Random Acts of Kindness Day

Years ago, we asked our readers to leave random acts of kindness cards in their community for Preslee's 4th Birthday. It was a big hit and something our family was so grateful for. Read about it here. 

Did you know that February 17th is RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS DAY?

We want to celebrate, and hope you'll join in with us!

To celebrate, we are offering you a freebie.  You can download these cards and when you do an act of kindness, leave one of these cards with it. Please tag us in your acts of kindness to be entered into a giveaway with #presentleerakd for a chance to win $25 store credit to Presentlee!

Here's to spreading kindness all over the world!

And if you need some ideas on how and where to leave your cards, here are a few.

• Pay for someone's food at a restaurant or drive-thru.
• Tape some money on a toy in a store.
• Leave a card with a treat or gift on someone's doorstep.
• Complete a chore for someone else in your home.
• Leave laundry soap in bag at the laundromat.
• Drop a treat off at the local police or fire station.
• Leave a coloring book/crayons in your hospital's emergency room.
• Leave $1.07 taped by the hot wheels section. 
• Leave a generous tip.
• Write an encouraging note to someone.
• Run a treat out to your garbage man.
• Leave a gift card in someone's mailbox or doorstep.
• Pay for someone's popcorn at a movie theater.
• Leave a treat for your UPS/FED EX delivery person.
• Leave a gift card or funny note in a book at the library.
• Leave a nice note on someone's car.
• Leave a package of wipes at a diaper changing station.
• Send a treat through to a bank teller.
• Buy flowers for a friend or stranger.
• Leave a gift or treat for your mailman.
• Leave a gift for a teacher in the school's office.
• Hide free bubbles in the park.
• Leave popcorn taped to a Red Box machine.
• Leave enough money to cover an item at the grocery store.
• Leave dollar bills all around the dollar store.
• Donate diapers to a women's shelter.
• Donate food to the homeless. 
• Leave tennis balls at a dog park.
• Tape change to a vending machine.
• Leave an anonymous note for someone.

What's your favorite way to serve? Let us know below!

Be Present Service Challenge - Week 6

I can’t believe we’ve made it to our last and final week of the Be Present Service Challenge! I really am humbled and thrilled to read what many of you have have done throughout the past few weeks.

Week 6 – Love Your Community Printable

My  boys love when we drive by our State Capital Building :)

1. Simple Acts of Service – I’ll be the first to admit when I think of service, community isn’t the first on my list. I’m from a small town and when you know everyone it’s easier to jump in an feel like you’re making a difference! But living in Utah where I don’t know many people, it’s just different. But I recently stumbled across a quote from Spencer W. Kimball and it made me think a little differently, it states:

“We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind that God has given us to love and serve.” 

Many times when I’m out and about I’m focused solely on my kids, but this week I’ll be be attempting to notice more people around me and remember it’s often the little things that make big differences, even when it comes to strangers.

Deliver some cookies!

2. Thank Someone – This is an easy one to get kids involved with. Write a note, bake a treat, or drop something off for someone in your community. I’m sure my boys will pick the policeman and fireman, but my goal is to think outside of the box and thank someone who is rarely thanked. Any ideas?

Here’s a free printable sharing Random Act of Kindness cards you can attach to serve anonymously if that’s more your thing.

Get out and clean!

3. Make it Beautiful – Let’s get out and beautify our community! When you first enter our subdivision, there’s a bunch of leaves piled up against a fence on the parkway strip. I plan on taking my kids and raking the leaves up. In fact, I told them today what we would be  doing later this week, and it led to a conversation about why we should care about our community.

I know six weeks is long, but I am so thrilled with how many participated! The stories I’ve heard, the good deeds performed, it all makes me so happy to think of all the love and hope spread throughout the past few weeks.

But most of all, how did it affect you? Did you notice a difference? What did you learn? I know I definitely learned some lessons, especially on spouse week. I was reminded that it doesn’t have to be something big  in order to have it count. I need to consistently think of ways to involve my boys and lead by example. It also reaffirmed that there are blessings that come from serving.

Thanks to everyone who joined us, we really do appreciate all of you who check in on our little corner of the world from time to time. We love you!

Be Present Service Challenge–Week 5

Neighbors!

Week 5 is all about loving our neighbors!

Download the free printable here. It will give you ideas on how to serve.

1. Get to know them – Last summer we moved into a new house, and I’m embarrassed to say there are a couple neighbors I still haven’t met! I’ve waited to see them outside, but I haven’t. So this week I plan on knocking on their door with a some goodies in hand and introducing myself.

Let’s make an effort to meet somebody new this week.

2. Serve your neighbor – It’s easy to serve those we know, but what about those we don’t know? I feel like serving neighbors can make a huge impact in their life. But remember it doesn’t have to be big! Even shoveling their walkway or taking in their garbage can is a great place to start.

