Acts of Christmas kindness...

This year it seems like we have been overwhelmed with the acts of kindness that we have had done in our family and for our family. The acts of service given from Deke's parents on the playhouse and the family and neighbors that helped Christmas eve morning to put it all together. The little treats and gifts dropped off on our doorstep wishing us a Merry Christmas. A special secret santa gift given to us and numerous, numerous simple acts of kindness throughout the month by random strangers. I felt like this year alot of people around me had caught the spirit of Christmas whether it was a cashier at the grocery store or someone waiting in line next to me, people just seemed to be more patient, more friendly, and kinder this season. It has been refreshing. NOTE: the story below is not for kids to read....
So one night I was at WalMart finishing getting the kids gifts and went to find the last thing on my list. A wood catapult that Hunter had seen a while ago and was really excited about. It was part of a set of "build it yourself" wood projects. Hunter talked about all the cool things he could do with it and decided that he would like to put it on his list from Santa. When I went to the aisle all the catapults were gone, in fact all the wood projects were gone. All that was left was the display models sitting on top of the shelf. Bummed I headed to customer service to pick up a present my mom had shipped to store for the kids. As I was sitting there waiting to get checked out a woman that worked there came walking with the display case headed to the back. "It doesn't hurt to ask" I thought and then said "Do you know if you guys have any more of those catapults anywhere in the back?" "No" she replied and then proceeded to tell me that there weren't any at the nearest locations either since they had already called for someone and checked earlier that day. "Would they be willing to sell me the display one" I asked. The woman assured me that they don't really do that. "Bummer" I said, "I have a cute little freckle faced eight year old boy that would just love that thing." The lady stopped and smiled at me, "I remember when mine was eight, he is thirteen now it goes so fast." "Yeah it does" I agreed "He is such a good kid too" "Well thanks for checking, I had to ask" I said and went to take my turn at the counter. I had almost finished checking out when the same lady came out again from the back once again carrying the display. She walked over to me, put it in my cart and said, "There you go Merry Christmas." Still not getting it I responded, "Great! How much again for the catapult, I don't need all of them I really only need the catapult. How much do I owe you." Smiling wide she said, "I don't think you understand, these are for you to have, I know what it is like to have a little boy that really is excited about something for Christmas.... Merry Christmas." She had gone back to her manager and asked and they had decided to GIVE it all to me. Which ended up being not only the catapult but the other wood pieces on the display totalling about $50 in wood projects for Hunter. I cried in the WalMart line right there at customer service for this act of kindness. As the clerk helped me out to the truck with a couple of the larger boxes I just kept tearing up. "You know people just don't do things like this anymore" I told him. He helped me load everything into the truck and then smiled and wished me a Merry Christmas. I was warm and fuzzy the whole way home, only to walk in the door and start crying again as I relayed it all to Deke. In reality it is something pretty simple but yet it isn't. Someone caring enough about another person and stopoing for a minute to try do something for them. Someone they have never met and will probably never see again. It was touching. I am so grateful to her and the kindness she showed me, that renewed my faith in people's basic human nature to care about each other. Maybe in this crazy world we do still have people that can slow down and be aware of others. It has motivated me to be better, to pay more attention. To try to be a person that is randomly going about my day doing random acts of kindness. I am grateful for the gift given but mostly for the reminder that a little bit of kindness goes a long way.

Family christmas cards 2011

Brenn so lovingly took some time at Thanksgiving to take some pictures of our family for our Christmas cards this year. It was great because she was able to get all three kids looking and smiling which is not exactly an easy feat. She did a great job. Thanks Brenn, luv you.

