father’s day 2020

father’s day was relaxing, casual, and perfect.

during a pandemic…you try your best to be cautious, celebrate in a safe way, but still have fun! we decided, since it was the first father’s day without papa around, we kept it intimate with just hc’s side of the family.

for lunch, i ordered from a local bbq restaurant in the area. there’s no better meal for hc for father’s day! of course he had to go pick it up in the chevelle! gramma, missy, and grace came by to visit!

before we sat down to eat, hc and i gave grace her graduation gift, as we never see this girl anymore! i said, ‘lucky you!…the only daughter to get a big gift on father’s day!’ LOL

well, since the girls saw grace getting a gift, they felt it was fitting that hc opened up his presents too! so they grabbed his gifts and were excited to see him open them up. you know how kids are…they love watching anyone open up a gift! they gave him an amazing dad book, an old fashioned tee shirt, cubs masks, and a box of rocks. literally. they painted them for the garden! so creative and fun! that was a gramma driven gift!

after lunch, we just hung out and talked. hc took his sister and mom for a walk around the house to check out the garden grounds and then we hung out on the front porch for a bit and chatted. while we were doing that, grace needed me to take a few photos of her in her graduation gown for school. of course i happily obliged.

we had a low key and good time together. being with family is always best. happy father’s day hc! you’re one in a billion and we’re so thankful to have such a wonderful person in our lives.

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[we finally saw grace, so we gave her a graduation gift]

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[a new laptop!]

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[daddy daughter duo]

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[eager for dada to open up his gift!]

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[chicago cubs masks]

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[garden rocks painted by olive, ellie, and grace]

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[ladybug by grace]

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[catering by mission bbq]

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xoxo

father’s day 2019

we celebrated father’s day at hc’s parent’s house.

on mother’s day…we do what i prefer and on father’s day, we do what hc prefers and it all is fair and square. we got up and got ready at a very slow pace {ahem…if it’s a day off for me…i can never get out of bed quick}.

i had the girls give hc his gift in the morning…flowers, a bag of man treats, and a six pack of unique beers. they were so cute trying to carry it all to him!

once we were at his parent’s house, we all just sat around chatting. his sister missy, his aunt wendy, grace, his parents, his cousin kevin and kevin’s kids, mila and nolan were all there. it was so good to catch up and just relax.

it’s been awhile since we have seen kevin and the kids and it was super nice to have him there! it reminded us that it had been too long since we’ve hung out and we need to see them more often!

after an hour or so of being there, lunch was ready! jane had made chicken, burgers, and salad. we all gathered around and had a really good time conversing while we ate.

father’s day was very low key but filled with a lot of love. sometimes all you need is to be with the ones you love and that’s it.

happy father’s day hc. you are an amazing dad to the girls and they absolutely adore you. thank you for always doing your best and going above and beyond every day to provide us the best life possible. we love you to infinity and beyond!

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[our gang]

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[handmade gifts]

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[my favorite girls]

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[my sweet babe]

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[dada and his girl]

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[oh that face…she melts our hearts]

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[mama and son]

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[hc, jane, and kevin]

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[his favorite uncle]

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[so sweet]

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[desserts are always welcomed]

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[father and daughter]

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[grilling kind of cake]

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[daddy and daughter]

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[olive was so excited to give dada her gift]

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[as close as ellie would get to aunt wendy]

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[homemade frames for dad]

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[ellie was upset and screamed for grace to console her! it was so darn cute!]

xoxo

father’s day ’18

we had a packed agenda for father’s day!

we headed out in the morning, drove north, to have lunch and hang out with hc’s parents. then several hours later, we drove back south to have dinner with my family.

it was a fun, whirlwind of a day but nonetheless, very fulfilling.

we started the day getting ready and scurrying out the door to make it to his parent’s house on time. it was a hot, hot day. so daaaaaang hot! we melted a bit outside, hanging out. i just couldn’t do it. when i am sitting outside, sweating, like really sweating, i have to beeline inside to the cool house. i. just. can’t. do. it. i am not outdoorsy and add in heat {and no pool}, i’m dunzo.

