My Birthday Part 1

When I first joined Pinterest, there was a link to a blog post that inspired me.  The author and her children spent her birthday performing random acts of kindness.  I believe she was celebrating her 37th birthday, so they found 37 things to do for others.  What an amazing idea and lesson for her children!!!  Unfortunately, I didn't pin the link and can't give proper credit to this person.  As my birthday approached, I remembered that entry and thought I'd like to do something similar.  Birthdays tend to lose their magic as we age, but perhaps this will be my grown-up way to enjoy the day.  I started making a list of random acts of kindness and realized it would be difficult to complete 27 with the girls.  Instead, I decided on 11 since my birthday is on the 11th.  Here is what we did:

1. Baked blueberry muffins and dropped them off at an assisted living community
2. Donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
3. Left $5 for the next person in line at the grocery store
4. Gave sharpened pencils and stickers to a teacher
5. Gave a set of books to a classroom
6. Sent something in the mail to a special person
7. Sprinkled valuable coupons on baby items at Target
8. Dropped Chocolate Chip Muffins off at the fire/police station
9. Donated clothing to a local thrift store
10. Gave Mate a card letting him know much his hard work is appreciated (even husbands deserve random acts of kindness)
11. Paid for a stranger's lunch at Chick-fil-A

Number 11 wasn't on my original list.  I was supposed to buy someone coffee, but plans changed.  The girls were amazing all morning even though it couldn't have been fun going in and out of their car seats to make all our deliveries.  We were getting close to lunch and I didn't want to go home without completing our list.  I knew Chick-fil-A had a play place and thought it would be a good idea to give the girls some play-time before continuing with our tasks.  Their first fast-food meal consisted of chicken noodle soup, fruit and milk.  After lunch, we had a great time exploring the play area.  I want to write about how great Chick-fil-A is for families (friendly, clean, accomodating, fun) but can't because the company is openly against nontraditional families.  The hypocrisy of it all presents quite the moral dilemma.  Since I believe all families deserve to be recognized and respected, I should probably make the decision not to go there. . .I'm a work in progress. 

Anyway, we completed our 11 random acts and made it home in time for naps.  All three of us were exhausted.  I think this will be even more fun as the girls get older.  I hope we just started a new tradition.