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Dear Jack: Easter 2016 at The Shell House

5 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack: Easter 2016 at The Shell House

Dear Jack,

This makes our first Easter as a family where we didn’t travel to Nonna and Papa’s house in Alabama to celebrate. With Mommy being 8 months pregnant, she isn’t currently able to be in the car for that long of a trip.

Dear Jack: Easter 2016 at The Shell House

I never thought of it until this weekend, but this also made the first Easter for our family where I was responsible for hiding the eggs. So I obviously had fun hiding them in our backyard.

When you discovered your Easter basket, you immediately thanked and hugged Mommy and me.

I responded, “But what about the Easter Bunny?”

You instantly replied, “No, it was you and Mommy.”

I didn’t argue with you. Smart kid you are.

Mommy is such a good gift-giver. She found a very appropriate book for you: I’m a Big Brother.

Plus she got you another owl to match the one you got for Christmas. And she found some dinosaur eggs that dissolve in water and leave behind a dinosaur toy.

I know it sounds random, but she even got you a “bath bomb” for bath time. You love that kind of stuff these days!

Not to mention, there were one dollar bills in some of the eggs, plus a five dollar bill in the golden egg. So thanks to Grandma’s $2 bill she sent in the mail, you are now $14 richer.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HLIZ0AE/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1

As far as candy, we did get you some of the traditional stuff, but you were just as excited about the Annie’s Homegrown snacks in your basket too.

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Another first for this Easter, this made the first time, as a kid, you’ve ever gone to the main church service with us; at The Church at Station Hill. You love your Pre-K class that takes place while Mommy and I are in the main auditorium, but today, all the kids remained with their parents.

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I’m pretty sure you thought it was neat. The story was fresh on your mind as I read the Easter story to you from your children’s Bible yesterday before your nap.

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If nothing else, you got to work on an activity sheet where you had to help Mary through a maze to find the empty tomb of Jesus.

What a great Easter day for our family. And imagine, by next Easter, you’ll have a nearly one year-old baby sister!

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: Easter 2016 at The Shell House

5 Comments Posted on parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: We’ll Definitely Be Dangerous… We Just Won’t Get Hurt

5 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack:

Dear Jack,

I suppose it’s safe to say a new weekly ritual is in full swing. This makes the 3rd weekend in a row where you and I have gone exploring in the surrounding neighborhoods, using a creek that begins in our backyard
as our road.

Dear Jack:

Before Mommy left the house to get her “pre-going into labor haircut” and then to Kroger to buy groceries, she smiled and told me, “Be safe. Don’t be dangerous out there.”

I smiled back and promised her,

“Oh, we’ll definitely be dangerous- we just won’t get hurt.”

About 20 minutes later as you and I were about to turn out of our neighborhood in my Honda Element, I asked you, “Jack, where you want to explore today?”

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

We decided to pick up where we left off last week, this time following the creek in the opposite direction. You quickly found the wooden plank you discovered and left behind on Sunday, deciding to take it with us for today’s entire journey.

The plank served three purposes:

#1. A shovel to help you make “chocolate milk” in the creek.

https://familyfriendlydaddyblog.com/2016/03/24/dear-jack-our-new-canon-powershot-g7-x-camera/

#2. A portable table to help you see your instantly growing rock collection.

Dear Jack:

#3. A bridge to help you get across the creek when you didn’t feel like jumping.

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The further down the creek we trekked, the more exciting and potentially dangerous things became.

You had to make your way across the rocks and the water of the creek by depending on half-rotted boards that were already placed there by other adventurers.

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

And then when we finally came across a more legitimate bridge, even it was crooked; like something from a cartoon movie.

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

Even as I’m telling you this now, it sounds like some kind of weird dream we both experienced.

When we go exploring together, we never really know what surprises await us. Well, fate would have it that we just happened to be aligned with these two tunnels leading up to the bank of a pond…

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

So we crawled through one. Once on the other side, you found an old pumpkin there in the water. I’m not sure why, since this is March, not November.

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

After that, we clumsily journeyed back to the street and found my car; you were exhausted by that point. But we still had about 45 minutes before Mommy would be home, so I talked you to in to letting me take you on a drive.

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

You and I have wondered for over a year now, since we moved to Spring Hill, about that that big blue water tower we had been seeing in the distance.

So we checked it out.

Dear Jack: I Will Be Serving as Your Guide to Danger and the Unknown

We were high up enough where we could even see our own neighborhood and church.

I’m glad you like exploring as much as I do. I suppose it’s becoming a mutual hobby for us.

And though we were slightly dangerous the whole time, we came back home to Mommy without any injuries.

Love,

Daddy

 

3 Comments Posted on parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: We Built the Pullback Race Car at Lowe’s… Twice

5 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack: We Built the Pull Back Car at Lowe’s… Twice

Dear Jack,

Last night as a family we drove to Lowe’s, which we can see from our upstairs windows facing the backyard, to build a free pullback race car; as part of their Build and Grow program.

