Weekend Acts of Kindness

Days 7, 8 & 9

We shopped for Toys for Tots. Each child picked out a toy that they wanted and then we gave them to our friend who is a Marine and in charge of the local program.

Searching for the perfect gift

Showing of their gifts

We gave some money to the salvation army. I LOVE that they have people playing holiday music rather than the bell ringers. So much more festive and I think (at least for me) makes me want to give more to the musicians. We also graced him with a RAK card.

The tuba player at Kroger. The kids enjoyed his music!

We also spread some holiday cheer by handing out several of our RAK cards. I LOVE to see the faces of the recipients light up when they get read the card and the child says Happy Holidays. They are ALWAYS surprised and the reactions have ALWAYS been positive. The kids LOVE it!!! Makes them feel good! And I love that seeing others made happy makes them feel good!!

Kindness: Day 6

Day 6

Today we did a couple of things.

Both kids took in food for the food drive at school. We found some of these healthier dinner options (as healthy as one can get for dinner in a can) on sale at Target and we thought that might be good items for the food drive. This is actually the 2nd day for Logan.  He keeps raiding my pantry every day, at some point I will have to tell him, "that’s enough."

At school Meeka made her project (a tree ornament) for our baby-sitter. She wrote (or the teacher wrote what she said) what she likes about Nikole and what she would like to do with her. This afternoon the rest of the kids make some more ornaments for her tree. She was so excited to get them- this is her first tree and she didn't have much on it!

Our first RAK cards

Day 5

Today we went to the post office to mail our cards to the Soldiers. It was a Wednesday, a Moms Day Out day, a day where I usually do that kind of stuff on my own. But I thought this would be a great place for the kids to spread some Holiday Cheer. So 3 kiddos grabbed a RAK  (Random Act of Kindness) card and we headed in. After I mailed the envelope, Logan gave our clerk one and said "Happy Holidays!" Her face lit up and she thanked him 3 times. Meeka gave hers to the other clerk and the same thing happened! Melina put hers on the windshield of the car next to us, and older lady who was in the post office at the time. I really wish we could have seen her reaction, when she discovered a candy cane and card on her car. However, the kids have all imagined her reaction and acted it out at home this afternoon! It was cool to see them act selflessly to others and have others reactions make them happy for the rest of the day! They are super excited to give out more now!!

Cards for Soldiers

Day 4
Yesterday our kindness project was making cards to send through the Red Cross to Soldiers. I did this with my Cub Scouts on Monday too. The Cub Scouts wrote in cards that I had bought (and they did a great job!). However, we decided we would make some handmade cards. After watching the Red Cross video about the program, where one of the soldiers mentioned how much they loved the homemade ones from kids and how special those were, we knew we needed to get our creative juices flowing. We made 12 cards. 

The front of some of our cards.
We cut up Christmas cards from last year to use the pictures.

Working hard

Carson used the whole sheet of stickers on one card

A note from Logan

A note from Melina

If you are interested, you can mail your cards here.
They must be received by Dec 7th though.

Advent Activities: Focus on Kindness

Things never stop around here, do they? 

I feel like I am never caught up on life and its only getting crazier! 

I helped plan a family event for Church, which we held on Friday called ADVENTure Night. A night to focus and get ready for the Advent Season! It was a great event; lots of pizza crafts, games and fun! A very fun way to kick of the season! 

Logan even got asked to be in the pageant on Christmas Eve for doing a kind thing for another child. 

Advent officially started on Saturday, so we broke out our Advent Treat Tree, which the kids look forward to every year (we have had this since Logan was 18 months old). Melina and Logan each made Countdown to Christmas Chains too! Logan's has a bible verse to read each day, so we are doing that to help keep sight of the reason for the season. Last year we did Truth in the Tinsel and we LOVED it! I decided that we would take a year off this year, so that the crafts don't get too old, but we WILL do this again! If you have not heard of it, check it out. It’s not to late to catch up! 

However, we are doing something special for Adevnt in our family. We are focusing on kindness this year and each day we are doing an act of kindness. Some will be small and some may be big. Some may require planning and others will be spontaneous!

Day 1 

The kids each went shopping for gifts for others.

I can't tell you how excited they are to have their own wrapped presents to give…now if they can keep them a secret until Christmas, that will be a miracle!

Day 2

I challenged them all to go to Sunday School and do good deeds. To let others go first, help the teacher clean up, etc. They also got into the spirit and all helped do the dishes and clean up at home!

Day 3

I am working on kindness with my Cub Scouts too! We made RAK (Random Act of Kindness) cards with candy canes.  I challenged them all to go our and give them to people they don't know, but that help them (the bagger at Kroger, the public librarian, their server at a restaurant, etc.) and to watch their reaction and see how happy they can make other and see how it makes them feel when they can make others happy!