Just life....

We had a busy November....actually, it feels like we are always busy lately! Such is life. At any rate, here's a little bit of what we were up to last month....

Every November we participate in Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan's Purse that sends shoe boxes filled with presents to children in need around the world. The kids are always excited to pack and drop off their shoe boxes. I like to think it's because they love giving to others and not just because our drop-off location always gives away cookies and stickers. Either way, it is a great way to get them involved in the process of doing good for others and realizing that there are people in the world who aren't as blessed as they are. 

Last month we also created a new little hideout in Sadie's closet, complete with a girly little chair and bookshelf. She loves to spend time in there.

Parker stayed busy losing teeth. He lost two in 5 days! We are still waiting for his two front teeth to come in, although it's starting to look like it won't be too long now.

Parker and Sadie ready to run errands one morning. They looked too cute not to take a picture!

Prettiest cowgirl ever!

Stay tuned for a Thanksgiving post coming soon!

School, snuggles, and shoe boxes!

Back in November, I chaperoned Parker's very first ever school field trip. We went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and the kids had a great time. And even though I am 32 and Parker is 6, we also shared our first school bus ride together. Here were are en route!

Parker painting some pottery.

Parker climbing a ladder to check out the cliff dwellings.

Group shot!

A couple of weeks ago, Sadie and I were laying together on the love seat and I asked her if she was my  "Snuggle Buggle". Ever since then, she has asked to "snuggle snuggle" with me all the time. Here we are snuggling....

Here are the kids ready to drop off Operation Christmas Child boxes. They will be delivered to a child in need somewhere around the world.

Right before the Thanksgiving break, Parker's class joined another Kindergarten class at his school for a Pow-wow. They made some items to wear, and had learned some cute songs to perform. Parker even had a short speaking part. It was super cute, and Parker was really excited that Mom and Dad were there to watch him.

Operation Christmas Child

This year we decided to do something that we plan on making a yearly tradition. Every year, Samaritan's Purse does something called Operation Christmas Child (you can click here to learn more about it or find out how you can participate). Basically, the idea is that you pack a shoe box or small plastic bin with items to be sent to a needy child somewhere around the world. You can choose a boy or girl and a specific age range when packing your box. This is especially great if you have kids because you can simply have them shop as if they are shopping for themselves. In our case, we packed a box for a girl in the 2-4 age range and a boy in the 5-9 age range. This past Saturday we took the kids shopping to pick out items for the boxes. Even though we had explained to the kids why we were shopping, I wasn't really sure if the kids would understand that they were picking things out for other children or not. However, they did really great. We purchased things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, socks, toys, cards, crayons, coloring books, watches, puzzles, bubbles, and suckers. Here are our boxes all packed and ready to go...

National collection week this year is November 14-21, so this morning we headed to our local drop-off location. Parker first thought that we were taking the box to "him", what he calls the little boy his box is going to, so I had to let him know that we were just taking the box to the people who would deliver it. He was so excited to carry the box inside.

Even though she understood less than Parker, Sadie was also excited.

The ladies at the drop-off location were genuinely excited to see us walking in and were all too happy to give the kiddos cookies, magnets, and stickers that said "I gave a shoe box". They were even able to let us know that our boxes were either going to Mexico or Haiti!

It great to know that we can do something so simple that makes such a difference for someone else's child. And what better way to teach our own children that we should look for ways to give to others. Can't wait until next year!