Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

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Dear Holly: Your Pink Glasses

7 years, 10 months.

Dear Holly,

Back when you were in pre-K, you chose a pair of pink L.O.L. Surprise sunglasses as a prize. Amazingly, you still wear them now, as a 2nd grader.

Your pink sunglasses gained a new life when the lenses broke out of the frames one day while we were buying groceries.

That’s when you realized you could have fun pink glasses to wear… everywhere you go!

Sometimes you wear them to school. Sometimes you wear them around the house. I’ve even caught you sleeping while wearing them.

If you ever actually need glasses to see better, I have a feeling you are going to choose pink frames!

Love,

Daddy

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Our Final 90 Days Living in Tennessee

We are now at the point where this is pretty much our family’s final 90 days remaining of our time here in Tennessee, before we make the move to Alabama.

This week served as a milestone, as the deconstruction process began for some of the renovations that we are hiring contractors for.

Throughout this nesting process, my wife is basically Joanna Gaines… while I am basically Paul Rudd.

By the time we move in around Memorial Day, we will hopefully have brand-new bathrooms, kitchen cabinets, and floors throughout the entire house.

I was dreading having to drive a huge U-Haul for 3 hours across Monteagle for the official moving day.

Fortunately, it shouldn’t be that bad now, as we are microdosing the move each time we visit Fort Payne and when my parents come to Tennessee to visit us.

Last weekend, we fully loaded my dad’s huge F-150 for my parents’ trip back to Alabama. Every little bit helps.

I’m sure there will be a U-Haul involved for the final move, but I am confident the truck we rent will not have to be one of the bigger ones they rent.

Another milestone this week was that this made the first “double payment”: One for the house we bought in Alabama and the other for our house in Tennessee, which will be going on the market next month!

 

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Dear Holly: You Hope to Look Like Cindy Eilbacher When You are a Teenager

7 years, 10 months.

Dear Holly,

Last night while Mommy took your brother for a baseball coaching session, you and I decided to catch up on Scooby Doo since we just got HBO Max back again.

After a few episodes, I suggested we try watching an episode of the classic 1970s TV series, Wonder Woman; which I myself had never seen.

I let you choose the episode, based on the thumbnail.

Therefore, we went with “Skateboard Whiz”, which featured a teenage girl who I thought resembled you a bit.

So I asked you, “Holly, do you think you will look like that girl when you are older?”

You instantly replied, “I hope so!”

When Mommy came home, she presented a theory that, Cindy Eilbacher, the actress playing the teenage “skateboard whiz” looks a bit like your doll, Naty.

What I am understanding is, as a 7 year-old, you hope to look like a teenager from the 1970s when you yourself become a teenager… and that teenager happens to look like your favorite doll.

So basically, you are hoping to look like your doll when you grown up. That checks out.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: You’ve Now Begun Playing Baseball

13 years, 3 months.

Dear Jack,

A few months back, you decided you want to start playing baseball.

Your Uncle Tom in Florida and your Uncle Andrew in Alabama have both taught you some of the basics.

We have also paid for a few coaching sessions for you at a nearby rec center.

And now, as of this week, you have officially starting going to practice with your first baseball team, The Cubs.

So I imagine most of our remaining Saturdays in Tennessee will be our family cheering you on at your baseball games.

And by the time we move to Alabama this summer, you’ll be all set to play baseball there!

 

Love,

Daddy

1 Comment Posted on fatherhood, parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Saturday Date Night: Filing Income Tax Returns and a Fancy Dinner

It has been our tradition for many years now that when it’s time for my wife and I to file our income tax returns at H&R Block, we invite my parents up for the weekend to watch the kids.

Our reward for getting through “math for adults”, as our daughter calls it, is we head over to Marshall’s to “see if there might be anything we might want”. Spoiler alert: We always find some things we want at Marshall’s.

And when I say “we”, I mainly main “I”. When it comes to bargain-buying new clothes, nice shoes, and fancy soaps, I’m pretty much the worst.

From there, we drive about 25 minutes, right outside of the “exciting night life” of Nashville, and instead, we enjoy a nice, quiet early dinner at a restaurant without kids.

This past weekend, we tried a place for the first time called Coal Town Public House. Whereas most men in this situation would probably order an expensive steak and a strong cocktail, I stuck with my night-on-the-town go-to of shrimp and grits, then opted for a non-alcoholic craft beer that instantly became my new favorite brewery, Athletic Brewing Company.

Because honestly, that is what I truly enjoy more than the real stuff at this point in my life.

Of course, with our upcoming move to Alabama this May, I realized this would make the last time we would do our “income tax/Saturday night dinner” tradition here in Tennessee.

Once we move, we will live 0.2 miles from my sister. It is an unspoken understanding that our kids, who happen to be the same ages, will be “house swapping” on a regular basis: No need for someone to watch the kids… the kids simply head down the street to their cousin’s house and vice versa.

With that being said, I am confident that my wife and I will continue our tradition once we move to Fort Payne.

So yes, this is my life. I am happy. There’s nothing like a kids-free early dinner after doing taxes, shopping at Marshall’s, and then enjoying shrimp and grits with non-alcoholic beer.

This is 42.