Even In Death, Man's Gesture to His Wife Shows Us True Meaning of Valentine's Day

It becomes very difficult to feel negatively about Valentine’s Day after hearing this beautiful story. Even in death, a Wyoming man shows the world the true spirit and meaning of the holiday. 

Shelly Golay of Casper, Wyoming was shocked to received a large bouquet of flowers two days before Valentine’s Day this year. She assumed they were from her children, seeing as her husband, Jim Golay, passed away this past July. But then when she saw the note attached to the flowers she became very emotional and contacted the flower shop to tell them there had been a mistake. 

Shelly was stunned when the manager of the flower shop informed her that no mistake had been made, but before his death Jim had arranged for a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to Shelly every year for Valentine’s Day for the rest of her life.

Jim was diagnosed with a brain tumor last winter and tragically passed away in July. His heartwarming and moving gesture demonstrates love in its truest form and what Valentine’s Day is all about.

The note read: “Stay strong! Yours forever, Love Jim”

Click below to hear the full story and watch the emotional clip:

ONCEKids Publishing is run by literacy advocate and Mompreneur Eileen Wacker.  Click here to find her acclaimed books

The Best Gift Ideas for this Mother's Day: Brought to You by Real Moms

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, coming up on May 11th, and now is the time to start searching for that perfect gift. There are always the traditional gift ideas like breakfast in bed, a massage gift certificate, flowers, and so on but this year if you are really trying to do something different- look no further! After asking real moms what they would choose if they were giving their own Mother’s Day gift, we have generated a list of unique ways to say “I love you and appreciate all you do for me” through thoughtful and creative gifts. For many people the perfect gift has nothing to do with the price tag, and for mothers this is especially true. It is about how much time and thought went into it…so don’t wait for the night before, get started now! 

Learn more about the award-winning Fujimini Adventure series.  Purchase the books here.

Gift Ideas For Mom Brought to You By Moms:

1. A scrapbook or photo album of current pictures of you and your siblings 

-As we get older we tend to take less family photos, but this doesn’t mean they don’t get less important, so snap some nice pictures of you and your siblings for your mother to enjoy.

2. A framed list of all the reasons why you love and appreciate you mom

-We all loved our mothers and appreciate all the things they have done for us, but don’t always tell them. Seeing a written out list of all these reasons will mean a lot to her. And actually seeing them on paper will serve as a nice reminder of why you love your mom too- and after all that is what Mother’s Day is about. 

3. Clean her house for her

-Most moms love a nice clean house but usually that means they are the ones who have to keep it that way. Taking this off her hands for a day will give her time to relax and do something a little more fun. 

4. Surprise her with a Netflix subscription

-If she doesn’t already have one, a subscription to Netflix is a perfect gift for any movie or TV lover. 

5. A collection of her favorite songs that she played throughout your childhood

-When I hear certain songs, they immediately remind me of my childhood because my mother would play them all the time. Making her a mixtape of these songs will serve as a nice flashback for both of you.

Learn more about Mompreneur Eileen Wacker and her acclaimed book series here

6. Take her car to the carwash, have the interior vacuumed, and fill the tank

-Car maintenance is one of the biggest (and most expensive) hassles. It will make her week to have this taken off her hands and have a shiny, brand new looking car to drive around. 

7. A floppy hat and sundress to match

-If your mom loves the beach and the sun as much as mine does, a trendy floppy hat and dress will be an awesome gift to make her the most stylish one on the beach this summer.

8. A smartphone wallet

-I am pretty disorganized, and I’m sure I’m not the only one out there. A stylish smartphone wallet is a cute and convenient way for her to keep all her things together. 

9. A “Learn to Knit Kit”

-If your mom has any interest in sewing, knitting, or wants to take up a hobby, a knit kit might be the gift for her!

10. A Custom Picnic Basket (made up by you not by the store)

-Find a nice, good sized picnic basket then fill it with her favorite things. Her favorite bottle of wine, cheeses, chocolate, tea, spices, breads, and so on. Get as creative or fancy as you like! 

ONCEKids Publishing is run by literacy advocate and Mompreneur Eileen Wacker.  Click here to find her acclaimed books

Now, you’ve done the preparation and Mother’s Day has arrived. First, let her sleep in as long as she likes. It probably won’t be very late (it seems after a while mothers just naturally wake up early) but it is knowing that she doesn’t have to get up for anything or anyone that counts. Then when she is ready, bring her in a cup of coffee or tea followed by a tray with her favorite homemade breakfast decorated with a small flower in a vase. When she is done with her breakfast, clean the kitchen and put everything away. Then pick a family activity that you know she enjoys that you can all do together- or if she would prefer to relax and read her book all day in the sun let her do that, after all it is her day! 

ONCEkids Unsung Females Heroes (Part 4 of 5)

Nancy Lawlor from New York City proves that even the smallest gestures can make a huge difference in someone's life.

She makes our list of unsung heroes because she takes the time to collect flowers from hotels, weddings, and corporate events to give away to people in need. She has even turned this idea into a nonprofit organization, FlowerPower. She was inspired to begin this project eight years ago, sitting in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria. She remembers how she admired the breathtaking flower displays and thinking to herself that it was such a shame that they went to waste. Like many hotels and businesses, at the end of the day the beautiful bouquets are tossed into the dumpster and replaced with new ones. 

After getting the Waldorf Astoria to get onboard, Lawlor got to work making her plan a reality. Not long after, she had successfully delivered $2,000 worth of huge pink bouquets to a New York City hospital. 

Since then, FlowerPower has delivered more than 2.5 million dollars worth of flowers to those who need it most, including rehabilitation clinics, crisis centers, and hospitals. 

Has your family received a Nook, Kindle or iPad this year?  Find Fujimini Adventure Series award-winning books here.  Great family-friendly gifts.

When asked about her project, Lawlor says, "I've seen thousands of people transformed, all over a single bouquet of flowers that originally would have been thrown away. All it takes is one person to say yes." 

Nancy Lawlor's kindness and generosity shows that even a small act of kindness, such as a bouquet of flowers, can be enough to brighten someone's day and cheer them up during an extremely difficult time in their life. 

To learn more about Modern Moms and The Mom Code, please visit ONCEKids Publishing website, Facebook and Twitter

Celebrate Valentine’s Day as a Family

Valentine's Day is celebrated in Asia, specifically Japan and Korea, just as it is in the United States and throughout many areas of the world as a day on which people give presents, candy, chocolate or flowers to people they like as a sign of affection, romance and love. 

However, families can celebrate together.   For a fun Valentine's Day activity, the kids could be asked to prepare a meal for their parents. Ideally this would be breakfast in bed. This can be the start of an annual event on Valentine's Day and become a fun tradition.

Another fun family game for Valentine's Day is a kind of family trivia. Parents prepare a trivia game that consists of a series of cards with a bit of family trivia on each card. One family member draws a card and tries to answer the given question correctly. If correct, the family member gets a point. The one with the most points will get a prize or some extra chocolate sauce on their dessert. Questions might be like:

• Who suffered a broken arm at the age of 9?
• Which of us measured the length of tooth paste at the age of 4?
• Which one of us slipped into mom and dad's room every night until the age of 6

Last, but not least, a fun family activity for Valentine's Day is to create cards for other people. The kids can handprint cards for their grandparents or for their friends. Handmade cards are much more meaningful than the ones you will buy in a shop. And additionally kids get a lot of experience of literally putting their hearts into crafting the cards for beloved ones.