getting to tell him all about their day when he gets home. They love getting surprise phonecalls from him during the day. They love just getting to spend time with him - no matter what it is. 

They admire him and look up to him. They are so happy to call him 'daddy'. And that, is beautiful.

Thanks, Jason for being such a devoted father. We love you!

Father's Day 2012

Father's Day is always a nice day around here. This year we were pretty lucky to have Grandpa here to celebrate along with us. So the kids were counting down until Father's Day AND Grandpa's Day. The excitement was pretty high.

Of course there was a big pancake breakfast (a must for celebrating around here). And then Daddy and Grandpa opened up their new ties (for 3 years running it has been the tradition for the kids to make a tie for Father's Day). 

The ties were a big hit. Jason even wore his to church and received many a comment on it.

After church in the afternoon we kept things pretty lowkey. Chatting. Games. Calling family in Canada.

Bubble blowing on the balcony.

Then some pictures with Daddy and the kids.

Atticus is giving Jason a hug in these photos

And kisses in these photos....

And my personal favorite...the tickles and laughter shot. Pure joy.

And some pictures with Grandpa and the kids.

Someone's getting tickled...

Still trying to get Milayla to look at the camera..

And my personal favorite...no one looking at the camera!

Then we sat down for dinner and dessert as jointly requested by the dads. It was a pretty nice day. We really were so fortunate to have not one, but two people present to celebrate Father's Day for.

Dad's are great and our little family has been blessed with some pretty spectacular role models to look up to!