Fun at the farm

Pumpkins are just more fun at the farm! This is the same farm we went to last year and it was fun to go again! LuLu and GiGi the goats were glad to see us :)

Oliver found the 'tractor' and didn't want to leave.

Here are pics from last years trip to the farm: http://iseehope.blogspot.com/2011/10/fun-at-farm.html?m=0

(Mobile posting right now so can't hyperlink)

Not sure how the picture order will show up but I particularly like seeing Chandler and O together so sweetest year and then with such toddlertude this year!!

Sprinkler fun!

 I swear I just HAD this child.  When did he turn into a little boy?!

 He's an official walker now.  No more crawling.  

 Playing in the sprinkler was fun!  

But there was also lots of this...

 We have new neighbors and their 20-month old, R, came over to play.  I love, love, love having sweet, new neighbors that also have a toddler.  Such fun!  They play well together.  She likes to share and loves to give things to Oliver.  Can't wait to see these two have baby conversations in a few months.  Cuteness!

Happy Memorial Day!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So we're four days late... we party hard around here!

Happy, happy new year!

(P)inspired Pictures

I posted a Pinterest inspired picture of Oliver in lights last week and thought I'd post a few more.  The first two are from the first session we tried originally and the others are from our second attempt when my parents came to town.  I've not edited any so I may be able to get them looking better.  Maybe one day when I have some extra time to play.

We gave him a couple of presents early.  Mainly, his keys.  I found a cute key set at Barnes and Noble after Thanksgiving and scooped it up on sale.  I also ordered him a set of Kleynimals.  They're stainless animal shaped keys that clink like car keys.  He loves them!  I am SO glad because they were a little pricey for what they are.  He shook them for no less than forty-five minutes last night.

Christmas Kindness: Days 12-16

Day 12: We left a Christmas card and bag of Hershey's Kisses for our mail delivery person.

Day 13: I ordered magazine subscriptions for a couple of sweet friends!

Day 14: We sent Christmas cards to strangers.

Day 15: We bought lunch for the person in line behind us at Burger King.

Day 16: We left $1 bills in random places in the grocery store.  This was a really fun one!  The dollar is in the top left of the photo below.  I was trying to be quick so it's not the best picture.  We had a good time loitering in the aisles looking for fun places to hide money.  

Christmas Kindness: Days 9, 10 & 11

(source)

Disclaimer: Oliver has been so, so sick this weekend... his temp this morning was still 100.4.  He slept ten hours straight last night (from 6pm to 4am, woke up to eat/play for an hour and slept another two hours until 7:20a).  Very unlike him.  He slept two hours at his morning nap and has been asleep for about half an hour already this afternoon.  All that to say, we haven't left the house much so Christmas Kindness has been low key.

Day 9: We had to pick up a few things at Sam's (namely shatterproof Christmas tree balls) and it was around dinner so as we were leaving and packing the car with our things I decided to run back in and grab a snack for the Salvation Army bell ringer. I know, we did this already, but this was a new store and different girl.  I was hoping they had hot chocolate - what is it with places not having that?! - but they didn't so I got her a drink and chips.  I took the healthy route indeed.  Actually, I did get water because I wasn't sure what fountain drink to get so half healthy counts.  Anyway, I said the DUMBEST thing ever.  What I wanted and meant to say was 'I thought you could use a snack.'  What came out was, 'I thought you looked hungry.'  WHAAA?!  OMG as soon as I said it I wanted to slap myself.  'What?  Did you seriously just say that?  Why yes you did.'  Ugh.  I felt awful!  I knew I would just stumble like a fool if I went on so I just stopped, said Merry Christmas and left.  I am such a moron.  Seriously.  Oh well.  I hope she didn't take it the wrong way.  Chandler got a kick out of it.  Who does that?!  Who says that to someone?!  Me.  I do.  But you, please don't.  You're welcome.

Day 10: Another crazy baby-is-sick day.  I told Chan it was up to him to be kind.  He said he dumped all of his money into a bucket.  Hm.  I'm not really sure this counts.  Technically, in my book, it does not.  For participatory purposes however, we're counting it.  

