Are you ready for this?

We are back ON!  Summer of Service 2 is set to start in less than two weeks.  And I. Cannot. Wait.  As soon as I started researching and planning I got the bug again and I thought, why don't I do this ALL the time.  I should!  But for now, we'll plan our awesome summer of giving, helping, working, serving and getting outside of ourselves.
It's interesting because tonight I had a little lesson with my kids about being good citizens and in the end we talked about helping others and I tried to get them pumped about our Summer of Service and my oldest commented that he wasn't sure if he wanted to do it because it was kind of sad.  So we had a good discussion about why we do service and how it benefits others, but also how it can benefit us by helping us to be grateful for what we have and can do.  And we went back to being a good citizen, and how it is our responsibility to be kind, be giving and help others - and if everyone did that, how great would this world be!  They're excited and some day they'll thank me for it.

But anyway, here's a teaser of what we've got planned...

Curious?  Follow us and I promise to keep you posted on what we're doing, what's coming, and what you can do with your own families!

Week Ten - Packages for our Servicemen

This was the other project we did while we were on vacation. It did take some prep, but was actually quite simple.  After looking at pictures and talking about some of the sacrifices those in the military make, we gathered the items, colored some pictures and sent it off to Afghanistan to my husband's cousin. 

In our box we put a myriad of things that we thought he would like:  snacks & powdered drinks, a frisbee, Nerf football, Monopoly Deal card game, Field & Stream Magazines, a few Sunday's worth of comics, USA today, etc.  The boys colored pictures that I had found online of flags, the statue of liberty etc.  Cody wanted his to say "Thank you for saving our country."  And Corbin just wrote "Thank You!" on his.  They were very cute.  We also sent him a picture of our family visiting his hometown and a note telling him of our appreciation and support of his efforts.  We filled the Large Priority Mail box from the USPS - which, for military, will give you $2 off and it can weigh as much as you want.  And that was it!  Hope he likes it!

Not many details to add on this project.  But I do have some helpful links to share to hopefully entice you and your family to do something similar.

Patriotic Coloring Pages
Packaging & Mailing Tips: http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/welcome.htm
Great ideas for what to send: http://www.operationmilitarypride.org/packages.html
Holiday care packages: http://www.thesoldiersfamily.com/Holiday_Care_Packages.html#christmas

We love our service men and women and are so grateful for the sacrifices they make!

Week Nine - Visiting the Elderly

So I don't know if this really counts in our Summer of Service or not, but since we were on vacation for two weeks, and that in and of itself was enough for me to manage, I have to give myself a littel leeway.  So first off, let me say that the "older" senior citizen population needs service just about as much as anyone I can think of - at least in our American Society, and usually the things that they need are the most simple.  So our "project" for this week was visiting the elderly.  Yes, the ones we chose to visit happened to be my children's great grandparents - but it was still giving, my children felt happy and the people we were with felt happy.  That's the most important thing for kids to learn in this sort of activity.

So my husband's grandpa lives in Eastern Oregon on the farm he has been at for decades.  He is 93 years old, still lives alone and does many of the chores around the lot and house.  He loves to talk about hunting stories and where to catch the best fish.  He is extremely proud of his 40+ grandchildren and 100+ great grandchildren.  We really enjoyed our visit with him and my boys LOVED venturing around, playing with the dog, climbing on tractors, and seeing what it was like where their dad grew up. 

My grandma lives in Portland and we were so lucky to have her and her husband show us around the Columbia River Gorge and around Downtown.  We got to eat at their restaurant called the Deli Barn and enjoy many other parts of the city.  My grandma has lived in Portland for 6 or 7 years and this is the first time I have gone to see her (yes, guilt, guilt, guilt).  But it was so nice to be in her home and to have my kids see her and get to know her better.  I was very sad to leave.

So obviously we had a great experience with this.  And in talking with them, I realize how hard life gets once you reach a certain age.  I also think that life gets lonely.  So don't be afraid to get out there and talk to the elderly or invite them to do things with you.  Most will love just watching your children and feeling of their innocent joy.  This is a project that can be done with very little money, and may put you out of your comfort zone a bit, but it will be so worth it.

Here are some basic ideas to get you thinking.  Good luck!

1.Visit a nursing home.  Get a group together to sing or present a play.  Organize a sing-a-long with the seniors.  Draw pictures to give to them.  Offer to read to them.  Take your pet to visit.
2.Rake leaves, shovel snow, clean gutter or wash windows for a senior citizen.

3.During bad weather, visit seniors to make sure they have everything they need.

4.Pick up the morning paper for a senior neighbor on your way to school.

5.Help seniors with their shopping, pick up their medicine or their groceries.

6.Go for a walk with a senior citizen in your community or take them to the park with you.

7.Teach a senior friend how to use a computer or the Internet.

8.Do something creative on the holidays for the Senior Citizens (cook a meal, bake cookies, dress up in costumes, etc.).  Deliver treats and sing at the door.

9.Teach an elderly neighbor a new card game.

10.Offer to give them a ride somewhere, or just leave your number in case they ever do need a ride.

And as always, I would love to hear about your experiences!

