I'm So Glad when Daddy Comes Home

Looking back 14 years ago, I had no idea I was marrying such an amazing father. I feel very blessed that Glenn is such a natural at fatherhood. There are many daily moments where I am at my wits end with our kids, and like a superhero, Glenn shows up and saves the day.

He is so much better at acting and not reacting. Unlike me, he thinks before he speaks. I have decided this is a talent I don't have. 

Glenn approaches fatherhood in a creative way. He has about 25 working voices and characters that spontaneously appear to entertain, cheer up, or motivate. It is amazing how a funny character voice got a child to fold laundry when yelling did not. And then there is the bedtime routine. At night I become "barn sour". This is a term used to describe a horse that gets anxious to get back to the barn (which in my world, is my happy place). Glenn however loves the routine of finding Jonas who hides every single night before bed. Glenn loves to lay in bed with our kids, play games, and talk about the day. He is wonderful that way.

Glenn is instinctively a good teacher. He shares a love for music with our kids and teaches them tunes and lyrics to the "classics" so they can sing together. He is so patient helping them with homework. He knows how to explain things in a way that helps them understand. He has also been incredible with our "pre-teen". There are plenty of moments where I am pulling my hair out until he says "I will talk with her, send her into me". I love letting him take over. I forsee this happening a lot in the next few years.

What a lucky mother I am to have such a terrific father for a husband. Glenn, I love you. I am so glad when Daddy comes home!

 

Happy Father's Day!

Father Knows Best

I love my Dad and I believe it is true that "father knows best". There have been many times in my life when his knowledge taught me a valuable life lesson.

Of course he taught me the obvious things like how to walk, how to ride a bike, how to swim, how to drive a car (he was amazingly patient) but there were other things that really made an impact on my life.

As a teenager, he used to say "I will trust you forever, but once you break that trust, I will never trust you again". I knew he meant it. I knew I wanted my Dad to always trust me and that helped me to make better choices.

I learned to trust him too. During my teen years, I went to "THE WHO" concert with Trisha and Mark Ormbsy. Before leaving for the concert my Dad said "just remember, you can't get somethin for nothin". Like a typical teenager, those words went in one ear and out the other. During the concert, a guy came up to us selling t-shirts for 1/3 of the price the other vendors were selling t-shirts. We got excited and jumped on the opportunity to buy cheap t-shirts. He handed us the shirts in a bundle and we handed him the money. When he was long gone, we opened up our shirts to find that they were all a size 2!... only a toddler could wear them (how many toddlers wear The WHO t-shirts?).  My Dad's last words, "you can't get somethin for nothin" came flooding back. Oops and wow. I definitely learned to trust him and to listen more closely to his wise advice.

However, I think anyone could tell you my Dad's number one quote is, "life is choices". He grew up without a father and his childhood was far from ideal. He dreamed his future family would be different and he made choices along the way that made that dream possible. This was not something anyone told him, it came from within.Learning his history taught me that life does not shell out the perfect scenario, but through our own choices, we can make it better, we can be happy, and we can live a good life.

So thank you Dad for the choices you made in your life. Thank you for knowing what you wanted your family to be and for making that happen. Because of your choices, I got to live the ideal childhood you never had. I am grateful every single day for this blessing. Thank you for breaking the cycle and starting new. You have created a new legacy that is unmatched.

Thank you for continuing to take those small moments and teach us something. My children adore you for these moments you spend with them. They believe you are the greatest Grandad in the world, and they are right.

Someone once asked me, what was the one thing your family taught you. Easy. "Family First".

Thank you Dad for teaching me such a valuable lesson. Family first. The end.

Without a doubt, father knows best.

Three Strikes, Rained Out!

I thought it would be fun to take our family to see a Japanese baseball game. The Tokyo Swallows play about 10 minutes from where we live. We rounded up our favorite friends, the Napierskis, and headed out.....

Everything went as planned except for.... the weather.

The weather did NOT cooperate.

"and the rain rain rain came down down down and the rain rain rain came down"

Nice "Cars" umbrella Tracey...

Jen and Ryan, "just let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day...."

Jonas thought it was fun to drink the raindrops that dripped from Emma's umbrella, until she scolded, "Stop it! That's disgusting!!"
Then he got real pouty because big sister ruined all of his fun.
"Raindrops keep fallin' on your head...."

Emma is Big in Japan

Emma modeled for Takashimaya Department Store. They originally wanted an older child, but changed their mind when they saw Emma.   What a lucky girl!

She posed as a daughter sharing Sunday brunch with her father at the department store cafe.

The posters are in subway stations and on the subways themselves. We keep hearing people say they saw poster, sometimes even taking a picture of it with their cell phone. Sometimes people we don't really know ask if Emma was in a recent advertisement. This has definitely been her moment of fame.

Our family went to see one of the posters and while we thought it was so cool, Emma was a little embarrassed and had to be coaxed into taking this picture.

The model Dad was great fun to work with. He was from Nebraska and was very down to earth.

Pooped out from smiling....

Emma has been able to do amazing jobs in Japan. We are so proud of her.

Good Picasso, Bad Picasso

Jonas is our first child to show his artistic skills in places we don't care to see them. There is good Picasso and there is bad Picasso.

On paper, good Picasso.

His name on walls... bad Picasso.

More walls... bad Picasso.

More walls, bad Picasso.

On a Power Ranger coloring sheet, good Picasso.

On our creme colored carpeting.... bad Picasso.

He told me he was making a target for the bees to land on, like they do in "The Bee Movie".

Keep scrubbing Jonas. You made the mess, you clean the mess.