Shhhh!

Remember the Father's Day coupons I make for Mr. Hotness? Well, I finally decided on the perfect one for this year. Ever since our fantastic 10 year anniversary Mr. H. has been talking of nothing but getting on another jet ski. We had so much fun. Well, I'm a very selfish girl and as soon as I found out I was pregnant I set a very firm rule that he was NOT under ANY circumstances to go jet skiing without me. But he has been so wonderful, and he really hasn't mentioned wanting to do anything else... So, my cold heart has melted and I'm giving him a little freedom for Father's Day. Aren't I the best wife ever? (and if anyone is bothered by the small print on the coupon, no worries. I just think that every coupon has to have some restrictions, and I'm a very jealous woman. =)

Mr. Hotness,

You totally deserve to go out and have some fun. You have spent every moment this year making me happy and catering to my every need. You ceaselessly try to make me feel beautiful even though I'm puffy and grumpy. You've helped around the house and bailed me out of making dinner almost every night. You always make time for the kids and they wait on pins and needles till you come through the door each day. You are our super star. We love you so much!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Magic Pictures

Poor white crayon. You never did anything to deserve your bad reputation. It isn't your fault you "don't work" and thereby cause many kids to angrily toss you to the floor in sad disgust. So, there you sit in your box, barely used, wondering what your purpose in life could be...

Well, wait no longer, Mr. White. We need you! We will use all of you up making our MAGIC PICTURES.

Have you ever used the white crayon to draw pictures on your hard boiled Easter egg? It's cool because the dye won't stick to the greasy surface so you are left with a clear white drawing on your colored egg. Well, the same technique works with paper and water colors. You have to press down rather hard with the crayon, and I've found this works best on cardstock, but the kids love it. I will draw the younger kids a picture and then they just slop the water color on however they want to find the picture. My older kids love using this technique to write secret messages to their friends. Here is a secret message that we will be sending next week:

At first glance it only looks like a blank piece of paper (we will have a note on it that says: "We were really busy. Please paint your own Father's Day card. Thank you.")

But what is this? There seems to be a message showing through.

TA DA!

P.S. Some daddy's might not have very much patience for water coloring. If so, make sure to use a large paintbrush, like the one I show here, so that the painting can go quickly. =)

F-Day Coupons

Father's day is coming and already women across the globe are looking at the prices on BBQs and weedwhackers. But what if your hubby isn't one of the whacky-grill happy guys out there, what do you do for them?

We have a running joke about Father's Day around here. For Mother's Day what I usually want is for Mr. Hotness to take over my job for the day. Meaning he does what I usually do: get the kids dressed, make all the meals, change all the dirty diapers, and let me take a nap. So, I always tease him that I'm going to give him the same gift for Father's Day. I will take over his job for the day. Meaning that we reenact Mother's Day all over again. Doesn't that sound perfect? =)

Actually, Mr. Hotness helps out a lot around here, especially now that I'm a pretty useless pregnant mess, and I really want him to feel special on his special day. I'm not quite sure, yet, what I will be doing this year but here is something we've done in the past that he seems to really enjoy:

Mr. Hotness doesn't want much out of life other than a black convertible BMW M5 with cinnamon leather interior. This makes him a rather difficult person to shop for. He hates gimmicky, kitchy, or cheap little things. So, I usually get him some nice new clothes for summer and then I give him some very very valuable coupons. You've probably been given, or at least heard of coupon gift books, right? With cute little coupons that say, "This coupon is good for one free breakfast in bed," or something along those lines. They are cute but rarely used. Well, I make my coupons so good that they always get used. Here are some of the coupons I've given in the past (and these are things that I never do unless there is an emergency or a coupon)

1. This coupon is good for 5 ironed shirts. In order to redeem, coupon must be presented at least 10 hours before shirt is needed. Expires: September 5th. (After all don't all coupons expire?)

2. This coupon is good for 4 hours of computer gaming at anytime, free of guilt, backlash, mocking, or kids bugging you while you play. Must be used in hourly increments, and all time is rounded up. Time cannot be extended without presenting an extra gaming coupon. Expires: Sept 5th.

3. This coupon is good for one month of no garbage. This includes moving garbage cans to and from the street on garbage day. This coupon is good for one calendar month and does not carry over into the next month if presented after the first of the month. Expires: Sept 5th.

4. This coupon is active immediately. For the rest of the month Mommy promises not be grumpy when you are home. Expires June 3oth. (I only did this once. It was very hard to do some days, but I did it and it was actually an interesting experiment for me and Mr. Hotness LOVED it)

I've done other coupons, but I think you get the idea. They are all things that he really values and none of them are pleasant for me, he knows this and I think that is why he values them so much. And he really does use them. Now, if you want to go above and beyond the coupon you can do what I did last year. After years of ironing coupons I finally gave Mr. H. something really special. The Magic Ironing Hook (If you knew how much I (and he too, for that matter) detest ironing you would know that this is worth more than gold). I printed this sign on cardstock, laminated it, then affixed it to a nice over-the-door hook so it could hang in our closet. Most mornings I'm rushing to get them ironed before he gets out of the shower, but the magic hook hasn't failed him yet. Actually, the first time I gave it to him it was only good for 3 months (I wanted to see if I could really keep up with it), and then for Christmas I gave him this one without an expiration.

The kids and I make badges that say "I love my dad," and they wear them to church that day.

I make his favorite meal (either chicken cordon bleu or meatball subs), and dessert (lemon cream pie or something sickeningly chocolate).

He gets to sleep in and nap with guaranteed silence from the kids or the phone.

On the Saturday before, I usually kick him out of the house to go do whatever he wants (like test drive cool cars that I will never be able to buy him) and we take him to dinner.

Now, if I can get my computer-camera issues taken care of (yet again), I will post some fun homemade F-day card ideas later this week.

What have been some of your most successful Father's Day gifts?