Charitable???

We're trying to teach the boys what it means to be charitable. Actually, in addition to us, the school and church are also trying to teach that lesson in their own way. It is hard.

I guess the boys first introduction to the idea of donating things to people that are needy happened when they were 2 years old. LOL!! That is when I made them *donate* their binkies to new babies that don't have any. They collected all of their beloved binkies and we put them in a brown bag to send to the poor babies. My boys were sad to see them go, very sad actually, but they seemed to take a bit of comfort in the fact that they were going to babies that need them.

Oh yeah, we did not actually give the binkies to a new baby...gross, but the boys don't know that.

July 2002 ~ Jack, Ben, Drew (poor Drew dropped his binkie)

We are, apparently, at a whole new level of charity now. The boys came home from school last week all excited because they were going to be "jumping rope for heart". The American Heart Association has teamed with their school to raise money. The boys have no concept of what the AHA is or why they need money. All they know is that if they want to win a prize. Jack has his heart set on *winning* a jumprope and Drew wants to *win* a t-shirt. I'm really having a hard time explaining this whole concept to them.

First of all, I have always hated soliciting things. I was a girl scout for a REALLY long time and absolutely despised selling cookies...my sister actually used to sell most of my cookies for me. I just have never felt very comfortable asking people to give me money. So, needless to say, I have problems sending my small army of kindergarteners out to ask for money from their unsuspecting family and friends.

I guess that I might feel more comfortable with the whole idea of them raising money for a charity if the boys understood what they were doing. I just cannot get their understanding of this whole project past the 'if I ask people for money, and they give it to me, then I jump rope and then I get a prize'. It sure seems like a win-win-win for the boys! I've been trying to figure out how to make this all work for us. It just seems to me that the boys should be feeling some of the pain of this work of charity.

As if the Jump Rope for the Heart is not enough for us to figure out, with the start of Lent, the boys each received a box from church to save money for the poor. My kids each have a piggy bank with about $30 that they have saved, from gifts. The boys don't get an allowance, Christmas is done and their birthday is not until May. They are so proud of the money that they have in there and are very careful about spending ANY of it. Am I supposed to make them take some of THEIR little-bit of money out of their piggy banks for the poor people? That doesn't seem fair since they don't really have any means to build it back up and that money is from gifts to them. On the other hand, am I supposed to just throw some of MY money in their boxes? That doesn't seem real productive in teaching them to be charitable and not to mention, not fair to me. ;)

How are other families handling these things...am I just spending too much time thinking about it?

What I ended up doing for the jump rope thing was telling the boys that I would give them each a small donation. I complicated it, for them, by telling them that I would match $ for $ any donation that they made from their own money. I am just against BUYING them a prize. For the poor boxes, I told them that I would give them each 10 cents for a good deed or extra job that they did, up to 3/day. So, they are sorta working so the poor people can have more food to eat. They were all excited about it today and I had some extra helpers. I just hope it lasts the whole 40 days of Lent!!

What do YOU think? Any comments or ideas???

Fat Tuesday...Continued

The boys have been asking to make their own pizzas for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday was looking to be a great day for that project. We shopped for all of the ingredients after lunch. I kept trying to tell the boys that we could get a whole pizza at Little Caesars for a SMALL fraction of the cost of making our own, but they weren't buying it. Apparently cooking is fun?!?!?

They actually all did really well. Ben made a pepperoni pizza, Jack made a sausage pizza and Drew made a cheese pizza. Mom and Dad even made out with a yummy Tangy Chicken Pizza.

Working Hard!

All Finished

mmmmm...ingredients!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy FAT Tuesday!!!

How can it be Lent already??? The boys did not have school today...apparently Fat Tuesday is a school holiday. ;) We stopped at the grocery store and ended up picking up a few treats to celebrate the holiday. My "treat" is already gone. :(

Speaking of the Superbowl...

The boys stayed at the party with Daddy until the exciting end of the game. That means that their little heads did not hit the pillow until after 9:30. Spencer and I stayed up for about an hour longer watching the after-game shows. Since the boys had gone to bed so late, we were quite suprised to still hear talking when we went up to bed at 10:30. The talking turned out to be just Jack...talking to himself. Spencer and I hung out on the stairs for a couple of minutes to see what he was talking about. Jack was recapping the entire superbowl game. It was hilarious especially considering he was trying to do it more than 2 hours after his bedtime. He was really trying to remember all of the score changes, but he was so tired, he was having trouble completing his thoughts.

"First it was 3-0 Giants, and then it was 3-7 Patriots, then it was,,,then it was,,,then it was,,,wellllllll, it's kinda hard to explain, wait, then it was, wait, then it was 10-7 Giants".

How cute is that...like father, like son! I told Spencer that he HAD to go in there and help Jack finish so that his poor, little, tired brain could go to sleep. So, Daddy went in and told Jack one more bedtime story, all full of scores, just the way they both like it.

Done?

We went to a Superbowl Party across the street last night. We all had a very good time. I decided to take Charlie home at the beginning of the 4th quarter because it was already an hour past his bedtime. I put his shoes and coat on by the door and then went back to tell Spencer something and to collect all of our things and make sure the boys were doing ok. This is where I found Charlie when I came back. Do you think he is DONE??? He never sits still. I couldn't believe he was sitting in the exact same spot that I left him 5 minutes earlier. He is such a trooper.

Dinner Prayer

Lately, when we say a grace as a family, before dinner, Charlie gets a fit of the giggles. I don't know what it is about this that he finds funny, but it is very amusing to him. No matter if he is in the middle of eating because he couldn't wait for the rest of us or whining about not being fed fast enough, he stops whatever he is doing to giggle while we say our prayer. Too cute!

If he thinks WE look funny while we say grace,

he should really look in the mirror!

Snow Day!!!

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and was still going strong in the early hours this morning. Spencer woke me up when he was leaving for work to tell me that he got a message that his office was closed because of the weather. Since he had a lot to do and we live so close, he was going in for a few hours and would be back home before lunch. News like that could only mean one thing NO SCHOOL!!!

Snow days are wasted on Kindergarteners, at least my kindergarteners! When I told them that there was no school because of the snow, they really didn't have much of a reaction. When I asked them if they were happy about it, they really had to think about it. Strange kids!!

Today was actually supposed to be a busy day with the cleaning ladies coming before school, and then school, and then lunch, and then piano lessons. This snow storm caused the cancellation of everything! Suddenly, our entire day was free.

Our day actually started out pretty slow. The boys were enjoying a lazy morning playing with their Leapsters, in their pajamas. Charlie was checking out the snow from the kitchen door. The snow doesn't look too deep in the kitchen picture, but according to my sister, who should be very up on the news, told me that the news reported that our town got 12 inches!

Later in the morning, a neighbor called to see if the boys wanted to play in the snow. They all quickly put on some real clothes and bundled up to go play.

Daddy came home and we went to Wendy's for lunch. Apparently, not enough snow to stop us from making a trip to Wendy's, but too much snow to go to work, school, piano and get my house cleaned! After lunch, we went back outside while Charlie took his nap. The boys decided that just sledding down the hill was not exciting anymore, they decided to SURF down the hill. They all did really well!! These pictures don't do them justice because you can't really tell that they are moving. Mom and Dad got into the action too. Let's just say that I am glad that I had the camera. ;)

Ben

Jack

Drew

And Daddy!