My Husband's Gift

Ginny helping stir

This year was the third year we celebrated Father's Day in our home. It is a new tradition I have yet to master. I keep wanting to celebrate in a way that my husband knows that he is appreciated.  Eventually I will get it right.

My biggest challenge each year is in choosing a gift for my DH. Since it is Father's Day, I feel the gift should be coming from our daughters more so than me. I searched for inspiration on Pinterest, on store web pages, and lists of gift giving ideas. Nothing really struck me as being "the gift" for Chris, my husband. I was at my wit's end, figuring I would just go to Scheel's and buy him something either Packers or Brewers related. Then, as I was scrolling through Facebook, I noticed a posting by another blogger. I wish I could remember the blogger so I could give her proper credit, but I was so struck by what she posted on, that I forgot to take a mental note. Her post dealt with her creating a garden stepping stone for her husband. All I could think about when I saw the picture of what she had done was what a great gift that would be for my DH.

Chris has been working hard on his vegetable garden and has had some success. One part of the yard that he worries about is the entrance from the gate (our yard is fenced). The gated entry gets a lot of traffic. Unfortunately, the grass has been dying in that area. So, my clever spouse decided we should create a stone pathway, keeping the area pretty but without worrying too much about the grass. Therefore, having the girls give him a stone would be absolute perfection.

Of course, my girls are too little to make a garden stepping stone (our youngest is still a baby, not yet crawling, and our oldest is two-years-old); that job would fall to me. One day, early last week, I ran to JoAnn's figuring they would have a craft kit for a stone. I was right! They had several. I spent a great deal of time staring at them all, trying to decide which one would work best for us. Stone kit chosen, I purchased it and headed back home, hiding the kit before I entered the house. 

The next day, while my husband was sleeping after working a midnight to 8 a.m. shift, I got to work on the stone. Following the directions, I mixed the powder with water, probably a bit too much water, but it still worked. After the stuff was mixed, I poured it in the mold then enlisted my daughters' help. Naturally, this step took the longest. I had decided to imprint Ginny's hand and Grace's foot. I started with Grace, figuring she would be the easiest. She was. Her foot imprinted nicely. Next, Ginny. First, I showed her how to lay her hand flat, then I pressed it. At the last minute, Ginny decided to put two of her fingers together. It was a mess, and the only way to fix it was to shake the mixture up and clear both her print and her sister's print. So, I started again. This time, with Ginny. Eventually we got it just right, after three attempts, then I got Grace's foot print. 

Hand & foot prints

From there, I added writing. At the top, I wrote "We love Daddy." Under the hand print, I scratched in "Ginny" the best I could, and under the foot print, I wrote, "Grace." I attempted to have Ginny help me with the last part of the project, adding the pretty rocks. I soon realized that would not work. Ginny kept trying to put the rocks on her hand print. Instead, I ended up having her pass me the rocks, and I added them. His stone done, I put my husband's gift in the garage to hide it as it dried for the next 24 hours. The gift didn't turn out perfect, but I like what we did. In fact, I am thinking this may become a Father's Day tradition in the years to come.

Done and ready to dry

The finished garden stepping stone

On Father's Day, we went to mass in the morning. From there, we went out to lunch at Outback. Our lunch was enjoyable. Ginny was very amusing during lunch. Ginny made the lunch extra special when she kept hugging her daddy and then saying, "friends." How special is that? When we got home, I gave him the gift from us, and he loved it! I was happy he liked it and warned him this may become a tradition. He smiled and let me know he wouldn't mind that one bit. I may finally be getting this Father's Day thing right.

Ginny hugging her daddy while saying "friends"