A Few Words about Dad

We are in the middle of an early morning ice storm, and we just got word that school is cancelled for the day. So, the Moo, Bean, and I will have to find ways to entertain ourselves today! I'm actually glad to have the extra time with them, although I had a lot of errands planned for today -- hopefully the ice will melt and we can all run them together. They have gotten easier to take along on things like this, although they continue to have somewhat limited tolerance for more than three stops, unless one of those stops involves ice cream.

I thought I would use this post to say a few words about Dad (since he is not here to defend himself). As the girls will tell you, their Dad is the best and craziest dad in the whole world. He has shown remarkable flexibility as a parent -- a lot of the things we are doing with the kids (discipline, private school, the amount of clothes that they have and where we buy them) are not things that Dad would choose given his druthers. But he goes along with things and gets on board, and is really committed to investing in the girls and their education (not so much in their clothes, but that's why we don't have don't have Dad have buy them -- sorry Dad they are getting all of their clothes from Wal-Mart). Dad is also very involved in the girls lives - he plays with them, tells them stories, and makes sure that they know how much they are loved by their father. He reminds me very much of my dad!
Here is one example of how great Dad is: our normal routine for the past few years on days that I work was that I got up at 430 am, got ready, got the girls up at 530 am and got them ready while Dad is getting dressed, tried to run out the door before 630, and Dad took them to school. We have been very concerned about the amount of sleep the girls are getting (or not getting) though, so for the past month Dad has been letting me get going to work earlier and letting the girls sleep in. This means that he has to get them ready, including getting uniforms on and hair brushed and styled, something a former soldier is not exactly experienced at! He is doing great now, but it was a bit rough in the early going. Above is a pic of the Bean from mid-December, with uniform on although the hair is a bit crazy. Below, please notice how he dressed the Moo for school on this extremely chilly December morning:

Sigh -- when confronted about her lack of SHIRT Dad said, well, I put a sweater on her. I had to email her teachers to explain so they would not think I was completely crazy! At least he got the uniform jumper on.

But, as I said that was a long time ago and Dad has come a LONG way -- we may even teach him to french braid yet (although that may be pushing it). In addition to all of this, Dad works incredibly hard to make sure we have everything we need and to give me more time to spend with the girls. Thanks Dad -- we love you so much!!

Here are two Friday morning quotes from the girls about their Dad:

Moo: I like my Dad because he is going to see my sculptures and he will yell out loud "Who made these sculptures??!!" He plays with me and I love him so.

Bean: I like my Dad because I like him so, so much because I love him so much because he goes like "bleah-bleah-bleah-bleah-bleah." (I think she's trying to say you are crazy, Dad). :)