I have three incredible neighbors who make a big difference in my family’s life and it pushes me to be better at recognizing other neighbor’s needs. One older neighbor watches my daughter every single week while I take my boys to speech! I am so grateful! This week I not only want to give back to them, but to other neighbors I haven’t met.

Here’s a FREE PRINTABLE to help you serve your neighbors. I always feel it’s easier to show up with something in hand when introducing myself.

3. Invite them over – Here is one to stretch all of us! Invite your neighbors over! Spending a little time with them will help build a better relationship and will help you enjoy where you live even more. Invite a neighbor (or two) over for dinner, dessert, or even a game night. There’s more ideas listed on the printable as well. The goal with this option is to really form a long lasting relationship.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes. I’ll be sharing some ideas on social media, so stay tuned!

Be Present Service Challenge–Week 3

Two weeks down, only four to go! So far we’ve completed

• Love Yourself
• Love Your Spouse

And now on to -

Week 3 - Love your Kids.
(Or use our serve a loved one printable)

This article was such a wonderful reminder of what kids really want and what they need to feel loved. As a mom, it’s easy to to become focused on finishing our do-to list, rather than taking time to do the little things that kids really appreciate. The author of the article posted above gives some really good points on how to include children into your schedule throughout the day. My goal this week is to make a conscious effort to include my kids a little bit more.

1. The first option lists, “Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” Plan something fun with your child this week. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant, but plan ahead and put a little effort into it. My plan is to make some homemade play dough with my boys and sit down and really play with them. If your child is older, feel free to plan something more age appropriate.

Here is an easy No cook play dough recipe.

2. One of the best pieces of advice I’ve received was to devote 10 minutes of uninterrupted time to each child every day. Let them pick the activity. In my home it usually consists of playing cars, Star Wars, or reading Harry Potter. I know ten minutes doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m always surprised when I do this how it seems to fill my boys’ buckets. And the one-on-one time with my twins is a big deal for them where they are rarely separated.

3. Set aside some time to fill out a get to know you sheet posted below. Not only will your kids enjoy the attention, but it’s such blessing to document this stage of life. I love getting inside my boys’ heads, especially my twins to see their different personalities shine through.

Get to know your child sheet

Remember, you know your children best! If something else appeals to them more, go ahead and do it! Mother Theresa once said, “To change the world, go home and love your family.” Let’s show our kids a little extra love this week, and watch them flourish.

Be Present Service Challenge–Week 2

How did week 1 – Loving Yourself go? I hope  it went well! It was pretty neat to read everyone’s posts who tagged our IG account (@give.presentlee and #livepresentlee). I loved seeing so many women take a little time for themselves, and noticed it was hard for many to do! I hope you’ll continue to think of yourself just a little bit more.

We’re moving on to week 2, and this week is all about loving your spouse! (Or any loved one!) Here are this week’s pintables.

• Love your Spouse Printable
• Love a Loved One Printable

Love Your Spouse

1. Every single week night around 5:00pm my life seems to get a little out of control. I try to stay calm as I attempt to make dinner, (usually with a toddler on my hip) while simultaneously dealing with ornery starving kids. By the time Patrick walks in the door, my house seems to be a disaster, cluttered with toys, and I’m a flustered mess! Can anyone else relate?

I’m so grateful to have a little help in the moment that I usually unload and immediately throw a bunch of tasks on him. I’ve recently realized how overwhelming that would be to come home to every single day and vow to do better. (Sorry babe!) My goal is to change this and happily greet him when he walks in the door each day.

This week, let’s put our frustration aside (or for a little bit) and work on greeting our spouse with a hug and genuinely acting happy they are home. We asked different guys what would help them the most, and this was one of the most common answers.

2. It’s been said that you will love who you serve, so let’s try to serve our spouse a little more this week. Here is a great article about loving/serving your spouse the way he wants to be served. The author teaches to observe him, really look for ways to help. Let’s dig deep and and come up with at least one (or more) way to ease his burdens. Do something you know that will genuinely make him happy.

3. Let your spouse have a night off or time to himself! Just like we planned some time off for ourselves last week, (wasn’t it amazing?) push your spouse to do the same. Hopefully the extra little love will go a long ways.

What I love about this week is that the options aren’t anything drastic! It’s often the small and simple actions that bring about the biggest changes.

Let’s get to work and show our spouse some extra love, who’s with me?

Be Present Service Challenge

It’s no secret that service flooded my life after losing Preslee. Countless people served me and it wasn’t until I began serving others that I was lifted out of the deep dark hole I found myself in. I still depend on service years later when I feel grief creeping back in. I have learned so much over the years, from not only my own experiences, but from many of the experiences you’ve shared with me.

