Daisy Love

This year, I am the co-leader of Madi's Daisy troop with my good friend, Carrie. We attended a leadership meeting several weeks back, and we were so glad we went.  Because it truly gave us a "refresher course" in creativity.  This is our troop, and we are free to run it the way we choose to.

So last week, we were aiming for the girls to earn their Friendly and Helpful petals. We needed them to come up with activities to achieve those goals, and boy did they come through.

For the first component--"friendly"--a couple of our girls suggested that we give away free hugs. The girls all LOVED this idea, and Carrie made all of them signs to hold up. Our troop reported to the office right after school, and they hugged everyone in sight.

I could not believe the impact that this simple act of kindness made!  Our girls were literally making such a difference, and people were thrilled to receive a hug from these five little innocent cuties!!  Then we took it down the corridors, and they hugged teachers, too.  Of course Miss Maldonado, of Kindergarten fame, was high on the hug list.

What overflowing joy to be their leaders...

 

 

For the "helpful" component, I had contacted the school to see if the Principal could come up with something helpful for the girls to do on the school grounds during our meeting. We were totally expecting to be outside picking up litter or cleaning playground equipment or something along those lines. When we reported for duty, an office administrator said, "You know...I was just thinking today...we really need number signs for our new tables in our new lunchroom. Could the girls work on that for us?"

SCORE.

How cool is that?!  We all enjoyed coloring those numbers, even the Moms!  We can hardly wait for the new cafeteria to open, so the Daisies can see the fruits of their labor every single day! 

Twenty years

Jimmy and I marked our twenty year anniversary on October 17th. We decided to have date night on Friday to celebrate.

Of course, Miss Madi was incensed when she discovered that our plans didn't include her. After all, "we've had twenty years together, and she's hasn't had that much time with us."

But after a couple of days to digest our plans, our daughter warmed up to the idea. And surprised us with this sweet gift on our bed.

Her card was so cute. She paper-clipped a dollar bill to help us pay for our dinner.

And then on Friday, she decided to surprise us with an anniversary snack of a green apple, pine nuts, M&M's and a scoop of peanut butter. Her presentation was simply beautiful, just like her.

Our date night was just fabulous. Jimmy and I were able to have some adult time, count all of our blessings, and make plans for our next twenty years.

Thank you, sweet Madi, for making Mommy & Daddy's milestone so extra special!  You are a gem:)

Two words for today...

Prayer Space

Madi began her CCD classes several weeks back. For those of you who are non-Catholic, CCD is the religious teaching program of the Catholic Church. These classes are taught to school age children to learn the basic doctrines of their faith.

I was totally thrilled, on the first day of class, to find out that they were short-handed. And I just-so-happen to know the lovely teacher, Miss Kathi. So guess who gets to volunteer this year?  My job is the sticker-passer-outer, and for the most part, I'm pretty good at it;)

I absolutely LOVE being there.  I swear I learn so much in classes containing kid-speak. I know that doesn't say much about my intelligence level, but hey...I can admit it!

I've only embarrassed Madi twice. The first time was when I raised my hand and asked a question. Daddy had predicted this was going to happen in class, so Madi had quite the grimace when his prediction came true. The second time, I could even tell that I was just a little too loud and goofy when I was singing "If You're Happy and You Know It," but I just couldn't stop myself!  Oh well...I made the kids laugh...

My favorite moment in class was when Miss Kathi asked the kids if any of them knew the name of their guardian angel. After the teacher announced the name of hers, Madi raised her hand with enthusiasm and announced "Daniel" as her guardian angel:)

I love that Madi is so passionate, and last week, she demanded that we set up a special prayer space at home. She and I ran around the house and gathered various items to place on the table.

We now, as a family, begin and end our day at the prayer space together. Madi has become the prayer space police (I know...the just seems wrong, doesn't it?). I was scolded one morning for beginning our prayers without Charlie present. Another morning, I was scolded for not allowing Madi to go first. It is a lengthy process of learning all of the rules in her rule book!

This space has also turned out to be our family's "time-out" zone, but for peace--not punishment. When one of us gets impatient or needs to think about our actions, that's where we go. And isn't God just the perfect One to turn to when we need help? I've been sent there several times this week while making dinner (one of the times when I seem to need assistance the most). This prayer space is a total blessing--I love this new tradition in our home, and I know it's one that WILL stick!

a trip to the dentist

Madi recently went for her six-month dental check up.  We always make it a point to bring Charlie along, so he "knows the drill."

He loves to observe, but getting into the game has been a different story in the past.

However, this time, Charlie opted to get right into the chair...

And he opened wide!

And yawned...

And waited patiently...

And practiced...

And practiced harder...

And then he observed...

Uh oh. Charlie's turn...

He opened wide for Dr. Juliano!

 And he said, "AHHHHHHH"

He's not sure what just happened, but everyone else is happy!

 

THE END