Day at the pond

Umm. Not sure if he shouls be up there

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Father's Day

      Father's Day means something different to each person you ask. And I think what it means changes depending on where they are at in their life.
      For me, in the past: Father's Day was always the day that I thought about my Father the most. Normally I would spend a few moments sulking: maybe looking at old pictures, crying a few minutes.  As I got older, it became easier, but it still was not a day that I really looked forward to. That all changed when I had kids. Granted, I am a narcissist jerk who loves attention, but Father's Day is not about the attention. To me, It is not a day to shower me with gifts and tell me how great I am. To me it is a day to reflect. A day to think about how lucky I am to have 2 amazing boys. 2 amazingly healthy boys. As I sit here, I get a huge smile just thinking about their running hugs when we pick them up from school. I know big hugs won't last long, so I hug them as often as I can now. At their age, they don't look at this day any different: no cards or ugly ties from them yet, but, I am putting my narcissism to the side for the moment.
   Today was a great Father's Day for me. I did not spend my day how I thought that I would, but I am so glad it turned out how it did. My Grandfather, my Mom's Dad, recently found out he has stage 3 cancer in his liver an lymph nodes. At this point we are not sure of the next step, but it something that has shook up our family. Grandpa spent the weekend at the Lake with my Aunt Penny, and Mom wanted to see her Dad on Father's Day. So, we headed to the Lake at 8:00 this morning. (On a total Side Note: Aunt Penny lives in Eldon, if you have never been there,  you are not missing much. Anywho: we ran up to get some Fried Chicken-Grandpa's request- and stopped at a Gas Station and saw a working pay phone. I took a picture: who knows when I will see another pay Phone).
On one hand, I was bummed leaving my boys on Father's day, but I was over joyed to spend the day with Mom and get the chance to see Grandpa.
It was great seeing Grandpa with his kids, laughing and telling old stories. It gave me a chance to reflect on the type of Dad he is to his kids. Obviously I know how much he means to the 4 of them, but sometimes it is great to see that reminder. Great to see how much a good Father means to his family. I want to be that Dad
   I don't just want to be a good Dad, I want to be a great Dad. It is part of the reason I work so hard, so my boys can have everything they need. I am working hard now so I can relax in a few years and not miss a game, not miss an event and be the Great Dad they deserve. My family drives me.
 I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by great Dads. Obviously Pops was a fantastic man, and Father. I can spend hours talking about him, but let's move on.  It is still great to hear stories about Dad and how much everyone loved him. It makes me want to be the best Man I can be, for my Family and Boys.
  Butch Miller was like a second Father to me. I spend almost just as much time at the Miller's house as I did my own. They always had a plate of food for me during dinner time. After Pops died, Butch opened his door even wider. He gave me someone to turn to for advice. I spent many hours at their business, Camdenton Glass, just hanging out, watching him work. When we bought Floyd Glass, Butch was one of the first calls I make. Every Father's Day for the past 16 years I call Butch, and we chat. Today I hung up the phone with a great smile on my face, again thinking how lucky I am to have people in my life for so long that care about me.
Some people need days like to today to remind them how lucky they are. Sometimes we focus on the negative things in our life, and it is nice to focus on all the positive things. Happy Father's Day to all the Father's out there who are working hard for their families. Working hard to make a little difference. Big Happy Father's Day to the first time Father's today, it only gets better. And Happy Father's Day to all those who's Father is no longer with us. Keep on Keeping on!

I leave you with a few pictures.

P.S. GO USA!

Justin, Dad and myself. Grand Canyon. I am guessing on the year, but maybe 1990ish. I look about 9 or 10. 

Dad was a dork at heart. He loved this suspenders.  

The massive Marble Shower Dad built at the Lake House. Here is sits with Cale. 

My boys. 

The boys chilling outside

Josh

Jackson's 3rd Birthday

Since it has been a while since I blogged anything, I will start with Jackson turning 3 and then get into the ole life update. We had a small party, which was a success. Our friend Denise and her Daughter Maggie (picture in the blue) made a home made Ice Cream Cake, which was (in a high pitch voice) "Fabulous!"
Nothing too crazy happens at a 3rd birthday party, he opened gifts, got mad at Harrison for wanting to play with his new toys, you know the norm.

Both boys still go to the Community College where I coach. It such an amazing facility and we owe a lot of Jackson's speech advancement to them. Both their teachers are amazing. We had a parent teacher conference last week for Harrison, which to us is incredible. The teachers are extremely involved in their lives and their advancement. The above picture was taken before their first school show. Each classroom had a 5 minute song they performed. They mainly just dance around, but we thought it was the cutest thing we have ever seen. Jackson spent most of his time on stage looking for us. We stood up and waved a few times until we found us, then he danced. 

Harrison will be 18 months, and it is hard to imagine that at this point in Jackson's life, we were bringing Harrison home. Life has flown by and I have a feeling it will only go faster in the up coming years. 

Harrison is still a mini me, just with blonde hair. Believe me, it does satisfy my male ego to have one of my boys look just like me. I am not sure if other Dad's feel the same about, I might just have a large ego, but either way, it makes me happy. 

He is a ball of energy right now, into everything he can get his hands on, a typical toddler. Harrison loves to cuddle, which makes bed time very relaxing and a great 5 minutes to sit there and sing him a song as he lays his head on my shoulder. 

Jackson is still in speech 2 nights a week, he is doing much, much better. Currently he is about 6 months behind, which is a far cry from not talking. It is a lot to rush home, Emily has dinner ready, stuff food in everyone's mouth and turn around and get Jackson to speech. But, every level of stress, every moment of heart burn from eating too fast and every minute I am exhausted is all worth it to hear my son say: "I love you too Daddy." 6 months ago he could not say that. 

As for his love for Harrison: it changes every day. It is getting much better though. He has moments when he is the sweetest little boy in the world to Harrison, and then moments of being the meanest little boy, but I guess that comes with brothers. Over all, he is great with Harrison, as long as Harrison is not touching his toys. When Harrison cries, Jackson is right there to hand him his 'bink' and makes sure that we know he is crying. Then an hour later, he is will push him down the stairs. I have a feeling this might never change. 

Life is good, it really is. I can't say it is super easy, because there are moments of pure stress and anxiety. Moments that, as parents, we second guess ourselves, wondering are we doing the right thing for our boys. At the end of the day, we do what we feel is best and hope they turn out okay. And if not, hope we save enough money for their shrink bills. ha ha. 

We have an amazing support systems with my Mom (MoMa) who is so involved in their lives. Emily's folks MiMi and PaPa are super supportive and Jackson loves his PaPa right now. Harrison sides with MiMi right now, she likes those cuddles. Uncle Justin and Aunt Meg love the boys like their own. Bobby and Denise and their family have great. Not only allowing us to get out more, but just being great friends. There are many more, and we are so grateful for all the love and support that we get. We feel so blessed to have a great family, great friends and 2 healthy, beautiful boys. 

Keep on Keeping on!