Tag Archives: food

Service Project #4 – Cookies for the Firemen

Cookies…firetrucks…yes, this was their favorite service project to date! Tyler asked all week last week when we were going to take the cookies to the firemen! I read a lot of posts online about delivering home baked goods to firehouses, and many moms said that their local fire station could not accept them. So I called our fire department in The Woodlands, and the response was hilarious, “Oh, yes, ma’am, they’d love cookies from home! Our firemen will eat anything!” It was so cute.

I do have to admit this project was also a little self-serving…see, my oldest had the wonderful opportunity of fundraising for his school by selling cookie dough. And his great-grandmother saw to it that he got all the prizes offered when she bought one of every kind! My freezer was stocked full, so I was all to happy to share some with the firemen.

The boys, and even Madi helped me stack the “homemade” cookies on the cookie sheet for baking. They also made up some cards to tell the firemen thank you for their hard work. When we delivered the cookies to Fire Station 5, the guys geniunely loved the cards, were so kind, and so grateful. My hats off to the firemen at the Branch Crossing station house!

The kids got a tour, which I didn’t expect, and only Cole was brave enough to get in the truck. There had been a fire the night before, and Cole exclaimed, “It smells like hot dogs in here!” Everyone chuckled at how cute that was.

It was a great visit, and the boys even told someone how we’d had a great weekend because we took cookies to the firemen for our service project. 4 weeks and counting!

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Service Project #3 – Giving to the Soldiers

With two boys who can make just about anything into a gun (sticks, pens, I’ve even seen one do it with the little cross he made in Sunday School), helping out our troops was a blast. I found an organization online called Soldier’s Angels, and you can send in care package items that will be sent overseas to soldiers. To personalize the activity, I printed some coloring pages and let the kids go to town on them. My hope is that Soldier’s Angels will include them in their packages to let the troops know they are thought of in The Woodlands, Texas. All three of the kids loved coloring the pictures, Tyler especially liked the ones with the “tank” on it. One of the pages had the U.S. seal on it, and Cole asked why the president’s seal was on it. Great question – and I mixed in a little government education with our service project. The boys asked what the soldiers would do with the pictures, and I explained that hopefully it would make them smile. They liked that answer.

While Madison was still in pre-school, I took the boys to the store to buy the care package items. They got a little shy and decided to hide behind the crossword puzzles they picked out. And though it did not take long at all to get the items we sent (and not much money either), they acted exhausted riding in the back of the cart. But aren’t they cute, even when they are acting like shopping is such an exhausting chore (men in the making, for sure).

We got home, and I joined us up with Soldier’s Angels. A few days later, after I’d found an empty box, we packed our items in a box.  I explained to the kids how we’d mail them to the troops. They were really excited, and I was amazed at how Tyler placed everything in the package so neatly. He seemed to enjoy this project the most. Until next time!

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Service Project #1

Saturday morning came, and I was pumped to do our first service project. I gave the boys three options, and they picked the one most obvious to them–donating food. So I looked up the Montgomery County Food Pantry, showed the boys their website, and we were ready to get started.

My original plan was to take everyone to the grocery store to buy the food we’d donate, then head to the food pantry. But these little monkeys, especially my two year old were so wild that morning, that I thought we’d go shopping in the pantry instead. They don’t really understand the concept of money as well as we do, but they definitely get “mine” and “yours”. Taking food from our own pantry actually made them feel as if they were giving more of their own stuff. A bonus to my decision to protect other shoppers from my monkeys. Madi helped load up the bag.

It was a thirty minute drive, but the kids all did really well [thank you Taylor Swift and LeapFrog]. The food pantry was in a part of town very unlike one where we live. I admit that my heart sank a little to see the amazing difference in how my children live and those who are less fortunate than them do.  The food pantry was just over a set of railroad tracks where some parked trains sat, and my two year old screamed “Choo, choo!”  Glad to see she had fun on our trip too. 🙂

We pulled up to donate our bag, and I saw tons of other kids and parents. I was actually a little bit shocked. Then immediately, I thought…wow. Children and parents spending a Saturday doing exactly what we were doing. Who knew? I was so filled with joy at the idea of how many other parents are doing exactly what I am doing. Hope…for the future.

Until next time!

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