our afternoon was relaxing. we had lunch and hung out with rich’s parents, his aunt, his sister, and grace. plain and simple. after four plus hours, we packed up and headed south to meet my family for dinner.

there we met up with dan, agata, my parents and sisters. once we were seated, olive was being a riot. she was being so darn cute looking at the menu, as if she knew what she was looking at or for! ha! she’s too cute! she decided that she wanted to eat chicken and fried rice. good choice my girl!

olive entertained us and ellie was restless! she was in that fussy mood but the poor babe slept only a half hour that day, with all the traveling and distractions we had all afternoon. dinner was actually very good. we have eaten at this particular restaurant before and the service and food was always ok, but this time around, we were pleasantly surprised at everything!

  father’s day was well spent with our families. we had fun celebrating the dads in our lives!  thank you to hc for always being a wonderful father to our girls. they adore you. your patience, love, and silliness make our girls light up! we love you to infinity and beyond!

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[she’s so cute]

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[she’s a doll]

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[auntie missy getting her work out with this little one]

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[she’s a nut]

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[papa and dada]

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[jane and wendy]

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[watering the flowers]

*****

{part deux}

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[my sweetie looking over the menu. haha!]

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[kim and olive]

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[dan and agata]

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[thuy and mom]

[olive, is that you?]

xoxo

a riverside father’s day

father’s day is, obviously, all about dads. so, this father’s day, i decided that i was going to gift hc with a day of whatever he wanted to do. let me tell you, i knew in advance what he would want to do but i asked him anyways.

yep, he wanted a day in the garage. so be it. the day before father’s day {we had plans to spend actual father’s day at his parent’s house}, hc spent the entire day in the garage. he organized, cleaned, worked on his jeep, etc. and he was a very happy dad!

the next day, we traveled up to his parent’s house to spend the afternoon celebrating with his sister missy, gramma, papa, and grace. we all had lunch together then we all hopped onto papa’s boat for a fun ride on the river. it was such a beautiful day! the sun was shining and the temp was perfect. the only glitch was ellie versus the life jacket. well, ellie – 0 life jacket – 1. the life jacket won. ellie was not keen about having on a life jacket. we, at first, put on the infant life vest on her and she had a meltdown. that thing is obnoxious. it’s stiff and restricting. yes, i know it’s the l a w to have one on children under 13 but man, it was tough watching her scream. she couldn’t move her head, she cried, and it broke my heart. we decided to put a kids life vest on her instead. it still bothered her but at least she had one on that allowed her to move her head a bit more. the other one was like a straight jacket!

unfortunately, ellie cried throughout the majority of the boat ride. only when we were 15 minutes away from home did she fall asleep. on a good note, olive had a blast! she enjoyed the boat ride and giggled and screamed throughout our trip on the river! it was so stinkin’ adorable to watch her have a great time!

alas, our boat ride came to an end and we came back to gramma’s and papa’s house for dessert! gramma jane had made the cutest rainbow cake. olive absolutely adored it and loved the marshmallows even more! that sneaky girl kept picking off the marshmallows before we even cut the cake!

we relaxed a bit more after dessert, after being there all afternoon and into the early evening, we finally gathered our belongings to head home. the babes had a great time being doted on by their grandparents and we had a wonderful time visiting with everyone. according to hc, he couldn’t have asked for a better father’s day! yay!

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[baby ellie in her firetruck dress]

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[sausage sliders]

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[grace marie]

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[lunch alfresco]

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[auntie missy and ellie]

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[sadie chillaxin’]

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[getting a life jacket on ellie…not her favorite thing]

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[desperately trying to make ellie comfortable]

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[olive is loving it]

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[ellie not crying for a few minutes…haha!]

