Happy Father's Day

Well, now that Jeff has started something with his Mother's Day post, it is up to me (and Melinda) to continue the tradition with Father's Day. However, since he is so much better with words than I am, I will use pictures to take up most of the space.

It goes without saying that Jeff is a wonderful Daddy to Samantha. All you have to do is see how her eyes light up whenever she sees him or even thinks she is going to be seeing him. He is very patient whenever he is teaching her new things (such as the sound a light saber makes) and he does a great job encouraging her to have a sense of humor. He also encourages her to be creative and is willing to kiss every boo-boo (and with Samantha, this means kissing her scraped knee every time she remembers that it is scraped - usually several times within an hour). All in all, he is the best Daddy ever and we are both very lucky to have him.

Some early pictures of Jeff and Samantha.

Valentine's Day (with his other babies) and Father's Day 2006

Opening her now favorite "Daddy shirt" and a sweet picture from a couple of months ago.

I also want to take the time to mention Jeff's Dad (Samantha's Grandpa). We don't get to see him as often as we like, but he is still a very important person in our lives. I am most grateful to him for being Jeff's dad and instilling in him some of the qualities needed in being a good father - patience, a sense of humor, and the importance of personal responsibility. He also frequently reminds Jeff to relax about his "image" and that it is okay to watch girly movies sometimes. Now if Jeff actually listened to this advice, it is something I would appreciate now and Samantha would appreciate more in the future.

Now comes the hard part... I have always been a "Daddy's girl" and tend to get emotional when trying to tell him what he means to me. Usually I spend vast amounts of time combing through the mushiest cards at Hallmark, crying at the best ones, and then he and I both tear up when he reads them. I can't really express how important it is that he (and my mom) have always given me both unconditional love and support.

I always knew I could do whatever I put my mind to because my Daddy told me I could. He has always believed in me and has been there for me in everything I've done - from "making it all better" when I scraped my knee (or sprained my wrist) when I was little, to moving me (and 3 car loads of stuff) up 3 flights of stairs in 90 degree weather in college, to thumb wrestling me before he gave me away on my wedding day to keep me from crying, to building me a house with lots of character, to hiding in the waiting room the day Samantha was born so I wouldn't get too emotional. He is also very good at doing all he can to make sure Samantha thinks he is the best Grandaddy in the world. It's working. We just can't say "thank you" enough and I can only hope he knows how much he means to me.

Now getting him to look and smile when I'm trying to take his picture is a whole other story...