38 RAK for the 38th bday

 

I turned the ripe old(ish) age of 38 on the 6th of this month.

 

Half way to 76.

 

(Yikes.)

 

 

Anyway, I wanted to do something different than the normal

 

"it's just another day"

 

routine.

 

I once read a blog about how a lady did one RAK for every year she was old.

 

I thought:  genius.

 

 

Then, I read this blog.

 

This is the younger sister of a student who was killed in my high school.

 

Instead of holing up every October, she does RAK's and encourages everyone to do the same.

 

So, I'm going to file this birthday under #AdamsActs.

 

So...38th birthday, here we go!

 

1.  The night before my birthday, I left a gallon of cider and donuts in my friend, Leah's, car. We had just recently had a conversation that about the weather and how it made her want to eat donuts and drink cider.

 

 

 

2- 13.  I made a pan of cinnamon pull-apart bread, put it in individual containers, and brought it to the faculty and staff of our school/church.  The following were recepients: Pastor, Joel, Debi, Anne, Kristin, Ashley, Jennifer, Yvonne, Diane, Ellen, Chris, and Dawn.

 

 

 

 

14.  I sent a Redbook subscription to my mom.

 

 

 

15.  I sent a long-overdue baby gift to our new nephew.

 

 

 

 

 

16.  I gave a little boy 2 quarters to play a claw game.  I was going to tape it to the machine, but he was there checking out the toys, so I thought I'd save WalMart the left over tape residue.  :)

 

 

 

 

17.  I prepared the coffee pot for Dave so when he got up in the morning...well, read the note.

 

18.  I dropped a mum plant off at my friend, Barb's house.  She has amazing gardens, and I just know she will take good care of it!

 

19.  I dropped some peanut butter M&M's off in Melody's van.  I went incognito on this trip...so it was a surprise to her! 

(finger inserted to protect the innocent)

 

 

20.  I dropped dark chocolate covered acai berried off to my sister-in-law.  I didn't go incognito on this one simply because their dog wouldn't have it.  BUT I did get to chat with Marianne and got a birthday hug out of the deal, so I'll call that a win!

 

21.  I purchased a busy bone for Ally.  Dogs need kindness too. 

 

 

 

 

22.  I brought Marie Catrib's to my friend Michelle and we lunched together.  I also introduced Baby L. to the AMAZING chocolate pudding there.  Oh my word.

 

 

 

23.  I dropped off a devotion book to my friend Rach's house.

 

 

24.  I left another devotional book on my friend, Abbie's, car while she was working.  :)

 

25.  I took the carpool kids through the drive thru for ice cream cones on the way home from school.  (I got to be the cool mom today!)

 

26.  I emailed action shots to the other parents on C's soccer team.  (Normally, I would have just deleted them after several months post season...)

 

 

 

27.  The lady that did my last pedicure was GREAT with child and told me she was having a girl.  I dropped of a baby gift to her husband.

 

 

28.  I did a drive-thru pay-it-forward at Biggby.  (Where I also got my free birthday drink.  Mmmmm)

 

 

 

 

29-32.  I filled 4 carts at Aldi with quarters.  Some mama who only has nickels and dimes in her change compartment will silently thank me.  :)

 

33.  I left a cookbook on the front seat of my friend, Sarah's, van.  (This was also an incognito mission.)

34.  I sent two of my favorite coffee flavors to my favorite pen pal in Texas.

35.  I sent Gina a card.  Just because.

36. I stuck a sweet note in A's lunch box.

 

37.  I made C's favorite dinner. (It's literally called C. Casserole because the boy will eat 1/2 of the 9x13 in one sitting.  True story.)

 

38.  I planned a hot date for my husband and me to go out for dinner.  Secured the babysitter, fed the kiddos, made reservations, paid out of my lunch (and grocery) envelope.

Whew!

 

38 RAK's done!

I learned something going through this: doing these RAK's...I felt more and more energized as we went along.  Like they were filling me instead of me filling them.  It made me want to do more and more.


Perhaps that's how kindness works. 

All I know is that the world could use more of it.

 

Pass it on.

 

Pay it forward.

 

Be kind.