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[she finally fell asleep, 15 minutes out from being home]

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[daddy holding ellie]

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[silly girl]

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[eagles nest]

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[fox river]

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[rainbow cake]

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[olive excited over the rainbow cake]

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[picking at the marshmallows]

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via tandeminlove.com[gramma’s garden]

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[hammock time]

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[i’m stuck]

xoxo

happy dad’s day

father’s day was absolutely wonderful.

i was a bit sad because it was the very first father’s day i didn’t spend with my dad. i wanted hc to do what he wanted to do…it was his day and he wanted to spend the day with his dad, so be it.

so, up to his parent’s house we went. it was a beautiful, very warm day. when we arrived, everyone was sitting out on the patio, enjoying the day. olive immediately wanted to go to the swing set. as you can see in the pic below! big sister grace so graciously took charge and carried olive down to the play set. such a great sister she is!

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[itching to get down to the swing set]

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[having fun with her sister]

the kids played by the swing set for a bit, while aunt wendy grilled our food. of course, i had to snap lots o pics of my baby girl in her cutesy outfit! as we played around in the yard, we got the call that lunch was ready!

i prepared olive’s plate and finally got myself some food. we ended up eating inside only because there was one less chair available outside and besides, it was cooler inside and easier for me to manage olive without sweating to death! i love warmer weather but humidity can take it’s toll. i just can’t risk melting. haha!

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[headband by hellomissgorgeous]

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[not happy…she wanted to be down by the playlet]

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[she’s sooooooo cute, love her]

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[eating and looking so cute]

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[loving her sister]

after lunch, we cleaned up a bit and got ready to go onto the boat! it was the most perfect day for this. since it was so warm out, speeding around on the boat creates the most balanced temperature and it’s quite nice!

olive was amused. she loved being in gramma’s arms while we were riding along the river. the sun was shining, the wind was perfect, and i greatly enjoy seeing all the boats cruising the river.

after a bit, we settled on an area that was quiet and the kids jumped onto the tube. olive was super curious on what was going on! then off we went with the kids in tow. olive had to watch what they were doing! it was too cute to see.

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[ready to go boating!]

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[boating time!]

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[fox river]

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[olive jelly of the big kids]

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[her expression is priceless…watching the kids tubing]

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[here we go!]

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[it was perfect day to be out on the water]

after cruising the river for quite some time, we pulled into the no wake zone and the kids jumped out onto the water. you could tell that olive really wanted to go out as well. oh boy, i succumb to it. how could i not let her go out into the water and have fun?! so hc jumped in and pulled olive down into the river. she was a bit confused at first. she’s so funny with extreme temperatures. if it’s hot or if it’s cold…it’s all hot to her! hahaha! she gets upset if something feels too hot or cold, so she’ll say “hot! hot!”.

she cried a little bit when her skin first hit the cold river water but then she got over it! she was loving the tube and the water! she had a blast out there. she splashed, she screamed, and she unfortunately drank a little bit of the river water {eewwwwwww gross!!!}.

after quite a bit of fun in the tube, it was time to pull her out and she threw a fit! oh no. she was not having it. she cried and cried and cried. i changed her, got her dressed, and she stood at the end of the boat looking out at the kids with such sadness. she totally wanted to be out in the water with them. my heart broke over her sadness. awwwww, poor babes.

we then went on our merry way back home. of course, it was a beautiful, perfect ride back to the house. olive got over it and was completely content in my arms as she watched grace and daniel have fun in the tube.

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[olive’s first time in the fox river!]

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[she was soooo excited to be in the tube]

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[olive was soooo not happy missy was sitting next to her! haha!]

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[sisters downing yoohoo’s together, stay together]

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[yummy chocolaté pie]

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[daniel’s gift to papa]

once we were back, we all noshed on some delicious chocolate pie jane had bought and dick opened up his father’s day gift. we stayed just a little bit longer, relaxed, and finally packed ourselves up and headed home.

it was a wonderful, perfect father’s day indeed. we all had such a fabulous time on this beautiful, sunny day. thanks dick and jane for hosting us! we love you guys so much!

xoxo

dad’s day

happy father’s day!

oh boy! i would have posted this one sooner but this darn wordpress site wasn’t cooperating with my iphone, so i couldnt make any edits! argh! well it’s working now, thank goodness!

