Ally's Helpful Hints For Mommies

I started this tradition last year of doing random acts of kindness in the month of April.  I had read a post where someone did a random act of kindness for each year they were old!  I thought April was a perfect month since I  celebrate my blog birthday this month and my birthday it is a perfect way to give back to others.  This year I get to do 39 random acts of kindness!

I hope you will consider joining me this month and do some random acts of your own.  It can be big or small someone will be touched by them all.

I will add more as I do them this month so make sure to come back and check them out.

1. We made Easter pictures for our mailman.  We have a good relationship this last year since we have moved with him and now his name and talk to him often.  He has left little cars in the mail box for our boys and always thanks us when we leave him something.  We left these two coloring pages we printed from online and he loved them.  He gave us a thank you note a couple of days later for them.  We are thankful he enjoyed them.

We gave our mailman a thank you note for the cars he left for the boys!

2-3. We have two new neighbors on both sides of us that have moved in the last month.  I thought about giving them some cookies but than I saw these pretty violets.  My boys and I took a note and a flower to both neighbors.  The one lady is a widow and like a grandma figure to us and we chatted with her for a little bit.  The other folks we caught as they were leaving so we just said hi quick and moved on our way.  But the biggest thing that I did notice was the huge smile on the ladies face when she saw the flower So fun to make someone smile!

4 – We went to the pharmacy the other day and we took the ladies who work up front some pictures that the boys colored.  They loved them and immediately put them up for everyone to see.  The one lady said “my kids are too old now so I don’t get colored pictures anymore”  they all loved them and of course they smiled.  My boys came out smiling and said “that was fun mommie to make them smile.”

UPDATE: Today I was back in the pharmacy quick by myself and the lady said to tell my boys “lots of people have loved the pictures and have commented on them” I told her that they loved doing it.  She then said that they can bring some anytime they want.  I told her that maybe they could color something that isn’t for Easter next time!

5 – I get formula coupons a lot in the mail for $5 or more  off one item.  I couldn’t find anyone who needed it yesterday so I took it to church with me and gave it to the nursery director to bless someone!

6 – This is always my favorite! We grabbed some food at Chick-Fil-a Quick on the way to church and saw that there was only one person in the car behind me.  I asked the lady how much the car behind me was and since it wasn’t really expensive I said that I would like to pay for them.  She asked me if I knew them and I said no!  She said “that is so cool”  She had the biggest smile on her face.  I hope the person who got the free meal smiled too  One thing I want to do next time is write a note that the staff can hand to the person.  I ALWAYS forget to do this so I need to make a couple up and stick them in my car for future blessings.

7-11 The boys colored Easter pictures and gave them to their teachers they have at church.  We had a couple left over because they colored so many so I let them give them to whoever they wanted.  It all included lots of smiles and two of them were even hung up on the wall, which really made my boys smile!

12 – 13 On Easter weekend we had an Easter bag full of Easter eggs that had jelly beans in them.  I told my boys that they could give it to whoever they wanted.  When we were leaving my oldest saw two of the older girls that he know and I told him that if he wanted he could give it to them.  He ran over and said “Happy Easter, here is a bag of candy for you”  Not sure what the girls thought but I was glad that we could share some of our bounty with someone else.

14. I let people go in front of me in the check out line.  Not a huge act but it always makes me smile when someone does that for me.

15.  I have been letting people turn in front of me while driving.  If I see someone trying to turn into traffic I will slow down and wave them in front of me.  Waiting on traffic can be a killer some times!

16-18. Today we went to the hairdresser to get my boys a hair cut.  We grabbed some pictures quick before heading out the door.  My oldest asked if he could give them to whoever he wanted and I said yes, but we need to make sure that we give one to Pam who cuts your hair!  He was excited to give three out while we were there to different ladies that were there.  The one lady who also cuts hair put her right up so everyone can see it! That made Gavin really smile.  he told her “that looks really good”.

19. Proud of my 5 year old! Totally on his own at church last night he colored a picture for the lady who helps him and gave it to her during Awana.  She told me later how sweet he was.  After looking in his bag I saw a note that was written to me wishing me a Happy Birthday.  She told me that he had told her to please write my mom a note saying Happy Birthday because she will really like that and it will make her happy.  So special that my little guy would ask someone to do something nice for me.  He is a little sweet heart!

20. Last night I confess I bought my first ever cup of coffee at Starbuck’s but it wasn’t for me.  There is a lady who really has helped me out a lot the last couple of weeks with some things at church so I found out her favorite drink from a friend and gave it to her last night at church.  I was really embarrassed to tell the guy at Starbucks I had no idea how to order a coffee! They were great and hooked me up with what would be good and he said he didn’t drink coffee either.  Was thankful that she said it tasted good

21. I let a lady go in front of me at the check out line. Not a huge thing but at least she didn’t have to wait for me to empty my cart and use my coupons!

