The First Guy I Ever Loved

 

 It's my dad's birthday today!

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times Dad has gotten angry with me -

as far as that kind of out loud, I better close my mouth right now kind of upset with me.

What I remember most about growing up is Dad sitting with me and explaining how he felt,

why I was being disciplined, why my mom was upset

or all of the above.

I love my dad because he loves God, he loves my mom, and he loves me and my sister with a strong, quiet love.  He works hard without complaint and always provides for his family.  He's probably

one of the most patient men I know.  Living with three women for such a long time -

he would have to be.  Clearly.

Along with my dad's calm, loving personality comes a blunt honesty that can sometimes startle you if you're not used to it.  Beware the blemish of your teenage years because Dad might blatantly ask,

What's that on your forehead?

He got this wonderful trait from my grandmother who would always tell me, my sister, and my cousins not to smile as if we were brushing our teeth.  She wanted us all to smile demurely.  It never worked out.

Some of my favorite Dad quotes:

Grace, too much of anything isn't a good thing.

Birds of a feather flock together.  You need to choose your friends wisely.

Grace, sit up.

Ok, so I had a friend (who was a boy) over the house one day.  We may or may not have liked each other (we did), but we were not dating - at all.  We were watching TV on the couch, and I might have been sitting slightly close to said friend - maybe I was leaning in a tad?  My dad walked by, looked me right in my eyeballs and said sternly,

Grace, sit up.

I promptly did.

It's a good piece of advice to follow if you ask me.

What's even more awesome than remembering Dad singing and dancing randomly in the living room or teasing my mom while she washed the dishes - is watching my Dad with our girls.  There's something extremely special about a lolo (Tagalog for grandfather) and his granddaughters.  They love him in a ridiculous way.  Evangeline affectionately calls him Yoyo.

Happy 66th Birthday, Yoyo - we love you so very much.

Valentine's This and That

Isabella partied Valentine's-style with her class yesterday since she doesn't have school on Thursdays.  A sweet momma snapped the shot above since Bill and I couldn't be there, and she made these fantastic personalized bins for the class (Thanks, Robyn!).  Isabella and her teachers made the box behind the bin to hold all of their goodies:
 
Yesterday afternoon, I found these on our porch (in a box) with the sweetest message ever inside:

 Bill set these out before everyone woke up.  My favorite is the homemade card and the special message for each of the girls inside:

Mom came by this morning to bring flowers (from her and Dad) and a special treat

for the little ones:

Last year, I made these adorable valentines for the girls to give to their classmates.  This year, I thought we were still in January - and then all of a sudden we weren't.  I bought a box of Angry Birds, Brave, and Lalaloopsy cards for them to pass out to their friends.  They came with cool pencils so I'm hoping that makes up for my lack of creativity.

I still had time to make a little something special that the girls could give to a few people.  Since the program I used for our other valentines is no more, I found an editing tool online (befunky.com) and made these to share with our family and the girls' teachers:

 

We stuck these valentines on big Reese's Hearts for our amazing teachers:

We were allowed to bring treats to Espy's class today (Gianna's class has too many allergies and a no-candy rule at her school, and Isabella already had plenty of goodies at her party) so I tried my hand at some "homemade" goodness.  I'm a big fan of chocolate-covered pretzels.  I've never made them so I was pleasantly surprised at how simple they were to put together.  It probably would have been easier if I wasn't talking on the phone at the same time, but catching up with a friend (love you, Abbey!) was definitely worth the stiff neck I got while dipping, spreading, and sprinkling.

I'm thankful that only a handful of these are left in the house - as is my waistline.

Smooshie Smooshie

Valentine's Day 2013

 I'm not much for flowers, chocolate, and jewelry.  I know - so weird, right?  Despite my insisting on no gifts, Bill is always guilty of spoiling me (and the girls) - on holidays, birthdays, or just because.  What I find more appealing than the thoughtful presents, though, are his loving words

that accompany the goodies.

Upon seeing the flowers and reading the message that Bill had delivered this afternoon -

Gianna exclaimed,

Oh, no!  You and dad aren't going to do the smooshie smooshie on the bed again are you?

Excuse me?  What do you mean, Gianna?

You know - K!  I!  S!  S!

Oh, probably.  Why do you call it smooshie smooshie?

Because - you smoosh your lips like this (smooshes lips) when you kiss.

Girls - I'm sorry I continue to traumatize you with my crazy affection for your daddy.  I just can't get enough of him.  One day I hope you'll understand - many, many, many (many) years from now.

March 2002

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Favorite

Happy 36th Birthday, Babe - here's to 36 more!

Can't get enough of these five.

 to my most favorite person (ever) on this earth...the man who makes me feel the happiest, the craziest, and the most loved all at the same time...the best dad, husband, and friend a girl could ask for - Happy Birthday to our special guy from all of your girls.