26 Acts of Kindness

When I first heard the news of the horrific tragedy in Newtown I  began to pray and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing ever since.  But there was a strong desire inside of me to do something more, I just wasn’t sure what.

Then today over my lunch break as I was catching up on my blog reading, Mel at The Larson Lingo had just posted about her “26 Acts of Kindness” project that she was doing to honor the victims.  Right away I knew that this was what I had been looking for, this is what I could do.

 

It’s as simple as it sounds, perform 26 Acts of Kindness.  It can be something as simple as picking up trash in the parking lot as you walk into the grocery store, to buying a Christmas present for a needy child.  Just as you perform these acts, take a minute and pause to pray for one of the victim’s families.  For more simple ideas of Acts of Kindness, check out Mel’s post at the link above.

 

Print off a list of the victim's names so as you perform an act, you can take a minute and pray for one of them:

 

Charlotte, Daniel, Olivia, Josephine, Ana, Dylan, Madeleine, Catherine, Chase, Jesse, James, Grace, Emilie, Jack, Noah, Caroline, Jessica, Avielle, Benjamin & Allison

Staff Members at the School:

Rachel Davino, Dawn Hochsprung, Lauren Rousseau, Mary Sherlach, Anne Marie Murphy & Victoria Soto

I’m going to try really hard to complete my 26 Acts by Christmas.  I encourage you to do the same!

 

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I just completed my first act, built an Operation Christmas Child box online...and prayed for Charlotte and her family.
 

 

 

 

Christmas Cookies

Saturday we had the most fun morning.
The Little Lady decorated Christmas cookies.

I just set her up and let her go.
John Wayne and I had the most fun time watching her.
She was SO excited and had SO much fun!

 

The frosting in the squeeze tubes were her favorite.

 

 

Sprinkles, sprinkles everywhere!

 

 

I should mention that anyone that we gave these cookies to was advised of how they were made...it was then up to them as to whether or not they decided to consume them : )

 

 

One thing's for sure though...they were made with love.

 

 

TA-DA!!!

 

She was so proud of her cookies and so excited to give them to her Papa and Gaga, Aunt Katie and Uncle Willie and Papa Dave.

 

 

But not without first sampling a few for herself!

 

 

While we were busy decorating cookies, the Little Buckaroo did what he does best, just hung out and looked cute : )

 

 

Especially after last week's horrific events, I am so thankful for the chance to make these wonderful Christmas memories with my sweet Littles.

The Little Buckaroo {{Two-Months-Old}}

Another month...wow!

Our Little Buckaroo is two-months-old.

He is such a good, sweet baby.

He continues to only cry when he's hungry. 

Seriously, that's usually the only time he cries.

Thank you Jesus!

He still really likes to eat and is beginning to outgrow, for sure his 0-3 month stuff, and even some of his 3 month stuff is getting snug.

This past month he rolled over, and slept through the night a couple of times {about 6 hours, we'll qualify that as sleeping through the night}.

 

Love these sweet smiles.

 

 

Car seat comparison:

1-day-old  ::  1-month-old  ::  2-months-old

InstaFriday

Friday.  Thank you.

I survived my first week back in the office after eight weeks of maternity leave.

It actually went really well. 

I was telling John Wayne that I crave routine and I love being back in our routine. 

He called me crazy.

 

My Mom is watching both of the littles.

Bless her.

I thought her week had gone relatively well too.

But I just talked to her.

She just changed five diapers in ten minutes.

Maybe my first week back will be my last.

 

Now onto a few phone photos of our week.

 

Now that our cards have made their way to the mailboxes of our friends and family, all of my blog friends can see them too.

I'm really happy with how they turned out: family picture on the front, pictures of the kids on the inside and GW's birth announcement on the back.

 

 

Last Saturday, I stayed up into the wee hours of the night and got the cards ready to go in the mail while everyone else in the house was sleeping.

 

 

The Little Lady showing off her new Christmas PJs.

They say "I've been good ALL year."

That's debatable...

 

 

We've been having "movie nights."

The Little Lady loves this.

We get out lots of blankets and pillows and make popcorn.

Would you look at this...the Little Buckaroo is trying to steal our popcorn, or pop pop as the Little Lady calls it.

 

 

Santa has been regularly making his way to our house in a big brown truck.

My home office looks like a UPS warehouse.

#thankgoodnessforonlineshopping

 

 

And just because...

 

 

Have a great weekend friends!

 

Click!

Remember the Big Sister Kit that I gave the Little Lady at the hospital?
You have to see some of the pictures that she's taken with her camera : )

Here are a few that she snapped at the hospital. 

Her favorite subjects are definitely her toys! 

 

One day, she spent a lot of time lining her favorite toys up and then photographing them.

And then of course you have the self portraits! 

The Little Lady loves her camera!

InstaFriday

Here are some phone pics from our last week and a half.

We went to visit John Wayne's Grandma the week of Thanksgiving. Gigi enjoyed holding the Little Buckaroo and watching the Little Lady play.

The Little Lady had so much fun painting these turkeys for everyone.

I love their cute little turkey outfits : )

I ordered this bib for the Little Buckaroo and then I was looking back through pictures the other day and realized that we already have one somewhere...I have a pic of the Little Lady wearing one her first Thanksgiving.

The Little Lady loves to have her nails painted.
There's just something undeniably cute about little pink nails : )

Since there hasn't been one for awhile...a Poncho picture. He's ready for winter, he's got his winter belly and hair.

At 6.5 weeks, the Little Buckaroo decided it was time to roll over and sleep through the night. {No, he's not sleeping through the night consistently yet, in case you were incredibly envious for a moment.}

Just because this pic is too cute not to share.

The Little Buckaroo loves being in his swing.
Although his sister is pretty sure it's still hers.

This year's Christmas card display...thanks Pinterest!
I LOVE Christmas cards and can't wait to send ours and for cards to start filling our mailbox.

And finally, my Mom and I took the kiddos to see Santa yesterday.

Do you Instagram?  I'd love to follow you!
{I'm Trailerhoodaristocrats}

 

All I want for Christmas...

My Mom and I took the kids to see Santa yesterday.

The past two years the Little Lady has been scared of Santa, so we had really been talking it up to her and she was really excited to "see Santa!"

When we got to the mall, as I expected, she got really nervous. I didn't even think we were going to be able to get our crying and screaming picture like we had the past two years, I didn't think she was going to go anywhere near him. After some convincing and Santa holding her little brother, she decided she would atleast go stand next to him.

Once we got her up there, she was pretty chatty. {This is the most wonderful Santa ever. He was there last year and I really hope that he doesn't "retire" before my kids are done visiting Santa.} The Little Lady told Santa that her and her little brother both want books. In particular the Little Lady wants a "Manny book" {Handy Manny}. Not sure where/why she came up with that, but I checked Amazon and Santa can handle that request : )

She had to call Papa right after and tell him all about Santa and that he gave her a coloring book, crayons and a sucker. Seeing Santa has been all she's talked about since. I made the comment to her that "Santa sure was a nice guy," so she's been going around saying "Santa, nice guy!"