Give Proofs of Love

My husband is a much better gift-giver than I am.  He is always thoughtful and personalizes gifts in a way that I feel very considered and special.  For Valentine's Day, he got me fudge hearts and some roses, but not just your ordinary vase of roses--some cool mini parade rose-bushes that I can plant outside later.  I let them sit outside yesterday to give them some full sun, and our dog Padme was so interested in them.  They must smell like some sort of food, hah.

Annnyway.  My husband's thoughtful gift giving is just one of the ways he so often gives "proofs of love" (I stole that phrase from Gretchen Rubin).   Even though I already know he loves me, it still warms my heart to hear him say so, or to receive a special gift or note from him.

I think about my daughter, too, that she often swells with pride upon getting "proofs" of our love.  Special cuddles while watching Phineas & Ferb together, extra snuggle time before bed, little thumbs ups or winks when she's being brave on the playground, and especially hearing us say what we love about her--these little things leave her smiling as she plays or gets ready for bed.

It's not enough for us to assume that everyone we love knows just how much we love them and what we love best about them.  We need to give proofs of love, give proofs of appreciation, give proofs of thought and consideration to our loved ones.

I'm working on it, and aspiring to one day match my hubby in gift-giving ability.  Or even outdo him!  Ah, now I'm just dreaming.

What about you?  Do you appreciate proofs of love?  Do you find it easy or difficult to give proofs of love to those you care about?  I think some people can feel like giving proofs of love can be little forced or fake-ish, especially when tied to a commercialized holiday--but I don't think the receiver ever feels that way.  What do you think?    

Crafty Ideas: Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

Or, in this case, have your daughter make wrapping paper for you.

I love using Flannery's paintings as wrapping paper.  As long as she agrees, mind you.  I remember one time, I didn't ask her beforehand, just assumed she'd like it that I wrapped one of her great grandmothers' gifts in something she made, and poor thing, she got really upset because she had wanted to keep that particular painting.  So we had to carefully unwrap the gift and use a good old gift bag.  Luckily, for this gift, Flannery was happy for a "baby" to receive her painting.

This gift was for a baby shower for coworker of mine (that's my little speech room in the background).  I even made the bow from paper scraps.  Recycling can be so pretty!

What have you recycled or re-used lately?

Mothers' Day Starts Early

Today, Flanna's school had a sweet mothers' day tea, complete with cupcakes. It was such fun to get to visit her school and see all her favorite "work" that she does there. After school, we had an impromptu visit to the museum. It was a fabulous day (stiflingly hot, but still fabulous), and I felt lucky to start my mothers' day weekend off so well.

Oh, another neat thing--Flannery decorated an "F" for me by gluing beads on it all by herself. I had bought it for her to hang in her room, but once she started working on it, she decided that it would be a gift for me. And now I think it's going to look really nice in my room.







Then, at the end of the day, when I was putting Flanna to bed, I thanked her for the sweet gifts and card she had made for me, and was telling her how much I appreciated the work she put into them. And she said,

"Well, mom, that's because I love you."

And that, folks, was the best mothers' day gift I think I've ever gotten.



What's the best mothers' day gift you've ever gotten, or given?

Honor the Gifts You Receive

So here's the big reveal! Here's the family tree I made for my dad for his birthday! Tadaa! My vision was a little less crafty and a little more classy, but I did my best and now I'm done with it, so yay!

It feels nice to honor the gift that my dad gave me of all of the time and effort and money he put into researching our family tree. There are some really cool stories he found along the way, too, that maybe I'll put into a scrapbook one day. You know, the same day I'm gonna do all the eleven million other little projects in a zillion unfinished stages all around my house. Hah!

Anyway, working on this project made me really focus on honoring the gifts I'm given. I think there are tons of things that others do for me that I regularly take for granted, and I'm trying to be cognizant of that lately. So, I've been trying to honor gifts lately.

To not just let the sweets and trinkets Flannery got for Easter go to waste, but to allow her a little treat each day. So far, the egg carton of tiny bubble gum eggs has been her favorite! (And my favorite was the dove dark chocolates....yum!)