i wanted to do a shout out to the amazing dads i know.  first off, my dear father. bless his heart for everything he’s done for us, for our family. he has always been selfless, loving, kind, and giving. my dad has done everything he could for our family to always be in a better situation, whether it was always working overtime, keeping things in order for us to move to the next, or providing love and care for us. i will always be thankful and proud of all that he has given to us

next up, is my husband. he is a wonderful father to olive and grace and an amazing husband to me. he does his best to provide a wonderful home to our family and humor with love. he’s quite the goofy dude and he is so sweet to our little girl. he finds something comical in almost everything olive does; he has such great patience with her that i am always in awe and admiration over it.

i have to give props to mr. terry. he’s such a good guy. as good as they come. i must say that we are fortunate that we {us siblings} have married into some pretty awesome families. terry is super nice, caring, loving, and supportive. he is such a sweet dad to his two little boys, reagan and bennett.

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last but but not least is mr. h. also known as dick, dad to junior. he is so loving and kind {notice the common theme here?}. no joke, one of the kindest people i know. no judgements here, we only get love and support at all times from him {them}. he is hc’s best friend and confidant. they are also super grandparents to miss olive, well, we are so blessed that both sets of our parents are super grandparents!

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i am proud to call all these dudes dad! i love every single one of them and feel so fortunate that they are a part of my life. happy, happy dad day everyone!

xoxo

happy dad’s day

by golly, it was father’s day! a day to celebrate my hubby is who an amazing dad! not only is he an amazing father, he is a wonderful partner, a doting hubby and dad, a sweet, kind, caring, loving person.

olive and i are lucky gals to have this man in our lives. we started out the morning in bed, hc wanted to open up his gift right away! we gave him a tent from rei! he was so excited that he set it up right away in the kitchen! lol.

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[hc wanted his gift right away! right when we woke up!]

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[papyrus motorcycle card…tres cool]

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[little olive ‘camping’ with her daddy in the kitchen]

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since it was daddy day, olive and i ventured out to starbucks and got us coffee. it’s dangerous that the starbucks is so close {literally a couple minutes away}. we relaxed and ate a small breakfast before we headed out to brunch with our family.

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[staple]

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[relaxing before we head out]

we cruised to the city, parked, and walked to the restaurant. it was such a beautiful day; sunny, warm, and bright. so perfect! kim, terry, and the boys were already there. we said our hello’s and ordered tasty beverages to imbibe.

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[family time // the boys going over the drink list]

we started out with apps…scones and jam, fried pickles, and poutine. an interesting combo but nevertheless delicious. this place is so good. i ordered a latte, um, i could have downed four of those! so smooth, nutty, and sweet.

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[scones and lattes…so good]

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[reagan showing off his shirt]

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i ordered the smoked salmon…it was so tasty. the cream cheese was peppered with chives, the capers were perfectly salty, and the accoutrements were like a fresh salad. i was able to wolf some it down {thanks to kim for taking the babes}, my little olive was tired and fussy. kim came back and i took olive for a walk down michigan ave.

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[delicious smoked salmon]

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[enjoying his fruity drink]

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[lovingly eyeing each other]

we absolutely enjoyed brunch. i really like the gage. the staff was so friendly and quite kid friendly. the ambience is fantastic, the food is delicious, and it was fun. i wished we could have enjoyed more of this beautiful day with them in the city but the other family duties called! so, off we went to spend some quality time with hc’s parents!

***

we drove our way to crystal lake…oy vey, it was almost a two hour drive. yowza. once we got there, we hung out outside with dick and jane. gramma brought out the swing and olive had a fantastic fun time on it! she made the funniest faces, she smiled relentlessly, and actually was waving at her daddy while they were swinging together! we chilled out in the yard and enjoyed the wonderful weather. it did rain just a tad. we brought olive inside for a second and then out we went again to continue the fun.

