24th of July

Matt had the day off for the 24th of July, but he was going on a long bike ride, so I decided to take the kids to the parade with my Mom and Pam and her grandkids. We got there and found great seats. The parade was pretty good, but a bit slow at first because I swear they had a block between each entry in the parade. The kids hounded my Mom for food and toys from the vendors, and then cried when they saw the next vendor had something better (a little embarrassing). We had to leave a little before it was over because we were heading over to meet the Gloeckner girls at St. Anne's Homeless Shelter to serve some food to the homeless. The kids had a good time and hopefully learned a little about life for others less fortunate. The patrons enjoyed seeing the kids serve the food. Addy was serving the dessert, Alex was pineapples, Connor was coleslaw, and Cassy was mashed potatoes. Addy could hardly keep her fingers in the gloves they were so big! At one point someone called Alex a "mam" and he was not happy about it. Luckily the next guy said, "Thanks, little dude!" That night we had Grandpa Cola over for dinner to celebrate the holiday.

I so hope that my kids understand how important it is to serve others. I feel like we are always going over this. The other day I was saying something to Cassy about possibly moving so that the kids could attend some better schools and have better influences in their lives, when she reminded me that life is not always about serving people who are homeless and sometimes it is about befriending people and being kind to people who don't have a lot of kindness in their lives. I just hope that my kids can do this and still remember who they are.