Father's Day 2012

We had a nice, quiet Father's Day celebration for Derek today! It was laid-back, but that's just the way Derek likes it. :)  He is always happiest at home. All three of us slept in late this morning, and then we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Afterwards, we took a walk up to the Marina Park on base to let Shelby play on the playground there for a while.

After playing at the park, we walked home for lunch & naptime. While Derek & Shelby napped, I baked cupcakes for Father's Day. Shelby didn't get up from her nap until a little after 5pm, so Derek & I were able to enjoy some quiet time together (which was especially nice b/c Derek had to go into work tonight...so we missed out our typical evening together once Shelby is in bed for the night). When Shelby was up, we had salads & homemade pizza for dinner then played in the backyard for a bit.

Shelby was excited when I brought cupcakes outside for dessert :)

Derek had to leave for work just as were getting Shelby ready for bed tonight. After such a fun family day, I know he was dreading going into work for the night. But we are thankful we had the whole day together! Here is a picture of Shelby posing with the Father's Day gift she got for her Daddy.

We made this frame to go on Derek's desk at the hospital. Here are a few close-up shots of it...

 Here is the poem that is in the frame....

 My Daddy, M.D.

Whenever Daddy signs his name, 

he always writes M.D. 

So people always know 

that he belongs to me. 

For M.D. means “My Daddy” 

or something just the same. 

And that is why he always puts 

these letters in his name. 

Some letters in his name are small 

but these are not, you see. 

He always makes them big like that 

because he’s so proud of me. 

It has been an absolute joy for me to watch the relationship between Shelby & her Daddy grow over the past 21 months. I always knew Derek would make an amazing father one day, but he has surpassed all of my expectations! The love they share for one another is truly something to behold. Shelby is the apple of her daddy's eye, and I know the feeling is mutual b/c all I hear while Daddy is at work is: "Dada! D..Dada! D..Dada!" As we were working on the alphabet a couple of weeks ago, I told Shelby that the letter D is for Daddy. So now that is pretty much all I hear all.day.long. :)

We had a wonderful Father's Day today, but the only way it could have been better is if I could have celebrated with my Daddy, too. But thanks to Skype, we were at least able to "see" him! Shelby usually gets bored pretty quickly with Skype b/c she'd much rather be running around the house & playing, but whenever she sees my Dad's face pop up onto Skype she is all smiles. I've always known what an amazing father I had, but as it turns out he's a pretty awesome Grampy, too.