At ELMOMMA.com, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past year. First, we would like to thank you for being here. You being here means a lot to us and helps us support our growing family. Since founding ELMOMMA.com in 2008, we have all grown and changed so much. We had 27,000 views on the blog this month, with this post topping them all. We shared a video of Jimmie watching Momma dance that topped 100k views on Instagram. We published beautiful gift guides focused on our brand and viewers.
Personally, we have experienced a lot of change this year. In July, Rebekah went back to work full-time after not working full-time outside of the home for nearly 4 years. In July, we also learned that we were expecting what we believed to be our last Baby El. All of the Els were over the moon excited about the baby. Sadly, we miscarried at home at 8 weeks and 4 days on August 29 after finding the baby had no heartbeat the week prior.
Rebekah’s new job has been a wonderful blessing. She is now employed at the largest Episcopal Church in North America, where she plans the contemporary worship services each week. She even gets to lead worship and sing with one of her favorite CCM artists from growing up-Wayne Watson. If you know, you know this is pretty awesome.
Bakri is 17 and applying to attend Universities majoring in Music Composition. The pandemic opened up a creative side of Bakri. He is an incredibly talented composer. We still can’t believe that college is right around the corner. He is planning to minor in piano performance.
Maddux will turn 16 this week. He has his drivers permit and will be ready for his official license in two months. We are very excited for this development. Bakri attends school downtown and hasn’t shown interest in learning to drive just yet. We are looking forward to Maddux driving the other Els around safely!
Trinity is also busy applying for schools-HIGH SCHOOLS! We don’t know how this is going to work out, so we are casting the net nice and wide and looking for the right fit. She hopes to study theatre in high school and all of the schools we are considering have top theatre programs.
Leeland is in 7th grade and seems to be really coming into his own. He has participated in football and cross country this year. He plans to tryout for the middle school baseball team after the winter break. He’s also joining a new select baseball team.
Jimmie went to preschool for the first time this November. Check out our post about the first week here. He is loving school. We are very proud of how well he has transitioned. He’s singing songs he is learning at school and he’s already made so many friends.
Moustapha and me are doing well. It’s definitely a stressful time with all of the changes. I will have some time off at the end of this year and the beginning of the new year, so I’m starting to dream and plan that. Would love your suggestions on where we should travel to. We will most likely drive, because there are 7 of us and plane trips are expensive and we need a vehicle most places we would travel to. We like the idea of taking the Els to the mountains, but neither of us have been skiing with kids, so we don’t really know what to expect or how to manage that.
As we close this update post, let me remind you of a few important philosophies we hold tight to. Take the vacation. Dream the dream. Follow your heart. Be in the photo. Life is too short to stop now. Just keep going.
We are grateful to present ELMOMMA’s 2022 Mother’s Day gift guide.
Momma is like no other. We want to celebrate her today and always. We’ve put together lots of options for you to pick the perfect one for your moms and grandmas and grandmothers. We think the most important part of gift giving is putting in the thought and effort, so mom really knows how appreciated and loved she is. We recently did a gift guide for Valentine’s Day featuring different gift ideas. Many of those would be perfect for Mother’s Day too. Click here to view the Valentine’s Day gift guide. Now, let’s get to it!
1. For the Mom who loves flowers
Personally, I love bouquets of flowers and can never get enough around my home. You can often find flowers locally and most places will have beautiful selections available on Mother’s Day, although they may be a little pricey. If you want to have your flowers delivered, we found these gorgeous bouquets by Urban Stems. Please note- they do not come with the vase. Click here to order. For first time orders, you will receive 15% off. The “wow” bouquet I selected at the top of the photo is actually a double bouquet of my favorite flowers, peonies. It’s stunning! I would be one happy momma with any of these bouquets.
I love you, Mom! is a cherished book of beautiful words written by Mother Daughter duo, Blythe Daniel & Helen McIntosh. I love you, Mom! includes devotions and highlights scriptures specifically for Mommas, meant to encourage her as a mother and lift her up to be the woman God made her to be. There is space near the beginning of the book, where you can write a note to your mom.