Day 11: Sick baby day again.  I went through my closets and pulled out some things to donate to a shelter.  Good stuff too and not just things that are totally out of style.  I even included a green leather jacket that I used to love from Gap.  That, admittedly, is out of style but I felt like someone could rejuvenate it.  Certainly not me, but someone could.  With a cute scarf, skinny jeans and riding boots - it would look SO cute.  I couldn't pull that look of in the least though.  

I have hopes that next week will be much better than this weekend.  

Christmas Kindness: Days 7 & 8

Day 7 has been my favorite day so far!!  We went to Starbucks and I decided on the way there that I'd buy coffee for the person behind me.  For a few minutes it was looking like no one would drive up, but then a couple cars came so game was on.  At the window, I told the person to please charge my card for the order of the person behind me.  She didn't hesitate and ran my card.  I told her if the woman asked to let her know no, she didn't know me and that I said 'Merry Christmas, pass it on.'  The woman behind me had money in her hand on the steering wheel and was ready with it when she pulled up.  I'd slowed down to toss some garbage into the fun trash cans they have with the extra long shoot you can reach from your window so I saw her face... it was priceless!  Loved it.  She was so funny and dumbfounded.  It was great!  

I also had to run to Walmart to pick up a couple things I realized we needed for the dinner that I was hoping to have ready in oh thirty minutes.  Good planning on my part, very good planning... ha!  Anyway, I grabbed my handful of things and headed to a short line, 20-item-or-less register and noticed a young guy behind me  with a box of crackers and a can of cheese.  He stepped away to get a drink from one of those short fridges near the check out lines and I told the cashier to ring his items quick!  It was fun!  I kind of felt bad that I didn't get his drink too, but I didn't want it to be weird or awkward so I just paid for his things and walked out while she waited for him to get his drink.  As I was exiting the store he caught up with me b/c I felt someone lightly brush my shoulder.  'Ma'am, thank you.'  I felt like of the few people I've encountered in this project, it probably meant the most to him.  I know this was two things in one day, but in an effort to truly get into the habit of looking for opportunities to share kindness, I wanted to be in the moment.  

Completely opposite of earlier in the project.  

And in case you are wondering, this doesn't get us 'off the hook' for another day.  :)

Day 8 is a secret.  There may be days sprinkled here and there that I choose not to share for one reason or another.  It's not because I don't want to share with you though!  :) 

Did you do anything this week?  Would love to hear it!  Or do you have any ideas for us?  

Christmas Kindness: Days 5 & 6

Day 5: I ran to the grocery store (I swear I don't go there every day!) to pick up a couple things and again, I knew it would be the only time I left the house.  I had no plan whatsoever for my Christmas Kindness of the day and saw a Salvation Army bell ringer standing outside.  Putting money in the bucket didn't really count so I decided to get her a snack.  Naturally, I thought of this standing in the check out line so she got a Pepsi and pack of M&Ms.  I would have been a bit more creative and healthy, but again - thought of it standing in line with a child who was about to be done with the grocery store.  I was giddy thinking about how fun it would be to surprise her!  I put money in the bucket and handed her the small bag and said 'Hi, we got you a snack!'  She was on her cell phone and she took the bag and mumbled 'Thanks.'  Not 'Thanks!' just 'thanks,' very flatly.  I started to walk away and then turned and said 'We weren't sure if you got a break so we just wanted to get you a snack!'  (I'm super cheery about this...) - Another learning curve?  I think so.  Part of me really wanted a warm reception.  Part of me wanted her to say, 'Aw, that was so kind, thank you!'  To be honest, more than part of me wanted that.  All of me wanted that.  What was her deal?  It was almost like that was just as expected as putting money in the bucket, like ten other people had given her snacks.  Maybe I should have picked up chicken and macaroni from the deli?  I walked back to the car unsure of what to think.  That is definitely not the way I'd imagined this activity to go... I doubt most people read the comments, but check out the story my friend Kate shared on Christmas Kindness: Day 4.  THAT is the way I imagined this to go down.  And actually, I'd thought that I would get the bell ringer a coffee or hot chocolate since there's a Starbucks in the grocery store, but it was 75 degrees so that's when I went for a Pepsi.

