Happy Father's Day 2009!

Happy Father's Day to all the amazing dads in our life -- Papa John, Papa Tom and of course, our Rob!

We had a great time celebrating Rob this year -- and he deserves to be celebrated all right! He shows us every day how much he loves us, in big ways and little, working so hard for his family. So on Father's Day morning, we let him "sleep in" (which means means waking at 7:15am). Madeline and I handed him a cup of hot, black coffee (just the way he likes it) and began our special performance. Madeline, Charlie and I all put on our sunglasses and sang our rendition of the Stevie Wonder classic "We just called to say we love you." In our practice sessions, Madeline looked up and bobbed her head ala Stevie, but with Rob as an audience, suddenly she was more interested in doing hand stands and jumping all over daddy. But Charlie did a great Stevie impersonation! (That's because he loves staring at the ceiling fan). Afterwards, Madeline helped make Rob a pancake breakfast and later we went out for a Mexican lunch (Rob's favorite!). Then a sitter watched Charlie while Madeline napped so Rob and I could go on a date at Starbuck's and go shopping for him (he said it was the first time pants shopping has ever been fun).

The other half of Rob's Father's Day gift actually came two weeks ago. As a new member of the Mid Tennessee Fly Fishers club, he canoed six miles down the Buffalo River, casting off the water's edge. He even taught Madeline and me how to cast in our front yard!