“You are…a treasure…I am grateful to you for always making me feel like I am a treasure to you. You have lovingly taught me to find value in others and to care for my family and friends. I thank you for holding out the treasure of a mother’s love for me.” – I love you, Mom!
This book is for the momma-to-be and the new mom. In fact, the author recommends the expectant mom read the book and that she reread the book once baby is in her arms. Powerful Postpartum by Kelly Van Zandt and Powerful is an appropriate word. For the Mom-to-be and new mom postpartum can be a very strange time. As Kelly talks about, we mostly associate this time with either the word “depression” or the word “fine.” That definitely doesn’t tell anywhere near the story of postpartum life. Kelly is a spiritual person and refers to God throughout the book by different names. As a believer, this doesn’t bother me, but I do want you to know in case this would bother you or, more importantly, your mom.
3. For the Proverbs 31 Woman-
personalized woodwork-art
The Proverbs 31 woman is described in scriptures as a woman who “loves the Lord with all her heart and soul. There is peace and joy there and fearlessness about the future. She is ready to face anything with God, unafraid of the future. She also reflects God’s glory in her daily actions. Her reverence for God directs her thoughts and actions, bringing honor and praise.” Quoted from Agape Woodwork’s website. The woodwork pieces are absolutely beautiful in person. I also love this as a reminder of who God made us to be as momma’s. We are strong. We are clothed in strength and dignity. We do not fear the future. I especially need a reminder not to fear and to put my trust in the Lord.
I am definitely this mom. I love to cook and love to try new recipes. Y’all know I have my favorite recipes which you can see right here. But, as a Texas gal, I definitely get excited when I find new salsas and double bonus if I can cook with it. These two items are from KYVAN foods: Honey Apple Butter and Honey Apple Hot Salsa hit the mark for me. You can access recipes from their site here. Let me know which ones you make!
KYVAN Honey Apple Salsa
5. For the mom who deserves to wake up refreshed with glowing skin and hair
I just discovered these nightly beauty products by Blissy. I love them!! There’s the Blissy pillow, Blissy pillowcase and sleep set. Mom can treat her hair and skin…while sleeping. Who wouldn’t want to wake up with gorgeous skin and hair?
6. Mom is aging backwards? Yes, please!
We have a few favorites for this one. First, Intensive Anti-aging treatment by BEL Essence. It’s basically magic wrinkle reducing cream. We also love the Skin restoring body butter cream also by BEL Essence. Body butter is just like you would imagine it would be. Click on the image for BEL Essence on Amazon.
7. For the Momma who loves Essential oils
Organic Aromas Opulence diffuser in white and grey marble. This was my first time using a diffuser. This diffuser is lovely. We’ve never used essential oils before, but we were able to pick this one that matches our decor and we chose three oils. Link to a similar style on Amazon here and to the Organic Aromas site here.
8. Mom’s Life Story
Have you heard of Storyworth? We have actually been talking about giving this gift to our moms for years and never have.
How it works. First of all, the initial gift is digital. So, there are no worries about shipping and making sure the item arrives on time. You will provide your loved one’s email and the date you would like the initial email to arrive. Storyworth will give prompts every week and your loved one will provide the answer in their own words. They will tell the story.
Storyworth also will help you, the gift-giver with story prompting ideas. They can make suggestions and you can also come up with your own questions about stories you may already know, but want preserved for your family.
Once the year concludes, they will receive a beautiful, hardbound book full of their stories. It’s truly a lovely idea and I can’t wait to share how it turns out. We are giving this to both of our Mommas this year.
For more info and to order, click here. The subscription is currently $10 off through Mother’s Day.
