"Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come."
Doctrine and Covenants 68:6

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Part 1 of "James Is The Coolest Dad "

March 2018

To be honest, some of our happiest times in life have been when James is unemployed. Granted we like to eat and live in a house so we do greatly appreciate having an income. BUT we also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having two full-time parents. It's the best! (I say full-time, but let's be honest, when he's job-hunting, he works more than when he has a job because you are never off the clock when you don't have a job. You are always looking, applying, interviewing, tweaking the resume, calling contacts, updating profiles. It's never-ending and even when you've done it all day and are brain-fried, you still feel the guilt of, "I should be looking for a job, I can't take a break to be with my family!" So, while he's working more, it's still at home and it's still a flexible schedule, so we love the extra attention we get from him!)

So between interviews, he does jobs around the house. Abi adores him and loves to help - can you tell?
Mowing the lawn

Abi's new chore

Given our current situation, James got mostly IOU's for his birthday. :) BUT his cake was amazing and that's what birthdays are really about, right? Abi was clearly excited about the candle-blowing.
Dad is so old!

Abi helping Dad blow out his candles

They won't blow out!

Audrianne and Hyrum enjoying the fun

My parents were sweet and bought him a gas tank for our grill since we had to leave ours in NJ. Bring on the BBQ!
Dad's present

No matter how tired, James finds energy to play with the kids. We have definitely gotten our money's worth out of this castle.
Playing chase through the castle with Daddy

Seeing these three hold hands and dance in a circle reminded me of the Ring Around the Rosey game. I decided to teach it to the kids which you will read all about in a later post. Just a little cliff hanger for you...
Dancing with Dad

Everything is fun and exciting when we are together!
To church!!

Hyrum and Audrianne are really getting fun and learning to play games with us. This is a favorite of mine because I love their huge eyes that peek through their chubby fingers! I can't get enough of their smiles!
Peek-a-boo

I love how much my kids love music! James has a lot to do with this as he encourages this love by playing intense classical songs like Hall of the Mountain King or the Finale of the William Tell Overture as a before-bed treat. Haha!
Playing piano with Mom

We have really enjoyed making homemade pizza lately. I feel so frugal and competent as a home maker. Haha!
Making homemade pizza

I have mentioned in a previous post about how James agreed to take the kids on Daddy/kid dates while he's unemployed so I can get some things done around the house. See? I take advantage of these moments in our lives - they're definitely not all negative and stressful. :) So this time, they went to the zoo! To be honest, I was a bit amazed he felt he could do this with all three kids by himself. I don't know why, I do it all the time (go places with three kids and just me) but he doesn't, so I guess I was concerned he would fail, but I shouldn't be. He's amazing! They had a great time, of course!
Zoo day with Dad

And he spoils them!

Saying hello to the dinosaur
Dinosaurs are coming to our zoo this summer!
Can't turn her back

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