9/11/11 - A Day of Service and Remembrance

Yesterday we took the kids to Hasbro to volunteer as part of the National Day of Service and Remembrance in honor of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The tricky thing was that the last time Liana was at Hasbro it was for Family Fun Day. When we got to the parking lot she said "we will have cotton candy and popcorn" ... which we did have on Family Fun Day.

I am so proud of how she handled the fact that there was none of that. In fact, one of the things she was able to do was decorate cupcakes that were going to the VA hospital. She put on the plastic gloves and decorated 3 cupcakes - we told her before she even got started that these were for other people and not for her. No crying, no whining, just happy to serve. We also packed boxes with toys that were pretty cool - she never once said "I want that" or "why don't I get to have a toy". We packed them in boxes and then used glitter glue and stickers to put nice messages to families affected by the 9/11 tragedy.

She still asked me today "what does volunteer mean?". I explained again that it means "to help other people" and she may not fully understand for a number of years what it really means but she had her first day of hopefully many more of serving others that are not as fortunate.

And yes, Henry just chilled out and took it all in as usual. His time will come!