Family Man & Software Developer
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By no means am I a relationship expert but lately I’ve been thinking a lot about having a happy and healthy relationship. My wife and I have been married for over ten years and we love each other deeply. She is my best friend. However it seems to become easy to let life and everything else in it take priority.
Lately that is where I feel we’ve been. With so many things happening between work and everything our kids are involved in, we don’t seem leave any time for us to even talk. Most nights we are together watching TV or relaxing but we will both end up having either our computer or phone with us. Sometimes just checking email and Facebook, but other times doing work or planning the coming days.
Having both of us work from home should make it even easier to stay connected. Somehow it is almost like we take the fact that we are in the same place together so much of the time for granted and not really be together.
We have a family vacation coming up. For the first time ever I’m not looking forward to getting away from work, but getting away from the rest of life is going to be a welcome break. It is still a family vacation though so there isn’t going to be any real time for just us.
This is me realizing that I need to make the time and deliberately ensure that we get time together. Set date times away from the house where chores and distractions are easy to get in the way. They don’t need to be big elaborate or expensive dates, but just together over a coffee, or a walk alone together. When we were first dating we used to love just going for a drive, no where in particular but just driving and talking. These are the things we need to get back to.
I encourage everyone to make time and to date your spouse.
Love the Oreo cows at the zoo.
Spent some of the afternoon running around getting errands taken care that need done before we head out on vacation.
The last thing was to drop off Ella at dance class. Almost right across the street is a provincial park. It makes a great place to sit in the sun with a good book and coffee.
Today has been an extremely proud day for me. My children never cease to amaze me in all the things they can do and accomplish. Today it was my three daughters who all really out did themselves.
Alexandria finished writing her exams today. When we arrived home after the last one this afternoon she checked online and all the marks were in except for the one she wrote today. Over the past few weeks she has been working extra hard at studying for these exams. We have pushed her hard and she answered by buckling down and keeping with it. Her efforts really paid off and all the marks reflected that. It hasn’t been the easiest year, but she proved once again that when she tries her best she is capable of doing very well.
Tonight Caile and Ella simply blew me away. They have been working hard for a long time now preparing to put on the play Wizard of Oz at there school. It has meant lots of learning lines both at school, during long practice days and also here at home. Today was show time, they put on three shows today starting this morning and then we just got home shortly ago.
They spent most of the play on screen with Caile being Dorthy and Ella right with her as Toto. The whole production and everyone involved did an amazing job, but seeing them up together filled my heart with pride and happiness and at points brought tears to my eyes which doesn’t happen very often.
Caile was always my shy and reserved child so to see her up in front of a large audience shining was almost strange but felt so wonderful. Ella was only given the role of Toto a couple weeks ago but she put everything into it and learned her lines and cues so fast. The two of them together seemed like naturals on the stage.
Here is just a small clip of them on stage together alone with Caile singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.
Yesterday Jen and the kids all gave me a wonderful Father’s Day. They helped make me some French toast for breakfast with lovely raspberries and blueberries on top.
In the afternoon we all went to see the new movie Inside Out.
My favourite part though are the cards and little gifts they gave. Some are hilarious and very fitting. I’ll share some pictures of them below.
Jen is helping out all day at the drama practice with Caile and Ella. Alex spent the morning studying for her exams. So this afternoon we decided to walk down our hill together for the first time.
We stopped and talked with friends along the way but made it down to the cafe to have a little treat.
Noah was making a Father’s Day card today for his Grandfather. He had me write out the words on paper so he could spell them right.
I’ve never been known for my penmanship. So when he asked me what letter R was in Father’s I wasn’t surprised. I told him what it was and his response was this.
That isn’t a R! This is how we make them in school.
He the proceeded to make a very good looking R on the card. I guess it’s a good thing I learned how to type.
A couple nights ago we went out for a family walk around Miners Marsh. It’s a beautiful little trail close to home and doesn’t take very long to go around.
There are usually lots of wildlife around. The kids were hoping to see a bunch of baby raccoons others had seen and taken pictures of, but they must have been sleeping or hiding somewhere.
We did get to see this cool family of Canadian Geese though. We stayed for a while watching them on land until they slipped into the water.
This morning I was given back a stack of old pictures that I thought were long lost and had honestly forgotten about. Going through them brought back a bunch of great memories. They are from just a short time period so it doesn’t cover all the good times we had.
It was when I realized I was going to be moving away soon so I got a camera and probably drove everybody nuts taking their pictures. In fact I know I drove at least a few of them crazy looking back at the pictures some had really annoyed looks on their faces, if their hands weren’t up in front trying to block the camera.
Many of the pictures are not fit for public view. These were not digital so none were cut it was just what was on the roll of film. It really makes me glad actually that social media and digital cameras were not like they are now when I was a teenager. Very grateful that most of the stupid things I did will just be forgotten without the digital record keeping.
Here’s one that isn’t bad just to show what a goof I was. Someone must have been paying me back for taking there picture so much.
Sandy McFadden 