Category: The Mom Life

Great Gifts for Mom

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My mom with me and my daughter at the Women of Faith conference in 2009.

Let’s face it.  Moms rock.  But even with all that awesomeness, sometimes we’re at a loss when it’s time to give them gifts.  Here’s a few ideas for gifts for Mom, whether it’s Mother’s Day, her birthday, Christmas or other special time.  If you’ve got some great ideas, leave them in the comments! 

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Mothering is hard work and often comes with little down time!  Pick a pretty container and make a Pampering Basket for her!  Include things like Rosewater or Sea Salt Spray, spa socks, relaxing lavender lotion, massage certificate, a Large Upin or XS Flexi, or a Sleep mask.  (Pictured at right are the boar bristle brush and rattail comb, Rosewater hydrosol mist and Bamboo Hair Towel.)

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When I was young, I did the pampering gift, even simpler, and got my mom some Calgon Bath Beads!  Easy for a kid with limited funds, and still appreciated by my Momma that enjoyed reading in the tub.  I was surprised to see you can still get Calgon Bath Beads –   and now even gift sets are available online and probably in stores, too.  She also enjoyed gift cards to bookstores along with her bath beads!

Blue Flowers

You can never go wrong with flowers!  Almost universally, moms enjoy getting flowers.  Whether a bouquet, a hanging basket, a corsage, or a perennial for her garden, flowers always tell mom she’s loved!  Make sure to include her favorite color either in the blooms or in ribbon accents.  (Never Lose Faith Arrangement by Twinbrook Floral Design. My mom would have loved this with the blue carnations, keepsake vase, and scripture reference.)

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For the holidays, my mom would have loved this wreath with blue accents, too!  To this day, I still always add blue flowers to her arrangements.

Of course, I must add my favorite accessories to the list, too.  Most moms deal with hair a lot, whether their own or that of their daughters.  And even though the “mom bun” is trending nowadays, moms do like to be noticed and look pretty.

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Enter Lilla Rose.  As you can see from this collage above (click to enlarge), there’s a pretty good variety of styles to meet the needs of most moms.  Of course, I went with the blue theme again.  My kids know to pick purple for me. (wink, wink)  If you’re shopping for a gift for yourself (because I’m a mom, too, I know how Mom’s stocking gets filled…) or for your mom, sister, aunt, or BFF, check out my sizing video or contact me to get you in the right size.  Excuse me?  Size???  Yes!  That’s one of the great things about Flexi-Clips – they are not a one-size-fits-all item.

One of my favorite gifts that I gave to my mom was a new Bible cover similar to this one. She was with me when we were shopping that day. I told her I was looking for a gift for someone that really loves blue, and since she really loves blue, too, maybe she could help me pick out something? I showed her several Bible covers and she picked one with a beautiful tapestry of flowers on the cover. Of course, the background was blue and it included little blue flowers in the design. I told her that would be perfect, and I bought the gift for my “friend.” When Christmas rolled around and she unwrapped the gift, it was quite memorable! I’m smiling now just remembering the time.

So what else should I add as great gifts for Moms? What gift have you given, or received, that were extra memorable?

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Direct links to the hair accessories in the collage (left to right):

Tangles: 5 tips to help detangle little girl hair!

Y’all, I sell beautiful hair accessories and have three daughters. You’d think that hair is a priority in our house. But we’re a busy family, and honestly, with these super comfortable hair accessories, we sleep in the same style, so often our hair is the last thing we think of.

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Many times, I’m quickly fixing ponytails as we walk into the church building (or co-op or the grocery store), and hoping nobody notices the tangles that didn’t get removed… even though I reminded them to brush their hair.

As cool as it might be to just let them grow out dreads, I’m just not ready for that. So for now, I’ll continue harping the importance of brushing your hair every single day. Some tricks we’ve learned to make this process a little less agonizing (aka a few less tears):

  1. When bathing, leave conditioner on the hair for at least 5 minutes,
  2. Use a spray-on detangler immediately after bathing on towel dried hair, and again later when brushing out tangles,
  3. For a natural detangler, massage lavender and orange essential oil into the hair,
  4. Invest in a tangle brush,
  5. Occupy their mind with something to do while brushing.

That’s not too hard, right? So let’s get to detangling!

BTW, If you’re not using a tangle brush, I urge you to check out the link below for the Teazer! These work great! My thick haired daughter uses the Thick & Curly, while my other two use a regular tangle brush.

Resources:

The tangle brushes we use:

Our beautiful hair accessories

Distractions my girls enjoy while brushing hair:

I’ll be featuring some quick & easy Back to School Hairstyles videos in my customer VIP Club on Facebook on Friday, August 24! Request to join the group and check out the videos if you’d like some info to help you get your girls out of the house faster!

This post contains some affiliate links. You won’t pay any more when you use these but I will earn a small commission on any purchases you make after clicking on them and I greatly appreciate it. Thanks for helping support my little blog!!!

When life gives you zucchini

My kids’ favorite vegetable is zucchini. Yep, all of them just LOVE the stuff!  They’d eat it morning, noon & night!  Here’s the recipe I use that got them hooked on this amazing vegetable:

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

  • 1 1/2 c shredded, raw zucchini
  • 1 c whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/4 t baking powder
  • 1/4 t pink Himalayan salt
  • 1/2 t ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 t ground allspice
  • 1/2 c applesauce
  • 1/2 c sugar
  • 1/2 c dark brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 3/4 c chocolate chips (I mix milk chocolate & semi-sweet chips)

Preheat oven to 350* and grease or spray loaf pan.  Grate zucchini and set aside.  Does not need to be squeezed dry.

In mixer bowl, beat together the applesauce, sugars, eggs, vanilla until well blended.  With mixer running, add in the dry ingredients, starting with the spices first, then cocoa, then flour.  Slow mixer, or fold in grated zucchini.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Scrape into the prepared pan and bake until tester comes out clean, about 55 minutes.  Of course, if you hit a chocolate chip, your tester will not be clean, so it may take several tests. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to cool on a rack.

So, that’s why zucchini is my kids’ favorite vegetable.  Go figure.

Photos possibly coming soon…