Showing Thanks

With the kids getting older, I want to take some opportunities to teach them simple ways to show gratitude to others! And what better season to do that in than the season of Thanksgiving!?!

Knowing my own personality, I know that its not feasible to think that we could plan to do something daily or even really organize it all that well. I made a list (with the kids input) of a few things we could do for others. We didnt schedule it all out but decided that on days that we could, we would put effort into doing the things we had talked about.

The first thing we decided to do was to take cinnamon rolls to our local firemen! The kids dont know what a fireman is or what they do, so I thought it would be a great way to show appreciation AND teach the kids about emergency situations! The kids were excited, and so was I!

Headed to the fire station!

The kids helped color a card for the firemen! I traced their hands and Rhyan wrote "thank you" (with help spelling from me) and then their names. I'm not sure who the 8 armed fella is ;-)

And she wanted to draw on the front a house that was on fire and a fireman coming to help a scared/sad person stuck in the house (obviously we talked at home a good bit about what a fireman does!). I thought she did a GREAT job on drawing the burning house. I helped her with the fireman and she did the rest! She noted that the fireman was a "helper" and the person stuck was "Sad".

The kids helped me ice the cinnamon rolls... and Rhyan insisted on putting pink sprinkles on them. Manly!

The fireman were so awesome! They offered to take the kids on a tour of their firetruck, which they both LOVED! Mack, especially, was very excited!

The guys even suggested I get the kids pics on the front of the truck! How nice!

And of course I wanted one of the kids WITH our local hero's!

The guys asked Rhyan if she knew what to do if there was ever a fire. She didnt (i know, terrible parenting... i realized that day how much we needed to go over safety procedures with her and we've made huge improvements!). So they briefly talked about getting close to the ground and crawling out and going to a neighbor's house. It provoked lots of questions, for sure!

And they were sure to give the kids a couple of coloring books, bracelets and stickers!

When we came home we started talking a good bit (daily) about 1. What is an emergency 2. What number do we call for an emergency (911 and/or Daddy) 3. Our street address (so we can tell people who can help where we live!) 4. How to leave the house if there ever is a fire (close to the floor as we can be if there is smoke) and run to a neighbors house and ask them to call 911 for us.

We had a great time! Rhyan especially learned a lot (and i learned just how much we need to be talking with her about emergencies!) and I think the guys appreciated the distraction and food :-)