Sharing the holidays

Last Monday, Jay's parents' amazing neighbors, the Nelsons, let us help out at the food pantry for the afternoon. They run a full service pantry at a local community center. We spent a little time there last year, but as Henry and Bryn get older, the tasks offered to them get a little more advanced. This year, they started by making birthday bags, filled with good things for neighborhood kids with birthdays coming up. This was Bryn's favorite part because they got to fill them with cake mix, frosting, candles and invitations. Ms. Kristi, Sam and Abbey joined in too.

Here's the gang, ready to start working on the shelves.

It was a flurry of cardboard, little hands and lots of cans. I honestly have NEVER seen four 4 year olds work so hard on a project and practically fight over who got to stand on the stool to stack boxes of Mac N Cheese.

Mr. Nelson spotted the tots as they climbed up high for certain items.

Here's Mrs. Nelson, getting the Swiffer ready for action as Sam listened very carefully to directions. Not a speck of dust in the place. The Swiffer was Henry's favorite and Mrs. Nelson made it such a treat since they each got their own cloth to dirty up and throw away.


Henry wrapped things up with some finishing touches under the shelves. Now I need to figure out how to get the kid to clean like this at home. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, for all you do for the community and for helping teach the kiddos what the holidays are all about.