Lesson - this project is not about me.  It's not about my feelings, my expectations, or my joy.  It's easy to do random acts of kindness when you get to see someone really appreciate your gesture.  But what about when they don't?  How do you feel?  The joy just isn't the same.  I don't know her story.  I do know she has one - we all do, and she impacted mine yesterday.  (Well, we'll see if she impacted mine, I actually just felt like that was a nice, poetic feel to the end of day 5, ha!)

Day 6: Nothing exciting today... simple.  I had a meeting this afternoon at work and when I walked down the hallway I noticed an older gentleman sitting in the waiting room.  He looked a little tired and sighed heavily and smiled when I walked by.  We exchanged greetings and I got back to my desk and took him a water bottle I had in my bag.  I don't know how long he'd been waiting, but he said something kind and thanked me.  It was nice.  He was a gentle soul.  (That was for poetic purposes too - just to keep you feeling warm and fuzzy - you know, for the spirit of the project and all.)  I kind of felt like I was slack today but I know that technically this counted.  I have often given out my water bottles.  When I was pregnant I only used Klean Kanteen and refused plastic bottles, but I barely have time to do much in the mornings like fill a bottle (Judge away, mornings are rough.  Filling a bottle takes like a whole 45 seconds that I would prefer to spend grabbing cookies or carrots or something.  Mom, carrots were for you.  Usually it's cookies.  I mean, carrots.)  Anyway, I usually grab three or four bottles (I'm nursing, you know...) and don't always need them all so in the summer I'd often give them to patients who were waiting for the bus as I walked to my car.  I make it sound like I only do it in the summer... it was just so hot!  Seems most people wait inside now that it's cooler and so I don't always see folks out there.

So... that's day five and six.  What did you do this week???

Christmas Kindness: Day 4

I wish I had a better name for this project.  Something about 'Christmas Kindness' just doesn't flow well... anyway... I had to run out to pick up cheese for breakfast this morning (I was making a recipe from Pintrest this morning before my father-in-law left) and I knew it would be the only time I left the house so I had to find something while I was out.  As I was leaving the store, I saw a barrel for food donations and ran back in the store to grab several boxes of Cheerios in honor of babies like Oliver.

There was also a learning moment today.  I was so focused on finding something and 'doing' that I missed a perfect opportunity to exemplify the purpose of this project.  I didn't realize it until I was getting in the car... I looked and saw the man who was behind me in line and he was carrying a single box of cereal and banana.  Had I paid any attention to others around me in line, I would have seen a great opportunity to buy his groceries.  Shoot!  I was so mad at myself I almost ran back in to just hang out until someone was in line (very few people shop at 7am!) but realized how strange that would be, plus I needed to cook.  I'm glad this happened early on because it has taught me to slow down and be more observant of others around me.  Funny because in my taekwondo days I was so aware of everyone and everything around me always planning what I'd do if someone came at me from any direction - so funny!

Christmas Kindness: Days 2 & 3

Day 2: We picked up and delivered donuts to a free clinic's volunteer party... it was a half hour drive there and a little more than that back home since it was just after 5pm on a Friday.  

Day 3: I had to run into the grocery store for one thing and left a $1 bill in a beverage machine with a note that said, 'Enjoy a drink!  Merry Christmas!'

Christmas Kindness: Day 1

***Updated 12/2/11 to include Daily Bread Blog

I know I wasn't going to post every day, but this is fun!!!

... and apparently it's a popular thing to do.  Not that I thought it was original and we were the first... as I was looking for a good Advent calendar I saw where a lot of people make their own and use random acts of kindness (or I guess not so random) and do something each day.  Neat spin on it too.  Although my friend Jill just posted about how it's nice to not have a tradition and to be spontaneous - I loved her post.  I think that her blog is private  is called Daily Bread, check it out!  Oooh!  I should have Jill guest post on how she (insert pretty much anything here).  She is such an inspiration to me in the way she lives.  Chandler loves her too because she has recently inspired me to get rid of tons of junk that I've held onto for way too long that probably has mold growing on it in the bottom of my closet de-clutter.  :)

Anyway... so we may investigate all of this later, but as baby Rover grows, I get giddy thinking about ways to teach him to give and love and serve others.

