Thank you, Mom, for All of the Little Things

My mom's birthday was yesterday and I was thinking about all the things she does, and has done, for me.  As we get older and have responsibilities and kids of our own, I think it becomes so much clearer how much our parents sacrifice for us.  I have tried to be pretty good about thanking my mom for all of the big things, but then I got to thinking about all of the little things that she did, the things that no one thanks you for. So, Mom, thank you for all of things that I never thanked you for.

 Thank you for listening to my unending stories about friends, boys, teacher, clothes, work, and everything else under the sun.  With 4 girls, the amount of talking in our house was insane, but you have always listened and cared. Well that, or at least faked it really well!

Thank you for caring about things that are important to me.  My interests and yours have a great deal of similarities, but they also vary widely in some case. Some of the things that I share with you, I am sure are of no interest to you, but you always show interest and support me.

Thank you for doing endless amounts of laundry. Between schools clothes, play clothes, dance clothes, sport uniforms and all of the clothes that just ended up on the floor after we changed clothes 5 times, I cannot imagine how much laundry 4 girls created. Thank you.

Thank you for dealing with my meaningless tears, often with compassion. I know it is a mom's job to help her child when they are genuinely hurt, physically or emotionally, but I am pretty sure that I racked up more tears for nothing in the first 16 years of my life than I did tears that were actually warranted. While I know you got frustrated and often reminded me that I might run out of tears, you did not show the amount of frustration that I am sure you felt.

Thank you for staying up late for our 11:20 pm chats. I am not sure why important things could not come up at a reasonable time in high school, but thank you. Thank dad for this one, also. He missed so many sports reports.

Thank you for letting me lay on you at night when we watched TV. I know that as the baby, you probably had more tolerance for my need to cuddle because your cuddle time was coming to an end, but I also know that at the end of a long day, sometimes you just want to sit by yourself. However, you always let me lay across your lap when I woke up, after dinner or to watch TV.

Thank you for letting me grow. As I watch the older nieces and nephews, I can see how you would want to hold your children back to protect them. I can see how you may want to delay working, getting a driver's license, traveling abroad or going to college, but you didn't. You showed excitement and support and you never made me feel guilty for doing those things.

Thank you for understanding my need to keep the parts of meal separate.  Our family may have teased, but you always understood, or at least respected it. Even when you made a plate to bring up to play practice you kept things separate. A lot of parents would have made me get over it, but not you.

Thank you for driving all over the place for our schedules. So many times that I am in the car, I think of all of the things that I could be doing if I was at home. I am sure you thought the same thing as you drove to and from the dance studio but, yet, you did it.

Thank you for putting a full dinner on the table every night of the week. Dad gets a lot of credit for cooking, now, because he pitches in so much more in the last 20 years or so, but I know that for the first 20-30, you were the one that decided what to cook and got it on the table most of the time. I am now realizing that is no easy task.

I know this list just touches the tip of the iceberg, but I hope it represents my deep gratitude to you. I am thank full for all of the big things, but I am also thankful for all of the little things you did every day that added up over time. I'm thankful for all of the thankless tasks. I love you and am so blessed to have you. 

10 Things that go Through my Head as the School Year Comes to a Close.

1. In just 1 week, there will be no home work for 2 months. We can get through this without crying or yelling. We can do this!  (Side note, how did 3 months turn into 2?)

2. No, it doesn't make any sense to have a huge project due this close to the end of the year, but it's the last big hurdle. Again, you can do this. Have a glass of wine.

3. Don't forget to buy the water balloons for water day, prepare snacks for author's tea and put in the work leave slip for field day. Oh, and since your brain is now fried, write it down, woman.

4. Although Baseball season is still ongoing, it is already time to sign up for fall sports sign-up. Make you sure you do it before summer starts and your bran totally turns off to such things.

5. Just ignore the hole in your son's shoes, he'll be in flip flops every day soon. Before you know it, it will be time for new school shoes, anyway.

6. Make summer rules clear now and include some sort of learning before another August 25th comes around and you realize that between camps and vacations your son did not do half of the learning you planned.

7. Speaking of summer camps, did you research and sign up for those? How about the vacation plans. Darn, I should have done all of this is April when I first thought about it!

8. In between the crazy end-of-year schedule, try to appreciate the structure a little bit. A part of you will want this back in a month or so.

9. Don't forget about Father's day. It's coming up soon and you will have to do a craft with your child because it won't happen at school like the Mother's day project. Who planned Father's day so close to the end of the school year, anyway? Probably someone who agrees that school should not go so far into June!

