Ode To Big Daddy

This is Big D and Little L.  Right before he went to do chores, he said, "I'm gonna sneak down to do chores so I can get them done faster.  Distract Levi." 

Levi heard the squeak of our kitchen door.  "DADDY!!! W-A-I-T!!!!!!!!!

So, he took him with.  That's what a dad does.  Even when they are tired and crabby, they still will grab a cute little boy like this one and feed cattle or do what ever they have to do.  Just do it a little slower, that's all. =)

What a day we had a the Fairchild Ranch.  Big D was up at 5 AM butchering chickens.  Even when it's Father's Day and Sunday, we still do something.  Mostly out of necessity, since there's so much to do.  We try to be more laid back and have more fun than usual on these days.

We took some time after lunch to celebrate our daddy, play some football, open some presents and just in general act like we're a modern day Hee Haw.  (By the way, we watch that on RFD every Sunday night. I know, now we are goofballs.)

Here's what he got for presents: 

• A shirt to make him look mid 40's not late 80's. We love Big D, but were trying to wean him off his grandpa shirts.   

• A pair of sunglasses that Rachel picked out, then the kids almost broke as they all had to try them on.  Rachel also said, "You know what else I got for you daddy?  A broken bike.  Fix it and wear a weird hat." Well little does the general public know that we have an almost junk yard right in front of our house.  Hey, is that the bottom to my roaster by the tree? I've been looking for that!

• Levi playing a pretend fiddle serenade with a piece of scrap wood to his daddy.

•  Almost a black eye from Grace as she hits the softball right at us!  Watch out!
• Rachel also brought out a present wrapped in typing paper that she had made for him.  "Well open it!" She squealed.  Here it was a pill bottle that was filled with grape tomatoes .  Turned out she had wrapped them about a week ago...oddly enough they were still good and she was proud of it.  It was cute.

Lastly, Maggie gave him an atrociously dirty diaper (that I didn't know about until after the fact) he gave her a bath it was so bad.  Complete with a SKU number in it.  "Apparently you can return this stuff now...it has a bar code and everything."  D said to me afterwards with a giggle. 

Now even though we acted like a boat load of weirdos today, we had fun.  Look at that, another kid wearing barn boots for no apparent reason. When we sat down for lunch I told the kids to each tell dad what they most appreciated about him.  It ranged from how great he is at using the grill to how good he is at butchering chickens. 

I love him for the fact that he is a wonderful dad.  Do you know what I liked about him best when he met him?  The fact that he was a dad already.

I was a single mom and I remember thinking, "finally, a guy that knows you have to use soap to get things clean, a guy that can braid hair and sew a ripped pair of pants.  He had my heart though when we went on our first date and he brought my daughter a bookcase he made for her books instead of flowers for me.  One more deal clincher?  He carried Dora Band-Aids in his wallet.  That's when I knew he was the one.

Happy trails and Happy Father's Day Big D, I love you!
Suzanne
Fairchild Farmgirl