I Cannot Tell A Lie

What do I get Joe for Father's Day? That's a question that's been bothering me for months. He's not an easy guy to shop for. Everything he really wants, he gets for himself. I have to dig deep to find those things he wants but he won't get for himself. I've only pulled off surprising him twice, I think. Once was when I got him his recliner and the other was the Warhol-style portrait I had done of us. The recliner was the best gift to date and I was able to surprise him with it because I had to bring it home that very day and it couldn't be wrapped. He was shocked when I returned home from an afternoon of shopping and asked for his help with the bags and came outside to find his beautiful recliner sitting there.

As most of you know, Joe and I absolutely suck at surprising each other with gifts. We ALWAYS get too excited just can't hold it in any longer. I don't know why this is. We aren't like that with anyone else. I hope we aren't like this with Hana. I really want to be able to surprise her. I think we'll be able to pull together and do it.

Mom's going to kill me for this, she made me promise her I wouldn't tell Joe what I got him for Father's Day, but Mom, I promise I did not tell him! I very proudly purchased Joe golf lessons for Father's Day. I made the final purchase yesterday morning. I was so excited because I knew this was going to be the best gift ever! He's talked about wanting lessons for years, and recently he has been mentioning it a lot. So yesterday morning I made the purchase, and let me tell you how many times he must have mentioned it yesterday! In order to throw him off, I've been harassing him about his gift. "What do you want? You're the hardest person to shop for. Can't you give me a clue as to what you would like?" These are all the things I've been saying to him. So yesterday he begins. He must have mentioned wanting golf lessons a zillion times. He also mentioned wanting the pasta maker attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer. But the main thing was the golf lessons. We had company, Matt and Melissa, and he mentioned it a million times in front of them. I was doing so well. I just paid him little attention and tried to casually change the subject but was careful not to be too obvious. Then it happened. As we were getting ready for bed last night he looks me dead in the eyes and says, "You know, Courtney, golf lessons would be a great gift to give me." I tried not to make eye contact but I could feel the huge smile surfacing from within. I looked away and tried to seem consumed in what I was doing. As he stepped into the kitchen for a drink of water I wondered whether or not he had seen right through me. He returned to the room with an all-knowing smile and simply said, "Thank you!" For the next couple of minutes I tried to act like I didn't know what he was thanking me for. I really tried to pull it off, I promise!

We suck. I don't get it. I just don't get it. I suppose it's a good thing we can't keep secrets from one another. Mom gives me a hard time because she knows how we are. She's going to be so disappointed when she reads this, but let me tell you, it will be no surprise to her! Last night it felt like my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Seriously. I was so excited about this gift and now it's ruined. The stupid gift card for the lessons hasn't even been mailed out yet. I had a big plan on how to give it to him. I even planned to get him a small gift to give him first to really throw him off. Oh well. This is our "thing." Couples have all sorts of "things," right? Our "thing" is that we give each other gifts way too early. We never make it to Christmas! We just get way too excited and can't hold it in for a second longer! At least we aren't like that when it comes to giving other people gifts! I promise we'll be good when it comes to Hana! It could be worse though, Mom, it could be much worse...

So as I mentioned before, we had company yesterday...oh, and our freezer is fixed! WooHoo! But back to the company. Matt (Yes, I've decided to make a conscious effort to call him Matt instead of Neumann) and Melissa came over! We haven't seen them since Mark's birthday, but they are the type of friends that we just pick up where we left off. I'm so happy for him, he graduated from college last month and the two of them seem to be doing really well. Melissa will be graduating soon and they plan to move closer to us. That'll be nice. They live way up in Denton now; they're even closer to Oklahoma than we are! It was great to visit with them and catch up on everything. I was also happy that they got to see Hana at this age. They haven't seen her since Christmas and she wasn't even a month old. I remember Matt asking me if all she did was sleep. He's so funny. That's such a typical "guy" question. "Is this all she does?" I was proud to show him all of Hana's new tricks. Hana really liked the two of them, too. She was all smiles for pretty much their entire visit.

Hana is slowly figuring out her walker. It's my fault. I haven't been getting it out for her to play with much since the crawling began. But we had her in it yesterday and Matt and Melissa got to see her go backwards in it. Yes, Dian, she tries to come forward but she goes backwards. It's still a very slow process, but cute nonetheless! I'll bring it to the lake when we come down this weekend!

I'm getting my hair cut tonight. I'm so excited! I'm going even shorter than the last time! Wish me luck!

And once again, sorry, Mom!

Here's Hana Grace sitting in her Bumbo as I type this. Yes, she can sit up on her own now, but the Bumbo contains her! (So sue me!)