10.  Don't forget the chalk and other accessories for the last day of school photo. Oh, and make sure it closely matches the first day of school photo so that the side-by-side is perfect! How could a school-year end without a Facebook-worthy, Pinterest-researched photo? Okay, I'm just kidding on that one. There may be a last-day-of-school picture; it will just be taken on my cell phone when I get home from work hours after the day ends. It will probably be taken in a rush before I start dinner. For the record, I think those of you who will take adorable and amazing photos with witty captions are awesome. I just do not have the energy for such things at this point.

 

*So I said 10, but I have one more:

11. Make sure you get a great gift for the teacher. If you are struggling with your kid's attitude at the end of the year, imagine how she feels with 25!

 

What is going through your head as the year ends?

Father's Day Book Ideas...

Or just books men may like any time of year!

Below is a list of various books that have great customer reviews. They are grouped by genre (Novels, Sports, Grilling, Fatherhood, etc.) . I hope you find what you are looking for.



Novels
*Because novel titles are often non-descriptive, I provided a brief synopsis.

The Son

As described on Amazon: Philipp Meyer, the acclaimed author of American Rust, returns with The Son: an epic of the American West and a multigenerational saga of power, blood, land, and oil that follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family, from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the to the oil booms of the 20th century.

Harrowing, panoramic, and deeply evocative, The Son is a fully realized masterwork in the greatest tradition of the American canon—an unforgettable novel that combines the narrative prowess of Larry McMurtry with the knife-edge sharpness of Cormac McCarthy.











The Red Moon
 As described on Amazon: Award -winning author Benjamin Percy presents an explosive and deeply layered literary thriller set in the American West.
They live among us. They are our neighbors, our mothers, our lovers. They change.
When government agents kick down Claire Forrester's front door and murder her parents, Claire realizes just how different she is.
Patrick Gamble was nothing special until the day he got on a plane and hours later stepped off it, the only passenger left alive, a hero.
Chase Williams has sworn to protect the people of the United States from the menace in their midst, but he is becoming the very thing he has promised to destroy.
So far, the threat has been controlled by laws and violence and drugs. But the night of the red moon is coming, when an unrecognizable world will emerge...and the battle for humanity will begin.




One Shot at Forever: A Small Town, an Unlikely Coach, and a Magical Baseball Season

As described on Amazon: In a gripping, cinematic narrative, Sports Illustrated writer Chris Ballard tells the story of the team and its coach, Lynn Sweet, ahippie, dreamer and intellectual who arrived in Macon in 1966,
bringing progressive ideas to a town stuck in the Eisenhower era.
Beloved by students but not administration, Sweet reluctantly took over a rag-tag team, intent on teaching the boys as much about life as baseball. Inspired by Sweet's unconventional methods and led by fiery star Steve Shartzer and spindly curveball artist John Heneberry, the undersized, undermanned Macon Ironmen embarked on an improbable postseason run that infuriated rival coaches and buoyed an entire town.







History and Military

The Wright Brothers

 

 

 

 

 

Lies My Teacher Told Me 

A Short History of Nearly Everything

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human History in 50 Events

 

 

 

 

The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

 

 
















The War That Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of An Empire



 

 

Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds

 

















Sports

Slow Getting Up: A Story of NFL Survival from the Bottom of the Pile

Every Day I Fight

The Best American Sports Writing 2014

Grill
How to Grill: The Complete Illustrated Book of Barbecue Techniques, A Barbecue Bible! Cookbook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weber's Way to Grill: The Step-by-Step Guide to Expert Grilling

Fatherhood

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I First Held You: 22 Critically Acclaimed Writers Talk About the Triumphs, Challenges, and Transformative Experience of Fatherhood

 

 


















Dad is Fat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Know When to Hold 'Em: The High Stakes Game of Fatherhood

 

Health
The Men's Health Big Book of Food & Nutrition: Your completely delicious guide to eating well, looking great, and staying lean for life!

Men's Health Muscle Chow: More Than 150 Easy-to-Follow Recipes to Burn Fat and Feed Your Muscles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Men's Health Big Book of 15-Minute Workouts: A Leaner, Stronger Body--in 15 Minutes a Day!

 

 
 










Bonus
*Bonus just means that I could not figure out what category to put this in but it was reviewed as a good book and seems like something some dads might like.
Arms and the Dudes: How Three Stoners from Miami Beach Became the Most Unlikely Gunrunners in History

Homemade Father's Day Gifts that He'll Really Want

I love a homemade gift that comes from my child, any gift, but to be fair, some are easier to keep and more practical than others. For Father's day this year, I really wanted to find something that my kids and I could make that my husband would really be able to use or keep. Here are some ideas that I came up with. Now, I just have to decide which one to make!