The day Hunter taught me about Christmas

Hunter was in kindergarten and it was Christmastime 2009. Noah Webster was having a "Santa's Workshop" there at the school where the kids could bring money and buy different gifts for their family. Hunter had been asking all week if he could have some money to buy some presents. Deke and I talked about it and decided we would rather take him shopping with us to Target or somewhere to find a couple of things since those little gifts at the school don't usually hold up very well. That decided we relayed the message to Hunter who was bummed about it but seemed to perk up when we told him we would go shopping over the weekend. I kissed him goodbye and Deke went to drop him off at school. Later that afternoon I was sitting in the parent pick up line at the school and I look ahead of me and see Hunter sitting with his class. In his arms he is holding a large white bag. Puzzled I pulled up as he gets into the van grinning ear to ear. "Did you guys make a present in class this week?" I asked him. 'Nope Mom, these are presents from the Santa's workshop that I got today....don't peek!" "Deke you traitor," I thought thinking that maybe Hunter had broke him down and Deke had given him some cash. I again looked at the bag and wondered how much Deke had given him. "Hunter did dad give you money this morning for the workshop?" I asked him. Perking up, he excitedly started his story "No, Mom this is so cool....this morning I was in your guys room sitting on the ground putting my shoes on when I saw something laying on the floor under the desk. I picked it up and it was $20!!!!" he said his tone happy and his excitement picking up. "It was just laying there and it didn't belong to anybody so I picked it up and put it in my pocket." "Then I brought it to school to buy things at the Santa's workshop." He had spent the entire twenty give or take a few pennies and a couple of nickels. What I did next I will always remember and look back on as a learning lesson to myself. "Hunter you found that money in mom and dad's room right? Did you ask us if that money belonged to us?" I then proceeded to tell him that the money had belonged to us and that $20 is a lot of money. I scolded him for taking it without asking first and then spending the entire thing on the workshop after he had been told we would take him shopping this weekend. As I pulled into the drive way I noticed it was dead quiet. I turned around and my little six year old had tears running down his cheeks. I swear my heart stopped for a moment as I realized the way I had just poorly handled the situation. "Hunter, why did you take that money without asking?" I said softly trying now to understand his little logic. "Well....you know Mom how when we are going somwhere or walking outside and we see a penny on the ground you always tell me to pick it up and keep it for good luck? Well $20 Mom, wow I must be reaaaaallllly lucky" he said looking at me with a little smile waiting for understanding. I wasn't sure if I wanted to laugh or cry. "So what did you get?" I asked him. Smiling wide again he reached into the bag and started pulling out gifts. "Well this is a kite for Dad that he can color and then him and I can go fly it at the park" "this is a piggy bank for Avery that is pink since its her favorite and it has a little bow since she likes girl stuff." "The flashlight is for Grandpa Burch to use to help him because it is dark when he is working under the car now he will be able to see," "a panda bear stuffed animal that rattles for the baby to have when she is born and is crying so she can have something to play with," "a ring for Grandma Burch that is sparkly like her eyes"and for you Mom a ring too that looks pretty just like you are." It was silver with a green diamond shaped stone in the center. There was no debating now, the choice was tears. I cried, upset at myself for a quick, rash response to his geniune misunderstanding of my own words. "Find a $20 pick it up then you'll REALLY have good luck" I thought to myself and half laugh and bawled finally understanding his thought process. It really did make sense from what he had heard me always tell him. I cried at the thought that he had put so lovingly into every single gift inside that big white bag. Not buying anything for himself and everything very specifically chosen for each person. Hunter understood the meaning of Christmas was giving. Wiping my eyes I explained to him in more detail about the penny and that we should always make sure that if we find money that it doesn't belong to anyone. Eager to please and mend my obvious emotional state he quickly said "Okay Mom, you know what, whenever I see a penny on the ground I will pick it up and say 'Hey does this belong to anybody? and make sure before I take it. I grabbed that boy up in my arms and squeezed him so huge. He is so special. Just has an amazing personality, very sensitive to those around him. I could hardly wait for the little carefully wrapped presents that year that sat underneath the Christmas tree to all of us from Hunter. Watching everyone open them and explain them was so precious. The spirit of Christmas taught to me by my son, if you check my purse today inside you'll find a small silver ring with a green stone inside always there to remind me.

Presents from the kids

These things are my favorite. The handmade things the kids create and make for Deke and I at Christmas. Avery drew this picture the other day and brought it to me to put on the fridge. "This is me on Christmas morning" she told me. As I put it up on the fridge something caught my eye that made me laugh. Look on her feet. The kid drew herself wearing heels of course on Christmas morning out to wrap presents. That is probably exactly what she will end up wearing so I guess it is a very good representation of herself. Art made from handprints seemed to be a theme of gifts from the kids classrooms this year. Hunter made us this handprint wreath....Avery made us a really cute calendar for 2012 that uses her handprint for each month with a different picture....For example look at March's cute leprechan....December's cute Santa, with a beard made from her fingerprints....June's handprint is turned into a fish....A cute snowman ornament made out of marshmellows from Hunter and a gingerbread girl made by Ave both to hang on the tree.Hunter painted this frame for Dad at scouts two weeks ago....he also sculpted this little bowl out of clay in art class and told me he thought I could maybe keep my jewlery in it. This last picture the kids didn't make but Aunt Lisa did. It is our family represented as gingerbread people. This morning it made me smile looking at how our little chain of cookie people has grown and now spans the width of this little wall. Love to see those two squished in the middle. Happy visual to me of all five of them instead of just the three that are here. Definitely feeling the Christmas spirit.

