Paying it Forward during the Holidays

This year has brought many wonderful things and a few challenges but overall it has been AMAZING! A few years ago I was introduced by a stranger "pay it forward", she sent me a beautiful pirate themed blanket for free!! (here is her site: Spit On This)  Just for agreeing to have a caring and sharing heart to others, the only thing I needed to do was pay it forward to other people. So that year I sent out picture notepads, and calendars.

What was I going to do this year? Well December rolled around and I had done nothing to pay it forward this year. I also have 3 boys that I wanted to teach what the spirit of giving mean't (they are 3,5 and 6) in terms they'd understand. So what was a girl to do?

I contacted The Methodist Home for boys here in our town, St Marys Georgia and asked if they were in need or took donations for Christmas time. I explained that I wanted this also to be an experience that my boys could have. So I set myself on a mission to get as much things/toys that the boys home could use (they have boys from 11-18) and get it for FREE.

I went to our local Walgreens here and scored a great deal on these babies..... These are on sale this week for Buy 2 Get 1 Free.

 By using this coupon (12/2 SS) I got all 21 for FREE.

I then talked to the Store Manger Mr Dinkel and he was thrilled to help sponsor the boys home this Christmas. After a day of waiting for the proper paperwork to be faxed over to them, I went back and did a little shopping for the boys. I bought a few toys for the younger kids at the home and Mr. Dinkel donated stuff for the older boys. We have 6 Axe body sets, 3 sports balls, lego set,, skateboard toy, a remote control car and some stocking stuffers for the kids.

I was able to buy the toys and smores with the rewards points I stacked up along with their instore coupon they have right now.

 I also buy toys through out the year on major sales for near free prices so I went into my stockpile and got 2 of these Hess truck sets.

It has brought me great joy and even a tear or two to my eyes that Walgreens really does try to help the community. I am thankful for this experience and excited to see the smiles on some of these boys faces this Christmas.

All in all I spent only $17 for all this!




I encourage you all to Pay it Forward. It can be homemade, store bought or even sung but get out there and do it.

Legos and Guns

 LEGOS and GUNS. What is it about those two that appeals to boys? They build grand "daddy dragon mansions", planes, submarines, "ak40s" and turbos... They save mom, kill mom and rescue poor Indian children from communist while traveling through the jungle, no wait that was my grandmothers childhood story.

A Computerworld columnist writes:

There are a couple of truisms: Lego just goes on and on, and on… and, when it comes to guns, boys never really do grow up.  Some comments posted on the Brickarms forums: “I want human-sized Lego weapons”; “As a child, I always wished that Lego would come out with some grenades for my dudes to throw at each other”… and so on in similar vein.

Here's a snippet called Fathers & Sons from the Wall St Journal:

I can't shake the sense that boys are supposed to become manly. Rather than neutering their aggression, confidence and desire for danger, we should channel these instincts into honor, gentlemanliness and courage. Instead of inculcating timidity in our sons, it seems wiser to train them to face down bullies, which by necessity means teaching them how to throw a good uppercut. In his book "Manliness," Harvey Mansfield writes that a person manifesting this quality "not only knows what justice requires, but he acts on his knowledge, making and executing the decision that the rest of us trembled even to define." You can't build a civilization and defend it against barbarians, fascists and playground bullies, in other words, with a nation of Phil Donahues.

 Everyday they talk about saving the world and mom from doom. They talk about being like daddy, diving deep in the ocean and using guns to shoot the bad guys. Often I find myself encouraging these rough manly attributes and although that is a quality woman look for, we look more for those that are respectful, have pride, honor and courage.

My husband  thankfully has all these attributes to instill in the boys. These are things they will learn as they grow, through trial and beatings  errors but for now they need to enjoy this part. CHILDHOOD... because as we all know, it goes by too fast.

I do love watching them build castles, guns and the lot.