Father's Day is quickly approaching so I put together a quick little gift guide for the men in your life. These ideas are great for all the men in your life from husbands and dads to uncles and brothers. Men sometimes can be hard to shop for at least in my family because if they want it they go buy it.

My husbands top picks are Under Armor polos and Bose Headphones for travel.

Bose Headphones



About 3 years ago my husband and I walked into a Brookstone store just browsing for Christmas gifts. The gentleman working asked if we had heard of Bose noise cancelling headphones? My dad actually had a pair and had recently used them for travel. My husband put them on and was instantly sold. We actually just took our pairs with us to Seattle. My mother in law had asked which pairs we had because she wanted some for this trip. We gave my brother in law a pair for Christmas and he loves them. So for Mother's Day my Mother in Law got a set and for Father's Day I am upgrading my dad's set and got my Father in Law a set also.

Yes the price point is high, but let me tell you it is worth every penny. They can connect to the airplane so you can watch movies onboard. They also work off Bluetooth so you can listen to anything on your cellphone if you pair them together.

Under Armour Polo

The most used item, I have purchased for my husband lately is this Klein set of nut drivers. They come in a variety pack of sizes and can be used for so much. Taking nuts and blots off of dryers, washers and even air conditioning units. I think I hear my dad daily say I need a 5/16 nut driver!

Summer is quickly approaching, we are on the final days of school parties, teacher appreciation, dance recitals, Mother's Day and the end of sports seasons.

While, May is super busy...soon we will be busy spending our days at the pool, with friends or on a fun family vacation. I don't have kids yet, but I was a former teacher and I babysat throughout the summer for multiple years. I like to be outside playing and enjoying the sunshine vs inside watching TV, playing video games or on technology.

I think it is important to create a SUMMER BUCKET LIST so you can refer back to it on the days your kiddos or you are bored and find a fun activity to enjoy.

Many local communities offer summer camps and things to do from movie in the park to local community wide events for Memorial Day and 4th of July. Spend time browsing your local newspaper, Facebook and community website for things to do.

I have found a variety of websites for my local community and am sharing them below. From the library to the water park there is something for all ages and lifestyles.

YMCA

https://www.asymca.org/killeen-summer18

The local YMCA offers weekly camps to a variety of fun places throughout our local area. From Killeen-Belton-Temple to even Austin, TX

Library

The local library offers a variety of activities and summer reading programs for all ages. Barnes and Noble also offers story time during the summer.

http://www.ci.harker-heights.tx.us/HHPLSpecialEvents

The local HH library is offer Maker Mondays, Tech Tuesdays, Science Day and a variety of other fun programs for every age from toddlers to adults.

Museum

Take a trip to a local community museum. Locally you can visit the Bell County museum or if you want to go a little farther venture to Waco to the Mayborn children's museum.

TX has many local libraries and museums from PEROT in Dallas to the Bush Library in College Station.

Water Parks

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Mardi Gras is a fun tradition in Louisiana and around other parts of the US.



Mardi Gras is French for FAT TUESDAY. It is the last day of Carnival Season where people party, eat, drink and celebrate with fun parades.



Mardi Gras is a Catholic tradition that marks the time between Advent and Lent. Thus why people from Louisiana can't start a diet in January. We get to eat all we want until Lent when we give up something for 40 days.

Many people think of parades when they think of Mardi Gras but the fun actually begins before the parades with parties thrown by the kings and queens of each krewe.

During Mardi Gras you may notice lots of purples, greens and golds. They all mean something...
Green faith
Gold power
Purple justice



King Cake refers back to the three kings and Epiphany. The baby found in the king cake is Jesus.

Mardi Gras doesn't just happen primarily in New Orleans. It is celebrated in Brazil, Mexico, and Italy just to name a few places.

You cannot ride on a float without a mask.

What is your favorite part of Mardi Gras? Do you celebrate where you live?



My favorite thing is king cake and hot cocca!!!

Well the Super Bowl has now come and gone and we hosted our first Super Bowl party in our new house in TX. We invited our small group over with kiddos and everybody had a blast.

We ordered pizza in advance to be ready by 6 o clock and it was so yummy! You can't go wrong with pizza and some fun little sides. We had chips, fruit, veggies and a cauliflower buffalo dish. Then for dessert king-cake (more to come on that in a second) and cupcakes.



 I set up a kids table with footballs and kid crafts. It was so funny because all the little girls went outside and were throwing the football around. The boys wanted to play in the house, watch the game and play our Pac-Man machine. The best part was it wasn't really working they just thought they were playing it. Greg got it working eventually but they had more fun I think just pushing the buttons!!


We did a Super Bowl square pool and Greg won quarter 3-4. We didn't play for money just fun. I went to FEDEX to get the squares enlarged and wholly BATMAN their printer wasn't working so they could only print on the banner printer meaning our squares were 3ft x 5ft. HAHA it was huge!!


We enjoyed watching the game, playing games, and just being with friends! It is these moments I know I will look back on in years to come and be thankful for these friends!

After the game, one couple stayed and we watched This Is Us. OMG cue the tears!!


Later this week tune in for Mardi Gras traditions, king cake and fun!