Dad's Day

I tried my best to spoil Todd on Father's Day, he is such a good Daddy and deserves to be spoiled every day. He is patient, playful, hard working, and most importantly, his heart's desire is that his children grow to love Jesus. I wanted him to sleep in late, but since he's so used to getting up before 5 am, he couldn't stay in bed past 7:30. I made him a yummy breakfast ~ French toast, eggs, sausage. I hate French toast, I'm a waffle girl, so the poor guy only gets it here and there. But I got a really good loaf of bread and sliced thick pieces, lots of cinnamon and cream... that way he forgives me for serving it so infrequently. So the day rolled on and he wanted to get the mowing done. I would've done it for him but ever since we got the riding mower he actually likes doing it, and Dawson would flip a lid if he didn't get to ride with Dad on the mower. So Ella and I snuck to Zip's and got him an artery-clogging lunch, which he was thrilled about. The rest of us don't really like fast food {I like it if it starts with "French" and ends with "fry"} so I made us up some burritos. We had steak and the fixings all set for dinner, and I'd made him a dutch apple pie.

I think you're getting a pretty clear idea of one of Todd's love languages ~ food:) Finally it was time to give him his gift, the pie'ce de re'sitance. For months I've been "working" on it and waiting to give it to him. I had done a Boudoir photo shoot in April and had an album made for him. I know, I know, not the typical Father's Day gift. But the note I attached to his gift kind of explains it.

"Happy Father's Day Honey! Two Father's Days ago, I gave birth to our beautiful twin boys. And even though I know I'll never be able to top that Father's Day gift, I at least wanted you to see a different side of me this year. Well, maybe the same side of me but in a different light...xoxo"
I guess I did it because I wanted him to know that I  know that I'm not just a Mommy, but his wife. Plus, what do you get the guy who has everything?! From the time my hair stylist suggested the idea to me, to the actual day of the photo shoot 2 months later, I changed my mind about doing it 17 jillion times. I told a handful of people about it, and everyone except my friend Erin thought I was crazy I think, including myself! Oh and my Mom, she thought it was a fun idea, of all people! I wavered and wavered. "This will be so much fun!" - "What am I thinking?!" - "Oh, Todd will love it, I'm doing it." - "I need to schedule this 6 months from now after I've worked out!" - "I know he'll like it, I can do this." - "Everyone thinks it's weird, I can't!" - "I'm DOING IT!"
It wound up costing more than I thought, mainly because I had in my head that it would be in a studio or something, but I actually had to rent a hotel room. Which wound up being fun because Kel and D spent the night with me and we had a blast chatting and giggling until about 3 in the morning. And speaking of hotel reservations, boy did I have to lie a lot during this process. I'm convinced that I could be a secret agent and Todd wouldn't have a clue, he is incredibly gullible:) And luckily I was able to sneak money out of things we typically budget for and paid for the whole thing without him noticing that a dime was missing. And it was worth every penny to see his face when he opened it. This was the first picture, nothing too saucy {don't be scared, I cropped it:)}

and I don't think he had any idea what the whole thing was about until he turned the page. His eyes popped out of his head and his jaw almost hit the floor, I thought he was going to have a heart attack. It was priceless. I tried to snap a quick picture of his reaction, but it's blurry because I was laughing so hard. Plus it was kind of dark in the house ~ I waited until the kids were in bed to give it to him because I knew they'd want to look at the book Mommy gave Daddy, and then they'd be scarred for life. The next day he told me that of all the gifts I've given him over the years {chainsaw, drills, TV, X-box, miter saw, weed eater, bbq, Blu-Ray player... even a 4-wheeler!} that this was his favorite. He also said, while rubbing his pecks, that he was going to return the favor someday...I'll definitely post the full gallery of that;)
The photos were taken by Amber from Eternal Grace Photography. She is a sweet Christian Mommy who only does these photo shoots for married ladies {or soon to be married ladies as gifts for their groom}. And if she can transform this Mama of 4, imperfections and all, imagine how good you would look:)

http://www.eternalgracephotography.com/blog/