A few of the Newbery books that I have read recently were historical fiction. I particularly have enjoyed reading about how people in the past have celebrated certain holidays -- what they ate, what kind of gifts they gave to each other, and their traditions. Therefore, I have decided to chronicle this most recent Father's Day. If it is boring for you, I apologize in advance, but I do think it will be interesting to my children someday and who knows -- maybe my grandchildren and great-grandchildren! So here it is . . . how the Settles spent Father's Day 2008.
Ever since the fish eluded him at camp, Jack has been pining to go fishing again. David decided to play "hooky" from church on Father's Day to give Jack another chance to catch the big one. The night before, David bought Jack a "real" fishing rod and reel (to replace the Mickey Mouse one that he is obviously too old for now) and a little tackle box kit. In spite of all of the anticipation and preparation, poor Jack still did not catch anything. They fished for about three hours though and then finally came home.
While they had lunch, I had business to take care of -- getting Brookie's stitches removed. I had been dreading it because getting the stitches was so tramatic. By the way, Dr. Doyle told me that if Brooke was screaming everytime they stuck the needle in, that she was not numb. She said that with wounds on the face, there is so much blood that it removes the anesthesia too quickly. She showed me where part of her nose (Dr. Doyle's nose) was missing and how when she was sewn up as a child, she felt every single thing that they did. Anyway, the five days had passed and it was time to get the stitches out. The people at Physician's Immediate Care told me to not let Brooke eat anything for an hour before because she was likely to be so upset that she might make herself sick if she had food in her tummy. Nice, huh? Well, it actually turned out just fine. Brooke did not cry at all and was very cooperative. What an amazing little baby!
When we got back, David took Claire to play tennis. Claire is our little athlete. She has such a strong, healthy little body. Since she was about three, friends have asked me if she was in gymnastics or anything because she is so muscular. The main answer to that is that God just made her that way, but ballet did help too, I am sure. She was so excited to have her time alone with her Daddy.
While she and David were out sweating in the hot sun, Brooke and I took a nap. Jack played on Millsberry.com.
I cut my nap short to start our special Father's Day dinner. I decided to try two new recipes, both of which turned out relatively okay. Here was our menu: Grilled Steak (marinated overnight mainly in A-1 sauce and balsamic vinegar: a recipe I got from the A-1 website), potatoes au gratin (from food network website), green salad with basil balsalmic vinegar and grilled vidalia onions (Oprah's 12-year-old cookbook), french bread with rosemary (Wal-Mart) and chocolate chunk brownies (mix).
After I started preparing dinner, David got home from playing tennis and decided to take all three of the children swimming. This was great because it meant that I was able to finish dinner without any interruptions. It is amazing how enjoyable cooking can be when I don't have to be referee and entertain three busy little bodies at the same time!
While the potatoes were baking and the steak was grilling, I decided to make the table look pretty. I put 18 votive candles in a circle in the center of the table as a pseudo-centerpience and got out the table linens that I have had for 13 years -- it is amazing how pretty it can still look with the candles. (I think in our new house, it will be time to get something new though!)When Jack came in after swimming and saw the table, he said, "Wow! It looks like Christmas or Thanksgiving!", which made me feel great. I said, "Well, it's Father's Day!" Then he said, "Why didn't we do this for Mother's Day?" I had to smile at that -- and then I told him that Mommies don't like to cook on Mother's Day and that is why we went out to eat instead.
After dinner, we gave David some gifts. Nothing big or expensive -- I got him a few t-shirts and Brooke had made him a little potholder at Mother's Day Out, and Jack and Claire had spent a long time making special cards for him. The "big" present was a new black swim bag to put sunscreen and beach towels in to take to the pool. The reason this was the "big" present is because prior to receiving this new bag, when David took the kids swimming without me, he was toting everything in my hot pink bag -- which he hate, hate, hated! (The picture of Brooke with multiple purses and a cell phone is how she came to us when we called her to watch Daddy open presents.)
Well, that was our Father's Day. I think it was a good one.
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