What Makes you Smile? - Final Post

Hey Everyone!

     Today Smile is coming to an end. Sad I know, but we've had a blast creating posts and finding videos and stories to share with you all! Coming together to create this blog truly made us smile. We hope that we made you smile as well!
   
     You could have laughed at some of the hilarious trends we shared because they were so ridiculous or because you too, had done them. You could have chuckled or shed a joyous tear over some of the comedian's stories and videos. You could have smiled when you read the heartwarming stories about people going out of their way to do something kind for someone else. Maybe we even inspired you to make a difference in someone's day. If only one of those things was accomplished, then we did our job right.

     Something about this blog that made me smile was, my friends coming together to create it. We started with a blank canvas. Everyone gave ideas and suggestions until the Smile you see today was formed. We all pitched in and wrote the awesome posts you see on the blog now. Working with them and becoming a little blog family has made me smile! I also really enjoyed these two Random Acts of Kindness posts, May I Have Your Autograph Princess? and Tis The Season.

Now onto what's made our bloggers smile!

Sarina's favorite part of the this blog was all the heartwarming stories featured in Random Acts of Kindness. They're so encouraging and yet challenging.

Jason's favorite thing about the blog was Justin's post on Random Acts of Kindness because it was written really well, and overall a great post! (Be sure to check it out one last time here!)

Justin's favorite post was the February 16th, Kids and Comedy - Animals Too.  It was written by Sebastian. (Check it out one last time here!)

Mikey really enjoyed this year's blog! It was his first time being apart of a blog and he really enjoyed the experience. One post that really made him smile was the trends post about silly bands! Check out that post here! (A few years ago he was obsessed with them. He says not to judge him.) He also enjoyed everyone's various comedic posts. They made him smile! He is thankful for this blog because it allowed him to share some of his hilarious stories about his many siblings. He wants to thank everyone who helped make this blog possible.

Gail's favorite part of the blog was the comedy section. She liked that section because it never failed to make her laugh.

That's what has made us smile. What makes you smile? Let us know!

     That's all for Smile! We'd also like to thank all the readers who have kept coming back each week. We've had over 900 page views from multiple countries in the short time we've been here. We truly hope that we've touched your lives through our posts and made your days a little bit brighter. We hope you can take away something good from this blog and go out of your way to make others smile as well. Be bold and do a Random Act of Kindness for someone else! By showing a little kindness you can make someone SMILE, and enough smiles can make our world a better place! ;)

Trendy Tuesday

Hey guys!  So today for “Trends Tuesday” I decided to interview one of my parents about trends and styles that were cool when they were a kid. Enjoy the Q & A!

Question #1: Growing up, what was your favorite trend or style?
Answer: “I think those black vinyl boots."
                                           

                                                             (Photo cred: etsy.com)

Question #2: What was your least favorite trend?
Answer: “Bell-bottom pants.”
 

                                       
                                                       (Photo cred: rustzipper.com)

Question #3: What is a style that you would like to see become a trend?
Answer: “I would like to see wearing flannel pants out in public without being judged become a trend.”
 

                                                              

                                                    (Photo cred: Pinterest)

Thank you all for reading! What are some of your favorite/least favorite trends? Stay tuned for more great posts!

Sarina

Random Acts of Kindness: Generosity

     Don't you love receiving gifts? Doesn't it delight you to receive something extra that, while you may not have have actually NEEDED it, it lets you know that the giver cares for you? I'm not going to lie, I love to receive gifts. As much as I love getting gifts, giving them is ten times better! See, when you give someone a gift, you're letting them know that you care about them, and that you want them to be happy. It always a good idea to take some time to think about someone else. Giving is much better than receiving.

     I'm not just talking about giving Christmas presents to relatives. There are needy people all over the world who have NEVER received a gift. So here is my challenge: I want you to give a gift to someone you know needs it. Someone that you know would benefit from that gift. It could be anything from buying coffee for your friend, to sending money to a poor family in Haiti. The choice is up to you.

"Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed."

-Proverbs 19:17

Everyone loves a generous person, am I right?
                                        That's all for now!
                                                  -Mikey

Comedy: John Crist

      What is comedy? Comedy is professional entertainment consisting of jokes and satirical sketches, intended to make the audience laugh. What is a comedian? A comedian is an entertainer whose act is designed to make the audience laugh. Have you ever heard of John Crist? You haven’t? Well, John Crist is a comedian and he has told jokes about the bad things about social media to telling jokes about different kinds of people and more.

John Crist is a guy that loves to make people laugh. He started out by making announcements at church and of course added a joke in here and there. The first time he had a big show was in 2009, and he still does many live shows today. He had seven siblings, they were all home schooled and grew up in the south.