9. Jewelry for Mom
I’ve been a momma for nearly 18 years and some of my most treasured items are personalized keepsakes which include all of my babies. Clockwise from top left, https://www.jalpapandit.com/shop features lovely mother-daughter pieces, including this “Piece of Me” necklace. Please look at Jalpa Pandit’s site to see the amazing work she does in restoring and repurposing heirloom jewelry. The next image is of personalized stacking rings. I personalized mine with the first names of my babies. I ordered 6 of them and love mixing and matching, as wearing 6 stacked rings on one finger is a little much. Shop link is here *The mother-daughter photo includes mother-daughter bracelets by Feather and Rose, accessible here. Another absolute beauty by Jalpa Pandit is the Mini Love Letters Mother’s necklace. Jalpa’s work is definitely something momma will treasure always and keep in the family forever.
*Photo credit Iris + Honey Photography and Jesslan Lee Photography
10. For the mom who loves simplicity
Let’s remind mom how much we love her! We recently came across ZOX wristbands. Let your mom know she’s loved with special wristbands. ZOX bracelets are $12, made from recycled water bottles, and are available on zox.la and through Amazon! We are featuring the She Is and I Love You Mom wristbands perfect for Mother’s Day to remind her who she is and that she is loved! I believe these two featured items are only available on the zox site. Love them!
ZOX wristbands
For my Momma, who is with me every second of every day, in my heart and in my spirit.
We are so excited to publish another gift guide on elmomma.com. I honestly didn’t know how the first one would go, (click here to see our Valentine’s Day gift guide) but it was amazing thanks to the support of so many of you. Wondering what to get the mommas in your life? Stay tuned!!
Okay parents. How many of you get a little frustrated with the whole Elf on the Shelf craze at Christmas time? Me too! And, with a toddler at home, I wanted to do something extra special. Last year, I decided to get help with our elf on the shelf and I bought a kit from an account I found on Instagram. (www.Instagram.com/craftyholidayhelper) CraftyHolidayHelper, Jaime has a small business focused on holiday crafts for families. I am so thankful to have found Jaime! Her craft kits are amazing!
I love having holiday parties for our littles. Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Fourth of July are holidays we don’t miss celebrating! In addition to adding Mardi Gras, we also added St Patrick’s Day with a party box and scavenger hunt from CraftyHolidayHelper to kick us off!
St Patrick’s Day Party in a Box
Jimmie is in awe of everything. He loves the rainbow centerpiece and all of the tiny details. My older kids said it’s not a party if other people don’t come. I disagree! I think Jimmie does too. It’s a party if you say it’s a party! Happy St Patrick’s Day, everyone!
Jimmie, 2 years old, enjoying St Patrick’s dayTable-scape View from above St Patrick’s Day Party in a Box
El Momma, Rebekahmemusic and CraftyHolidayHelper collaborated on this post. Thank you for your support!
Does anybody remember El theme weeks? Click here for a refresher if you weren’t with us then. Recap: We had a theme for every week during the summer when the kids were little. We had simple themes like WATER WEEK, ZOO ANIMAL WEEK, WEATHER WEEK and more. It was super fun and kept us all busy.
El Momma and Jimmie (2 years old) enjoying Mardi Gras
We haven’t had theme weeks since the Els got older and summers got much busier. But, I feel like our year round holiday tree is sort of moving us back in the theme week direction! And, I am here for it.
El Mardi Gras Tree
The Valentine tree was a super easy transition from the Christmas tree. We published our first Valentine’s Day Gift guide here, so it was great to be in the theme of Valentine’s Day from mid January through Valentine’s week. Next up, Mardi Gras.
Check out two Videos below highlighting our GF King cake and Mardi Gras tree!
Gluten Free King Cake
We transitioned the tree from reds and pinks to gold, green and purple and added Mardi Gras ornaments. On Shrove Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday we celebrated with dinner and our first attempt at a Gluten Free King Cake. Click here for the recipe from Gluten Free Jules. This cake was so delicious!! And could easily be made as a gluten free coffee cake, using sugar in place of the green, gold and purple sugar.
We are having so much fun with our holiday tree. Comment below to let us know what you think. Any ideas for the St Patrick’s Day tree?