 

 

Birthday party (on a budget)

As most of you know, C's birthday was yesterday.

We normally don't do a big to-do for birthdays.

There are a few reasons for this:

1.  It's just unnecessary to do every year (in our humble opinions).

2.  They're kids:  tape a balloon to a wall, call it a party, and they're happy.

3.  It gets costly.

Emphasis on #3.


When A was just born, we decided to set a guideline for our kid's birthday parties.

1.  A family party at one.

2.  A friend party at the house at 5 (or kindergarten...).

3.  A destination party with friends at 10.  (We said 10 because we're HOPING that by 10, they will have outgrown Chuck E. Cheeses and Bounce Party- two of the most expensive birthday party places.  Think bowling alley, boys!)

Anyway....this was C's year for a friend party at home.

When A. was in kindergarten, we decided to use the weather to our advantage and have a sledding party.

This year was no different.  Since this summer was so hot, we decided to do a sprinkler party!

I received an email from vistaprint.com in June for a really good deal, and scored 20 invitations with envelopes and sticker seals for less than $12.00.  (Add in 8.36 for postage, and I don't think that's too shabby!).

Then, I scored a Lightening McQueen slip-and-slide on clearance at Burlington Coat Factory for $4.96.

This was in addition to the older slip-and-slide we had been given a while ago. 

I thought it would be fun for them to race.  :)

I filled up our tall/short pool during the day to let the sun heat the water...and wahlah....backyard fun.

For those that thought the water was a wee bit too cold, we had soccer nets up, basketball hoops, the jungle gym ready for action, a craft, and sidewalk chalk waiting.

I purchased a dozen balloons from Party City for $10, and affixed them to the lawn with golf tees.  (Thanks for the idea, Pintrest).  The effect was cool at first, but we lost 4 balloons before the party began.  No biggie.   Each year, I also let the boys pick out a large character Mylar balloon for their birthday.  They love that tradition.  C. picked Batman....for $8.99.  (sorry, no pic).

For a craft, and an addition to their goodie bags, we had DIY super hero masks.  (It just fit, since C. is a HUGE superhero fan).  My mom's school has a special machine to cut these masks.  So, aside from the 3.99 self-stick stars and .99 elastic (both on clearance), this craft was cost free and had a high rate of return.  See for yourself:

Oh wait...how'd that last one get in there?  (hehe!)

A. came up with the idea of "Balloon-ie Ball" which essentially means keeping a balloon in the air.  I added the "racquets" by taping free Home Depot stir sticks to some paper plates.  Wah-lah....free fun.

I decided that I didn't want to deal with scooping ice cream along with serving cake, so I decided that an ice cream cake was the way to go.  In accordance with my need to come in under budget, I decided to make it myself.

C. threw me a curve ball and decided to ask for a batman cake.  This is what I came up with:

The Funfetti cake mix was on sale for 1.09 a few weeks ago, and so was the Blue Moon ice cream I used to fill it (2 for $5).  I purchased the butter cream icing for a total of $4.13, and went to town.  A professional cake decorator, I am not.  But hey....homeboy was happy.

I purchased all tableware from The Dollar Tree (in plain red and blue- like spiderman colors), and spent a total of $6 on all of that.  No one noticed that they weren't official Spiderman plates....so I think that's a win.

The most expensive venture of the evening were the goodie bags.

We had the lunch sacks, so I decided to go with those.

The spring water was from Meijer, bubbles from The Dollar Tree, Spider Man pencil from The Dollar Tree, and Gummi fish swimming in blue M&M's from Meijer.  (Thanks Pintrest for another idea!)

Total cost for all these goodie bags ran up near $26.  But, I didn't purchase a whole bunch of cheap candy, and it fit in with our sprinkler theme, so I was happy with that decision.


So, total monetary outgo for a fantastically fun birthday party was:  $89.01.

My goal was under $100, so I'm VERY happy with that!

Here's a few picture highlights of the evening:

I LOVE Q's face as he hits the water.  :)

Home base for the grown-ups.  :) And craft zone, and gift zone, etc.

Thanks, Michelle, for all your help!

