Cookies for Charity

The girls and I found this AMAZING non-profit in our area that does a ton of great charitable projects. One of many that are very family oriented is their Cookies for Charity program. Once a month, volunteers can come to a local church and spend a few hours mixing the cookie ingredients, baking them, and packaging them up for distribution. Our first month there, we made (as a group) about 800 cookies! We made 500 the next time. It's so fun, and the girls love it. 

The cookies are bagged up and given along with small care packages that include toiletry products. These bags are distributed to women and men who are experiencing homelessness in Camden and/or Philadelphia. I am hoping to take the girls on one of those outings soon. I think they will really get a lot more out of that face-to-face contact and see the impact of what one small act of kindness can do.

In the meanwhile, we'll be trying to bake as often as we can with this amazing group! Please message me if you are local to South Jersey and would like to learn more about getting involved. 

Weekend Wrap-Up: Remembering

This weekend we got a lot accomplished around the house. It was one of our few weekends that were not packed with activities and events, and we took full advantage of it to be domestically productive. We did get a babysitter for CB on Saturday morning and ventured out for one important, new tradition.  Volunteering at Wreaths of Remembrance.

Last year, we joined hundreds volunteers in the County's Veterans Cemetery to lay wreaths at the graves of the veterans. This event takes place the first Saturday of December each year, and we decided to make it a family tradition and part of our efforts to do charity work around the holidays.

This year, we had to forgo our school's Breakfast with Santa in favor of this event. But, the girls didn't complain. The weather was rainy and cold. But, the girls didn't complain. In fact, in spite of the weather, hundreds of volunteers turned out! Our boots were drenched, but the girls didn't complain. They get really "into" this! I'm grateful for their sweet hearts. 

After a brief ceremony honoring the soldiers, POWs and their families, volunteers set to work laying a wreath on every, single, solitary one of the nearly 1,200 graves. 

With each wreath laying, we read this card and took a moment to remember each and every veteran (or their spouse). It is an important lesson to teach the girls - that freedom is not really "free." That it is important to take moments to remember. That even in this time of excessive gifts and overstimulation and festivities, we can find small ways to give, step back, and be thankful. 

It's just a matter of taking that moment to remember. 

Weekend Wrap-Up: Tricking and Treating

Another Halloween Night has come and gone, but the candy wrappers remain. It was a fun, busy day and it reminded me that this season too will pass. Meaning, it is such a "holiday" for the little ones. Sure, you can get all dressed up when you're older and hit the bars. Sure, you will give out candy as an adult and oooh and ahhh over the little kids that come to the door dressed as the latest princesses or video game characters. But it's not the same. That excitement you see in your children's eyes and all the ramping up for this sugar-filled night of dress up? It's just not the same.

I appreciate these days.  

Hectic as it was.

Pink's parade was at 9:00 am. The costumes were amazing at her school, which is grades 4 through 6. Simply amazing. Lots of homemade. Lots of creativity. Lots of quirk. Loved it. 

After that, I raced a few towns over to pick up my 50 rolls from the bakery and rushed back home. There, I did my last minute cleaning and food prep. Though I stayed up until 1:00 am to do the lion's share the night before, there was still a bit to do in anticipation of the  40-plus people that would be congregating at our house for the "post trick or treat" party for our neighbors!

Then back to the elementary school to help in Rella's class with the little party, the changing into costumes, and the parade. 

Since I was marching IN the parade with Rella's class, I wasn't able to see Tink in the actual parade. But, luckily, I caught her queuing up in the hallway and snapped my picture (to her mild embarrassment). 

I've never had the chance to volunteer in the classroom on Halloween before. It's a very coveted spot reserved for the room moms and one extra volunteer. This was probably my first, last and only time and I was grateful to get the chance with my last little girl. 

Upon arriving home it was the last minute pre-party frenzy while trying to keep four kids out of my hair. But luckily, it was a nice day so they could stay entertained outside.

Pink the Nerd.

Tink the 50s girl. 

