Today my dad turns 60 years old, and inside he has a heart of gold.
When I was younger I wasn’t always cool with the idea of “sharing” my birthday with my dad, even though it was one day before his. Those, of course, were bratty thoughts, since I liked being the center of attention. Now, I think it’s pretty awesome that our birthdays are next to each other because we are so. much. alike!
We were in Pennsylvania for his early birthday celebration and wrote a birthday poem for him. Our family has a tradition of writing poems for big events in each other’s lives and let me tell you they’re not easy to write – but are so fun! Lines in italics are snippets from the poem. Big thanks to my siblings for helping me write it! Dad had no idea we put a poem together for him, so he was completely surprised when there was “entertainment” at his party. 
Our memories of dad sure make us smiley, here’s some more scoop about G. Riley.
He always tried to save water, especially when it came to those showering daughters.
His hand would sneak around the corner, off with the faucet, your shower was shorter!
And don’t get him started on washing dishes, those dishwashers were EVER suspicious.
Hand-washed only while watching TV, it was dad’s nightly ritual, taking two hours or three!
Now let us mention his vacuuming, Saturday mornings, that was his thing.
Not awake? He didn’t care, your day started right then and there!
Dad has these patterns, and so do we, we’ve got traditions involving the whole family!
First night pizza down at the shore, angel food cake split into four…
Eating strombolis at Tridi’s Joe’s, we were all sad when that business closed.
Barbeques down at the farm, basketball afterwards in the barn,
Pancakes on Sunday, that was the rule, topped with syrup, they made you drool!
The poem is much longer than those two stanzas, but I thought I would just give you a sample. Since Xander doesn’t know how to talk yet, he made sure to pose for his birthday gift instead learning to recite a poem…
Happy Birthday Dad! You are such an awesome father and we love you so much!
xo: Katie, John and Xander
Bloopers…
…ohh, minker!
OMG Katie … we are long lost soul sisters!! My family writes poems song to popular songs for EVERY big event too!!! BAHAHAHAHA.
Hope your dad had an awesome birthday!
I think he had a fun time! So fun that you guys do this too! Hope you’re having fun in AZ!
aww! Love this
Happy birthday to your dad!
Thank you Jolene!
Hahaha. I love the blooper photos.
Happy Birthday, Katie’s dad!
Thank you Holly! It certainly was fun trying to get these photos of X!