Do you have suggestions on how we should decorate our tree next? We will likely decorate for St Patrick’s Day next, followed by Easter. Any ideas after that?
We are thrilled to present the 2022 Valentine’s Day gift guide. Please note that, although we have loosely categorized “who” the gift is for, many of the gift ideas we share can work for multiple recipients. We love giving more than receiving and know that your loved ones will feel loved, if you put that extra thought and effort into their gift.
Happy Valentine’s Day! May you give and receive love this year.
Love,
Rebekah, El Momma
For Her
At FindItGirl, she has gifts for every occasion. FIND IT GIRL We especially love the curated items for the home with the love theme. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t need a little more reminders of love around the home throughout every season? The velvet hearts and heart dough bowls are just a few of our favorite finds from FindItGirl this Valentine’s season.
Glow Like A Mother set of 3 beauty items for mom. https://gorgeousconfidence.com/ Momma deserves to be pampered! The GLAM set includes Cleanse, Hydralux Serum and rich Hydration cream. This has become my go to beauty routine day and night. My husband says I already look younger.
The Pink Enamel Heart Twist Cuff in gold by Isabelle Grace is one of my favorite gifts. https://www.isabellegracejewelry.com/products/enamel-heart-twist-cuff A portion of the proceeds from this cuff are donated to the fight against breast cancer. PS. everything from this line is handmade in the USA. Order soon for Valentine’s Day delivery. Click here to see more options “for her” this Valentine’s.
If your girl (or your guy) is a chocolate lover, let me introduce you to Blissfully Better. Made in small batches and handcrafted in copper kettles, Blissfully Better’s Almond Toffee, Crunchy Quinoa Toffee, Caramel, Coconut, and Mint Thins are the perfect indulgence. (I am gluten free and although not certified gluten free, there is no gluten used) Certified Organic and sweetened only with low glycemic coconut nectar, Blissfully Better is better for you and you will definitely taste the difference!
I love LOVE and I especially love ♥️ 💗 💕. These jewelry pieces are of good quality and are reasonably priced. I’m also pretty loyal to Nordstrom as they accept returns with no cost to the customer and no questions asked. If there ever is an issue, as long as they can find a record of your purchase, they will stand by the products they sell. I love that!
Awaken his senses with the feeling of a hot towel shave. The Art of Shaving Heated Razor Starter Kit includes: Heated Razor, 2x GilletteLabs blades, and charging station. And the reviews are top notch!
Barrel and Oak Hair Thickening Shampoo. Does your guy worry about the appearance of hair loss? I got this product for my husband. According to Barrel and Oak’s website “Coffee is nutrient & antioxidant-rich, which is good for scalp & hair health. Our Caffeinated Thickening Shampoo helps rebalance pH levels, which reduces dry damaged hair & breakage. Invigorating for all hair types.” He loves it so far!
Barrel and Oak Caffeinated Thickening Shampoo
For the Pet Owner
For anyone concerned with leaving the house covered in lint, the De Novo Deluxe Self Cleaning Lint Brush is the gift for them! The De Novo™ Deluxe Self-Cleaning Lint Brush is a revolutionary way to keep your clothes lint-free and in tip-top condition. The magical bristles on this brush attract the pet hair and lint directly to it, making it so much easier for you to clean.
Unlike any other lint brush on the market, the De Novo™ Deluxe Self-Cleaning Lint Brush comes completely apart, designed to make it easier for you to rinse the inside bristles so that the self-cleaning component lasts longer. Did I mention they offer a 100% money back guarantee?
For Family (kids-adults-anyone)
Send a stuffed animal package! https://sendafriend.co/ Through Send a Friend, you can send a care package with an adorable stuffed animal. Not only will you spread smiles and joy, but when you send a friend, they donate 10% of your total purchase to nonprofit organizations. See a list of recent donations here made through SendAFriend.co
You can customize a gift on collage.com. We chose to create a custom family calendar at https://collage.com In 10 minutes, I uploaded pictures from last year and placed them in the design in the appropriate month. We love how it turned out. Plus, we now have wonderful memories to look back on and hope for in the future.