Rella the "Swiss Miss Girl"... who looks like she's been a bit wind blown.

And CB, the ticked off cat. 

Her school has a Halloween party, but the kids don't dress up and parade anymore. At the ages of 19 through 21, it's just a bit juvenile I suppose. 

But, I kept her in the spirit with the cat ears. She's thrilled, as you can tell.

Our whole street trick or treats together, along with a few of their friends who live around the corner. This year, Dr. Fabulous went out with the little ones while I stayed home with CB who doesn't 

a) like to walk 

b) like candy or 

c) like crowds and chaos.

So, this is clearly not her holiday. Nor are any of the others.

Hence, the many photos of the other girls and only one of her. 

I did sneak up the street with the group, because I'm the dork who thinks "I'm gonna miss these days" and just don't want to squander them. 

The post-party was super fun, as it always is. I don't say that to take credit for it.  It's the company, not my stellar entertainment skills. We all 'pot-luck' it and I supply the seasonal beers and local apple wine which gets warmed in a crock pot with mulling spices and just screams FALL!

I also doctor up some of the best homemade hot chocolate for the kids which is simply decadent. 

We partied like rock stars... kids passed out on the couch while parents talked until after midnight. That's the beauty of a Friday night Halloween.  

I didn't really take photos because I was too busy having fun and hostessing, but this one of the two 'besties since pre-K' cracks me up. If you fast forward a few years and substitute red solo cups and a sorority house background? Yeah... it's funny.  And not. 

The girls know the drill with the candy. They pick out a few days worth and then donate the rest to Operation Gratitude. We have donated our excess Halloween candy every year for the past six years to this organization. 

Operation Gratitude is a non-profit organization that assembles and distributes care packages to our active soldiers overseas, veterans, wounded soldiers recovering in hospitals and their families/caregivers. This past year, Operation Gratitude delivered 150,000 care packages. Inside they will have items specific for the soldier's particular needs, like toiletries or magazines and books. They include a homemade card and often a bit of candy... like the candy donated from Halloween! 

Three years ago, a local dentist office started a Candy Buy Back program for Operation Gratitude and we have happily donated our loot to them - I simply LOVE these guys! They make it a big party with a card making station for the soldiers, free hot dogs and lemonade and prizes. They are the warmest, friendliest practice! My girls look forward to the candy donation every year and never balk about giving up so much of their loot. 

Two years ago, we donated about 28 pounds between us and a few friends. The next year we spread the word even more to our friends and neighbors and collected 66 pounds. This year? Thanks to the generosity of so many people and the help of our local coffee shop who set up a donation collection site for us, we were able to donate 81 pounds of candy to the troops! Whooopppppeeee! Can I get a fist bump?

All in all, it was another fun Halloween.  I love my neighbors and friends. I love my kids friends. I love this time of year. I don't love all the candy, necessarily... but I love that we can do something good with it and make this random holiday a little charitable.  

I'm feeling the love, if you can't tell. Feeling it something fierce. 

Weekend Wrap-Up: My Five Inspirations

My husband was presented with a community leadership award over the weekend. We attended a beautiful banquet hosted by an amazing, grassroots non-profit where he and a few other remarkable individuals were honored. He has accepted several of these types of awards, actually, for the amazing work he is privileged to do at the helm of a non-profit that helps children and families. We enjoyed the banquet while sitting among over a hundred volunteers, all giving of themselves to make the world a better and brighter place. It was an inspiring evening.

When I find myself in these situations, I feel blessed and I feel proud of the man next to me. But, I also feel something else. Humbled, sure, but ... what's the word I'm looking for?  Like a total slack ass. Yeah, that's it.

I think of the things I could be doing, the volunteer work I'm not making time for, the good intentions that don't translate into good works.

"You're raising our children," Dr. Fabulous reminds me. "You're raising the next generation. These girls will be part of the community and, hopefully, doing good while they're in it."