On a winter day in AZ....

Ah a winter day. It is actually chilly enough to snuggle down inside and do some projects. I am wishing that I could look outside and see beautiful white snow everywhere. Bundle the kids up in coats that make them waddle and mix up some hot cocoa when they come in with red frozed fingers. We decided to make some igloos with sugar cubes. Hunter decided to make a temple....Here is my very simple pretty poorly constructed attempt....Avery's igloo that definitely looks better than mine....By this time the kids were excited to learn more about igloos. So we went online and read about them, looked at pictures of different igloo shapes and sizes. We found a recipe to make your own mini igloos out of ice so we decided to try. Only problem was I had the wrong type of ice instead of square blocks but since it was Sunday and didn't want to go to the store we made do. About halfway through I realized that it really did need the blocks in order for it to look like a real igloo but the kids didn't care, they were having fun. However if you use actual blocks I am sure that it would turn out really cool. So we continued working on them, then we are going to freeze them until later and then the kids want to put them outside all night and see how they do. I agreed as long as there wasn't any tears the next morning when they wake up to a puddle. As we were researching igloos I found this picture which is awesome. We may be making a milk jug igloo in January in the living room. Seriously though these kids made this for their classroom to read in all winter, how FUN is that???? Everyone needed a project break so we headed outside for a little driveway playtime. Avery teaching Emma the "rules of basketball".playing on the scooter....Enjoying the turning leaves which in most places is a sign of October but only happens in the middle of winter for us. Oh well I love them anyway. Sure wishing we had some actual snow though to start pounding into bricks for protection from a good snowball fight. Ugh AZ, so confused about what season's really are.

Christmas in Whoville

Oooooookaaaaaaay. She is adorable. ADORABLE. Cute five year old with yards of red tulle safety pinned to her bum, little stockings and smiling up on a stage adorned with Christmas decor. This being her first performance ever and first dance recital. What a way to enjoy the Christmas spirit. Avery has been taking dance since September and last night they had their Christmas recital called Christmas in Whoville. It essentially is the Grinch who stole Christmas reenacted. All the girls were asked to wear "who hair" after looking it up online and finding that it was pretty much a combination of buns, braids and ponytails mostly things on top of the head. We went with this....Nothing too crazy but she still looked like a who and I could still put some cute curls on the bottom. When she saw on the paper with instructions for the dancers that they said to wear makeup she was so excited. So on went some mascara, blush and of course some of mom's lipstick. After I told her not to rub her eyes so she wouldn't take off her mascara she must have told me eighty times, "Look Mom, I am not touching my eyes, I didn't mess any up." She woke up super early yesterday for dress rehearsal on the "big stage" her and I headed over to practice. I wondered how she would handle everything but true to her nature she did awesome. No fear whatsoever. Went right to her orange heart taped on the floor to designate her spot and started dancing. Not just dancing but grinning so cute. Warm fuzzies all over. I couldn't stop smiling. She came down and the two of us sat together and watched some of the other dances talking about their costumes and all the things we like about the set. Pointing out our favorite hairstyles. It made me think about all the times ahead to look forward to having these mother-daughter moments. Made me feel really lucky. They didn't let us take the costumes home so at practice on Thursday I snapped a couple quick shots of her trying it on. Then on Saturday morning I put my camera in my purse "just in case" and what do you know people had their cellphones out taking pictures of their kids. So off went my flash and I snapped some of Ave so that I would have some pics in her costume. The stage... Her up on the stage working on her dance.....she did awesome..... That night she did a great job again and this time with Grandmas and Grandpas watching. Not to mention a very proud daddy who couldn't stop smiling and talking about how good she was doing and how adorable she looked. As Deke and I sat together watching her it was another one of those fun firsts as parents that we get to share together. I love that they are happening all the time and that we have a lifetime to continue to look forward to them. Way to go Avery girl!!!