I was eager to serve as the camera man, since we just got our new Canon PowerShot G7 X as part of my upcoming 35th birthday. Meanwhile, you and Mommy took turns hammering in the nails.

https://familyfriendlydaddyblog.com/2016/03/24/dear-jack-our-new-canon-powershot-g7-x-camera/

We were all so busy doing our jobs that no one us happened to see the obvious warning in the instructions that one of the panels had to be facing a certain way.

Needless to say, we didn’t see that part in the instructions until the car was built. Therefore, your racecar didn’t propel forward after you pulled it back, like it was designed to do.

A fellow dad came up to me just then to discreetly explain he had made the same mistake and had to rebuild his.

https://familyfriendlydaddyblog.com/2016/03/24/dear-jack-our-new-canon-powershot-g7-x-camera/

Fortunately, the lady kindly gave us another car and so we started over. At least we knew exactly what to do the 2nd time around. After we built it the right way, you had so much fun testing out the race car’s pullback action!

I’m glad that Lowe’s has this program. And it’s really convenient that we live so close.

https://familyfriendlydaddyblog.com/2016/03/24/dear-jack-our-new-canon-powershot-g7-x-camera/

We used to take you more often to these events at Lowe’s when you were a toddler. I don’t know how we got out of the habit, especially now that you’re at the perfect age. Perhaps in the process of building and moving into a new house last year, we just sort of forgot.

Oh well, I have a feeling we’ll being going quite regularly now. And I guess we’ll be more careful to follow all the instructions; otherwise we’ll do the craft twice… even though, you didn’t seem to mind that at all.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: We Built the Pull Back Car at Lowe’s… Twice

5 Comments Posted on parenting, People, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: Our New Canon PowerShot G7 X Camera

5 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack: Our New Canon PowerShot G7 X Camera

Dear Jack,

Last weekend you and I got to test out our brand-new camera: a Canon PowerShot G7 X.

We picked up right where we left off from the weekend before, when we followed that creek to the treehouse.

Whereas my new toy was the camera, your new toy was a gift card holder, which is a functioning toy tractor from Tractor Supply Company.

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You made it your mission to run that red tractor through the water and soot in the creek. I served as your camera man.

I love our new camera. The camera I’ve been using for the past 4 and a half years up until this point was the 2011 version of the Canon PowerShot, which was only 12 megapixels.

Dear Jack: Our New Canon PowerShot G7 X Camera

Apparently that’s my favorite brand. I find it very user friendly and absolutely durable. Mommy and I dropped the last one several times and it never damaged the camera at all.

With the upgraded version, we now have 20 megapixels, plus a 1 inch sensor which causes the background to blur; giving the images a more professional look.

Dear Jack: Our New Canon PowerShot G7 X Camera

(Thanks to Best Buy for their educated staff, who were able to enlighten me!)

With your sister Holly scheduled to be born in less than a month, and with you starting Kindergarten this fall, Mommy and I figured it was the right time for a new camera.

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As for our journey in the neighborhood walking park a few neighborhoods away from us, we trekked on far enough to discover a really cool school playground.

Dear Jack: Our New Canon PowerShot G7 X Camera

Now that we’ve been exploring the surrounding neighborhoods for the past couple of weekends, I have a feeling this will be the norm for us; that we will try to squeeze in an exploring journey whenever we can.

While Mommy’s taking care of the baby this summer, I’ll be there to guide you to excitement in the great outdoors.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: Our New Canon PowerShot G7 X Camera

4 Comments Posted on Health, parenting, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

Dear Holly: You’re Going to Be a Small Baby; in the 23rd Percentile

36 weeks.

Dear Holly: You’re Going to Be a Small Baby; in the 23rd Percentile

Dear Holly,

This week Mommy and I went to Vanderbilt for another sonogram appointment. We just wanted the assurance of knowing you’re still doing okay in the there. I’ll cut to the chase:

You are. Thank God.

We were informed that everything is great; your heartbeat, your fluids, and your movement. There is no reason for concern. You are simply going to be a small baby.

You currently weigh 5 pounds, 9 ounces; with just about 4 weeks left before you’re born. They told us that if you were in the 10th percentile or lower, then it might be an issue; but instead, you’re in the 23rd.

Knowing that you “have been measuring a couple of weeks behind” for a while now had caused us to worry that something was wrong. It’s good to have some relief on that.

This is the opposite of what we experienced with your brother Jack. It seemed he was always in the 90th percentile. He was a big baby with a big head, which made his birth very difficult for Mommy. Granted, that doesn’t mean he’s a big boy now; he’s average.

They told us this week that in addition to being a small baby, you “don’t have a big head.” I’m happy because that hopefully means an easier labor for Mommy when you are being born.

If I haven’t said it already, Mommy is ready for you to come out. And I’m ready too.

This is the “misery” part of the pregnancy where Mommy just can’t get comfortable to stay asleep or even just sit comfortably. I think it’s funny that her favorite t-shirt to wear at night is the Wonder Woman nighty I got her for Christmas.

Plus, it will be nice having you outside of the womb so we can see for ourselves that you really are doing just fine in there, just like the doctors say.

We’re now less than a month away from your due date. I keep reminding myself that when you’re finally born… we’ll actually have a little baby girl!

I know that part seems kind of obvious, but it’s how my mind works right now.

Love,

Daddy