To take the time to help Flanna decorate the cool birdhouse my brother-in-law made for us. (Next step in the honoring process is to actually hang it outside in a place safely away from cats!)

To work hard to keep the communal herbs that dropped from the sky (er, actually from my landlord, Edna), alive and thriving. (I found out that I have mint, chives, basil, and rosemary. And I did have oregano. Until I killed it by underwatering. I guess honoring is a work in progress when delicate plants are involved.)

To appreciate the gift of a good, flexible job even amidst busy, stressful times. To take in the thousands of little gifts I get each day from my sweet clients--the little giggles, grins, smiles, funny things said, silly dances, hugs, and amazing accomplishments I get to witness every day.

To remember to gaze upon my wonderful family as a gift, a real treasure, and to treat them as so.




What gifts are you trying to honor lately?

Why I'm Covered in Green Paint

Oh, I forgot to say why I was spattered in green paint. I thought I had bought a watercolor set of paints. Turns out it was oil paints. And I didn't buy any turpentine or whatever you need to clean oil paints off of your hands. And I really needed to get this family tree art project done so I could send it to my dad for his birthday. So I used the oil paints.

It was like The Cat in the Hat all over again.

But the finished product is pretty cool.

Once I send it to my dad and he sees it first, I'll post more than just this teaser pic. You know, don't want to spoil the surprise and all.



Oh, and by the way, we had goo be gone, so hopefully I won't be all green for my morning of IEP meetings tomorrow. Hooray!

Be the Memory Keeper

One of the things that makes me and my family happiest is sharing happy memories together. So, as a part of my happiness project, I've made a resolution to try to be the storekeeper of happy memories for my family. I've started lots of little projects to work toward this resolution--a scrapbook for Flannery, a family tree record for both sides of our family, and more recently, I've been trying to make a DVD for the grandmothers of all the videos we have of Flannery's life so far. This weekend, as Mothers' Day is fast approaching, I've spent a ton of time on the video project, and I actually finished it! I now have a finished product--a DVD with 4 chapters (from infant to 3 year old). It's not perfect, but it's done! My husband, daughter, and I watched it today. It's really adorable. Flanna screamed and laughed and fell off the couch a few hundred times as we were watching it. I guess it was a hit!

One of my favorite times from our Easter family get-togethers was playing the piano with Flanna and Robi's mom (see the photo above!) But a really close second was when Robi's dad and aunt told some stories about Robi's extended family. I was so glad to hear some of these stories, and couldn't believe that Robi's cousins hadn't heard the stories, either. Good thing we sat around sharing memories that day!

Here's one of the doozies: Robi's aunt told the story that his great-grandma Lula had just had her first daughter, and the baby was around 3 months old when they had to move to another house. So, they packed up an old truck with all of their things, and they sat in the front of the truck. On the way to the new house, the truck hit a huge bump, and Lula was thrown out and was run over by the truck. (I guess this was before seat-belts!) The baby was fine somehow, but Lula had broken ribs, & some other injuries, and was taken to the hospital. She stayed there for many months, unable to walk or to take care of her baby. A doctor at the hospital actually asked Lula if he and his wife (who were unable to have kids) could adopt her baby. Lula seriously considered it, because she was in such bad shape, but ultimately, she refused. (I guess family helped take care of the baby during this time?) Anyway, after a few months, Lula was laying in bed, and she "saw" some tiny angels dance from the open hospital window to the foot of her hospital bed. They circled around her dancing for a few minutes, and then went back out the window. At that point, she decided that she was going to try to get up and walk, and she did. She went back home soon after and took care of her baby, and also had other children after that (doctors had told her she wouldn't be able to have more children because of the accident). She heard years later that the doctor who had asked to adopt her baby had committed suicide. She was so glad she hadn't subjected her baby to a "better" life that would actually end in tragedy.

Crazy stuff, huh?



What cool stories from your family do you just love?