Father's Day

As always, holidays do not go by without notice around the Heckman household. And Father's Day is no exception. To me, Fathers and Mother's day are very important days on the calendar. We go through our daily lives and so often forget to thank our mothers, fathers, spouses, and those who were maternal or paternal influences in our lives. I always want Payton to know that Father's Day is a special day when we take the time to really recognize Brian for the incredible father he is.
I know Payton adores him. It's obvious to anyone who has ever seen them embrace at the end of a busy day. Payton runs a hundred miles an hour into Brian's out-stretched arms yelling "DADA!!!!!" at the top of his lungs. It's one of the happiest moments in my entire day.
But I also want Brian to know how much I love him for his role as "father" in our household. He is everything Hallmark could say in it's sappiest of cards, and so much more. I don't know what I ever did to deserve him as a husband and father to our family, but I thank God for giving him to us.
This father's day, Brian finally got the gift he's been wanting for many years. A right of passage, if you will. A real "man's" gift (insert caveman grunting noises). He finally got a Weber charcoal grill! And he was so excited and determined to use it on Father's Day, that even a thunderstorm couldn't keep him from grilling out. Yes, he ended up grilling on the back patio, but still... he grilled. And let me tell you... those were the best darn steaks I've ever had. Seriously.
Happy Father's Day sweetheart. We love you!

1st Weekend of Summer!

We kicked off the 1st weekend of summer in style by going on a mini-vacation with our good friends at their vacation house. Payton had a ball going out on the boat, catching lizards, fishing, playing, staying up way too late, and we enjoyed hanging out with our good friends. Here are some highlight photos from our fun weekend...and yes, that is an 8-foot gator swimming in the lake in front of the boat we were in...

Graduation Day 2010

I can hardly believe it... my "baby" graduated from preschool last week (see pictures to the left of him on his 1st day of school each year at Wesley Early Learning Center, and his last) . Yes, I cried... many times. It's not that I don't want him to grow up, it just makes me emotional to think that he will never again step foot on that campus as a student. It's the only school we've ever known, and now... he's an official graduate.

On the lighter side of things, he had a ball during the last week of school. They got to wrap up all sorts of projects they had been working on all year (including an adorable drawing workbook that I will treasure forever!), had special ice cream sundaes for snacktime one day, had a special chapel for just the graduating classes, and then wrapped it up on the final day with a little "graduation certificate" and cap.

I, of course, went a bit overboard with the graduation celebration and decorated the house with a banner, streamers and balloons (awww, come on, he's my baby!). And after school we celebrated with a special lunch out with one of his best friends. It was a very memorable day to say the least!

Here are a few pictures from the final days of school.

Chapel Video

Had to include this video of Payton boogin' down on stage at his last chapel. It's too cute! On screen, he's third from the right in the blue polo and plaid shorts. The video isn't great, but it's cute.