Thirty!

Last week, I turned thirty.  My husband was going to take the day off, spend some time with me, and take me to a fancy dinner to celebrate.  Unfortunately, things happened at work and he wasn't able to take the day off like planned.  So I spent the morning with my babies, just playing, opening their gifts (a necklace picked out by my girl, and an "I love mom" mug from my boy), and spending time with them.  We set up for my mom to watch the kids for dinner that night, so she came to town a bit early so I could go out and get my nails done.

David took me to one of our favorite restaurants, Halls Chophouse, and he had set up the most wonderful surprise: my entire family was waiting for us at the restaurant!  Every year, we get a special meal to celebrate our birthdays, cooked by my grandmother (the best cook ever) and everyone in the family tries to be there to help celebrate.  I thought the plan was to go home for my meal a few weeks later.  David had his heart set on taking me out to dinner and I thought that was a special gesture, so we put off the family birthday dinner for a week.  But the family birthday dinner is a tradition in our family.  And David knows how important it is to me and how much I love celebrating with my family, so he snuck around and had all of my favorite people gathered in one place for a huge celebration!  I was so surprised!  When I walked in and saw everyone I kept saying, "why are you here?!"  I just couldn't believe it.  And even my babies were there!

It was the sweetest surprise.  I sent my twenties out and brought my thirties in surrounded by my favorite people on this earth.  And everyone stayed the weekend, so I got an entire weekend full of the people I love the most.  It was the absolute best birthday I've ever had.

I know this last one is a little fuzzy, but aren't they so stinkin' cute?!

30 Act of Kindness: Days 26-30

I have not forgotten the last 5 days!  I had planned to type these up the Saturday after my birthday, but my wonderful husband set up an amazing surprise it turns out that my entire family was in town for my birthday-- all weekend!  So, I was a little pre-occupied and couldn't find time to jot them down. :)

Day 26: I cleaned out, swept, and organized the garage for my hubby.  It's a task he had been meaning to do so I went ahead and did it for him!



Day 27: I did a whole bunch of yard work for my hubby.  I don't like yard work, so this was just REALLY nice of me, haha.



Day 28: It was a beautiful day!  So we headed to the park...again!  I love getting my babies outside.  Anyway, I picked up trash while the kids played to keep the park looking nice for all the kiddos.  And yes, I wore gloves.  Because eww.



Day 29: I had to be at work early this day and had to eat dinner at the hospital.  So, I went ahead and bought a resident who was working dinner, also.  Doctors have to eat, too!



Day 30: David, my cousins, and best friend (and all the spouses) went to a new "bar" where we live and people left their glasses all over the table, so I cleaned them up.



So, that wraps it up.  I had a lot of fun doing these acts of kindness.  I found myself looking for more ways to be kind throughout the day and less time complaining.  People respond to kindness and I hope, in some cases, that it encouraged others to do their own acts of kindness as well!

If you missed the other 30 acts of kindness posts, you can go here:

Why am I doing this?

Days 1-10

Days 11-18

Days 19-25

30 Acts of Kindness: Days 19-25

Day 19: I took Hadley to the grocery store and while we were there, another kiddo was having a meltdown.  I walked past the mom at one point and just told her not to worry, she was doing a great job and we've all been there. (Am I right?!) Sometimes, we all need a little encouragement!  I thought it might be awkward to ask her for a picture while her kid was screaming, so this is a picture of Hadley playing grocery store at the children's museum a couple weeks ago, haha!



Day 20: I played with this girl one-on-one today.  That seems like a given, right?  Except it's not when laundry piles up, the floors need cleaning, I have schoolwork that needs to get done....but I put it all aside to give my favorite girl some undivided attention.  I don't want to miss her growing up because I'm "too busy."



Day 21: I stuck a pack of wipes in the changing table at Target today!  It never fails that your kid will have a blow out the day you are out of wipes, so hopefully I can save someone else the trouble.



Day 22: I got Starbucks and paid for the person behind me in line!  Not very original, but definitely fun. :)



Day 23: I worked an extra Sibling Class at the hospital because they were in desperate need.  On a side note: when I got there, a man held the door for me and said, "Oh, I have to hold the door for a beautiful young lady!" Which I thought was nice--I don't remember the last time I was called "young" ha!-- But then he looked me up and down, licked his lips and said, "I might need dessert later." EWWWWWW.  Chivalry might as well be dead with that remark!



Day 24: We surprised my hubby with doughnuts at work!  (Which was reeealllyyy nice of me because he works 30 minutes away.  So the kids were in the car for an hour!)