I know, I know...he's a bit blurry, but still so cute.

The "big boys" were trying to stay upright on the slippery slopes.  :)

One of his best buds, Evan.

Dear C, If you ever want to marry Molly someday, that would be a-ok with me.

She's one of my favorites.  :)

Look!  I got my whole family in one picture! 

How stealthfully awesome of me.  :)

This is all the kids- sitting QUIETLY - AFTER being sufficiently sugared up - watching C. open gifts.

I was amazed.  :)

By the end of the clean-up, the boys were wondering what to do with the balloons left over.

A. was itching to release one into the sky,

so Dave and I told them to release them all.

Adios, balloons!

What a fun night!

Thank you to everyone who came out and joined the fun!

T Minus 48 days

No pressure or anything, but Christmas is quickly approaching.

48 days to be exact.

Me?  I'm -----1  1------ this close to being done.

I'm joining in my dear sweet, totally pythony friend, Mama M's new Christmas Meme.

I thought it was a great way to get new ideas,

and help some of my bloggy friends out in finding good ideas of their own.

The first week is Children's Books.

This is an awesome idea.

I love giving books over toys to kids.

I love getting books over toys for my kids!

Of course, my boys....love the toys.

I'm going to highlight three of our favorites.

#1.  Not a Box by Antionette Portis

This was a gift from the boys' Aunt Erin last year.

She's an elementary school teacher.

She gives the BEST kids gifts.

The bunny has a box.

And uses his (her?) imagination to turn the box into other things.

There's also some great positioning* words in there.

*(in, behind, on top of)

And some great language usage with questions and answers.

It's also easy enough for A. to read to C.

They love this book.

#2.  Hedgie's Surprise by Jan Brett

First off, Jan Brett books are a favorite of mine.

Illustrations galore.

Fun words.

The boys pick this book almost every night.

I could recite it by heart.

It's about a Tomten who always takes Henny's egg for his breakfast.

Henny wants babies, so Hedgie (the hedgehog) comes up with a plan to trick the Tomten.

When reading this book, you must make funny voices for the characters. 

The kids will laugh and laugh.

I promise.

***SPOILER ALERT: Conclusion below****

So, in the end, Henny lays her eggs, and Hedgie hides them so she has a chirping brood at the end of the book.

And the piece de resistance (said with french accent):

#3.  Dear Polar Bear by Barry Albett

I cannot tell you enough about how much we love this book.

Love it.

It's got geography, social studies, animal awareness, and tons of fun flaps.

It's about Polar Bear who is sad about his boring cold igloo.

He decides to write letters to his other bear friends around the world to be delivered by postman penguin.

Each bear receives a letter from Polar Bear that you get to pull up and read.

Then you get to read the return correspondence, and see what they sent Polar Bear to cheer him up.

It's fun to watch the igloo become a fun little abode.

****SPOILER ALERT: Conclusion Below*******

In the end, Polar Bear was sad that he hadn't heard anything from his Thank you notes, and then postman penguin delivers one last package.  Full of friends.

There you have it.  Our favorite books.

A few ideas with books:

1.  Book buddies.  My mom is a kindergarten teacher.  She does book buddies with the kids.  The idea is to sit down with a book and a stuffed animal that corresponds with the book.  For example, my nephew, Jaden, LOVES penguins at the zoo.  So, I got him a penguin book and a stuffed penguin for his birthday last year.  Going to the zoo is one of my favorite things to do with my nieces and nephews.  It was a great way to remember something neat about him.

2.  A. is getting to the age where he's looking for something more in his books.  He's looking at chapter books, and asking me to read them to him.  So, we're going to venture into the world of Flat Stanley this Christmas.  For those of you who don't know, Flat Stanley is a flat paper thin guy who travels all around the world via the postal service.  The idea is to mail Flat Stanley out and ask your friends and family to write a little thingy about his adventures and take a few pictures of him during his visit.  I'm going to make A. a bulletin board out of acoustic ceiling tile and wood with a map over top.  We'll mark where Stanley has been and keep a little scrapbook of all his adventures.  It will be a fun ongoing lesson in letter writing, geography and (most of all) patience.  I can't wait!