I didn't think planning the perfect father's day for Fred would be that hard.

It's the execution part that was hard.

Buying gifts wasn't that hard....(did you read my previous post?)

And I knew what the perfect day would be for him.

Coffee.
Newspaper.
Getting to church on time.
No fist-fighting over who gets to pass the offering plate back in church.
Food.
A Sunday Drive.
A Nap.
More Food.

A peaceful, calm and quiet day is a treasure and a rare treat. So I did my best to make that happen.

We got through the first few items on the checklist fairly well, which led me to believe that the rest of the day would fall in just fine.

I think church went pretty good for Fred. Lucky for him that I had a preschooler on each side of me who HAD to know what page we were on, and where we were at so they could follow along. This is something that, as a mother, I should be very proud of. But it was kind of difficult to bring those feelings up when they kept dropping their books, loosing their page, wouldn't believe me when I said "yes" to the question "is this where we are?" and countless other things that made it impossible for ME to even follow along because I was too busy helping them to.

Oh...and one more thing about that.....THEY CAN'T READ.

Frustration double.

BUT....there was no blood or fighting of any kind in church.

The brunch was great. Fred sat at the head of the table while I did my very best to keep a couple of kids from playing underneath the table, looking over the back of the booth at the food these people were trying to eat, and stabbing themselves and each other in the eye with their forks.

The drive was peaceful. Or at least mostly so. There was one incident where a threat to pull the van over was made....and once we pulled into a parking lot and when we went to leave the arm on the entrance was DOWN.....so we were trapped in this downtown Davenport parking lot next to Fred's office. Marisa cried because she thought we were trapped forever. Fred drove around the outer edges of the lot.....weighing his options and debating whether or not we could jump a curb in the minivan without getting hung up anywhere. After tears (marisa's, not Fred's) and a few naughty words, Fred found someone at a nearby resturaunt that had a key to get us out.

Fred is now taking a nap and the kids are quietly watching a movie. Everything is calm and peaceful here on Father's Day.

Funny how that happens when everybody is all like.....asleep!

I guess the "perfect" father's day can't really happen with kids around.

But no kids equals no father's day.

Maybe this was the perfect day afterall.

Thanks Freddy for being the best dad our kids could ask for! I think the one thing better than being a mom is being married to the best dad. You set the barre high for the girls' future husbands and Nathan is going to be a real stand-up husband and father because of your example. We all love you unconditionally. Happy Father's Day!