J. Marie Blog

All of my birthday babies…

That long legged beauty…just turned 10. Seriously? It’s all going way too fast!

{My little Peep turned One}

We celebrated baby girl’s first birthday by hanging with some of our favorite Peeps….(both human and edible form!)

{It’s Official}

{Peeps party}

Our little one will be celebrating her first birthday with all her “peeps” soon! Can’t wait to share the party details…

{LEGO baby shower}

Just finished mailing off a long distance baby shower. The dad-to-be said he doesn’t know what to do with a baby, but is looking forward to having a buddy to play LEGO’s with! So I went with a LEGO theme, and it turned out pretty cute. Decided we’d dedicate one of the shower activities to Dad. I had the guests write some advice on a baby sized LEGO block…one side is a “DO” and the other a “DO NOT.”  {DO: remember to give Mama a little break each day. DO NOT: forget to use butt paste! } A little instruction for dad-to-be to follow as he navigates new parenthood! They were also asked to decorate a Onesie for baby. Those two items, along with a shower gift, are then mailed to the parents-to-be during a one week period. Gifts for a week right at your doorstep.

And there you have it…a long distance shower, connecting everyone even though they far apart.             

{I love baby toes}

New little feet in the family…NOT OURS~no, no, not us (insert sigh of relief!). Another sweet, handsome, cuddly nephew!

{Out as long as she was In}

What will you remember about your first Christmas?

Being dragged around to countless stores to shop?      

The first gift you opened?

Getting all dressed up for church?

Or rearranging the items in the pew?      

Finding the boxes and paper scraps of everyone elses gifts far more interesting than any of your packages?

Being spoiled Christmas morning?

Getting a ball pit from Santa?

And being a little confused by all of the new toys and boxes and excitement?

Confusing this look-alike for your Daddy?

Getting lumped in with these very crazy cute kids?! 

(No, I had it right the first time…crawl away fast!!!)  

Will you remember being baby Jesus in our little family Christmas play?

Doesn’t matter, I’m going to remember it all for you. And getting to see Christmas through the eyes of a sweet little first timer one last time. Merry Christmas precious girl!

{Last few Acts of Kindness}

*Day 22*  Fill goodie bags and hand them out to random kids. (The goodie bags ended up being for girls, sorry boys!)

They decided they needed to wear Santa hats for this mission.

*Day 23*  Go to the bank and drop a Starbucks gift card and note in the tube and send to the teller.

*Day 24* Bring goodies and a note of prayer to a family in the ICU waiting room at the hospital (A nurse helped us and said she had “the perfect” family. We then prayed for that family and all those ill in the hospital this Christmas Eve).

We’ve decided this will be an annual tradition to celebrate Advent. We got so much out of doing these acts of Kindness. And tomorrow we celebrate the greatest act of all…the birth of God’s son! Merry Christmas!

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

{Days 16-21}

Our last few days of Advent Acts of Kindness proved to be a challenge as we had colds, stomach bugs, and strep running through our house. But we soldiered on and whoever was currently the non-sick one did the task. Hey, along with kindness and good cheer why not share some germs, too?!

*Day 16* Tape $5 and a note to a gas pump.

*Day 17*  Put together a package for a unit of Marines through the program www.anysoldier.com

The unit we chose is currently in Afghanistan and requested hats in particular. 12 hats, 12 tubes of chapstick, 12 very cute hand written notes, and candy to pass out to little kids…boxed and shipped!

*Day 18*  At the store, return people’s carts for them.

I’ll admit we are still working on this one…

*Day 19*  Tape 10 stamps and a note to the dropbox inside the Post Office.

*Day 20* Buy a gift card at a restaurant and go place it on someone’s table. Say “Merry Christmas” and walk away!

This recipient may very well have been the one who needed it the most. Not entirely sure what his story is, I can only imagine. But the girls thought he was a bit “grumpy.”

*Day 21* Bring flowers to the volunteer working in the emergency room.

This one ended up being kind of funny. There is ALWAYS a sweet older lady volunteering at the hospital…and who was it this day? A teenage BOY of course! I thought about it, but I keep telling the girls that I believe God is guiding us to make these acts of kindness end up in just the right hands. So I went with the girls this time and asked the boy if he happens to live with his parents, to which he replied  he did. I said that perhaps his mom would enjoy some flowers. We gave the flowers, and a note saying “thanks” for being a volunteer and to have a Merry Christmas. You know, I’m not sure I’ve seen a teenage boy smile bigger! Not sure if it was out of embarrassment, or he thought it was just funny, but I looked back and saw him read the note and then look at me, still with the big smile!