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Mothers Day Mom

Best Gifts For Mother’s Day {Plus, Win A $100 Best Buy Card!}

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It’s that time of year again where we husbands and children get a chance to celebrate the special mothers in our lives. That’s not to say we don’t celebrate them all year round but it’s so much fun taking the kids out to the store to pick out something special for mommy. This year our kids have decided that they have such a great mommy that they want to spend their own money to but a special gift for her. They have been saving up their allowance money for the last couple months and with a little help from daddy’s wallet have picked out something from Best Buy that we think mommy will really love.

We can’t reveal to you what we ended up buying for her but I am going to share some of the other items from Best Buy that ended up on our short list. Did I also buy something for myself for Mother’s Day? Perhaps, but nobody needs to know about that… Alright, here are a few of the items from Best Buy that the kids and I had to ponder. As we do, we started looking online and then narrowed down our choices before heading to the store. We’ll do the big reveal on Mother’s Day after mommy opens her gift!

Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker

Fitbit Alta Fitness Tracker

Anyone who has tried out a Fitbit and competed against their friends knows how addicting it can be to try to one up each other. As each new Fitbit is released they look more like accessories and less like giant wrist bands. Pro-tip: A lot of people prefer wearing them on their ankles as opposed to their writs, so consider going for the larger band when you purchase.

You can check out all the Fitbit models at Best Buy by clicking here!!

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Kobo Glo HD Digital eBook Reader

Kobo Glo HD 6″ Digital eBook Reader with Touchscreen

If you have yet to experience the joys of eReading I highly recommend that you try it out. 4 million books at your fingertips can never be a bad thing, right? Also, think of all the free space on your bookshelves for your kids to put their toys all over…

Check out the Kobo Glo HD 6″ Digital eBook Reader with Touchscreen for yourself!
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Gaiam Yoga Essentials Bundle Gaiam Yoga Essentials Bundle

Although I have never personally attempted yoga, my wife has taken a liking to it but was lacking in proper equipment. This looks like the perfect starter kit for anyone looking to dip their toes in the yoga waters. I’m going to be honest and say that I’m not sure I could handle the pain that would follow yoga classes…

Here is the link for more information on the Gaiam Yoga Essentials Bundle!
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Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 Android Tablet

As any good parenting manual will tell you, letting your kids play with your tablets, smartphones and computers is an excellent way to get 5 minutes of peace and quiet. Unfortunately what that means is there are plenty of times when these devices are not available to us as parents. That’s why we recently decided that the kids were ready to inherit our old tablets which means we get to shop for new ones!

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 pairs nicely with the Galaxy S7 phones we just bought, too!!
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Marathon LED Digital Alarm Clock with USB Charging Station

Marathon LED Digital Alarm Clock with USB Charging Station

One of my biggest complaints as an android device owner is the fact that there aren’t very many good options for nighttime docking whereas iPhone users have all kinds of cool devices. As soon as I saw this clock with charging station I ordered it from Best Buy online. No, this isn’t our Mother’s Day gift. I was a Mother’s Day for me. Dad.

Here are more details on the Marathon LED Digital Alarm Clock with USB Charging Station.
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Classic 10K Gold Heart Pendant & Earrings Set

Classic 10K Gold Heart Pendant & Earrings Set

What is it about kids and gift buying that for moms they instinctively want to buy them jewelry and for dads they go to the tie section? In any case, as soon as the kids saw this heart pendant and earring set, they both looked at each with excitement. Again, not what we went with but it is definitely in our saved folder for future gift purchasing!

If your wife or mother loves bling, maybe the Classic 10K Gold Heart Pendant & Earrings Set is for you!
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Giveaway!

To help you on your way to the best Mother’s Day ever I am giving away a $100 Best Buy gift card and will announce the winner on Mother’s Day! Just fill out as many of the Rafflecopter options below as you’d like and you’re in! Giveaway is open to residents of Canada, excluding Quebec and will be emailed to the winner once confirmed. Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in the #BestMomBestBuy program.

Mother's Day Brookstreet

A Night Away For Mommy

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Last weekend was Mother’s Day and instead of our usual routine, I decided to send my wife to the Brookstreet Hotel here in Ottawa. The goal was to get her a good night’s sleep and a day full of pampering without having to worry about doing anything parenting related. Now, my kids think hotels are hilarious, so we decided to have a pizza dinner in her hotel room on the first night, but quickly left mommy to her relaxing.

My wife’s stay included lots of sleep, breakfast in bed and a spa treatment at the Brookstreet’s Au Naturel Spa, before we would return in to pick her up, refreshed and ready for Mother’s Day dinner. I was surprised at how much there was for the kids to do at the Brookstreet because I had always assumed that there wouldn’t be a ton of kiddie stuff for some reason. They had a whole array of children’s activities and as you can see from the video below, my kids spent quite a bit of extra time out front of the hotel after we dropped mommy off, entertaining the guests as they walked by.

