Oh oh oh oh, give em everything

'Tis the season, and the boys' school is having a book drive as well as providing canned goods for a local holiday program. I'm always so proud of their giving spirits, and they didn't disappoint today :-)

Books have always been an central part of our lives, and they really wanted to share some favorite books and make the holidays special....we debated long and hard about giving some abridged books but decided the stories were still good and they were much better than no stories at all. It was also a nice walk down memory lane to look at some of their old favs....

After the book look, we headed to the grocery story to get a bag of goodies for Harry to take to his class (Jack's flyer came home first and we'd sent in things the other day). He was happy to fill up a bag

I've been volunteering at the local food pantry and Food Lion is donating all boxes given between 12-2 on Saturday - please give what you can, the boxes are only $4.99 (and pretty heavy, judging by Jack's face ) and include emergency foods that would get a person through a couple of days.

JB's Jolly Mon

and life is love

The boys' school collects Box Tops For Education, and they are currently having a Halloween competition Batty For Box Tops - the school has raised over $150 this month, and I'm a little tired of clipping....but not too tired to gladly take any box tops you would like to donate to the cause!

Look for anything with this label

They also collect just about anything that earns the school money or supplies, including Campbell's labels

and labels from Tyson's products

Thanx for any contributions to a great cause :-)

The Box Tops' Neon Rainbow

Hit the road, Jack

We took a road trip last week to see our good friends, and I introduced them to the delights of gas stations

They helped pump the gas
before entering the road-trip mecca

They spent quite a while deciding on just the right little gifts for Jake and Sarah

mulled over the perfect road treats

and settled in for the ride.

Who knows what happened to the camera when we got there, but we had a great time with good friends we hadn't seen in WAY too long - thank you for all the fun, JSD&E!

Next time, it's our turn :-)

Ray Charles

Keep it in your pantry

The boys are in Hero Headquarters VBS this week, and we took a little trip to the grocery to lend a helping hand to their food pantry. They did a great job picking non-perishables. They are talking about heroes in the Bible that aren't as well-known this week, stressing that we can all make a difference and don't have to be superstars to do good.

Lyle Lovett

I got good lemonaid

A friend's mom was organized enough to finally get us a chance at helping with the annual Anthem Lemon-Aid project last weekend. It was hot, but the boys really got into it, especially once Ms. Christina took Zach and Jack on a Marketing 101 project! Thanx for organizing, Crystal, and for drumming up more business, Christina!

Jack and Harry gearing up
Zach and Harry practicing sales techniques - think Harry needs to practice his helpful face.
He was saying he was mad at cancer, but not sure it translated into sales.

Zach and my two favorite lemonheads

This was great experience, and we're looking forward to doing it again next year - if you're intersted in finding out how to participate, here's the information from theChildren's Miracle Network website.

Van Halen's Ice Cream Man

Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash

The boys received a tidy little sum of money for their birthday, and were very responsible about saving some, keeping some to spend and donating the rest to the Trike-A-Thon....that's right, they donated 1/3 of their birthday money to the TAT! How proud were we??

We made a little family trip to town yesterday, and they decided to break out their wallets at the dollar store for some fun stuff.

They each ended up with two treats

(Kim, there are those sandals)

Harry patiently waiting to see how much he'd have to hand over

Jack making the purchase....and still keeping a little jingle and crinkle for another shopping adventure

Pink Floyd's Money

Hey, Jude (Trike-A-Thon pledges) - SpinCycle

This is one of the first songs I can really remember taping (yes, one of those big boxy recorders) - I was watching some American Bandstand show when I was about 10 years old and worked thru all the parts of taping the song, playing it back about a million times, etc.

Now, in the grown-up world, St. Jude does amazing things for children and their families who are fighting to SURVIVE and thrive thru their battles with deadly illnesses. The St. Jude Trike-A-Thon is a week-long program addressing safety and cancer - on March 27th, the kids will ride for 30 minutes and collect donations for this worthy cause (typically 25 laps, or a specific amount for the event). The boys' preschool is partcipating for the third year - they have a pretty modest goal of $1500 this year, with 54 students participating....if you would like to participate and help us bust that goal, please email me or leave your request in the comments section - TIA for any and all support!

This is the cute t-shirt they may get!

I donated platelets for the first time today, so it's sort of been an all-around cancer day. Apparently, I have 'great platelets' all curly and lots of 'em! :blush:

Jen at Sprite's Keeper assigned Survival for this week's Spin Cycle...and the timing is perfect for helping others survive! Do whatever you can, and if it means donating J&H's trike-a-thon, all the better - please contact me by 3/25 so I can take care of all the paperwork stuff, and TIA!

The Beatles

GIVE it up!

We're trying to help the boys build a sense of giving, and get organized early enough this year for donations to help others at Christmastime. (Yeah, it also de-clutters our house, so score two for the home team!) They did great with it, downstairs yesterday and upstairs tonite. We introduced it and asked that they give up at least four big, good toys each and sort of hoped there would be a sizable grand total.

Here's Harry playing on the way upstairs tonite

Not sure why I love photos on our stairs,

but it's amazing to see how they've grown (see comparison below for a big awww)

Halloween 2005, Harry standing

Jack asking if they need to include the Toy Sweep Bag
(I may try a Tricky Tuesday post and share that one then)


Here's tonite's haul....

and yesterday's. I also pulled a few 'treasures' that I'll keep.
We were really proud of them and hope to make the actual giving special.

To the tune of Bob Marley's Stir It Up

Youngblood

Today was my day to donate blood, and here's my usual plea: if you can, please donate blood as often as you can - it's quick, less than 30 minutes, and pretty much painless. They usually give you some sort of present, a shirt, insulated bags, etc. For all you commit-me types who have to think of good work things, drives are so easy. For all you HASAYers out there, they say a pint of blood weighs about a pound, so if you're looking for a little push toward that goal ;-)

I've been going for a while and the people are so wonderful - they always ask about the boys, who used to go in their stroller and actually waited in the lobby chairs the last few times (big testament to how wonderful the people are and how much the boys like the process).

Stepping off the soapbox and getting to the real reason you're here:

Nothing like friends in Fall

Not much going on today, just packing up all the Boo stuff and getting ready for the grandparents' visit on Friday - can't wait to see you guys!

Grateful Dead

Give A Little Bit

This is my shameless plug for donating blood - whether it's the Red Cross or a local organization in your area, supplies are really low at the moment and with the holidays coming up they really need you! It takes so little time and effort but means so much (stepping off soap box now)



Dean is on a vacation of sorts between his old job and his new job, so we've drug him around to all the kids' and my activities the last few days....we did work in a few fun things to get him ready for his new job, tho, like some clothes and some electronics....



WooHoo for a hi-speed internet connection, a second laptop, a new camera and the things that make those things work well!

Here's the rocking new laptop and space-age ergo mouse

It's great to have you home (even without all the fun toys!)

Supertramp, and more recently, GooGoo Dolls