Our final Acts of Kindness

Well, these won't really be our 'final' acts of kindness.  But it's the end of our Kindness Advent Calendar.  We'll definitely continue to do kind things for people, you just won't be reading about it every few days :)  

Day 18 - The boys called someone special to tell them good night.  I really like this one and want to keep doing it.  The boys loved it and so did the person on the other end.  Smiles all around!

Day 19 - The boys drew pictures and Vann wrote a letter to someone special :)

Day 20 - Chayce was super helpful and spent a lot of time on his own, without me asking him, making all the babies in the house laugh.  He really does love little ones!  

Day 21 - Vann surprised me with a fresh cup of ice water while I was sitting on the couch.  It was super cute and very kind :)

Day 22 - All three boys and I went driving around looking at Christmas lights and both older boys were very helpful in keeping Ash happy and content.  They are great big brothers!  

Day 23 - The boys colored pictures for a friend who came over to play.  Their little friend was very excited to take them home with him when he left :)

Day 24 - The boys wrote Santa letters and left him some yummy snacks.  I know Santa's not 'real', but they both were excited for this to be their random act of kindness so, I went with it :)

Day 25 - Vann was so super sweet and made all of us a special picture a few weeks ago and wrapped it up.  Then he put it under the tree on Christmas Eve so, we could open it in the morning.  Love that boy!

Writing Santa letters...

Cheese!

Click here to see what we did on days 1-3, days 4-7, days 8-12 and days 13-17. 

More Acts of Kindness

Here's what we've been up to...

Day 13 - The boys called someone special before bed and talked with them and told them good night.  We don't do this as often as we should so, it meant a lot to both ends of the phone.  

Day 14 - Vann baked some cookies and we delivered them to a friend who just had surgery.  

Day 15 - We had our family Christmas with Chris's Dad and siblings on Sunday.  The boys didn't do just one kind thing, they had a day full of being kind, polite, engaging and appreciative all day.  It was one of those days when you look back and think, wow I've got some great lil' kiddos :) 

Day 16 - Vann made me a heart balloon just because :)  

Day 17 - We headed to Jewel with good intentions of donating two of our coats (they used to have a big box where you could donate them), but the box wasn't there anymore :(  So, that little plan didn't work out, but the boys had also each brought a few quarters along to put on top of the toy and candy machines they have as you're leaving the store.  That way some little kid or adult could have a special treat for free :)

What I'm trying to teach the boys is that the kindness doesn't always have to be big.  Sometimes it's the small things that mean the most.  Reaching out and making someone smile is what it's all about.  And I think they're getting the message :)

Vann got a balloon kit from Aunt Casey.  Here he is making a blue heart.  You can see a bit of the pink one he made me.  And the red and blue creature is an octopus.  He's a little balloonist!

Click here to see what we did on days 1-3, days 4-7 and days 8-12.

And the kindness continues...

Here's a run down of our latest random acts of kindness...

Day 8 - Sunday's are usually our library day so, I thought it would be a perfect day to do something kind for the library.  Instead of borrowing books, the boys looked through our home library and picked a few to donate to the library.  Then we hopped in the car and dropped them off.  

Day 9 - This idea came from Chayce as they were doing their school work.  He was doing his cutting worksheet and it just happened to be a necklace.  He said, 'Mom, I want to send this to 'insert special person here'!'  I said, 'That's a great idea!'  So, they both drew pictures and Vann wrote a letter and we popped it in the mail.  

Day 10 - I was super sick this day so, I encouraged the boys to think of something kind they could do for each other.  While I was resting, Vann surprised me with a cute lil' gift.  He wrapped up a bunch of stuff (a little Lego creation he made with a girl laying down (that was me) and a guy leaning over helping her (that was him), a Powerade, some hershey kisses, and an orange).  On the outside he drew me a picture and wrote a few cute things one of them being 'An orange a day keep the sickness away!'  I thought that was clever :)  It made my day! 

Day 11 - More special notes are coming your way!  They each drew a picture for someone special and popped them in the mail box.  

Day 12 - Today we gathered a bunch of things in a box and are going to take them to Good Will a little bit.  

Such goofballs!  They were helping me pack our Good Will box.  If you look closely at Vann you'll notice something is missing in his mouth.  Yep he lost another tooth the other day!  

Here's what we did on days 1-3 and on days 4-7.

More Random Acts of Kindness

The boys and I have been enjoying doing our random acts of kindness everyday.  It's fun to hear them talk about it and remind me that we need to do it and the excitement in their faces while we do it.  

Here's what we've been up to...

Day 4 - They sent hugs to someone special.  We traced the boys' handprints, cut them out, they wrote a little note and colored them.  Then we attached string that was as long as their arms are while stretched out wide.  Baby Ash sent a hug too...his handprints are so little :)

Day 5 - Vann wrote a note that said, 'This treat is on me!  Happy Holidays!' and he taped it to a $1 bill.  Then while we were at Walgreens picking up our photo card order he put the $1 bill in front of a piece of Christmas candy...chocolate Santa's.  We were hoping to see someone pick it up while we waited for our photos, but no such luck.  He was all smiles though...it was great!

Day 6 - Chayce's turn to leave a 'Happy Holidays!' $1 bill.  He asked me if we could do this again so, that he could be the one to leave it and of course I said yes :)  This time we went to Jewel.  On the way in the boys dropped a few coins in the Salvation Army jug and then we headed to the candy aisle.  He put his $1 bill in front of the M&M's.  

Day 7 - Today we went to Barnes & Noble.  Every year they take books people buy and donate and they give them to children at a nearby hospital.  So, the boys each picked out a book...Vann chose a Cat in the Hat book and Chayce chose a Curious George book.  They wrote their names on a card that got put on the book so, the children receiving it would know who it was from.  We paid for them and then donated them.  What was cool was that as we were walking into the store, a lady was leaving and asked if we would like her coupon that she wasn't going to use.  I said, 'I'd love it thanks!'  Vann looked at me and said, 'She just did a random act of kindness!'  

 Click here to see what we did on days 1-3.  

Random Acts of Kindness

I saw a great idea for an advent calendar while perusing the web last month.  I would totally give a shout out to the blog/place I saw it, but I can't remember or find it again...sorry!  It's a pretty simple idea, every day you do a random act of kindness.  

We talk about being kind to each other all the time.  I'm pretty sure I remind the boys to be kind or praise them for being kind every single day...mostly remind :)  And I thought how great to get them thinking of different ways to reach out to others and show kindness.  I really am in love with this idea!

Here's what we've done so far...
Day 1 - The boys baked cookies and we delivered them to our friend who just had a baby along with a few lil' outfits.  What was great is that they weren't home so, we left it on their doorstep so, they had a fun surprise when they got home :)

Day 2 - The boys each wrote a letter to a special someone, drew them a picture and popped it in the mail.  (We will likely be doing a lot of this type of thing so watch your mailboxes :) )

Day 3 - Vann wrote a little note to our mailman, we attached it along with some ribbon and a bow to a box of candy and he put it in the mailbox for him.  Then the boys watched out the window when they heard him coming.  They saw him read the note, then he waved at the boys and they waved back...it was cute!  Afterwards Vann said, 'I like making people smile!'  My heart did a few flip flops :)