My wife said she loved her stay and even though we didn’t actually stay in the hotel, my kids and I had a blast taking in everything there was for them to do at the hotel. With Father’s Day just around the corner, I know what I will be suggesting…

Disclosure: My wife was provided one night accommodation by the Brookstreet Hotel and I was not required to write this post. The spa treatment was paid for by us.

Win A NOVICA Gift Card Just In Time For Mother’s Day!

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I recently came across a website called, Novica.Com, that had some fantastic hand crafted items and knew immediately that I was going to get sucked in. NOVICA gives Artisans from around the world, many living in rural communities, the means to sell their work on the international market by providing them a free platform to reach a global audience.

With my wife’s birthday fast approaching, I was excited to dig in to find something special. The website is perfectly laid out to find a gift for any occasion and when I spotted the spirituality section, I knew the gift would be in there. My wife has undergone an inspirational life transformation and yoga has been a big part of that, so I was really excited when I saw this Handmade Chakra Energy pendant necklace, pictured below. I was a little nervous because it was shipping from India but it showed up on time and even had a thank you postcard from the artisan who created it, which I thought was an excellent touch. PS – My wife LOVED the necklace!

Chakra Necklace

I wanted to give you a chance to take NOVICA out for a test drive, so I’m giving away a $25 gift card to one lucky reader just in time for Mother’s Day! All you have to do to enter is check out the Rafflecopter form below and I will select a winner on May 1st! Good Luck! In the meantime, you can also check out NOVICA on Facebook and Twitter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this campaign.

Celebrate Mother’s Day With A Gift Card From Zazzle!

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Zazzle is an online marketplace where you can custom design nearly anything-from phone cases to jewelry, and I am teaming up with them to help you with your Mother’s Day gift shopping! As someone who has frequented Zazzle’s services in the past, I am consistently impressed with the quality of their products. I even committed the faux pas of wearing my own band’s t-shirt back in the day because it was so nice!

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, and as someone who isn’t always the best at coming up with ideas, I thought it was great that Zazzle has organized their site to show you a whole bunch of Mother’s Day Gift Ideas. The item shown above was chosen off the Zazzle website by my children and given to my wife for her birthday last week. The excited giggles from the kids as she opened the necklace were enough to keep me coming back time and again. We chose Zazzle again for our Mother’s Day gift and while I’m not going to tell you what we’ve chosen, for obvious reasons, the kids and I are really excited for mommy to open it! There’s just something special about personalized items and Zazzle has everything you need for any occasion.

In order to help make your Mother’s or Father’s Day extra special this year, Zazzle is offering one of my readers a $50 Gift Card! Just follow the steps below in order to enter and I will draw a winner on April 29th. Good Luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received compensation for my participation in this program.

The Ultimate Mother’s Day Gift Guide! What Mom Really Wants

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mr7Dlau

I know, it’s strange for a Dad to post a list of what Mom’s really want for Mother’s Day but I promise you that I have done my research. I thought instead of creating an actual list, I would just directly quote the answers I got from the Moms out there and create the Ultimate Mother’s Day Gift Guide!

Dads, it’s time to pay attention. I asked Moms what they really wanted for Mother’s Day and here is what they had to say!

“To be left alone for the whole day. No “Moooommy so and so smacked me”. No diaper changes. No cooking (I really hate cooking). I don’t care about the whole breakfast in bed thing. Just cook dinner so I don’t have to! And I like to spend the day playing Scrabble and cribbage with my mom.”

“Honestly? Just a day “off!!” I spend my day at home with my kids, and I also run a home daycare. I love what I do, but the break from the noise and the physical demands of working with the little ones would be really nice. Sometimes I just need some me time! That being said, it wouldn’t feel right to spend Mother’s Day without my own kids, so after a day of just doing my own thing (shopping? mani/pedi?) I want to come home to an ordered in dinner and hang out with my husband and my 1 and 4 year olds, watch a couple of family friendly movies and just chill.”

“That’s easy…an extra 30 minutes of sleep followed by an uninterrupted shower…out to brunch with the family…them being sent away to meet a few girlfriends for a light lunch & pedicure.”

“Let me sleep in till 10 am. Bring me a coffee and something delicious to eat (involving bacon) then we go for a nature walk together. I am at a movie or cafee relaxing and when I come home the house is clean.”

“PANDORA!”

“No kids.. peace, take out, a good book, candles, and all phones, electronics, and any other way anyone on earth can get a hold of me turned off. ( Can you tell I am craving a break?)”

