SIMPLY GIVE: Toasty Tuesday with a Twist

this past saturday, hunter and i went to big lots and on the way out, the sweetest bell ringer came over and gave hunter a candy cane. we told him thank you and that we were just about to go out to put some money in his bucket. he said he was on a break so he could warm up! i asked him how often he is out there and if we could bring him a coffee or hot chocolate to make him nice and toasty. he told me "no thank you" but that was really nice and he works monday - thursday from 9- 8. 

my friend katie said that one year she and her kids delivered hot chocolate to bell ringers and i loved that idea. she would make it like a game with her kids, when they would spot a bell ringer, they would all be so excited and run a hot chocolate up to them. i have to say the past 2 years i have been kinda bummed because every time i offer, they just say no thank you. but i never had had it in my hand when i ask, i usually have to go get it and drop it back off. i think most of them said no because they didn't want to inconvenience me, or so they thought.

so today, carter and i went thru dunkin' for our tuesday donut run and instead of paying for the person's coffee behind us like we usually do on tuesdays, we decided to take hot chocolate to someone else. and that so happened to be the sweet bell ringer at big lots. it is so cold today and i thought about him standing outside all day. so we got a hot chocolate (only cost $2.29) and were on our way. carter kept asking me where we were going, if we were delivering it to one of my friends, what his name was and so on.

 i pulled up to big lots, got out some change to put in his bucket, grabbed the hot chocolate and made my way up to him. it always make me kinda nervous when i'm giving to someone i don't know, even when i am paying for the person's coffee behind me in the drive thru and they don't see me! i don't know why, maybe because i don't want them to think i'm a weirdo! haha! 

anyway, i just walked up and said "hi! i wanted to drop this off to you! it's so cold outside today! i don't know if you remember me from saturday, i offered you a hot chocolate"

he said "yes, i do! you had your son with you! is he with you today? thank you so much baby!" 

i told him i had carter with me instead and carter wanted to know what his name was. he told me his name was Vince and walked over to the car window and handed carter a candy cane. he was super sweet and thanked me several times. i told him i was thinking about him on this cold day and hope it warmed him up! i also asked if i could snap a quick pic so he got his bell, and stood by the sign and posed, haha! too cute!

just little things like that make my day! and probably his too. and it only cost me $2.29!!! giving doesn't have to be expensive!

sometime this week or next tuesday, make sure you make someone's hands and heart nice and toasty and buy them a hot bevie! {corny... i know, wink}

p.s. if someone could of left a quarter in their shopping cart at Aldi today, that would of been great! i was freezing my booty off trying to find one in my purse! i left mine for the next person! :)

CHRISTmas Traditions

this year has been so fun starting new Christmas traditions. i never knew how time consuming this stinkin' little elf on the shelf would become! ha. i'm thinking next year she will just spill something on the floor everyday. the boys would probably enjoy that anyway.

besides elf on the shelf, we started The Sparkle Box. my mom went to a church and the author was there speaking about what "sparked" her to write the book and got the book for the kids. this year i wanted the to combine the two traditions. this book is so awesome to teach kids about giving to others. it talks about the true meaning of Christmas which is Christ's birth and since he is a gift to us on Christmas day, we should do things to be a "gift" to others. whenever you  start the tradition, you have the kids do random acts of kindness for people, each time you do you write it on a piece of paper and put it in the sparkle box (which comes with the book.) On Christmas morning you open the box and read it to Jesus as a gift to him. i thought that was such an adorable idea! 

i got to meet the author one morning and she is such a sweetheart.

for more info you can go to

www.thesparklebox.com

you can find the book at some local stores but the best deal is on amazon.com

jojo left the boys a note and some gloves to leave at a bus stop for someone

the note said that it is fun to receive but that we should always be looking for a way to give to others.

love this cute little book.

MAMA ELF

ok, so people are asking me a bunch of questions about mama elf MOMO HOLLIS! 

i wanted to do something fun for the kids with this whole "Elf on the shelf" tradition and remembered seeing a picture of a dad on Pinterest last year that was dressed up like an elf, so i can't take credit for all of the creativity. 

i let the kids each pick a name for the elf, hunter choose JOJO and Carter choose Woody girl because he likes Woody in the movie Toy Story,and she is a girl, makes sense to me! when choosing a name for mama elf i wanted something that sounded similar to JOJO. Hollis was the second name that hunter came up with so i just needed a first name. i was going to be HoHo Hollis and then thought it wasn't appropriate for a pregnant elf, so then i picked MOMO because it sounds kinda like mom and rhymes with JOJO.

where did i get an elf on the shelf coustume?

i got the red leggings and red shirt from walmart for $11 total, the hat at big lots for $2.50 and i had red flats in my closet from Target for $2.99! for the white part i cut an old white pillow case to resemble the collar that JOJO has on.

how did i get up there?

shawn was putting the kids to bed and i decided to surprise him and be sitting on the mantel like this. i was laughing so hard trying to get up there. i had to use a chair from the dining room table and then stepped on the recliner too. i barely fit. when shawn came down the stairs he was speechless. we were laughing so hard we were crying. i had him snap a few pics before i almost fell off! haha! he then helped me get down! this morning my sis and niece came over to help me get up and get down off of the "shelf" and to tape the kid's reactions. today i also had the baby's kitchen set to rest my feet on to help support me when i was sitting!

 

how did the kids react? 

the baby just stared at me! she was like "what is going on?" and was looking all around so serious!

hunter was the second one up, he came down the stairs and looked at me then sat down and just stared for seriously 5 minutes! i was trying to talk to him but he looked freaked out more than anything! i would be freaked out too! shawn just got home and as soon as he walked in the door hunter said "guess what daddy? mommy was sitting on the mantel when i woke up this morning and i was scared. 

i thought she was a real elf!"

carter came down next and he was so serious. all he said was, "mom, you don't look cool! you so weird!" 

let's just say that the adults might of thought it was way cooler than the kids!!! :)

how did LIVE with Kelly and Michael get my pic?

it was about 20 minutes till 10:00 this morning, and i always tivo the show and watch it later because the kids are watching cartoons. i thought i'll send this in to the show quick, it would be fun if they put it on, but they have never put anything on that i have ever sent in and its so late in the show! so about 9:53 my friend megan called and left me a message and said, "i hope you are watching Kelly and Michael because your on it!" i called her back right away, went to my tivo and turned it on and started screaming!!!! it was so crazy seeing myself on there! so fun!

i was holding tic tacs we planted in sugar that grew into candy canes overnight.

fun times! MOMO will probably be back next year...minus the baby bump!

here is the clip of Kelly and Michael: