Day 4: ESPN: The Magazine (11/4)

My Dad knows me so well.  

About two weeks ago, I recieved a postcard saying "You have a gift coming. Monica and Gary have ordered you ESPN: The Magazine. Your gift will begin coming soon."

Honestly my first thought was "Oh, wow! My mom is so sweet." I say this because my birthday was in August and she was asking what I wanted. I had told her that I would love to have a subscription to ESPN: The Mag. So please don't condemn me because I thought of my mom and not my dad.

My mom was on va-kay {for like the fifth time this year!} so I couldn't call her right away to thank her. Sorry, again I didn't think of my dad...

I am starting to sound like a horrible daughter. However, before you think that let me tell you a little things about my dad. I think for the most part my mom is the gift buyer for us girls in our family. Sometimes my dad doesn't know until my mom wraps it what they had gotten us for the special occasion.  Soooooo, my thought process was that if I called my dad to thank him he would say, "For what?"

My mom comes back {again from like her seventh va-kay} and I started to thank her for The Mag, and she says, "I didn't order it for you." 

WOW,  my Daddy knows me so well.

He didn't even know that I had asked for the magazine or that I even wanted it. 

My Dad knows me so well.

I love him and I love the things he does to still surprise me.

I do want to say that ordering me that magazine was a huge disadvantage to him.

I am kicking his but in our NFL game day picks...

Day 125: OK State Fair (9/24)

I love Fall! I love the Oklahoma State Fair!

Last night we went to the Fair. There are two reasons I love the fair: the food and the crafts! Gavin got to eat his first turkey leg. I didn't think that he would eat it, he really doesn't eat meat often. However, as you can tell, he loved it!!

We left after school and spent most of the night there with my mom and dad.

I could buy every kind of food there but I just stuck with the good old basics: turkey leg, corn on the cob and elephant ear!

Gavin got a horse pillow pet! I love those things and there is an entertaining story that goes along with it.

Emily: "I think Gavin is getting tired. I wish we had a pillow pet."
Rennie: "He doesn't need a pillow pet, just a regular pillow."
Mom: "I think they sell the pillow pets here. I am sure they have a booth."
Emily: "Oh, that would be neat."
Rennie: "They don't sell pillow pets at the fair."
Emily: "Then if we see a booth, Gavin is getting a pillow pet."
Rennie: "Fine but they don't sell pillow pets at the fair."

The very next building we walk into was the only booth at the entire State Fair that sold pillow pets!! My mom and I laughed so hard and Rennie grudingly bought Gavin a pillow pet, but he got to pick the animal!

Day 76: The Last One (8/6)

Today we bought our last can of formula. Gavin is 11 months old and we think it's time to start him on cow's milk.

I really hope that this change will not be as hard as we may think -- Gavin really LOVES his formula.

I am excited to be saving as much as $100 per month by not buying formula anymore!!

Day 74: My Mom and Dad (8/4)

This is such a great picture of my parents, Monica and Gary.

After I took it I said, "OK, now a real one."

My dad said, "What? Was that not a real one?"

Haha, so typical of my dad.

I love them so much for so many reasons. Right now, I want to take the time to say a, Thank You to them for all the support they have shown my family in our time of confusion. It's been a busy and hectic summer but I am so glad that I got to spend it at my parents house. :)

Day 53: Nap Time (7/14)

We used to have what we called a magic swing. Whenever we put Gavin in it he would sleep for hours! He no longer fits in the swing, the little fatty outgrew it around 6 months. Oh believe me we tried to put Gavin in it at 6 months but he weighted it down so much it wouldn't swing.

However, since we moved in with my parents we found a new kind of magic: PopPop.

Day 39: Summer Nights (6/30)

I love that at 8:46 PM (that's a fact, because I checked the exact time when I took the picture) the sun still hasn't set. This is my favorite thing about summer.

During the winter, I hate getting out of school and having two hours before it's pitch black outside. 

Granted it is harder to lay down Gavin for the night but I would not trade the effort for the extra hours of sunlight.

