Mother's Day 2022 Gift Guide

I'm excited to announce this Mother's Day 2022 Gift Guide! 

How many times have you been asked what's on your wish list and had no answer prepared? This year, you'll be ready for that question when somebody asks! You might want to save this post for your birthday and other special occasions, too! 

There are discounts & giveaways for several of the items in the guide, and I'll be posting videos for several of them throughout this week, so stay tuned on YouTube and Instagram so you don't miss them! 

Now, onto the featured items- I've carefully chosen some special things that I would love to give (or receive) for Mother's Day.  I hope you'll discover something new that you'd like too!

Mothers & Perspective

Saw this video for the first time last week.

Perspective. So valuable.
More tomorrow about changing our mindsets.

A New Perspective For Moms from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

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Mother's Day (The Recognition that Matters Most)

Happy Mother's Day!

This is something that I wrote 3 years ago, around Mother's Day. Thought I'd share it today:

In the time I’ve been a mother…

I’ve never made the news
Unless you count the reports my daughter gives my husband of the fun things she did with Mommy while he was at school

I’ve never received an award for my efforts
Unless you count the smile on the lit-up faces of my daughters when I show them how much I love them

I don’t get to go out to eat just for fun very often anymore
Unless you count the “pink milk” & cookies tea parties with my three year old

I don’t get to sing in groups for fun very often anymore
Unless you count the songs sung before naptime, bedtime, and just for fun

I have noticed a decline in my vocabulary
Unless you count “babytalk” (in which I am now fluent!)

I don’t have to write exams or pop quizzes anymore
Unless you count the many spontaneous questions of an inquisitive 3-year-old

I can’t perform a beautiful dance with applause from a crowd
Unless you count the undivided attention and smiles of my 5-month-old when I bust a move for her while pulling faces and making weird noises

I don’t get to the gym to lift weights and I don’t get workout time
Unless you count carrying around a very scrumptious, 17 lb 5-month-old

I don’t get to attend special performances
Unless you count my little girl in her tutu or fairy costume with ballet shoes, prancing around the living room to a CD of nutcracker music

My girls are too young to explain why I’m a good Mommy
Unless you count the little hints of explanation in the everyday moments

And those are the things that count the most

Fingerprint Flower Greeting Card

For Mother's Day, Talia made some cards that looked like this, for her Grandmothers & Great Grandmothers:



We just used markers & some ink pads that I had in my lonely collection of scrapbook supplies. She loved doing it and caught on right away.

I got the idea to do something with finger prints here.

Happy Mother's Day!

Looking for the Sharing Time Linky?

Don't forget about Sharing Values.
It's a new link up I'm trying out until the end of this month. If there's enough interest, I'll continue it.

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I'm so happy to be the mother of 2 daughters.

I love this video clip & I love that the scenes they show are not perfect- they are real! It brings tears to my eyes because I know exactly what it is to feel discouraged and worn out as a mother- and I also know the extreme joy that comes from it.

Breakfast In Bed, Out of Bed

Thank you to Log Cabin for sponsoring my post about updated traditions in my household. To learn more about Log Cabin Syrups (which are all free of High Fructose Corn Syrup), breakfast for dinner, and other new ways to update traditions in your home, click here. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

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When I was growing up, it was a tradition to do breakfast in bed for a person’s birthday. I loved it!

We usually got our favourite breakfast & sometimes got to request what we wanted in advance. I always chose Cream of Wheat with brown sugar- it’s still my favourite! Ken & I continued this tradition after we were married and it didn’t take me long to learn that his favourite breakfast involves bacon & eggs (as seen in the photos from his 2010 & 2011 birthdays, below).


I can still remember the excitement of getting up early with my dad, to sneak around and prepare breakfast for my mom on her birthday. I also remember him slipping out for an early trip to the grocery store to pick up my Mom’s favourite treat (Peanut M&Ms) to put in a pretty little bowl on her breakfast tray, or to Tim Hortons to get some Doughnuts or Tim Bits (doughnut holes, for my American friends ;) as a special treat for one of my siblings on their birthday, or into the backyard to clip a rose to place on the tray.

I try to follow my dad’s example and make the breakfasts a little bit special with a little treat or some cut up strawberries, or a specially made placemat . I still remember one year my parents surprised me in my bed with breakfast & a huge cookie on a stick- I was so excited to get something unexpected!


Me on my 10th birthday- this must've been pre-Cream of Wheat,
it looks like pancakes- & note the bowl of candies :)
We have updated this tradition a little bit in our home. Instead of the birthday person staying in their bed to eat their breakfast after all of the excitement has died down, we have the birthday boy or girl come downstairs with their breakfast tray & join the family at the table. Then we all get to join in on the special breakfast & the excitement of the birthday!

This year Ken switched it up a little more for my birthday. He & Talia triumphantly appeared at my bedside with a covered tray. I lifted the cover to find a clever little note that Ken had written. It said:

Today we celebrate and sing "Happy Birthday to You!"
So you know that we love you and want you to be happy too.

To get the day started and in the right mood
I thought a good place to start was with food.

I thought and I thought how to fill all your wishes
(But I really didn't feel like doing any dishes!)

So get your winter coat and your hat or fedora
And get in the car to go eat out at Cora's!

We've had a lot of fun with this tradition and I'm really enjoying the way we've updated "Breakfast In Bed" to "Breakfast in Bed, Out of Bed"!

Mug Flower Pot Gift

For Mother's Day, Ken had the idea to have our girls make personalized mugs for our moms, and fill them with paper flowers with notes on them. They turned out really cute, though I would do some things differently next time!



Tips

- we bought a kit from Michael's that was do-it-yourself, but the photo part peeled off and the markers rubbed off- not cool! Next time, I would get the mug printed somehow so that it would last!
- Ken used regular artificial flower squishy stuff that you stuff stems into (yes, that's the correct terminology) and that worked fine
- green straws are great if you can find them
- you can do paper hand flowers, trace & cut out hands for flowers, hearts as well
- we wrote notes on them from Talia, she drew pictures, and kissed them with lipstick
- spraying the flowers with perfume is a big hit with Talia :)

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