A little less than a year ago, I posted a survey asking what readers wanted to read on the blog. I was hoping for a few suggestions, but I was BLOWN AWAY with the number of responses!  (Hundreds! Thank you! )Two of the topics that kept arising were:

• How to find happiness during trying times?
• How to help others experiencing difficult times?

I’ve thought about these two questions and have come to realize the answers are both very intertwined. I’ve had an idea swimming around in my head for quite some time and after brainstorming with my team over at Presentlee, we got to work creating a solution that will help people understand these topics a little better.

We’ve created a six week service challenge. Yes, six weeks, but don’t freak out! I promise it isn’t as overwhelming as it may sound. I’m a busy mom (just like many of you) and don’t have time for anything drastic, but I’ve learned it’s the little changes that make the biggest difference.

So we’ve made the challenge easy and you can pick how involved YOU want to be. We’ve selected topics each week to help anyone participating slowly think outside themselves a little more.

The topics each week are:

Week 1 – Love Yourself
Week 2 –  Love Your Spouse // Loved one
Week 3 – Love Your Kids
Week 4 – Love Your Friends
Week 5 – Love Your Neighbors
Week 6 – Love Your Community

For each topic we will give you a printable to guide you through the week that looks like this.

In preparation, I recently asked people to share their concerns of what holds them back when it comes to serving others. Whether it be confidence, money, or ideas, over the next six weeks we will be giving you tips, tricks, and ideas to help you support the people YOU LOVE. Because let’s be honest, it can be difficult to show up on somebody's doorstep and not know exactly what to do or say.

HOW TO START

Every Sunday the next week’s topic will be posted here on the blog which allow you to prepare for the next week. All six printables are linked above if you want to look ahead. Each printable gives three options of service ideas and the supplies needed for that week. You can do as many of the options as you’d like, or adapt it to fit your needs.

We hope you’ll join us for the challenge. To be honest, the reason I serve is often just as much for myself as it is to help the people I’m serving. I’ll expound more on this in my next post, but if you have questions, please let me know!

So grab friend to do this challenge with (It’s always more fun with a friend, and they help keep you on track) and follow along on Instagram @give.presentlee where I’ll be incredibly active, sharing personal experiences, tips/tricks and giving away prizes.

Let’s make a goal to Be More Present and spread hope to those who need it most. I can’t wait for all of us to make a difference – together.

Ready to start? Click here to take a look at Week 1.

Thank You!

We just want to say THANK YOU! We recently asked people to fill out a simple two question survey asking what type of posts you enjoy, and what  you hope to learn from this blog.

We were blown away with how many responses we received! We read through hundreds of comments.  And I can honestly say many of the comments said some of the nicest things we’ve ever been told. A lot of them made me cry.

Thank you. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for being apart of our family. There’s so much to love about all of you, and we are truly blessed to have you apart of our lives.

I’m excited for the future, your comments were reassuring, and at the same time, have given me motivation for some pretty real and honest posts. Thank you for sticking with us for so many years, we truly are the lucky ones.

Love,

The Sullengers

Bookroo

This post is sponsored by Bookroo, all opinions are my own. 

I recently discovered something that makes my elementary educated heart incredibly happy. If there’s anything I’m more than happy about investing in, its books for my kids to read. We do a lot of reading in our home, and to help with the process, we recently discovered Bookroo. And I think we’re officially hooked.

What is it?

Bookroo is a subscription - based box service that sends either three board books or two picture books right to you door step each month. The combined retail value of the books always exceeds the subscription price!

Bookroo looks for hidden gems to send in their boxes, rather than the classics you may already know about or can easily discover. Their books are extensively reviewed by a panel of 12 families attending Stanford University and their combined 22 kids.

Cost:
The cost of one box is $17.99 + $5SH for 1 month; $16.66 + $5SH for 3 months; $16.33 + $5SH for 6 months; and $15.99 + $5SH for 12 months.

Inside the Box:

Once the box was opened, we found two picture books wrapped in fun wrapping paper, along with a card telling a little about each book. Cannon and Cruiz were thrilled they were both able to open up a present, which made them feel like the books were special, and they’ve taken really good care of them. I’m grateful, because they can be a little rough on things.

My Opinion:
Its been one week since we opened our Bookroo subscription box, and both books have been read multiple times. My boys have really liked them, and Cannon keeps asking if we can go on an adventure each day :) My favorite part about this service is that I’m pretty sure I would have never stumbled across these books by myself, but they will now be apart of our collection for life.

I actually looked up the cost of both books on Amazon, and learned the subscription box is a couple dollars cheaper than buying them separately! This made me more than happy to continue my subscription for my kids. And I can’t help but think this would make the cutest gift for any child!

If you are interested in trying Bookroo for your family, {here} is a 20% discount for their 1 or 3 month subscriptions.

Happy reading!