22-24. We wrote some cards out to some people to tell them thank you for what they do for us.  One had a birthday so we wrote them a birthday card too.  These were all people that help us at church so we wanted to remind them of how much we appreciate them.  I have always been told people like the written word better than the spoken word because they can look at it over and over again.

25. This morning our yard guys came and we gave Tim the owner a colored picture and his favorite drink!  The cool thing was we had this all planned and didn’t know that this morning my oldest would be able to get a ride on the lawn mower.  So they blessed us with a surprise and we were able to surprise them with a treat as well.  It was fun!  My boy G was all smiles the entire time he got to ride!  T&S Turf & Landscaping is so great to us!!

26. Yesterday I found a box of juice boxes and stuck them in the frig.  My sons soccer team never set up a system for anyone to bring drinks to practice or the games so I thought it would be a nice treat to have a cold drink after practice was done.  The boys loved them after running around for an hour.

27. Last night at church I bought a sweet tea for a lady who had helped me with a small project this last week.  She said she liked sweet tea so it was fun to get what she liked.

28. I wrote a card to a person that has been helping my son this last year.  She had written me a note last week and I wanted to encourage her as well.

29-30. I do this all the time but I send text messages to friends and tell them hello and send them a verse or a word of encouragement or just let them know I am thinking of them.  I do this on FB too!

31. Today we looked out the window and saw the firemen checking the water pressure in the fire hydrant.  They did the same time last year.  I didn’t even say anything and my 5 year old grabbed a coloring page he had colored and got his shoes on and ran out the door to give it to them.  He was SO excited to give it to them.  I walked out with them and the one guy I noticed was one of the same ones that we talked to last year.  He asked if they wanted to sit in the truck again for a picture.  My oldest immediately said yes and my little guy didn’t want to do it.  The guy said he remembered us from last year and I told him I had dropped off a picture at the station and he said that they had gotten it and thought they still had it hung up.  He commented to my big boy that he had really grown a lot  So fun they they remembered us.  Here is the picture from today.  Click HERE to see last years picture. You will see the same guy in both.

32-33. We went to walmart today and as I was walking in with my boys I told my son G that we needed to get something for the lady that helps him at church every Wednesday night.  It was her birthday this week and we also wanted to get her something to tell her thank you.  I said we will take a look at see what we can find.  He immediately saw the flowers and asked if he could get her a flower!  I love how my boy thinks of others.  My little guy then asked if he could get one for the lady that helps him too!  So here they are in the picture holding their little flowers that they will give tomorrow.  I just couldn’t wait to post the picture of them.  Will have to update on how the ladies like them

Here is a picture of my boys with their teachers on Wednesday night! They loved their flowers and definitely made them smile.

34. I found this cute Hello Kitty toothbrush for a friend that loves Hello Kitty.  I stuck it in the mail for a little surprise for her.  Hopefully it makes her smile today

35. I gave away a bunch of coupons to my readers here on my FB page/blog.  Then another friend gave me a bunch more and I was able to help out a few more people.  Costs me a few cents to mail them all but I remember how much I appreciated good diaper coupons!

36. A week or so ago I gave away a bunch of diaper points for Huggies & Pampers all day long on my FB page.  I figure if others can use them for special items I will pass them on.  I get a lot handed to me and have gotten the couple of things that I wanted.

37. My son Gavin (5 yrs old) is constantly telling me people who he wants to give pictures to and notes.  I can’t keep up with hoe many he has done lately.  But I simply print out ones he likes by googling “thank you coloring sheets” and he does the rest.  He has put many smiles on faces lately.  Love his little heart and how he always wants to give to others.

38.  We have a friend who we give all of our clothes we out grow to for their little boy.  My boys know that any clothes or toys we don’t want most of the time go to him.  We recently cleaned out a bunch of clothes.  My little boy gets so excited to give them away to someone he knows.  I am thankful that I can pass things on and know they will be used again by a good friend.  We get so much given to us so don’t always want to make a buck on them.

39. We also cleaned out some of our books we don’t use.  I let my boys decide which ones they didn’t want anymore and we asked a friend if they wanted them.  My boys again love to give to someone they know and get excited about it.  I love that I can purge a little bit and keep some of our mess down a little bit.

We still may have a couple of things to do this month.  We totally forgot about the garbage men this time so we still might so that.  Thanks for letting me share what we have done and my hope is that it encouraged you to do something for someone as well.  And we don’t stop because April is over we will continue to do things all year.  We just choose April to do more.

Let me know what random acts you do! I would love to post them  Make sure to check back the rest of the month for the rest of them as we do them each day!

Do you want to see what we did last year in 2012? click HERE for more ideas!

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