Earlier today I realized that I hadn't gone out of my way to do anything today.  I helped someone at work make some baskets for an auction even though I was super busy with my own projects and didn't have the spare time, but I didn't really feel like that counted.  I called Chan to see what he'd done and he said that he (along with two other guys at work) had taken a guy to lunch who doesn't really get out much and it was kind of a big thing.  I asked how much he spent and he said they all went dutch so just getting him out of the office didn't really count so much... I had a back-up act of kindness that falls under the category of wifely duty (snicker) but at dinner we realized we were out of puffs for Oliver and that led to a conversation about how now that he's crawling he's officially old enough for Gerber's crawling snacks (not that we've played by the rules, but...) and longer story a littler shorter, we ended up going to the grocery store and bought lottery tickets for the cashier.  The look on her face was priceless!  I love this!

December Days of Christmas Kindness

To follow up from my post earlier this week... a couple of friends posted some great links to articles about Santa and Jesus.  Instead of regurgitating a lot of similarities, I'll just post the links.  We will be doing something similar. I just need some good children's books on St. Nicholas.  If they don't exist, I'll need an illustrator to partner with me so I can write one of my own.  Hmm... :)

What We Tell Our Kids About Santa (this is most similar to how we plan to teach Santa)

Smackdown: Santa vs Jesus

Moving on to our December project for 2011.
December Days of Christmas Kindness
The Plan: One random act of kindness every day for the month of December.
-Oliver is too small to really do a lot of actions with love other than grab your face and try to eat it kiss style yet we still wanted to do something for others to share in the spirit of giving this season.  We came up with the idea to do one act of kindness every day and made a list of things to do if we didn't see an opportunity.

The Budget: $86.34
-We didn't think of this until just a couple weeks ago and we'd already spent or budgeted our Christmas allowance so we decided to use two pots of money.  The first was incredibly fitting - the second was our jar of spare change we had just sitting around.  Ok so the first pot  of money is from Oliver's Blessing Bank.  (If you haven't read about Blessing Banks on my blog, I'd encourage you to read the posts I linked just now, it's a really neat story!)  I've been putting change and paper money in Oliver's bank (we use that instead of a traditional 'piggy bank') since I was pregnant so it was full.  Next year we will plan this better and will hopefully have learned from this year how much we want to allocate for this project.


The deets: Both Chandler and I will be carrying out the project, but since he works full time, I'll be doing most of the days.  We'll report back each day with what we did and how much we may have spent.  I am so, so excited to do this!!!  We have a list of about forty-five random acts of kindness that we pulled from around the internet and came up with one night while up talking in bed.  I'm hoping that there will be some things that arise naturally and we won't have to pull too much from the list.  To keep us on track and accountable, I'll be keeping a log of what we did (as a plus, I'll be adding that to a page in Project Life).  I would love to be able to post what we did each day, but my track record stinks lately so I'll plan to post weekly at a minimum and more often if I have time and think about it.

I would LOVE if you would participate too!  If a month is a little much for you, try a week - or perhaps do the Twelve Days of Christmas, Kindness style! :)  If you do, let me know - I'd love to hear how it went for you.  If you have a favorite act of kindness we'd love to hear it!

On Christmas

(My so-excited-favorite part of this post is at the end... )

BACKGROUND
I've shared this before, but a couple years ago a sweet friend posted about an outing with her daughters where they saw a bell ringer collecting money.  The person asked the girls if they were excited about Santa coming and the oldest remarked that the didn't do Santa, they did baby Jesus.  I'm sure my friend had no idea what impact sharing that story would have - but it created a tremendous shift for me.

Before Oliver was born, I started thinking about how I wanted Christmas to look like for him.  I grew up with Santa and loved it.  Santa still comes to my parents house and leaves treats and I still make requests for him since he continues to stop by... :)  I don't want to take away the fun of Christmas.  What I do want to do however, is to create a Christmas that teaches him the meaning of the season.  I want him to know it is a day we celebrate because it's the day Jesus was born.  So... I know lots of people want this and I would love to hear how you do this in your family.  Please share!!

