Happy Fa-a-achoo -ther's Day

Father's day started incredibly early in the Murphy household. I was up at 5:55am to make breakfast for Mike which he got to eat in bed. Mike planned to leave the house at 6:45am to be to the golf course this morning for a 7:27am tee time with Dan, my dad, and Rob. Dan set this up with everyone and I was so happy that Mike finally got out on the course.

He returned home about 1pm and said he played decently. I don't think he hit any sand and he said he loved his new clubs which he's only gotten to use a couple times. Then he started sneezing and really never stopped the rest of the day. We managed to squeeze in some time to open presents. He was given a map by each kid to find his present. Maddie's map was about 7 directions - it took him all of 15 seconds to locate his gift under her bed, but she got such a thrill and giggle with each new direction he had to follow! Jake's map literally consisted of a box labeled, "Maddie" and a box labeled "Jake" with a line between them. Mike just looked at me and I mouthed, "rooms" and he went in to Jake's room and looked at Jake. Jake said, "Maybe you should look in my closet." Lo and behold! There was his gift! One of the gifts we got Mike was a hammock. The ropes on his old one broke last year and he was pretty happy to get a new one. He managed between sneezes to get this up, but didn't take a chance outside much longer than that. After that he laid on the couch and either blew his nose or sneezed. Other than this morning, I believe the rest of his Father's Day was pretty cruddy.

In thinking about this Father's Day though - I wanted to post a couple pictures of Mike with the kids - these are some of my favorite shots from the past years:

Jake has always been a fish in the pool. This is at my parents' house when Jake was 2 1/2 years old. They were having so much fun - Jake jumping from the sides into the pool - Mike catching or throwing him up. I think we definitely owe Jake's water fearlessness to Mike.

And this is Maddie's first Easter. This has been one of my favorite pictures ever since. Mike was SO proud of how cute and dressed up Maddie was that day. We lived in North Carolina and after church we went to the Officer's Club for brunch. If ever a dad beamed when he walked into a room with his kids - it was that day with Mike. He walked her around and "showed her off" to all the people we knew there.
And here's today's picture. He still plays like crazy with them and if ever there were two kids who beam when their dad gives them all his attention - it's our two kids.