There are no plaques to hang on your wall or trophies to place on the mantle for being a parent.  Nor, necessarily, should there be. We don't parent for accolades (though some praise every now and then is kinda nice, I'll admit). Parenthood is a huge responsibility, a huge privilege, a huge blessing and ... for me... parenthood is a great reminder. It reminds me that there is good in the world and that I am investing in the future of that good.

When I look at my girls - past the messes they leave, the squabbles they have, and the chaos that follows us like a cloud of dust - I am inspired to be a better person. I'm inspired to be better FOR them. I'm also inspired BY them.

I'm inspired by watching them live their day to day with their own little thoughts and minds. As their own little people. We, as parents, do our best to shape them and they of course reflect our values and actions and words. But, they grow into their own little beings. The older my girls grow, they become less and less like their Mom or their Dad and more and more like themselves.

The choices they make from an innocent heart (still uncorrupted by the world I hold at bay) remind me to see the world a bit less jaded; as full of possibilities, heros and redemption. The charity in their hearts comes with such ease; reflexive and joy-filled. It reminds me to open myself up to the same.

And the person who inspires so much of it?  Well, that would be CB. The lessons she teaches us all, the kindness and compassion she engenders, and the subtle way she reminds of us to appreciate the little things in life... this is a happy side effect of being such a unique child.

And, we've been the lucky beneficiaries.

Inspiration to be a better person is all around me. But, the best part is that I don't need to step outside my own front door to see it in action.

Kicking off Spring Break

It's the first day of Spring Break!  Everyone is pretty psyched about some family time and some sleeping in.  But before school let out there was the adorable Kindergarten Spring Concert. 

Out of tune singing, and cuteness galore.  My last Kindergarten concert ever.  It made me kinda sad.

CB headed to her Dad's in Maryland for her Spring Break.  

Her new stim has to do with flashcards.... dumping them out of the box, putting them back in.  

There are a million flashcards all over the place.

On this first day, Good Friday, the girls were scheduled to have haircuts and Pink, who has been begging to donate her hair to help people with cancer, finally got her wish.  

She literally has been asking if she can donate her hair for two years and I always talk her out of it.  I was worried her hair would be too too short and I really like her hair longer.  But, after running into a friend at the coffee shop this morning whose daughter just donated HER hair, she told me about Pantene Beautiful Lengths. The great thing about this organization is that you only need a minimum of 8 inches instead of 10. Also, the wigs they make are given FREE of charge unlike Locks of Love who charge their clients several hundred dollars.

Not to judge, because Locks of Love does great stuff, but I really like to support an organization that doesn't put an additional financial burden on people already paying for medical bills.

Here was Pink's hair on Christmas, and it grew a little bit longer since then.

And here it is 9 inches shorter! 

It was all really spontaneous actually.  The haircuts were already scheduled today since they were off of school.  Then, I ran into my friend.  Then, Pink started in on her whole "dream of donating her hair" again. Then, I took out the tape measurer and realized, her hair really wouldn't be that short.  So, we went to the hair salon as scheduled and I just left it up to her.  

She didn't bat an eye. She was so excited!  I've never seen a kid so proud of herself! 

The cool thing is that every kid I know who has donated their hair (and I actually know quite a few) have always 

1. Come up with the idea on their own and been very passionate about it and 

2. Feel so amazing after they do it.  

Plus, kids have the PERFECT hair because it has never been processed and it's not gray!

I think for young kids, it really means something for them to make a decision like this and give one of the few things they can to help another.  It's such a great opportunity for kids to really feel that charitable spirit. 

If you or your child are interested, please check out the Pantene Beautiful Lengths webpage where they have simple instructions and guidelines. 

 

That's my girl. So proud.

Weekend-Wrap Up: Spring In Our Step

Breaking News: We wore flip flops this weekend here in Jersey.  Astonishing, I know.  It was almost... dare I say... hot on Sunday. 

Yet, no one complained. It was a long, cold winter.

