Two years ago we were having a hard time helping Gracie (5 yrs old) understand giving/wanting/needing/selfishness/kindness...just to name a few.  There were a lot of things that contributed to the lack of understanding.  Age was a big part of it.  But another big part was the fact that little brother had been getting a lot of extra attention in the 2 years past & that had slowed down dramatically.  Life was calm & it was time to pull in the reins & work on the things in our life that we just couldn't stop to take the time to do in the past few years.

While surfing the net, I came across a blog (via Pinterest) about a women who took her entire family out on her birthday & did random acts of kindness (RAK).  She did 1 for each of her birthdays.  I LOVE this idea.  And with my birthday being right before Thanksgiving & Christmas...it's perfect timing!  Double bonus...it's something that Lulu & I can do together...just the 2 of us, milling around the Tri Cities, making someones day a little brighter.  There are so many character traits in doing this that I want Gracie to understand & love.  I plan on making this a yearly tradition, with hopes that she does it with her children down the road.  We started doing this 2 years ago & it gets better & better every year.  The first year, I'm not gonna lie...was kind of a nightmare.  She REALLY didn't understand why everyone was getting all these balloons, drinks, toys...and she couldn't have one.  Last year I tried to make it a little more kid friendly by doing things that would get her interested (we Ding Dong Dashed, handed out lolly pops & balloons, & helped some people hang Christmas lights on trees)...just to name some of the 34 things we did.  This year we are cooking up some REALLY fun things, and my girl is excited!!

So, Lulu & I will be out and about sometime in the next week doing our 35 (YES, 35) random acts of kindness...1 for each of my birthdays.  And I think that admitting that I will be 35 this year should count as 1...but the whole point of doing this is that "it's not about me"...lol...so I'll let it slide!

Pictures to come!!