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[papa and olive]

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[olive loving the swing and waving at daddy!! look closely, her little hand flapping in the wind]

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[loving her carrot rattle from land of nod]

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[look closely at olive’s face…she has the funniest expressions]

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we spent many hours lazily relaxing. jane whipped up some dinner, we filled our bellies, and then downed too many sugar cookies she had baked. after olive’s feeding, we hit the road back to our maison.

it was such a delightful, beautiful day with our families. we are so blessed and couldn’t ask for anything more. we are so lucky to have such amazing father figures in our lives. happy dad’s day…but we like to celebrate them everyday!

xoxo

happy father’s day

happy dad day to the world’s greatest father!

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[olive, eight hours old, and daddy]

i’m so excited to celebrate this special day together with our presh daughter, olive! i know hc is a fantastic father to grace but it’s awesome to celebrate him being an amazing dad to our olive.

thank you for being a strong partner in raising her. you love her, play with her, dress her in cute outfits, and completely dote on her in so many ways. there are many, many moments you guys share that are too cute for words, i love watching you both interact! it makes my heart melt!

***

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[photo by kate headley]

happy father’s day to my dad. the most amazing, loving father anyone could ever ask for. he has given so much to us as a family, i am forever grateful for all his sacrifices and all the love he has given. i am so fortunate to be surrounded by such terrific, kind, loving men!

happy father’s day to all the wonderful dads out there!

xoxo

father’s day gift ideas

father’s day is coming up!

i’ve compiled a list of gifts {with the help of hc’s hints}, that are a possibility of giving for this upcoming dad’s day!

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how cool is this driftwood dock? it’s woodsy {anything wood is a fan favorite of the hubs}, simple, and would look very nice out and about in your home. a wonderful way to charge your techy toys without it looking cumbersome or junky!

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my hubs is a beer loving kind of guy. so, i think this lovely beer holder is a great gift to give because one: it’s really cool looking…loving the grey wood finish. two: it’s perfect to be able to tote several beers out to the back yard to your guests. three: it has the bottle opener right there! how convenient 😉

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hc is a fabulous chef. he makes the greatest meals, i am a lucky gal! i found this awesome tandem bike cutting board that can be personalized. it would be a fun gift to give and a special reminder that he is an awesome dad every time we are in the kitchen together cooking {or i’m in the kitchen and he’s doing the cooking!}.

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i die over these bbq sugar cookies from oh sugar events! i love the novelty and i think it’s a great add on, delicious, sweet treat to any father’s day gift you do end up giving. on a personal note, i think i’d be the one who ends up eating all these tasty cookies anyways!

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what dad doesn’t want a really cool shaving set? years ago, i bought hc a set like this. he loves it. it looks awesome and is pretty cool looking sitting out on the sink. it’s classic, old fashioned, and practical.

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a hc request. he hinted about this lovely tent to me a couple weeks ago. since he enjoys camping with grace and now we have a huge, spacious backyard…it’s the perfect gift to give to him! he needs to replace the old tent he has and whether they go to a camping ground or set up shop in our backyard, this is a great compact tent to tote around!

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these watches are marvelous. hc was eyeing a watch like this at a men’s boutique we were shopping at on southport last summer. so, i am suggesting this as a gift to any dad out there who loves wood, watches, and a fun conversation piece!

well, there you go! a few ideas to help out or inspire you to get your dad or your husband a fantastic gift for this special day. hurry up, lovies…father’s day is coming up quick. get that hard working dad something wonderful to show him that you care and let him know he’s the greatest dad in the world!

xoxo

happy father’s day

happy father’s day to the best dad ever!

i love my dad to bits and i think he’s the most amazing father ever.  his love, care, and guidance were uniquely his own.  growing up, you appreciate the craziness and kookiness your parents can offer.  i don’t think any child realizes that until they are an adult!

my dad, growing up, was warm and loving.  there were days i just loved to curl up on his lap, especially when he came home from work.  it was my favorite time.  he would put his wallet away, change his clothes, make his coffee, sit on the floor, and i would curl up on his lap.  we’d talk about our day or just sit and relax.  he always smelled a little of metal, smoke, and coffee…and that was actually really comforting to me {strange but true}!

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cheers to my dad, to his always unconditional love and support!

xoxo