Item #1 – Create Something with My Kids

40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Item #1 (Be a Kid Again) – Create Something with My Kids

Making memories and creating with my kids. I’ve mentioned this as a priority and as part of my list many, many times before. My parents were the original DIY crew and my sisters and I carry on this legacy. I am now planting the seeds to pass this tradition on to my kids and (insert maniacal laugh)… it’s working! So creating something with my kids was #1 on my #40for40in40 list.

We had a play house built for the kids two years ago. It was mostly completed just before Larry turned 5 and Chucky turned 2. At their birthday party that year, I had each of their friends that attended the party trace their hand on a piece of construction paper. I had seen a “hand tree” on Pinterest that a teacher had done at a school and I thought wouldn’t that be fun to have a tree with their friends hands as leaves on the playhouse wall to remember the year we had the play house built.

When I created my #40for40in40 list and I decided to create something with the boys, I remembered that I had all of the little hands from the party still in my office and I had not finished the tree project. So I thought, let’s take this one step farther. I sent an email out to friends and family around the globe and tasked them to participate. I called it our “Give Us a Hand Project.” The task was simple, trace your hand on the decorative paper of your choice, add a personal message if you wished to do so, label it with your name and the date and mail them to addressed to the boys. The hands of our loved ones would then also become leaves on our tree.

One by one, the envelopes trickled in over the past few months. Each time one arrived, the boys were excited to receive mail addressed to them and see what was inside. We received hands big and small. Some were made out of wrapping paper, some from scrapbook paper, we had one that was a page out of a cookbook, one strategically made from a greeting card, another from a postcard, several from maps of places where we had met or traveled with the participants long before we had kids and several with advice and inspirational messages for the boys. They were all special and each one was very unique.

As of today, between the hands from the party and those that were mailed in - we have collected 45 hands. This past week, I constructed the tree trunk, finished laminating the hands and we headed out to put the “leaves” on the tree. Although it was a bit of a goat rodeo getting the kids to focus on putting the hands up (it was one of those days…) we got them all up finally and the tree is now adorning the walls of our little cottage by the lake.

I would like to thank all of our friends and family that participated in this and took the time to make and send in their hands. You know who you are and I am so very grateful. Every time I go out to the playhouse, I am reminded of the amazing people we have in our life both near and far. I hope that over time more hands will continue to arrive and that this will be an ongoing project for years to come.

And so that completes item #1 on my list. 36 items checked off the list and 4 to go. Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40