Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's 52nd birthday. He is coming up to our place for the weekend. I am very excited. The boys and I are going to make his favorite birthday cake (white cake with milk chocolate icing) and we have some really cool gifts for him.

This birthday seems a bit more special to me this year. On July 17th, dad had a small stroke. Luckily he was only away from work for 6 weeks and seems to have made a full recovery although the dr.'s still are unsure as to why he had the stroke. Anyway, the experience made it all to clear how precious life is and how I should cherish my time with him. So, with all that said, here are 52 that I love most about my dad (or remember doing with him when I was little).

*Sunday afternoon wrestling matches.

*The smell of hamburger and onions (the only thing he can cook).

*The time he warmed up frozen waffles for me ... in the microwave.

*Our phone conversations.

*Watching him play baseball with my boys.

*The way his hands felt when I was little. They were always rough from boxes, but they were still comforting.

*His laugh.

*His baseball card collection.

*The way he loved (and still does) his mom.

*His organizational skills. Seriously, if I had half of them I would be in good shape!

*His work ethic. The man never calls in sick (ok, other than for a stroke or back surgery! HA).

*Playing catch with him in the middle of Chipaway Drive.

*Driving around looking at Christmas lights after he got home from work.

*He was the only one I would go trick-or-treating with.

*Daddy walking me down the isle.

*His face when he held his newborn grandsons.

*He taught me to mow the grass.

*He taught me to change a tire (I do neither of the last two now, but I could at one point in my life).

*The drives to Toledo every third weekend.

*He treated his three daughters as fairly as possible.

*He didn't judge when I brought a drunk friend home.

*The fact that I'll have to print this blog entry off so that he can read it. He's never used a computer!

*He is forgiving.

*He recognizes me for the woman I am today.

*He made it to as many sporting events as he could ... even for cheerleading!

*He's a Detroit Tigers fan.

*He's a Green Bay Packers fan.

*He a Colts fan.

*He's a Pacer's fan.

*He's a Nolan Ryan fan.

*He's a Brett Favre fan.

*He's my fan.

*He's Aiden and Logan's fan.

*He took us sledding ... down the driveway.

*Building snowmen.

*Snowball fights.

*Good's donuts and Sunday night with the Oldies on the radio.

*He's Pepsi addiction. Really ... it's a problem.

*Watching hockey with him when I was little.

*Being his bat girl when he coached the church softball teams.

*His strength.

*His faith.

*Watching him rock with my boys.

*Hearing him try to sing, "My Girl."

*Seeing his face light up when he is singing "My Girl."

*His record and 8 track collection!

*His discipline.

*His sense of humor (well, most of the time).

*The fact that he's proud of me even though I know I didn't make things that easy sometimes.

*He cares about my friends.

*He prays for me and my family.

*Watching him do anything with my boys.

*And the number one reason ... because he's my Daddy and I will always be a Daddy's girl.

I love you Daddy!

Carrie

Smartest Nephew

I have the smartest nephew in the world! Gavin and Jamie came to spend the night with us last night. Gavin has a new trick! He can say 'baby' and then point to the Gerber Baby on a label! Seriously, so smart. Watch the video and check out the cute pictures!

Homemade Cookies ... Icing and All!

Are you sitting down? I made homemade cookies and homemade icing with the boys this evening. SHOCKER ... I know! I thought we had some break-n-bake cookies in the fridge and I promised the boys if they took a nap after church that we would make cookies. Well ... we had no break-n-bakes and of course they remembered my promise. So, I found a recipe that only required flour, powered sugar, butter and vanilla. We had all those so off to mixing I went! It made a really thick batter so that the kids could form it into shapes. We made a turtle, butterfly, flower, several worms and Logan made two ramps. We baked them while I mixed the icing and then we decorated until our ADD kicked in and we couldn't do it any more. The boys have both eaten one and they saved a bunch for daddy to eat tonight (lucky him). I may try to sneak a pic of Marcus actually eating them ... and then a pic of him actually alive tomorrow! HA!

New pics and videos. Enjoy!

My sensitive boy ...