Week Eight - Promoting Recycling

Our little city FINALLY got curbside recycling about a year ago and we LOVE it!  I was never a recycling-nazi, but once you start, there is NO going back.  I have a really hard time throwing things away now!  And I couldn't believe that in a city with a population of over 31,000, they couldn't even get 1500 households to sign up.   Come on!  It's only $6/month and you don't even have to sort it!  So we set out to change that.  I believe that teaching children social responsibility goes hand in hand with service, so here's our Week 8 Summer of Service project:

Pioneer Day Parade (it's big in Utah), 300 fliers (we probably could have done many more), 3 energetic kids, and one wagon with multiple recyclables attached...

Our mission: spread the word.  Let people know how easy it is and what they could be recycling. 

Funny little side note - The wagon had a sign on it that said "What could you be recycling?" and then it had things attached and dangling off the back; and a couple people said "You can recycle kids?"  haha.  Actually I thought that was funny.

So the flier had a catchy phrase and some stats on it along with Spanish Fork's website where they could go sign up, and then on the back it had the long list of things you can recycle .  The kids had a great time handing out the fliers and we gave people high fives when they said they already recycled.  We did some walking, got to talk to people, and we may never know if it made a difference, but it sure felt good!

And, we made it back to our seats just in time to enjoy the parade.

Week Seven - Playground Clean-up

We went to this park a month or so before, traveling 30+ minutes and passing numerous parks along the way, because we wanted to go to this specific park.  My kids call it the "fort park", I think you can see why, and it really is quite cool.

 

But last time, after we had eaten our little picnic, we were very disappointed to discover there was garbage everywhere.  Such a nice park, lots of kids enjoying it, but really too bad that no one was taking care of it.  We decided then, that the next time we came, it would be to clean up, at least some the trash. 

So when my niece and nephew were visiting, I thought it would be perfect (mostly because I thought it was one project I knew I could manage with two extra hooligans).  So after enjoying our nice, store-bought picnic, it was on.  For children, I concede that sometimes a little competition or a little reward helps the motivation factor, but I do like to keep it simple.  For this occasion:

Every time they brought me, the bag holder, a piece of trash, they got a Jelly Belly.  One caveat:  it only took me a minute or two to realize that I actually was not a fan of putting the jelly bean in the same hands that had just brought me someone else's old, yucky trash, so I turned to either popping it in their mouth for them or I put it in their pocket for later, after hands had been washed.  Call me OCD, but in the end, it worked out just fine and the task was made a bit sweeter.

The kids did a great job and were very satified with their accomplishment.   We had a great time and got something done at the same time. 

Why I like this project:

very low cost

the kids got it and could do it themselves

we could see the fruits of our labor immediately

lots of people saw us cleaning up and maybe now they will think about doing the same :)

and of course, we got to play while we were working.

Week Six - The Great Outdoors

Since we were going to be camping in Colorado for most of week 6, our plan was to use our creativity and find something while we were there.  I had some thoughts in mind, but since I failed to do my homework ahead of time, we became total slackers and have nothing to report for this week.  As it turns out, the campsite was relatively new and very well kept.  The whole area was absolutely gorgeous and I honestly couldn't think of anything to improve upon God's handiwork.

That said, with a little more effort and energy on my part, I'm sure we could have come up with something.  Here are some ideas if you are looking for a service project to do while enjoying the great outdoors:

• Plant a tree.  (Make sure you find out what is allowed and where.)  Offer to replace trees that have died.
• Set up a recycling system for a campground.
• Pick up a trail during National Trail Day in June (or anytime).  Or assist in clearing trails.
• Make bird feeders for others to enjoy.
• Clean up trash along a river, in a park or along the beach.
• Create a habitat for wildlife.
• Find out how to test the health of the water in your local lakes, rivers or streams.
• Make conservation posters for commonly visited outdoor recreation areas.
• Create a children's nature garden, labeling plants and trees.
• If you see a tree that's in trouble, try to save it. Pamper it, water it, or don't water it as the case may be. Find our what's wrong with it and how to make it better.

Week Five - The Flower Fairies

The hand-written (by a 7 yr old) note read, "Happy 4th of July from the Flower Fairies."  And with mom driving the getaway car, we did a ring and run, placing the pot of red, white and blue flowers on their doorstep on the day of Independence.  I let the boys each choose someone to give one to and we ended up doing their church teachers and our bishop (shhh, don't tell them!).  They LOVED it!

Here's the Basic "How-To":

Fill the pots with dirt. We used dirt from our garden because I forgot to buy some.  :)  (And, yes, I am in my pajamas, because we did this at like 7:30 in the morning on the 4th so we could deliver them before going to church.)

Put one of each color flower in the pot.  Red, White and Blue for this holiday.  And since I know pretty much nothing about flowers, I looked for the color and the size, read the labels, and just hoped they all worked together.  (We had to move inside because it started raining on us, otherwise I would recommend this as an outside project.)

The boys were very happy about their final product and couldn't wait for the drop off.  Unfortunately I don't have pictures, because that was definitely the best part!  My boys smiled and laughed and hopefully we brought a smile to others' faces as well.






Total Cost of Project:
Flowers:  $9 (and I had some extra to plant in my front flower pot)
white pots from Ikea: $1.99 each x 4 = about $8
Dirt: free!

The original flower fairy idea (which I read somewhere and will definitely give credit when I remember where) was to actually plant flowers in someone's flower bed at night so they would have a wonderous surprise when they got up in the morning.  This didn't work for us, one, because my children rarely get to stay up until dark in the summer, and two, I didn't really know how someone would feel about that - maybe they had other plans.  So you decide for yourself.  The pots worked great for us and we had a fun, successful service project.  Godd luck with yours!