Volunteering Fun at the Food Co-op

I took Emily with me for a fun day of volunteering at our local food co-op! The co-op features lots of fabulous local, organic food: cereals, pastas, meats, cheeses, eggs, milk, etc. She was very excited to be able to help out. We both put on our aprons and got to work -- we were kept very busy!

There was lots of measuring, labeling, putting price tags on items....

...ringing up customers...

...stocking the shelves....

...and sweeping the floors!

At the end of the day, Emily exclaimed, "What a fun day!". I think she will be sleeping well tonight.

Free Flowers and Hugs

One of Emily's favorite things to do is "make deliveries". This morning was spent preparing to make a special delivery to some of the residents at our local assisted living facility. We gathered up all the tissue paper and pipe cleaners we could find, and got to work making lots and lots of tissue paper flowers.

Once the basket was full, we spritzed them with a bit of perfume! They looked and smelled so cheerful. Next, it was delivery time!

The reactions were fabulous! Free hugs and flowers??? Yes, please!


So much fun!!

Shopping with Intention

Now that Emily has recovered from this incident, I took her to Dollar Tree this afternoon for a special shopping trip to fill some Jared Boxes for our local hospital. If you are not familiar with Jared Boxes, you can read more about them here. Basically, the idea is to fill a shoebox-sized plastic container with new games and toys intended for ill children that you then donate to your local hospital to distribute.

Jared Boxes are made up of very inexpensive items, many of which can be purchased at a Dollar Tree, or some place similar. Emily enjoyed choosing all of the items for our Jared Boxes including (but not limited to): crayons, a coloring book, stickers, a small stamp set, a puzzle, and a card game. She even picked out items for the baby Jared Box: a ball, board book, receiving blanket, small stuffed animal, and bib.

Be sure NOT to include any hair items, and no food items please!

Altogether, it was just $12 to fill two Jared Boxes to the brim with games and toys! We are looking forward to delivering these to the hospital. I was under the impression that they were running a little low.... both of my girls received boy boxes! Nevertheless, they LOVED them!

For detailed directions on how you can put together a Jared Box, click here.

What Valentine's Day Is Really About...

This afternoon I took the girls to a retirement community to give the residents there some much needed company this time of year. In return, Emily and Clara received TONS of attention. Emily made a Valentine placemat with some construction paper and stickers, and then proudly showed it off to the residents while they were enjoying their dinner.

It took her about two minutes to warm up to everyone, and then she did not want to leave. There were several things I love about doing this type of activity with the girls. As an at-home mom, it can be challenging to find volunteer opportunities where I can get the girls involved. Many times there are age requirements, etc. and this is an activity that can be done with kids of any age. Also, I loved watching Emily's reaction to making the residents smile and laugh. At one point, she turned to me and said, "I don't need you, Mommy. Go check on Clara." I think she did just fine on her own.

Clara was not so sure about all the attention at first, but then slowly warmed up to people and gave lots of big smiles.

Emily loved pointing out some of the finer details of her work to everyone.

The retirement community even had a little goody bag for her with some Valentine's Day treats. When we left, I asked her if she had fun, and she answered with a big "YES!".