Happy Birthday, Daddy!

| May 8, 2016

We were celebrating Mark’s birthday before his actual birthday this year, which is ok with us! Sam likes that idea because it means that presents will be opened early. She knows what Mark’s presents are and there is one in particular she can’t wait to get her hands on!

As usual, I baked the cake (with Sam’s help). I did frost it by myself but then let Sam decorate any way she wanted to. She was very intent on doing a good job!

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I wrote Happy Birthday but Sam did all the flowers and the “dad” herself. She made sure to tell us that the one on the right is a tulip.

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Mark was very happy with the efforts of his little girl.

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Did you happen to notice her lovely pink polish? Sam wanted us to give each other manicures, so we did! I did her nails and she did mine. I have to say, she surprised me and did a great job! I had no extraneous polish on my fingers and she only got a little bit on her own hands. That’s the first manicure I have had in years!

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We had dinner with the whole family, of course. It was supposed to be a picnic type event at Ridley Creek State Park, but the weather did not cooperate. It was so rainy for days that we had to call it off. Instead, we made a favorite, pasta, at home and just enjoyed being together.

The first gift that Sam gave Mark was a picture she made. Grandmom helped her frame it. It is a small photo of Mark that Sam cut out and drew a picture around. She is quite talented!

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Zach and Penny got him this car magnet. It runs in the family, I guess… 🙂

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On to Sam’s favorite gift. I found all of Mark’s old Lego space sets on ebay and bought them for him. She cannot wait to build space stations with her Daddy! Mark was pretty excited. He apparently played with these non-stop as a kid. He still has a lot of the pieces and he and Sam play with them a lot, but to have the whole sets with instructions is pretty cool.

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Mark picked out these Vans sneakers because he liked them, but also because he thought Sam would like them. She likes snazzy shoes!

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Here are Sam and her Daddy wearing their Vans. Not matching, but still crazy enough that Sam loved it.

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Cake time! All the kids wanted in on that action!

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All in all, I hope Mark had a good day, even though the plans changed a bit from what he wanted. He is a great dad, and a wonderful husband and he deserves the best. Happy Birthday, Daddy!