A Day of Walking

A great little give is to volunteer in the class room. It's fun, your children love it, It gives you a chance to meet kids and parents and it allows the school and teachers to do more activities!!!

This is how my day went...

Today was my Second graders field trip and I decided to be a parent volunteer. We met at the school at 9:00. Everyone put their lunch in a cooler and put a little sunscreen on and we were off!!!
Four teachers, 10 parents and 80 kids...

First off we walked to the library. The librarian read a cute story and gave us a tour of the library. Then we walked to Harmons. My favorite part was the bakery. They gave all the kids a hair net and then they showed us how to frost cakes. The lady was very good!!! She frosted a hamburger cake and a watermelon cake!!! It looked really fun and it's something I really want to learn how to do!Then we toured the rest of Harmons...It really was interesting! Did you know they cut their meat fresh everyday and do not sell day old meat? (now, I know why I like Harmons better than anywhere else. They really do have the best produce and meat departments) They gave us all a cupcake and a balloon and we off to walk to the park!!!

At the park we ate lunch and then the kids played for a hour. It was nice, because I knew quite a few of the Mom's and we had fun talking. After the park we walked to the fire station.

There we divided into three groups and were given a tour of the fire engine, ambulance and fire station. I must say it was pretty entertaining, and I got a few laughs!!! The fire man asked "If any of the kids knew how fires started?" One little kid said "By sparks" and the fireman said "Well, that's kind of right but how do sparks start?" another kid answered with "Sparks start by fire" Then finally one little girl raised her hand and said " Well, I don't want you to think I smoke, cause I don't. But sometimes fires get started by cigarettes" Some of the things these kids say...It must be pretty funny being a teacher.

After the fire station we were back to walking... It cooled down a little and it was actually nice not having the sunshine around...We ended up getting back to the school at 3:15. It was a really fun field trip...I can't wait till Colton's in second grade, so I can go on the walking field trip again!!!

Shopping

Last Night, I went shopping with a girlfriend... So what was our little give? We gave both our husbands a chance to hang out together and watch a movie...while watching all the kids!!!!

OK, Maybe they were the little givers last night... We appreciated it a lot and had a great time!!!

Wonderful Couple

I ran across this article in the public forum of the newspaper and I just had to share it with you.

"This morning as I was having breakfast at McDonald's in Daper, about 10 National Guardsmen came in and ordered breakfast. A gentleman and his wife, who were just leaving went up to the men and gave them money to pay for their breakfast. It brought tears to my eyes.

"I salute this wonderful couple for doing this for our men in uniform."

This Little Give touched my heart.

I am here at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona with my sister. For those of you who do not know my sister, her husband is extremely ill and she is very ill as well. Today, she had a surgical procedure and was tired, ill, and having effects from the surgery medication. It wa 113 degrees here and we were waiting for the shuttle bus to take us back to our hotel. We were first in line for the shuttle. While waiting, we talked with an elderly couple, the husband was very, very ill with a serious illness. When the shuttle arrived, there were not enough seats for them to get on. My sweet sister gently put her arm on this little old man and said "you take my seat, you need it more than I do, I can wait for the next shuttle". I was so touched, that, as sick as my sister was, she saw someone that was sicker, and she wanted him to have a seat!

Cash Wad

The day before Father's Day I took my daughter to the local grocery store to buy a Father's Day gift and a Birthday present for her sister. (I know the grocery store is not the best place to find a gift, but Target was closed and we had just gotten back from a trip)  So we were at the check stand getting ready to pay when my daughter realized that she had lost her money.  We looked all over the store and and couldn't find it.  She went up to the front end counter and told the clerk.  He made an announcement  over the intercom.  We kept looking by this time she was in tears she went and talked to the manager again.  At this time he made another announcement, he said, "We have a really sad little girl who has lost her wad of cash, if anyone has it they would really brighten up her day by returning it."

At this time a young girl (teenager) walked up and returned the money to my daughter.  The manager got on the intercom and thanked everyone and said that the store had the best customers.  Then the manager went over to the bakery and got a box of cookies and gave it to the girl and told her thank you for being so honest. 

I was really touched by this whole situation.  I thought it was awesome the way the manager handled the whole situation, instead of just saying something like, "write your name down and we'll call you if anything turns up".  I am so grateful for caring people that go the extra mile.

Seashell Give

Sharing Seashells

This is my very favorite Little Give idea ever.  We went on vacation to San Diego, and my cute mom decided to buy a bunch of seashells and secretly scatter them around the beach for the children to find. They were all so excited.  It was so much fun to watch as they found these awesome seashells.  There was a lady near by who was also hunting for seashells, she also found some of the amazing shells.  It was amusing to watch how happy it made her.  So if you need an idea for a Little Give buy a bag of shells next time you are on vacation and enjoy the ecstatic magic that comes from sharing shells.

Sharing Smiles!

An Attitude of Gratitude

     The other day I was filling up my gas tank with liquid gold.  This cute lady got out of her car in the rainy, windy, weather and came and told me,  that I forgot to put my gas cap back on.   I thought this was so kind.  It would have been so easy for her to just stay in her car and not worry about it, yet she took a minute to do a Little Give.  I was really appreciative to her for her small token of kindness.

     It has really made me think about how important it is to have an attitude of gratitude.  I really want to try to be better at being grateful for the small things that others do for me. There are little acts of kindness given to me each day, and sadly I am more likely to tell you about the rude lady at the grocery store, or the guy that nearly ran me over while I was jogging.  So my goal is to have an attitude of gratitude.  I am going to start focussing more on people's good qualities, and look for The Little Give's that are given to me each day.

"As we express our gratitude, we must 

never forget that the highest appreciation 

is not to utter words, but to live by them."

John F. Kennedy