Saturday was a morning soccer game followed by a Egg Hunt #1 which is the township's annual hunt.  We use the term "hunt" lightly. There is no actual hunting of eggs - they are simply laying right out in the open in the freshly mowed plot of grass behind a roped off area. 

You don't do it for the challenge. You do it for the chocolate inside each egg that has turned into a melted puddle of goop thanks to the hot sun. 

And, you do it because it's tradition. We love tradition 'round here.

And you do it for the freakishly man-sized Easter Bunny who comes to visit on a firetruck.
Rella loves this dude, but the other girls have long been unimpressed. I think when they gaze into his mesh eyes and see the outline of a human head, it freaks them out.

Post-festivities, we headed off to our afternoon charity project - helping Angels of God assemble 628 Easter baskets! These were  distributed to local homeless shelters, food pantries, and needy families. Each 'basket maker' received index cards with the gender and age of specific children who would be recipients. Then, they personalized the basket for that child - the girls LOVED this part, and I think it made it more meaningful...especially when they got a girl around their age! We are so blessed to live in a community that offers wonderful philanthropy opportunities for children.

CB was a trooper through our three hour shift, and as a whole did AWESOME.  But, I had to keep a constant eye on her as she kept stealing and shredding the beautiful yellow ribbons volunteers were working so hard to assemble. Then she kept trying to steal the grass out of the Easter baskets.  It's like... I have a toddler.  

Perpetual toddler. 

Palm Sunday is a big event with the Italian Catholic "Dr. Fabulous"side of the family. We all congregated at my in-laws with the North Jersey constituency and ate and played all day long. 

The traditional egg hunt was a hit, as always.  Hunt #2 - done.  Two down, two to go Easter Weekend!

During this wonderful family afternoon, I realized it was again like I had a toddler.  I changed  3 wet and one soiled diaper, cut up food, cleaned up spills. I chased CB more than once as she went bolting too far outside of the yard, and apologized for her hitting other children. She ripped a decorative wreath off a wall and destroyed it, broke a pair of rosary beads, ate the "palm" that was given to us for Palm Sunday, stuck her hand in the bowl of salsa, and stole everyone's drink.  That was just her warm-up.

Yup, I still have a 19 year old toddler. Sometimes you gotta laugh. Sometimes you gotta drink the strong stuff. Some weekends necessitate a little of both.

Weekend Wrap Up and More Snow

... and let there be snow.

More snow.  Another school day off.  I think at this point, we're going to be going to school until July.

But, the girls don't mind at all.  They love bundling up.

They love making the world's lamest 12 inch high snowmen that are more like mounds of snow with a carrot stuck in it somewhere.

As far as the snow - slash - extreme cold goes, I think all of us grown-ups are so over it.

But hey, it's winter. What'dya gonna do.

All I know is that I love this -

'Nuff said. 

As far as our "Weekend Wrap Up" goes... it would read more like a laundry list of a million things all crammed into 48 hours like some type of ancient Chinese suburban water torture.  Girl Scout cookie selling, birthday parties, visits to Pennsylvania, church, swimming... blah blah blah.  

And one thing that was really lovely.  Making Valentines Day cards in honor of one of the Sandy Hook School shooting victims, Emilie Parker.  She was only 6 when she was shot and killed last year.  She loved making cards.

So, that is what the local non-profit 'Angels of God' did - They organized a big card-making event in Emilie's honor.  It was a great turnout. 

Cards will be distributed to nursing home residents, Meals on Wheels recipients and the troops in goodie boxes.  

Speaking of volunteer and charity work and acts of kindness specifically for young children...

I have started a facebook page called Charitable Children and I'd love it if you would check it out and give it a little follow!  

The page is intended to be a resource hub for parents who want ideas, websites, inspiration, and opportunities to get their children more active in charity projects.  I try to post about twice a day. Some events are local to Southern NJ but much of what I post can be done anywhere... or at least get you inspired to start a project of your own in your neck of the woods!

You can follow Charitable Children on Facebook HERE.

Hope to "see" you there... and in the meantime

Happy Snow Day!