Day 25: My best friend and I ran a 5k for SIDS awareness.  There are all kinds of theories out there on what "causes" SIDS, but the truth is they just don't know yet and that's sad.  We ran to raise awareness and have fun.  And that's what we did!

If you missed the other 30 Acts of Kindness posts, you can go here:

Why am I doing this?

Days 1-10

Days 11-18

30 Acts of Kindness: Days 11- 18

So, I'm still hanging in there with my 30 Acts of Kindness and I wanted to update you on my progress!

Day 11: I signed up to be a bone marrow donor!  Donating bone marrow is no walk in the park, so this is not something for the faint of heart.  So make sure if you sign up, you'll follow through if you get matched.  BUT, you could also save a life.  <3



Day 12: I love supporting my mom friends in their businesses and there so many out there now.  I purchased some LipSense from a friend who just started selling, to help her get up and running.  Now this is a win-win, I think, because who doesn't love make-up?!



Day 13: I donated a whole bunch of clothes to our local women's shelter.  I can't imagine being in the situations some of those women (and moms) face, so I chose to donate there as opposed to Goodwill.



Day 14: I gave our mail carrier some love!  She is always bringing packages down our long driveway and that can't be fun, so I left her a special treat.  She loved it so much, she left me a "thank you" note. :)



Day 15: We met Daddy for lunch!  It's a haul to where he works, so it was definitely an act of kindness getting these kids up, ready, and out the door, ha!  But, he appreciated the distraction and it made for a great mid-week activity.

Day 16: The weather has been AMAZING here, so we went to the park today!  And before we went home, I left some bubbles and chalk for any other kids that come to play.  I actually got a text message from a co-worker who said she took her niece and nephew to the park and they were playing with my the chalk!  She said it was clear it had been played with previously.  It was pretty awesome to get a message that people are enjoying the acts of kindness.



Day 17:  We went back to the park and this time we brought tennis balls for the dog park!  We can't forget the pups! :)



Day 18: We have a gray cat that hangs around our house.  He's very friendly.  He'll rub through your legs, let Hadley and Griffin pet him, and tries to follow us into the house.  Turns out he's a lost cat.  Missing posters showed up all over the neighborhood, so when he came by again, we scooped him up and sent him back home.  The owners were SO grateful!

 

If you missed the beginning, you can click here:

Why am I doing this?

Days 1-10

30 Acts of Kindness Days 1-10

In case you missed it, I am turning the big 3-0 in March!  In celebration, I have decided to do 30 acts of kindness!

Day 1: We aren't in a position to adopt any animals right now (hello, grabby toddlers, no fenced yard, and school all-day, every day!) so I decided to sponsor some sweet animals.  Greenville County Animal Care is the largest open admission animal facility in South Carolina.  They have a GREAT reputation and a lot of sweet babies that need homes.  Here is one of the faces I sponsored:

Doesn't he look like a big ole' teddy bear? :)

Day 2: I worked at the hospital this night, so I took a couple $1 bills and taped them on different vending machines.  Complete with medical tape, ha! ;)



Day 3: We went out of town and had dinner at a restaurant in a small town.  Our waitress was awesome, so I left her a very nice tip.



Day 4: We were out of town so we could go skiing!! Yeah!  I took the opportunity to help people on the slopes.  Mainly picking up sunglasses, ski poles, skis, etc. that people dropped when they fell.  I did a lot that.  And in return, when I lost my hat and sunglasses- someone picked them up for me. :)  Being kind never goes out of style!



Day 5: I keep journals for each of my babies and write letters to them throughout the year.  Today, I took the opportunity to write them letters about how much I love them.  Man, these babies have stolen my heart.  I never want them to forget my love for them.



Day 6: This act of kindness wasn't on my radar when I first started, but we have had a number of people in our lives lose loved ones, so today I sat down and wrote some sympathy cards.  There is only so much you can do for people who are hurting.  Thoughts and prayers are what I can give.



Day 7: Today was Valentine's Day!  I ran a bunch of errands and let a lot of people cut in front of me, let people turn in front of me, and waved and smiled at them all!  I hope they felt the love!  I couldn't take a picture while I was driving....obviously...so here's a picture of one of my cute valentine's who learned how to smile on command! :)



Day 8: Today I complimented everyone I saw.  This was kind of hard because I wanted it to feel genuine.  And we went to the grocery store on the day that the elderly get discounts....so, there were a lot of compliments to give out!  I complimented one man and Hadley said, "Amen to that!"  This girl cracks me up!



Day 9: Today I thanked all of Hadley's teachers for investing so much time and effort in our girl.  I cooked them some crockpot chicken noodle soup, Hadley picked them daffodils from our yard, and I wrote them a hand-written letter to thank them for loving my girl so much.