“For the house to be quiet..no wrestling..no dog piling..no fighting..no one asking me for food or snacks…not having to cook any meals…sleeping in for 1 hr…really..i just want a peaceful home…”

“Waking up and spending some time with my boys; then heading out to a movie with MY mom, and back home for a BBQ (cooked by hubby) As for a gift, anything the boys make is great for me.”

“Anything that I don’t have to plan myself.”

“A sleep in, breakfast in bed, flowers and then an outdoors outing with my family-like a hike and a picnic. Togetherness”.

“A pandora charm, breakfast in bed, spa day, lots of crafts from the kids. I don’t want to lift a finger.”

“Cleaning Service!”

“Someone who does the things that they tell me not to do that day. Rather than everything just waiting for me anyway, ie, dinner cooked, kitchen cleaned, laundry done and put away etc. A ‘day off’ only nice if work is actually done.”

“Afternoon tea with my mom and daughter. We did it last year and it was great. We later came home to supper cooked by DH and DS. I’m hoping for a repeat!!”

There you have it, fellas! While 1 in 10 Moms wants a flashy Pandora bracelet, most just want to have some time to themselves to unwind, without having to worry about cooking and cleaning. So do your wife a favour and send her to the spa or to the movies with some of her friends, clean the house, make some crafty gifts with the kids, then fire up the BBQ and cook a nice dinner. THEN let her enjoy an after dinner coffee while you put the kids to bed. Let’s give Mom the perfect day that she deserves.

Hey Moms, did I miss anything? Leave your list in the comments and help us Dads get it right!

Wanna Tell You About The Girl I Love – To My Wife On Mothers Day

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Yes I know, if you know the lyrics I’ve quoted in the title, they are not really about “True Love”. Let’s try and get past that because that specific lyric, on it’s own, happens to fit quite nicely.

I would also like to state for the record, that I love my Mother and wish her a very Happy Mothers’ Day! This post happens to be about someone else on this particular day though.

For as long as I’ve been a father, there’s been one constant that has kept me in my children’s good graces.

One thing that has kept me from imploding due to the sheer magnitude of being in charge of another life form.

Well I guess it’s not really a thing at all, is it? Here she is!

This is my rock! My Knight in Shining Armor! The Keeper of the Gates of my Childrens’ Love and Well Being!

Too far?? Not in my mind.

For all the great comments I get on my site about how great I am as a father, there is someone else who is even more deserving of that praise and who doesn’t get enough of it.

My wife gave up her career because she wanted to stay home to raise our kids, which was a huge sacrifice. Please don’t take this as me judging people that don’t because I understand and respect all people’s situations and decisions.

Point is, she decided to quit her comfortable job and enter the world of home child care. It’s probably one of the hardest jobs I could ever imagine doing. As a shift worker, I am home a lot with the daycare and trust me when I tell you that it is not all bonbons and circle time.

 

 

 

 

 

Lesson planning, meal plans, activities, outdoor time, walking some to school, picking them up, consoling upset children and trying to spend enough time with your own to make them feel special for having to share all their stuff. I’m sure I’m missing some things but you get the idea.

She is an amazing woman!

Remember this post about my son’s 4th Birthday Party? I looked great as the cool Dad dressed up like Super Mario, right? What you didn’t see in there was the planning, invites, decorating, loot bags & food that my wife took care of while I was in the bathroom rehearsing my Super Mario lines.

When the kids are ill, the world stops for her until they are feeling better. When my daughter can’t sleep, my wife will happily lie in bed with her and comfort her until she dozes off. And absolutely No holiday goes without decorations and a celebration!

My wife is the perfect portrait of someone who loves her family over and above everything else in her life. She would literally do anything for us and for that we are eternally grateful! She gives us the best of everything she’s got and asks for nothing in return.

Even when I told her that, for Mothers’ Day, we were sending her to a nice hotel to relax and get some much needed rest, she needed to be convinced that it was a good idea. I’m still not sure she agrees with it but I know she’ll love it!

I know there’s so much more I could say about her but she’s away relaxing and Daddy’s got kids to entertain, LOL!

Let me just close by saying to my wife, from myself and the kids, that we appreciate everything you do for us.

We hope that you don’t think we take you for granted, because we don’t.

Life would be a dark, lonely place without you in it and we want to say a great big, bear hug wrapped, chocolate covered Thank You for everything you bring to our family!

On a personal note, I am thankful to have found you. You make me want to be a better father every single day and you have no idea how you positively impact our lives.

We Love You!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

PS – Enjoy your time of rest and relaxation, the daycare opens back up at 7am sharp on Monday morning ;P

PPS – Where’s the Ketchup?