Father's Day Questionnaire  

Although this will be funnier with younger kids, you could edit the questions and get something really heartfelt from older children.
Found on: http://www.daffodildesign.com/2011/06/diy-fathers-day-questionnaire.html

A Car Wash Kit

If your daddy is the kind to really take care of his car, the beginning of the summer is a great time to help him stock up on all of his needs.
Found on:http://innerchildfun.com/2011/06/fathers-day-gift-daddys-car-wash-kit.html

Coupons

 

This link will get you to a book for coupons, but you can find several on Pinterest of google if you would like another design. Depending on the ages of your kids, you could make coupons for any other following or come up with your own unique ideas:

Free car wash
Clean my room with no complaints
Relax while I get drinks and snacks all evening
Gather and take out the trash
Uninterrupted sports game or TV show
Uninterrupted nap
Mow the lawn
Breakfast In Bed
Back Rub
Full Control of the remote

*I know these are things many kids do anyway, but the point of the coupon is to be cute and make the child want to do it because it is a gift.
Found on: http://www.marthastewart.com/271224/fathers-day-coupons

Photos

This link has so many cute photo ideas. Check them out!
Found on: http://www.itsoverflowing.com/2012/06/awesome-and-creative-fathers-day-photo/

 

 

Handmade Bookmarks

 

This idea looks fairly simple and is so cute if daddy is a reader.
Found on: http://www.creativefamilymoments.com/awesome-homemade-bookmarks-with-tassels/

 

 

Handmade Catchall

This tutorial looks easier than I expected and would be great on my husband's bed table or by the front door. 
Found on: http://www.habitatathome.net/2014/05/a-fathers-day-craft.html

 

Photo Blocks

 

I saw the brown blocks first and loved them, but had trouble getting to the tutorial so added a link with the white blocks. This is a personalized gift that would look great in Dad's office.

Brown Blocks Found on: http://storiesbymeblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/letter-blocks-for-dad.html

White Blocks Found on: http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2010/12/photo-block-tutorial-great-gift.html

 

Gift Wrap

 If you bought a gift and just wanted to add a homemade touch, here are some cute ideas.
Found on: http://www.tipjunkie.com/category/present-wrap/2/9/

Father's Day Gift Ideas (Most Under $100) - Buy Him Something He'll Really Like

As I was thinking about Father's day this year, I tried to think about something that my husband and dad would like and find useful.  I obvioulsy won't be able to buy all of this, but at least I have a list to pick from.

There are a variety of gifts at the top of the list and then a few smilar style gifts grouped together towards the lower portion.

 I hope you find something for the dad in your life!
*If you were looking for something Homemade, Click here






Weekender Bag (Herschel) - Comes in Various Colors 
$98

Hammack
Santorini Premium Reversible Two Person Fabric Quilted Hammock
$221      




 
Power Station - Backup Power for tablet and Smart Phone
$49


 



Golf Trainer
$69.99

Give him his family history. Do it for him or just buy a subscription to ancestry.com








Nice Sunglasses

 
Armani Exchange Classics
$70






Poloroid 61mm Aviator 
$96

Carrera Speedway Aviator
$96



 

Watches

Caravelle New York by Bulova
Men's Chronograph Black Strap Watch 40mm $95










planisphere watch                      
$64.00








BBQ Gadgets



Digital BBQ Thermometer

Grill Steam Cleaner
$59










Grilling Tool Set
$89

 



High Heat Gloves
$29

Chromed Zinc Meat Marker
$11.19

Bamboo Meat Marker
#2.48






Beer & Liquor



Chillsner
Available at Target
$16.99








Beer Opening Glass
$11.99




Personalized Growler
$29.99

Growler Tote
$24.95

Home Brewing Kit
$49.99

Buy his Favorite Beer
(I get on my husband sometimes for some of the pricier beers he likes. This is a chance for him to enjoy with no nagging!)

Scotch or Whiskey
Buy him a nice bottle of Scotch or whiskey that may cost a little more than he woudl spend on himself.

Ice Rocks
Cool his drink without dilluting it
$15.95






A few other ideas are:

Clothes or shoes - Dads don't buy for themselves but they might like sneakers, a team jersey or nice work clothes.

Tools - Take him to the hardware store and see what he likes

A Book - I know it may sound silly, but husband loves books when he has the right one. Here is a list to give you some ideas.

Good Luck and Happy Father's day to all of the Dad's out there!

You could also make something. See my post about useful and fun Homemade Father's Day Gifts