Last evening while I was preparing dinner (I know ... HUGE shocker! And it wasn't even anything in a box! Craziness). ANYWAY ... last evening while I was preparing dinner (still funny) I found the movie, "Fox and the Hound" on tv. I had never actually seen it - but I figured it was ok since it was an older Disney movie ... right!? WRONG! Aiden and Logan were watching it and I happened to look over to see Aiden crying ... I mean BAWLING. I went over and asked him what was wrong and he sobbed while telling me that Todd (the fox) had lost his mommy and it was sad. I held him for a few minutes until the tears had subsided and he decided he still wanted to watch it. By the way, Logan is totally oblivious to all of this. So, about 20 minutes later while I am STILL making dinner I hear him crying again. I walk over to see what has happened now. He explained that the neighbor that was a farmer had a gun and was going to shoot Todd. He did NOT want to watch this movie anymore. Ah, it just broke my heart. Luckily, the farmer did not shoot Todd and we continued to watch until Todd met the foxy fox and all seemed better. We turned it off before the true ending due to dinner being ready (very delicious I might add). I just thought it was so sweet that his heart was so broken and sensitive to that. My sweet boy.

The picture above is from about two years ago. Aiden had won a fish at AWANA and they were trying to decide what to name him. They were debating between Nemo and George. He went with Nemo. We've had three fish since that Nemo ... all have been named Nemo. HA.

Have a great day!
Carrie

Nothing exciting ...

Hello.
Not much is going on here these days. I had a great weekend. Friday night we took the boys to stay with Grandma and Papaw Hoffman for the weekend. Marcus and I went into the big town of Fort Wayne and had a date ... yep, an actual date. We got to the Jefferson Pointe Mall about 5:45 and walked around for awhile. I love window shopping with Marcus. Now, if I am on a mission - forget it. He's staying home. We went to dinner around 7:30 and then more shopping at Kohl's. We went to a late movie (too late for us! 9:40 ... that is ridiculous) and headed home about 11:30. I was beat. Saturday I did some homework and at 5 went to dinner and bowling with some friends that I used to work with. We had a great time ... until I pulled a muscle in my neck. This leads to Sunday. I was too sore to move. I was like a zombie. I seriously laid in bed until 3 when I went to get the kiddos. BLAH! Aleve does wonders however.

This week is actually not too action packed. Saturday we are taking the boys to something called, "Plow Day." I guess the Amish and us 'English' get together to compare plows and eat! What could be better!?!?!

OH ... today is Aiden's picture day at school. He looked very handsome in his polo shirt and spiked hair. Do they still give out those unbreakable combs on picture day??? I'll be sure to let you know!

Talk to you soon,
Carrie

Faith of a Child

I don't have to tell any of you that live in Northern Indiana that it's dry here ... really dry. Since we moved here nearly 6 weeks ago - it's rained once (of course we were camping in a pop up camper that leaks, but at least it rained). The grass is so dry that you cannot walk on it barefoot (unless you're a Farmer sibling that can walk across glass with no problem). ANYWAY ... Last night we got a little rain. I was working late when I received this text from Marcus: "Aiden says Jesus saw our grass and said we should get rain." Faith of a Child.

Marcus has been taking Aiden to and from the bus stop in the morning and afternoons while he's home. The morning 'shift' cracks me up because it's normally three daddy's that are on the corner with the kiddos. I love that! All three of them stand there with their coffee in hand and look so proud and not at all embarassed that they are doing this duty. Anyway, when the kids get off the bus all of them are in the upper grades of elementary and no one comes to the stop to walk them back to their homes. Well, Marcus does this with Aiden. So, last night Aiden said, "Dad, do you think you can do something for me?" Marcus said, "Yes - what?" Aiden replied, "Could you stay in the house tomorrow when I get off the bus so that I can just walk with the other kids?" OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course Aiden doesn't understand the safety measures we are taking, but we never thought that it bothered him that Marcus walked him home. So, they came up with an agreement. Marcus will wait at the end of the driveway and just watch as they walk to the house. Thankfully our house is just 5 houses from the stop ... straight shot. Faith of a Child.

Lastly, if you haven't read Angie's blog entry this week titled "The Chicken" you must do so now!(http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/) HA-LAR-IOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, one more thing. Dad returned to work on Tuesday and is doing well. He is glad to see the people on his route and I think he's getting back into his routine.

Have a great week!
Carrie