Our Perfect Father's Day Weekend

Today is Aaron's first Father's Day and we've had a fun family weekend. Friday night we met Aaron at a family-friendly outdoor concert in Cool Creek Park. When the band played Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ava smiled and kicked her legs. She loved it! The kids ran to the front when the band called out for all the kids to come up to the stage for the songs. They also played Brown Eyed Girl, which is Ava's special song that Grandma Berkey has sang to her since she was born. I stood up and danced with Ava to the Bob Marley cover song and she snuggled on her daddy's chest.

We had a lot of fun relaxing, until the rain storm hit! The black clouds came in and the concert stopped abruptly and all the families piled in their cars. We managed to get home before the height of the rain and lightening.

Yesterday, Aaron worked really hard all day reorganizing the garage with the new shelves he bought. We have so much more room. It's been so hot this weekend, so that was not easy. We went to our friends, the Gindling's, for an amazing Greek summer lamb kebab meal, but we had to leave early because the baby was fussy. The poor girl gets uncomfortable from gas and I forgot her drops.

Today, for Father's Day, Ava and I gave Aaron a bag of his favorite treats from Trader Joe's: peanut butter cups, peanut butter filled pretzel snacks, dried apricots, and Chimay beer. For breakfast, I made us French Toast made with Scholar's Inn Cinnamon Raisin bread, Yoder's pepper bacon (our favorite splurge for real bacon), and orange slices. The cinnamon smelled great in the house.

We're spending the rest of the day doing home projects like reorganizing the pantry with new shelves. We worked on the decorations for the nursery, too. I'll post it when it's done. I glued fuschia diecut butterflies to a white paper lantern that's going to hang above her crib. She loves looking at contrasting colors. When she woke up from her nap I showed my work in progress and she really liked it! I wonder why more parents don't use bright colors in the nursery, since it's great for their brain development.

Ava's gift...Laughing! It's something new that she just started in the last few days. Ava is now laughing! She's such a happy girl and when I was singing to her she laughed. It's really fun to watch the new developments unfold. BTW, she's still not rolling over to her tummy yet, but she's still getting super close. She does move from side to side and manages to get herself in a circle.

I always think about my dad on Father's Day. He's been gone for 12 years now. But I remember all the fun we had when I was little and I'm so happy that Aaron and Ava are developing that same close relationship. Aaron is a very hands on Dad and is a pro with soothing her. You can see from these pictures that Ava loves to snuggle with her Dad!