Fantastic Father's Day

Well, Father's Day has come and gone in the Nielson household like a tornado.  It almost seemed to go too fast, and I found myself wishing that things could have slowed down a few days before so everything could be "picture perfect"....but life isn't always "picture perfect" and it would be pretty boring if it was.  I had lots of grand plans and schemes and only a few came to fruition.

I am blessed with the most amazing husband. He is such a doting and devoted father and, truth be told, he deserves more than one day a year to be honored for all that he does for me and our little growing family.

We kicked off Father's Day on Saturday in a way. We had planned to go to one of the parks in our area that had a splash pad and have a picnic, but we opted instead to eat Little Caesars in our apartment and let the Little Diva take a nap. By the time the Little Diva woke up, Jeff didn't really feel like going out, so we opted to go out to the pool instead.  Faith LOVES swimming...but we may have waited a bit long to go out to the pool. By the time we went out, it was dangerously close to bedtime and, while we couldn't get her to look at the camera to save our lives because she was so transfixed on getting in the water and splashing, and she enjoyed playing with daddy in the water for a little while, we didn't stay out as long as we normally would...in fact, I would wager that we were out for 20 minutes at most before she made it very clear that she was ready to come back in the house and relax before bedtime.

She loves her daddy, but I think the water was calling her name!

27 weeks in all its glory...My pianist for ward choir mentioned that I looked like I was ready to "pop" on Sunday...hooray for tall babies...I don't know if I mentioned it, but at the 20 week scan they were surprised by how long baby #2 is...I guess The Divine Miss Cupcake takes after her daddy and big sister in that regard.

Splash!

The joy of water in her face after she splashed herself...its always one of the first things she does when she gets in the pool.

Kicking her legs to try to swim to daddy...we have to hold her pretty tight because she  really, really wants to swim on her own...

Finally with daddy! She loves to swim with him, and (contradictory to the number of pictures available) she was with daddy in the water for much longer than she was with me.  Daddy swishes her around in the water super fast in circles- she loves it!

This was where we decided it was time to get out...she started whining and kept at it...there were almost tears, so we decided it was time to call it a day.

One wet, happy family!

Safe in a towel- but super tired!

Yeah...I mentioned the tired part, right????

Father's Day morning, I was going to give Jeff breakfast in bed, but the night before we found a cockroach in our bedroom hiding in a box of Cheez-its that we'd been eating for movie night a few nights before...needless to say, a new rule of "no food in the bedroom" was established...so I got up to make him breakfast while he played Starcraft and other games on his computer. When the Little Diva woke up, it was time for the festivities to truly begin...

Faith did her best "cheerleader" moves as daddy opened his card...

This card has some special significance. When I saw this idea on  Pinterest, I knew I had to do it (except I added my own flair having one end be Faith's hand and one end being my hand...) When Jeff and I were dating/engaged (because it all happened so fast and both are simultaneous...) he started making this sweet gesture as I would walk back to my apartment or when I would drop him off places. He would tell me he loved me quietly and give me a kiss, and then hold out his arms as I walked (or drove) away and get on his tip toes and shout "THIIIIIIIS MUCH!" as loud as he could. It would melt my heart every time, and when he does it every now and again, it still does! 

We made an imprint of Faith's hand out of salt dough as well. I was a little bummed because when I put it into hiding it was perfect, but when I pulled it out of hiding to put on the finishing touches, there was a HUGE crack through the middle. The look on her face almost says, "Yo, mom!What happened, it was perfect when I made it!" I found out that she is VERY patient with craft projects and enjoys them quite a bit. It only took us two attempts to get the "perfect" handprint. The first one would have been perfect if she hadn't decided to use her other hand to poke and pull at the dough while I was making it.    Jeff still liked it because Faith had helped make it, so I guess that is all that matters!

Jeff's Father's Day Breakfast (that would have been in bed had we not found our creepy crawly friend...) I made him his favorite German Pancakes, Buttermilk syrup (for those of you that have never had it, it almost tastes like caramel) scrambled eggs with pepperjack cheese melted into them, and his favorite Jimmy Dean Maple sausage.

The full table set up, complete with Donald Duck orange juice to be consumed out of "fancy" glasses...

The whole complete set up...with a child to beg for food that she isn't big enough to have yet...Sorry Boo Boo! You'll get to share Father's Day breakfast next year. :)

We went to sacrament and I conducted the Ward Choir...and we realized that we didn't have a pacifier for Faith...we usually sit in the foyer during Sunday School so Faith can get a little nap in during the day, but without the pacifier this would be an impossible feat...I also couldn't breathe and was enjoying the feeling of Miss Cupcake kicking me very hard in the ribs, and Jeff was tired...we opted to go home and take a family nap instead of staying for all of church...we were glad we did. Faith was out like a light when we got home and didn't even wake up when Jeff pulled her out of the car seat.... we hate and love Sundays in our house-mostly because our church time conflicts with naptime, but know we're not alone in this.  The Little Diva slept for most of the afternoon, which gave Jeff time to call his parents and talk to his dad while I made Macaroni and Cheese for lunch and gave us some time to snuggle a bit.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching "the Big Bang Theory" (Jeff got seasons 1-4 for me for Mother's Day). Around 3, I started our coup de grats for the day...RIBS!

I was a little nervous that they would turn out, as we don't have an outdoor grill, but we do have a grill pan...I made it work though and Jeff was SUPER thrilled.

We had ribs, corn on the cob, salad, and mashed potatoes for dinner...Jeff said the ribs were as good as the ribs he would order at his favorite barbecue place on the planet (Bubba's for all you Idaho/Wyoming peeps that have one close).

I, unfortunately, didn't get any pictures of dinner, as it was eaten rather rapidly.

All I can say is that I hope my husband had an awesome first "official" Father's Day (I was pregnant last year and so we celebrated a bit...but he didn't want a big hoorah because it wasn't official yet.)  I tried my best to make the day as easy as possible for him. I had every intention of him not having to lift a finger when it came to the Little Diva, but, true to his awesome fatherly form, he was insistent that he help saying, "I love that little girl! I wouldn't let you keep me from helping no matter how hard you try!"

As my husband is a reader of my blog all I have to say is this:

Thank you so much for all you do for us and for all your support and love. I am so lucky to have a partner like you to raise my children with. You, dear sir, have surpassed all of my expectations when it comes to being a husband and father and every day I pray and thank Heavenly Father for blessing me with YOU as my eternal companion.  I am oh so glad that my roommate that you were initially chasing didn't come home that fateful Sunday night when I became twitterpated with you...and that you decided that it would be worth a try to chase me instead.  I'm so glad that you bought an engagement ring on a whim when you were close to a jewelry store one day...and I'm so glad that you caught me off guard and proposed when I wasn't even expecting you to. Every day with you is an adventure Mr. Nielson, and I'm glad that I get to be the one along for the ride. I love you so much.

Hugs and loves until next time darlings!