Customize Products for Everyone at collage.com
We recently discovered QUOTEBOOK. https://quotebookjournal.com/ Quotebook is a notebook for recording the things people say to each other. When I read about Quotebook, we had to try it. Our kids, especially, and sometimes Mom and Dad are always saying the funniest things that I hope we remember, but we sometimes forget. This is a great way to keep the whole family involved, as we say those funny things that we never want to forget. Our very first quote written in this book was by baby Jimmie and it’s the cutest memory ever. We can’t wait to fill this QUOTEBOOK!
Here we have curated several Valentine’s Day themed items for most of our family members. The heart print lounge set for our teen daughter plus the grey heart sleep pants or shorts with a scrunchy are her favorites. We also have a couple of pajama options for Mom. My top choice right now are the navy pajamas. They are incredibly soft. Moustapha picked out these leopard print pajama pants for him. I must say, he looks so hot in them! In addition, we found this super soft Little Giraffe Luxe baby blanket also available in pink and so many adorable outfits for your little girl.
For Kids
Feltman Brothers makes clothes for little ones that you will never want to give away. This Scalloped Contrast Trim Knit set is perfect for your baby girl on Valentine’s Day.
We also love this color block knit set in baby blue for our Jimmie. It comes in blue shades (pictured) and pink shades. We have always loved Feltman Brothers and have many keepsake outfits our children can hand down to their children one day. I love getting gifts that last for years and generations to come.
Mabel’s Labels are perfect to label all of your kids items. Mabel’s Labels are laundry and dishwasher safe. We got heart shaped labels with the kid’s names on them. I also got some personalized for me too.
For Teachers
Mabel’s Labels are also a great teacher gift. Mabel’s Labels are custom made and a thoughtful gift for that teacher that seems to have everything, but loves to be organized. Plus, they are super cute.
One month subscription to MyYogaTeacher yoga platform as a wellness gift for teachers. MyYogaTeacher provides LIVE (not pre-recorded) yoga lessons (private and group) with expert Indian yoga teachers. I’ve really enjoyed the two-way interaction which has helped me practice safely and stay motivated.
DISCLOSURE: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, we receive a commission at no additional cost to you--
It’s February, which means it’s the month of love, at least around here. We love to celebrate Valentine’s Day. This year, we took it a step further and transformed our Christmas tree into a Valentine’s Tree.
When the Els were little, we would host parties and decorate cookies and eat pizza or some other yummy dish. As they’ve gotten older, we often have conflicting activities on Valentine’s Day. So, I like to make the whole month about love with a focus on our love for family and each other.
While working on our Valentine’s Day gift guide, I wanted to get into the spirit early with these adorable Valentine’s Day themed tops. You can shop these looks at this commissionable link.
Our Valentine’s Day gift guide is launching next week and I have a confession to make. I’ve been this way for years. Pajamas are my love language. Some may say they are a gift. Others may say they are an act of service. Some may even call them physical touch or quality time. Maybe pajamas are the five love languages put together?!
Pajamas are my love language.
El Momma 2022
As we prepare for our first ever VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT GUIDE launching next week, I am going to be sharing my work outfits. And, since I work from home, and I’m trying to get into the spirit of Valentine’s Day, what better to work in than adorable, super soft and stretchy V-Day PJs?
Nordstrom Exclusive Valentine’s Day PajamasCommissionable link to these Nordstrom exclusive Pajamas at https://liketk.it/3wZ9M
For those moms or dads looking at ideas for the classroom, here’s an adorable craft we did in Trinity’s classroom when she was little. I LOVE old school crafts. If you are able to volunteer in your child’s classroom this year, this is a great idea.
Love is in the air. We are thrilled to be publishing our first ever gift guide, just in time for Valentine’s Day. We are focusing on gifts for him, gifts for her, gifts for kids, babies and teachers. We can’t wait to share our finds for Valentine’s Day.
