Father's Day 2015

"I never knew how much I loved your daddy

until I saw how much he loved you."

This past Sunday was Father's Day, and we spent the weekend celebrating the three dads that are the most special in my life -- Ben, Opa, and Pops.  Although I'm fairly certain that this particular day is meant to be spent doing exactly what all the dads/grandpas want to do, we instead celebrated by doing the things that Jackson enjoys most...mainly because his dad and grandpas are the best and also because "if Jackson ain't happy, ain't nobody happy".

On Saturday, my dad and Patty came in town, and we all went to Central Market for lunch.  When you're a parent, restaurants that have both good food and a playground are definitely where it's at.

Growing up, my dad always told us that he loved having two girls and wouldn't have it any other way, and although I still believe him, I also know how happy he is to finally have his boy {and another on the way}.  The coffee cup {and a bag of local dark roast} says it best: "Opa is the Greatest!"

That afternoon, we wanted to take Jackson somewhere to wear him out {the story of our lives}, but because it looked as though the sky was about to open up at any given moment, we abandoned our original splash pad plan and ended up at Lowe's instead.  We had a couple of things to pick up {in addition to the pool noodle that Jackson just had to have}, and Jackson has always loved exploring both Home Depot and Lowe's.  Plus, what better way to celebrate Father's Day than with a trip to every man's favorite store?

Sunday morning, Jackson insisted that Ben open his Father's Day gift as soon as he got up, and then the boys celebrated with a doughnut breakfast {and a little bit of screen time} while I got ready for church.

We have only taken Jackson with us to the service a handful of times, but because it was Father's Day and I know how much Ben likes taking him with us {plus the only kid that was already in the toddler room was crying, which I knew would freak Jackson out}, I suggested that we go to church as a family and then only take him to the nursery for the Sunday School hour.  Thankfully, he did pretty good overall, but what I didn't think about ahead of time was how much chattier he is now than he was the last time that he went with us, which was on Easter and almost 3 months ago.  It was so much harder to keep him quiet, and the boy definitely hasn't mastered the skill of whispering, but we sat near a bunch of our friends from Sunday School who also have young kids, so thankfully it didn't seem to bother them one bit.

Sunday after Jackson's nap, we headed over to Kyle and Steve's house to celebrate Father's Day with a delicious steak dinner and the usual digging, swimming, tractor-riding fun.  Needless to say, I didn't get the most perfectly posed picture of the three generations of Liggett men, but sometimes the outtakes are even better than the "good" ones.  I can only hope that Jackson {and his brother} will be just like the two generations before him -- hardworking, selfless, and so good at spoiling me.

As for the rest of this week, we've been busy getting ready for our upcoming Sunday School beach trip.  We've done laundry, grocery shopped, and packed, and we even made a quick trip to the mall to pick up a couple of things -- although unfortunately, it was not as quick as I had hoped.  Because I had to buy my new flip flops in the shoe department, I had to stand in a long line with a sales clerk who moved slower than molasses and behind several customers who literally asked one question after another, and then, as luck would have it, Ben's boxers didn't ring up on sale, so I had to go back to the men's department and stand in another long line to check out there, too.  About halfway through our first wait in line, Jackson asked to get out of the stroller, and for the most part he did a good job of staying close, but the walk back to the men's department was a disaster {see the picture below for proof}, and the second wait in line was even worse.  Needless to say, he won't be pushing this stroller when there's a baby in it.

Just as it became my turn to check out {for the second time}, and I thought I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I looked over to see Jackson pulling every single tie off the display table.  I immediately went to retrieve him, and after promising the sales clerk that we would pick up every single one of them just as soon as we paid, the lady behind me said: "we were just saying how impressed we are that you're here shopping with him".  Um, thanks?  Honestly, I'm not even sure how I responded to that, but as soon as Jackson finished helping me pick them up {good parenting can be such a slow and painful process sometimes}, we were out of there.

On our way home, we stopped by the Clarksville Park & Splash Pad to let him burn off the rest of his energy, and it's a good thing that we did because he was all over that place -- digging in the gravel and running through the water.  While we were there, we also ran into Stephanie and Ashley from Stroller Strides and their kids, so it was fun catching up with them while the kids ran wild.

It's hard to believe that just a few short years ago, my mom and I were saying how sad it was that the city was replacing so many of its pools with splash pads -- because now that I have a kid of my own, I know exactly how wonderful these places really are.  With their ability to wear a kid out just as much as any playground while also keeping them and their mom {relatively} sweat-free on even the hottest of days, they really are amazing.  And the fact that they don't have display tables of perfectly arranged ties just asking to be messed up or ridiculously long lines is just icing on the cake, too.