I also wanted to include a few pictures of my parents yard:

They both work so hard on the yard. I never realized how much work goes into maintaining a home, maybe because I've never owned a home. They are outside every day working on something. It's amazing how wonderful the yard looks and how much they have to work at it.

I love the Babinec stone. I hope that one day, we can own a home and have a Nickell rock outside our home. The flowers bloom all summer making the yard that much more beautiful. The pond is something my mom has been wanting and working on for years. She loves the pond, I love the natural rock surrounding the area.

One day, my yard is going to be just as wonderful.

Day 36: The Grouch (6/27)

Today being Sunday, we went to church. Our family is Catholic so mass last about an hour. During that hour the priest gives a homily-- a sermon, usually on a Biblical topic and usually of a non doctrinal nature. The homily was about Oscar the Grouch. 

He talked about how life is all about attitude. Oscar the Grouch chooses to be the grouch that he is and that other people's attitude towards life is also their choice. He stated that those who don't like what's happening in their life can change it by the attitude they adopt.

What's this have to do with me you ask?

My father's attitude towards life is a bit pessimistic. He can always find the worst in any situation. If you can point out all the positive points about something/someone, my dad can point out every negative point. We have grown up with his, to say the least, bleak attitude all our life; we are used to it.

We joke his attitude all the time; so when Father Mikus mentioned the Oscar the Grouch like attitude, my mom and I both looked at each other and smiled.

After mass, we went out to eat at the Rock Cafe. During the meal, Sami Jo and I decided that Dad's name for the day was "Oscar."

When our food came, my dad, Sami Jo and I all had hash browns. Sam drew a heart with her ketchup, I drew a baseball and "Oscar" drew a frowny face!!

Day 26: Some of my Daddy (6/17)

This could end up being a really long post because of the tangents I could go off on, so I will explain my picture and hope that you will continue reading my blog for the rest of the stories.

Today my mom and I went to zumba. My dad, Gary, went with us; he just drove us and then went to have dinner at KFC, one of his favorite places to eat.  On the way home we stopped at McDonald's for a small (hopefully healthy) dinner, I got a snack wrap and a parfait. Since Dad already ate he wanted dessert, ice cream, really an Oreo McFlurry.

While he waited outside, my mom went to get the food and I went to Redbox to rent a movie. We ended up renting Dear John; which surprisingly I didn't like very much, the ending was horrible. Anyway back to my original post. Before we got out of the car Mom took our orders. Here's the conversation repeated as close to my memory:

Mom: Want do you two want?
Daddy: I want ice cream.
Emily: I want a honey mustard grilled chicken snack wrap and a parfait.
Mom: OK. Gary, what kind of ice cream?
Gary: An oreo McFlurry and (this is what inspired my post) tell them to cram it full of oreo and don't skimp on the ice-cream.

Honestly at the time I didn't think it was that funny just a something that Dad might say any day of the week. That was until I heard Mom repeat word-for-word back to the Carla and Terry. They both laughed and asked where he was and laughed again over how he wanted his McFlurry.

Now that I think about how he ordered his ice-cream it tickles my funny bone. I giggle and think, "That's my daddy." It's even funnier that on the way home he had my mom hold the steering wheel so that he could "get all his goodies" at the bottom of his McFlurry. :)

I very much enjoying this summer with my parents!

I do want to comment on something that isn't about my origial post. I have always called my dad, Daddy, ever since I could talk, so do my three sisters. Even though I am 27 years old, I still call him Daddy as do my sisters. I don't find it odd or weird that as I grew up Daddy, didn't change to Dad. In public, I still call him Daddy and it's been commented on, more than once, by friends and strangers alike.  It's who he is to me and just because I am 27 doesn't mean he isn't that same daddy he was to me when I was three, he didn't change, the way I look at him didn't change, why should his name?

As I have mentioned in an earlier post about my sisters we have come up with various names for my dad over the years. The two I use the most? Garbo and Fatty!! :)