“I’m The Daddy”

I participated in a Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for AVEENO. I received product samples as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #UnscriptedBeauty

I’m so excited to have my awesome hubby guest post today!  As we celebrate Father’s Day, I thought it would be a great time for him to tell a few stories of his favorite memories with our boys.  We are so blessed!

What’s up, this is Gena’s husband, Ben. I’m the daddy of the Captain, D, and and Baby Brother. One of my favorite labels I wear is the “daddy” label. I even have an awesome sticker that my wife gave me that is plastered on my work laptop. It says “I’m the daddy.” I’m so proud of that title.

I spend all of my moments away from work with my family.  We plan lots of activities for the boys, plan lots of fun events and pose them for the “perfect” picture, but most of the time, it’s the simple, unscripted moments that are the best.  When it comes to unscripted moments with my kids, it’s much harder to pick just a few of my favorites.  I take tons of photos of unscripted moments, so I’ll try and give you a glimpse into these moments through a few photos.

Here, me and my sons are training for our first 1-mile fun run. The boys took the “race” so seriously that they asked if they could train every day for a week leading up to the race.  I was so proud of them for being excited to exercise and work hard.  When they put their game face on, I had to snap a pic before we started the training race. They both ran hard and made me proud in the race.

You’ve gotta hear the story behind this photo! So, recently my son has figured out the front camera on my phone. He noticed that I’ve taken selfies of a goofy face, just to share with the family. So the Captain grabs Gena’s phone from her at HEB and snaps this gem.  They come home and he shows it to me with pride.  I took one look and laughed so hard because it’s purely his personality. He came up with the face on his own, and I was so proud of this unscripted moment that I tried to match his face and Gena put them side-by-side. We pull it up once a week and just reflect on that moment and have a good belly laugh. 

One thing you must know about me is that I like to eat. If eating were an olympic sport, I would qualify every 4 years.  One of my favorite cuisines is Chinese food.  My favorite Chinese restaurant is a place called “Little Panda” in Abilene, Texas. Gena and I fell in love around this exact dish from the picture. It was a lunch order of orange chicken with fried rice, for $4.28. I didn’t plan on sharing this particular lunch, but the Captain walked up curiously, and actually showed interst in trying.  I was so proud that I immediately fed him a bite, and waited for his verdict.  It was spicy, so I was worried he was going to spit it out.  HE DIDN’T! He loved it, and ended up splitting the rest of the chicken with me.  It was a special moment, that I’m glad Gena caught on camera.

Another very important part of my parenting is reading the bible to my boys.  They were so proud to get their first bible from their grandparents, so here I was reading it to all three of them.  It’s hard to get all 3 boys captivated at the same time, but there is power in this book like no other, and it kept the attention of all of them for a good while. I’m thankful to God for His word. That He thought it was important enough to captivate children, orchestrating some of the most amazing stories for us to tell to our kids.

In this last picture, their faces say everything. You don’t get any more candid and real than the sheer joy that was emanating from my boys this particular afternoon.  If you look at the top of the picture you’ll notice there’s a toy quad-copter suspended in the air. They had never seen such a thing, and couldn’t believe that my dad was flying it right above their heads.  It was a proud moment for me because my dad was showing me how to be a good dad to my kids. He ended up leaving the quad-copter for my kids to have. 

This Father’s Day, I hope you have enjoyed reflecting on my life’s most beautiful unscripted moments.  I challenge you to pull out some photos of your children when you shared moments like these.  Show the pictures to them and relive those memories so they never fade.  More importantly, don’t spend too much time reflecting on the great past, but go and have new unscripted moments with your children. 

An AVEENO survey found most parents say that “unscripted” moments are more beautiful than those that are perfectly planned. At the end of the day, it’s sharing candid, unscripted moments that build authentic relationships. 

AVEENO is creating an #UnscriptedBeauty Movement, encouraging parents to embrace the natural beauty of a life that doesn’t always go as planned.  Visit the AVEENO Facebook page to see more moments of #UnscriptedBeauty and submit your own.  You can even enter to win by uploading your favorite moment to Instagram and using these hashtags: #AVEENO #UnscriptedBeauty and #Contest.  The winner will receive a photo shoot with acclaimed photographer, Danielle Guenther!

What was your favorite #UnscriptedBeauty moment?