29 Memories

I saw this idea on my friend, Abigail's blog, and I knew right away that I wanted to borrow it for Andrew's birthday.  I sent a request to all of our family and mutual friends on Facebook, asking that they send in a memory or a few memories of Andrew (from any time in his life).  I wanted to fill 29 envelopes with these memories.  I ended up having 22 people participate in this project, but because some people sent in more than one memory, I was able to fill all 29 envelopes with at least one memory.  I didn't give people very much notice with this project, so most emailed me the memories, but we also received a few handwritten memories.  Andrew got memories from some of his family, some of mine, an old college buddy, and a few family friends.  The memories brought him back to a few moments that he had previously forgotten about and there were some memories that we speak of often.  There were LOTS of laughs.  Andrew really enjoyed this project.  Thank you to everyone that too the time to participate and make Andy's day even more special and thank you to Abigail for the idea!

29 Days for Daddy # 28 & 29

Day 28: The Gift to Choose

On this day, I let Andy choose what he'd like as his gift.  As it turns out, it was the exact same thing that I had originally planned for him.  He chose homemade cinnamon rolls, using his mom's recipe.  I have not made them yet, but will in the next day or two. 

And so that brings us to Day 29.  The final day for this project.  Originally, I was going to title it "The Gift of a New Experience" or maybe "The Gift of Flight" but as it turns out, I think I will name it "The Gift of Disappointment" or if I am looking for a positive spin, I could call it "The Gift of Safety".  No matter what you call it, it did not work out.  Bummer! 

I took Andy out to Wallaby Ranch this morning, where we had intended for him to hang glide.  But, as soon as we arrived, they said it was too windy and they would not chance it.  So, it just didn't work out, but it is something to look forward to.  We will try it again in a week or two.

While we were there, the girls played on the playground, which they loved. They did not see this as a disappointing trip at all. (and of course, Andy would rather be safe than take a risk)

29 Days for Daddy: #25, 26, & 27

Day 25: The Gift of Entertainment

I had planned going to the movies as one of Andrew's gifts, but last minute decided we'd just rent a movie to watch at home (you know, easier with the baby).  The girls and I went to Redbox and picked out the movie.  They really wanted to see "Cars 2", but it was out of stock, so we picked "Zookeeper".  I set up a blanket on the living room floor and we had a picnic dinner as we watched the movie.  I thought, "Ok, it's Kevin James.  Andy likes Kevin James.  And it's talking animals.  The girls love animals and what could be more fun than talking animals?  This will be great."  Wrong!  There were talking animals, but it wasn't really a kids movie.  It was "how does the guy win the girl?" kind of movie and the animals give advice.  Lame for the adults and too old for a three and five year old.  Disappointment, but the picnic dinner was fun :)

Day 26: The Gift of a Favorite Dinner.

One of Andy's favorite meals is Hot Wings.  We ordered his favorite take-out wings - enough that he could have them for several meals :)

Day 27: The Gift of the Night Sky

Our local astronomy club hosts an astronomy night once a month, which is open to the public.  Andrew loves astronomy, so we signed him up for the class.  Andrew and I had gone to an astronomy night once in Hawaii.  It was a lot of fun.  We looked through the high-powered telescopes at different constellations and what not.  I had it in my mind that this would be a similiar event.  Nope.  There was too much cloud cover, so we did not get to look through the telescopes tonight.  Instead, it was a two hour class about different types of telescopes, and looking at pictures of the night sky that some of the members had taken, etc.  The good news is that Andrew loved this.  He was able to meet some people with similiar interests and he plans to meet with them again.  The bad news was that we brought the three kiddos, expecting to let them see the sky through the telescopes, which didn't happen, so it was terribly boring to us.  Next time, Andrew will do this by himself, which I am assuming will actually be even more fun for him.  No pics of this event, since we were just sitting inside the whole time.

29 Days for Daddy # 24

Day 24: The Gift of Art

The girls painted pictures for their daddy.

One of Arin's favorite acitivities to do is painting.  She knew right away that she wanted to paint a "beautiful rainbow" for her daddy.

Ella came up with a few different ideas.  She asked me to paint a heart for her.  She also thought about painting a dinosaur, but in the end, she decided to paint a picture of her mama :) 

We were able to include Kaelyn in this project.  I was disappointed that her toes were smudged in this picture and I am debating re-doing it with some help.

29 Days for Daddy # 23

Day 23: The Gift of Fun Memories

Today's activity was all Arin's idea - silly string!  It was the first time that my kiddos have used silly string and they sure did have fun spraying their daddy :)

Kaelyn enjoyed the fun from the sidelines :)

29 Days for Daddy: #22

Day 22: The Gift of Speed

Andrew has always wanted to take a train ride, so that is what we did on this day.  We took the train over to the next train stop and back.  The trip was about an hour and a half (we never got off the train).  We also didn't walk around the train.  We did pack a lunch to eat while on board.

We would eventually like to take a more scenic train trip, but this was a lot of fun too.  Now Andrew can say that he has taken a train ride :)
This was also all three girlies first train ride.

29 Days for Daddy: #21

Day 21: The Gift of Service

Normally, Andrew takes over the job of cleaning out and washing the car, but for this day, the girls took their opportunity to serve and they did the cleaning for their daddy.

My Sweet Trio

29 Days for Daddy #20

(I've posted several times today, so if you have missed any of these entries, click here and you can see the whole series)

Day 20: The Gift of a Favorite Sport

Andrew's favorite sport is racquetball, but he doesn't get to play it often, so I arranged for his oldest brother to meet him at the courts for a couple of games.

29 Days for Daddy #19

Day 19: The Gift of Family Time

On this night, I made Andrew homemade caramel popcorn, using the recipe that his mom has always made. 

excuse the poor lighting :(

Then, we played SORRY! together as a family.  We played two rounds of this game.  Arin was especially excited about this day, since this is her favorite board game.  Last week, I was at my Weight Watcher's meeting.  In the meeting, we were talking about exercise and the leader asked what was something that we could commit to doing everyday.  Arin leaned over to me and said, "I could play SORRY! because, you know, it'd be exercising my fingers!" haha.  I love that kid! 

We all had a lot of fun playing this game.  There was A LOT of laughs and in the end, Arin won both games!