Day 10: I wrote a love letter to my hubby.  He works so hard for our family and I never want him to feel unappreciated.  Love you always, DB!!



The first 10 days have been fun and I am enjoying purposefully being kind to others and finding the joy in my actions!  Looking forward to what the 

30 Acts of Kindness by 30

My friend Michelle is a whole 8 days older than me and our birthdays are coming up in March.  She came up with the brilliant idea to do 30 acts of kindness leading up to her 30th birthday and I immediately jumped on that bandwagon.  If anything, this world is in desperate need of all the kindness we can muster and I'm excited to spread the love.  I'll be documenting my acts on here, probably weekly so I don't overwhelm everyone.  I'll document them on my instagram account daily, so if you want to follow along, you can do so there!  I'm hopeful that through this process, I'll put more kindness into the world, teach my children the purpose of giving back, and I hope this journey will encourage you to do your own random acts of kindness as well!

I can't wait to get started!

Double Birthday!

Both of my babies have birthdays in October and they are exactly a week apart.  That leaves one weekend in between to celebrate!  This year, I thought it would be fun to combine their birthdays and have just one party.  Both of our families are out of town, so getting people to come to town two weekends in a row just seems silly and the thought of planning two big parties was kind of daunting, to be honest!

So Hadley and Griffin had a joint party this year, and the theme?  SPRINKLES!  (Hadley loves sprinkles right now, like looovves them.  I felt like that was a pretty gender-neutral thing to like, so that's what I went with.)

Hadley was beside herself when the big day arrived.  All the people she loves under one roof?  She was in heaven.  I'll let the pictures do the talking!

 Hadley and her great-granddad.  She loves him something fierce. (Just like her momma!)

 Birthday girl! You can kind of see Griffin's monthly banner in the background.

 I sure do love this birthday girl!

 Grandmom and Granddad (Hadley's great-grandparents) got her and Griffin a train table and some train tracks for their birthdays.  They LOVE this thing!

 Some of the food for the party.  We had pesto pasta, fruit and veggie platters, white-chocolate covered strawberries dipped in sprinkles, mini m&m's, and white-chocolate covered pretzels dipped in sprinkles.  The pretzels were a HIT.  And of course we had cake and ice cream--with sprinkles!

 Hadley's cake and Griffin's shadowbox of his going-home outfit.

 Griffin's banner!

 Hadley's banner!

 Griff-baby wasn't so sure about all the people at his house.  He perked up quite nicely after most everyone left, haha!

 I love my sweet birthday boy!

 Not so sure about all these people; needing some extra Daddy snuggles!

 We love Aunt Amy and Uncle Tyler!

 My best friend had a baby in August and Hadley is enamored.  She's so sad Griffin "isn't a baby anymore" and thinks we need another one, haha!  So she's all over Baby Hugh!

 Griffin and Grammy!

 I can't even handle how big he looks in this picture.

 Hadley is really into princesses and Grammy got her a Cinderella dress!  (As Hadley calls it, "Cinda-BRELLA)

 G-man loves xylophones, so I knew he would love this gift from Aunt Amy and Uncle Tyler.  He plays with this thing everyday.

 Mommy and Daddy always get a big gift and Griffin got a little tykes truck!  He knew just what to do with it and this has quickly become a favorite when we play outside.


As I've mentioned before, Hadley got the kid craft mansion dollhouse and she loved it.  She and her little friends played with it the rest of the time the party was going on.

 Blowing out candles!

 First taste of cake! (Although, I'm pretty sure Hadley has been sneaking him sugar because he knew just what to do!)

 Uncle Scott lived with us for about 6 months and recently got a new job and moved 5 hours away, so these two were so excited he was back!  He completed an IronMan in Chattanooga in September and bought the babies hats- which they clearly love!  We love him lots! (and he's single, ladies!)

I just love this picture.  No one is looking at the same camera, Hadley is cheesing hard, and Griffin is looking at her like, "what is wrong with you??"--this is just the perfect picture of my family.  Organized chaos. :)

Just some notes:

• My grandmother made their matching outfits.  The material is Eric Carle.
• I have no idea what I'm going to do next year.  I'm pretty sure Hadley is going to want her own party and I don't want to slight Griffin because he's the 2nd child. 
• My babies are well-loved and that makes my momma heart so very happy.
• I need to be a little more proactive about getting some pictures of me and my babies.  I hate I didn't get one of me and them (well at least one of us all looking at the same camera!)
• I'm glad my grandmother was there with her camera to document the party!  I was too busy hosting and corralling kids to stop and take pictures.
• There were other kids there, I just feel weird putting pictures of other people's children on the internet without their permission. ;)