CURRENT PLAN
This is our current plan... the first year Chandler and I dated we made a birthday cake for Jesus - (it was chocolate because we're sure Jesus would like chocolate!) - and I'd like to keep this tradition.  When Oliver is older, I can totally see us having a birthday party for Jesus where we invite his friends over for cake and ice cream.  I would also want to involve a project like maybe each child would bring a gift or warm coat and we could take them to a shelter, school or other place of need.  At the party I could see us making Christmas cards and then going to a nursing home or other facility to sing carols and deliver the cards.  I'm sure I'll find more ideas and change plans a hundred times between now and when it's time to plan, but I'm stoked about the possibilities!

I guess technically, the above isn't 'current' since Rover can't walk yet so some other plans include...
-three gifts to symbolize the gifts from the wise men to Jesus
-a stocking from 'Santa' because our parents are having a hard time with not doing Santa and there are only so many things I will fight
-choosing a service project to do as a family
-choosing three alternative gifts again to symbolize the gifts from the wise men

ON SANTA
Up until very recently I took my non-Santa to the extreme and didn't want any Santa books, no Santa clothes... I realized I'd become anti-Santa and didn't want to be.  Plus, it's really hard to be against a happy, jolly man that everyone loves.  I consulted my sweet friend and she shared how they handled Santa and well, it made my world jolly again.  It makes sense to include Santa in Christmas for many reasons, mainly because it just can't be avoided.  I think Santa is cute too!  I don't want to be against him.  I do want to limit his importance though.  I am looking for a good book about Saint Nicholas, if you know any, I'd love it if you shared it with me.  More than anything, I want to instill a spirit of giving and the ultimate reason for Christmas - Jesus.

This year will definitely be, as Chan says, a learning year.  I know there will be things we'll have to address later, like Santa being real and things of that nature.  We want 'Santa' to be a fun thing for him as long as he will let it, but I imagine that when he is old enough to ask if he is real, it will be our cue to share with him that he is not and then address how we don't talk about it so he's not the kid in class that spoils it for everyone else.  Another friend is exploring similar things for her daughter (who is a bit older than Oliver) and she is thinking about going with the idea that 'Santa' is what you sign when you don't want someone to know the gift is from you.  I like the anonymity, but I'm not sure how we'd still fill his stocking (note to self: order stocking this week!) using that - I did want to share it though because a few people have asked about how we will 'do' Christmas and I thought that was a terrific idea.

CHRISTMAS 2011
Three gifts for Oliver.
Alternative gifts.
Birthday cake for Jesus.
Lots of Christmas books celebrating Jesus' birth.

My FAVORITE part... there is a strong possibility our project could become a tradition.  I am SO, SO excited to share this!!!

Since Oliver is small and we can't really do a lot with him in terms of a project we've put our heads together and this year we've decided that we'll do a random act of kindness every day.  I am giddy thinking about it!!!  I can't wait for Thursday!!  We made a list of forty or so ideas and while we will pull from them, it's my hope that we will see opportunities each day and can just do something!  I would love to post each day, but considering my track record lately I plan to try to post weekly.  I plan to share a more about this tomorrow.

Don't forget though... if you have traditions or ideas about sharing Jesus, book suggestions - please share!  I'll be sharing some of my favorite books this month too.

December 2011

I can't believe it's been ten days since I last posted... ugh.  I'm really excited to share our plans for celebrating Christmas.  We've been talking about how we want this season to look and feel like for our family and I am stoked about what we've come up with so far.  We figure this and the next couple years will be learning years while Oliver is still little, but I'm so, so excited about what we have planned for 2011.  It may or may not become a tradition for us, but I would really love for it to.  SO excited to share!  I hope it will inspire others to do something similar... can't wait to tell you more!  I should post our decorations too... more soon!

Rover's 1st Halloween!

Here's a sneak of his costume...

It should be known that I had no plans of purchasing a costume for the babe, but I happened to find this one at Children's Place for $2.99.  No joke.  I had been looking at a black t-shirt that had glow-in-the-dark bones (rib cage, etc...) that was $6 on sale from $10.95 and I griped to the sales person about the price and she said, 'There may be some things on the rack over there; everything's under $3.'  So, I did it.  For $2.99.

 He was born in the year of the dragon so it's perfect!

 How did he like his first Halloween?