Dad's Day

The Gala, oh where do I start about our adventure on Monday night. The day started as normal and I went to work knowing that I needed to make sure that I got out at exactley 6pm or even a few minutes earlier if possible. The work day ended up being very busy with only myself and another person working that day.  It was nonstop from when we opened until the time we closed and of course because I needed to leave on time I ended up helping a customer until after 6:25pm! Needless to say I had to run in the house cleanup and change for the event. I had to look nice of course. Candice drove so I could unwind and tell her about my day as Cooper slept on the way there.

When we finally arrived at Fredrick Meijer Gardens at 7:40 pm, Candice looked all over for a parking spot (and we paked in what seemed like Timbuktoo :)). We walked in to see a huge crowed that I would estimate at maybe 500 people. We were escorted to to side side room and told someone will come get us when they're ready but to enjoy the exhibits if we like. We did decide to walk around and look at the Art Prize entrys on exihibit. There were two more familes beside us in the waiting room and you could start to tell that the kids were beginning to melt down from waiting. It was maybe 30 minutes total, but in kids time that is like 5 hours. During this whole time Candice said she was going to read a short explanation of what adoption means to us. I was glad that Candice was reading because I get nervous in front of large crowds of people. I did look at the note a couple times just to see what she was going to say about us and adoption. When they came and got us we walked through the whole crowd and we both saw people we knew. We finally got to the stage after playing dodge the chairs and people, and I was getting really nervous. We walked onto the stage and while we were listening to the other couples' tell their stories, Candice decided that she wanted to hold Cooper and then tell me that she didn't want to speak anymore because she was to nervous! It was to late for both of us to run and Cooper was being a real trooper and just in aww of all the lights and people he saw. So we couldn't use him as an excuse to quietly walk off stage, and that meant I had to walk up to the podium and read what Candice had wrote. I can tell you this...God gave me a peace about speaking and I even added some things to Candice's "script". I must say it wasn't that bad and I could have entertained them for hours with my personality and jokes! :) Okay maybe not. It was a nice and after we were done and walking off the stage one of the representatives from the adoption agency gave me a box with cupcakes in it! I think they felt bad that we didn't get dinner and ended up just waiting for people to finished eating. Oh well, we had a good time and great stories to tell of our adventure for the Gala! (especially how Candice threw that bombshell at me on stage)

Today I got to spend time with my favorite little guy and we had a great morning together and I love every minute I get to spend with him. I'm starting to get the hang of balancing being a dad and getting things done around the house. When he lays down it's time to do things or maybe just take a nap with my favorite guy. Here is a video of my little guy laughing with Dad.

Thanks for reading! :)