Happy Father's Day

It's not very often My Girl mentions her Father and Grandparents, but understandably Father's Day is always one of those days.  This year will be the 6 year anniversary since she last saw them.  Her Dad can only see her supervised, but the Grandparents are welcome to visit any time.  They all choose not to make the effort to be a part of her life.  

It took My Girl a couple of days to get the courage to call, but she finally tried on Thursday.  To her disappointment, the call did not go well.  She felt like they rushed her off the phone and did not engage in any conversations that she brought up.  They were uninterested in the excitement of her new baby Sister and did not care that her dog Scooby had died a while back.  She could tell her Father hated the fact that she kept referencing her "Daddy" and noticed he made a snappy comment of "Your Daddy loves you" when he quickly ended their call.  They even went as far as to tell her to "Give them a call if she's ever in town".  It never ceases to amaze me the things that they will tell a 12 year old and how they can't even spend more than 20 minutes on the phone with her.  The worst part is they only live 2 hours away.

As part of the standard "post call" damage control, I reminded my girl that her Father is a sick man destroyed by alcoholism.  He does not mean to hurt her feelings and we should pray that some day he will get well and be a responsible parent both emotionally and financially.  I reminded her that it is the parent and/or Grandparents responsibility to make the effort to be a part of her life.  It is not her job to chase their love.  What a hard lesson to learn at such a young age.

DESPITE IT ALL, we had a great Father's Day weekend!  All of the OTHER "Dad's" in our family couldn't wait to spend time with my girl and all of our kids.  

I ventured out with all four kids on Friday to the pool with my Dad (Grandpa), and they loved riding the lazy river and the big slides with him. They were exhausted after swimming all day, but we still managed to meet my Mom and Gramps (my Step Dad) for dinner before they took them home to have a sleepover.  Woohoo for Mommy & Daddy time!

We even had a baby free Saturday when my Hubby's Mom (Nana) took our Baby Girl to play for the day.  Believe it or not, I missed her terribly, as I realized that was the longest we had been apart since she was born.  On Sunday, the kids helped make breakfast for their Dad, gave him Father's Day cards & gifts, and decorated his present with numerous notes and drawings (see below). My Boy left early with Nana to go for his monthly haircut and later we all met for a Father's Day lunch.  My Dad joined us as well and brought the kids their favorite giant cookie.

What's really great is this was just a normal weekend for us.  My kiddos are always visiting their Grandparents and love to spend time with them and their Dad.  I'm thankful My Girls have these special relationships with mine and my Hubby's family to build a lasting bond and show them the real meaning of family.

Happy Father's Day!  

Cheetah time!

Watching my #6 at an indoor soccer scrimmage tonight!  Glad we were inside because it's cold!

Dear Dad,

Last weekend was my 7th birthday party!  I had an awesome "bouncing" party at Monkey Joe's with 14 of my friends, family and favorite Cousins. After jumping for an hour, we all got to eat pizza in the purple party room and have a Tangled party!  I had a Tangled cake, decorations and Sissy even put the music from the movie on her iPod and played it while we ate ice cream and opened presents.  My very favorite song is "When will my life begin".

The day of my party we made cool Tangled party favor buckets for all the girls and Toy Story buckets for the boys.  I helped Mom fill the buckets with paint, coloring pages, stickers and chalk.  I couldn't wait until after my party to get home and paint Rapunzel's dress and beautiful long hair.

It was really funny when I saw 2 boys that I didn't even know sitting at my birthday table.  I think they are called "party crashers" and the parents made them leave before they ate any of our pizza.  They did drink our juice boxes and tried to take one of my party buckets though!

My favorite gift was from my Sissy.  She gave me stuff for my baby dolls to sit and play in.  It had a playpen, a bouncer, a highchair and carrier.  I love practicing for the new baby with my dolly in the bouncer, and know just how soft to rock her now.  I also like my Aerial bath time doll a lot.  I can really put her in the water and she still sings!  Grandpa gave me seashells from our beach trip and Mi Mi gave me a Rapunzel shirt and nightgown.  I also got a Minnie Mouse outfit and purse that my Nana brought back from Disney World.  Mommy said you sent me a present, but it hasn't gotten here yet.  

This was the 6th birthday party that I have had since seeing you.  I'm sad that you are missing a lot of my favorite times and don't know who my friends are.  Makenna & Audry are my best friend from school and you would really like them.  I also wanted to let you know that I like dolls and Princesses and my favorite color is pink.  

Sharing the Daddy Box

My girls received their annual Christmas cards from their Grandparents and Dad over the holidays. Their greeting cards and letters received over the years have typically been put into the one shared "Daddy Box", but for some reason these new cards prompted a separation.  Upon request, I found a second box for Reese and my girls started dividing out their cards.   

One by one they started skimming through the cards looking for their own names.  They were thrilled to find dollar bills still inside several letters and enjoyed reminiscing over old photos!  This emotional process also prompted many questions from Reese, as she hasn't seen the senders of these cards since she was a baby.  I heard things like "Is that what my Daddy looks like?", "Why doesn't he visit me?"  "Will I get to meet my Mee Maw and Paw Paw before they die?"  Can I say how much I love these difficult questions!?

The card sorting was also harder for Nicole than I anticipated. She was being very territorial of her "Daddy Box" and did NOT like her Sister digging out her own cards.  This was the first time Nicole really had to share her box by involving her Sister so intimately, and this box of letters is the only tangible thing she has from her Dad's family. She was truly scared she might lose a piece of one of her memories.

In the end, my girls agreed to evenly split the cards with no names and started off the new year with their very own "Daddy Box".

Sisters

I'm thankful that My Girls will always have each other!

Yep!

I'm Wide Awake

I wish I knew then
What I know now
Wouldn't dive in
Wouldn't bow down
Gravity hurts
You made it so sweet
Till I woke up on
On the concrete

Happy Father's Day

Thanks to Bobbi!

Dear Dad,

My Girl has been reading quotes on-line and stumbled-upon this quote yesterday. She wanted to share it with her Father and even added a personal note. She was concerned it was not appropriate to share with him or might hurt his feelings. I said you should always say how you feel...even if the truth hurts.

She has asked me twice now if I would bring her home a stamp and envelope. I figured digital is the way to go...

p.s. I did not like that she used the word "damn", but it was in the quote. ;)

Congratulations!