     One of my favorite videos John Crist has made is “John Crist with Tim Hawkins: Kids with Cell Phones”. In this video he tells a jokes about how his dad would get annoyed with them being on their phones all the time. He would say they didn't know how hard it was back when they didn’t have cell phones. John Crist would say would say how hard it is now that we do have phones. If you want to watch this video click on the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I96psoS1cIo .

Another video I found very funny was “Every Family Christmas Photoshoot”. In this video he goes through the different kinds of family members around christmas when they take a family photo. If you want to see this video click on the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG73mhtiSS4

If you are looking for something to make you laugh I would definitely recommend watching some of John Crists YouTube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFq7vUgpjnVRZI-MzSvRZAA?spfreload=5

-Gail

Trendy Tuesday - Obsessions and Tie-Dye

     Have you ever gone through a phase when you were obsessed with something? Well, maybe not full on obsessed, but you loved it a great deal. Maybe a little too much? I definitely have. Today I'm not talking about a certain singer or band. (Cue the Directioners' squeals now.)  I'm not talking about the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. (I'm looking at you, homeschoolers.) I'm not talking about the overflowing drawer of hair products and makeup, that you pretend isn't out of control.

Now, I for sure haven't been obsessed with any of these things... *avoids eye contact* but that's beside the point.

     Today I'm talking about Tie-Dye. The wonderful assortment of colors (SO many colors!) in different, interesting designs that can be put on about anything. Normally we make tie-dye shirts, and they can turn out pretty cool! In addition to shirts, you can find tie-dye bedspreads, shoes, backpacks, notebooks, nail polish, and so much more. Tie-dye in itself isn't usually a bad thing. It's when an explosion of all different kinds of tie-dye come together that things can go wrong. 

     Remember when your mom told you, "too much of a good thing can become a bad thing"? It's good life advice. When I was young, it seemed that tie-dye was the coolest thing. In school, lots of kids had tye-dye book covers and school supplies. Little rainbow swirls of color could be spotted here and there. To this day I don't know why, but I loved tie-dye more than I should have. 

     Story Time. One of my favorite tie-dye items was a pair of pants. Oh yes you read that right. PANTS. Not just any pants either, boot cut, valore, sweatpants. >insert cringes here< They were oh so fuzzy and oh so cool. Or so I thought... I wore those pants everywhere, most of the time with a non matching shirt. Thank the Lord we were required to wear uniforms at my school, or they may have made an appearance at picture day. Did I mention they weren't just any kind of tie-dye? They were bright neon orange, hot pink and blue. Yup, just let that sink in. I did not have the greatest fashion sense for a while there. I really wish my mom would have burned them, but I can imagine there was no talking me out of wearing them. There is good news to this story though, I eventually moved on to other fashion trends (a few of which I do regret) and today I dress normally. Phew!

     That's all for today, thanks for joining me! Did you or someone you know go through some interesting clothing stages? Were you too, a little too in love with tie-dye? Is there anything you were obsessed with as a child? Leave a comment in the comments section below! Don't forget to check out all the other blogger's amazing posts while you're here at Smile! - Alecta  :)

Random Acts of Kindness - Tis the Season

To those who don’t know, today, February 17th is the official Random Acts of Kindness day!!  The week that has just passed was the Week of Random Acts of Kindness.  This is not to say that you can’t do any more RAKing, but to say that now is the time to do something with that extra happiness bubbling out of your bucket.  

With this in mind, I would like to share a couple stories from the internet on this topic.  

Story #1

A few weeks ago on a Friday, I stopped at a nearby UPS Store to mail a package.  I rushed in a couple minutes before the store closed... in the nick of time.  The address for the package was on my phone, so I set it down to write the address on the label provided by one of the workers.  She began to chat with me as she entered the info into the computer.  Despite me arriving just before closing for the weekend, she and the other clerk was very kind and helpful.  In a few minutes, I was all set to go, thanked the women for their help, and was on my way.  I drove all the home only to notice I had left my phone at the store.  I knew that the store was closed and that my phone would likely be locked in the store for the whole weekend.  

Shortly after contemplating what to do, a car pulled into my driveway.  It was the woman from the UPS store!  She explained that she knew how important some people's phones are to them and she didn't want me to go the whole weekend without mine.  So, she checked the return label and drove my phone to my house once she closed the store.  I was so happy, not because my phone was returned, but that someone was kind enough to think about me enough to go out of her way on the weekend to make me happy.  It made my weekend!

Story #2

A couple of days ago, my friend and I were walking around town after a day of shopping, my friend's shoe was untied and seeing that her hands were full, I set down my bags and offered to tie her shoe.  This shocked her as she stuttered the replied “Sure.”  I tied her shoe and we continued on.  

The next day I received a handwritten note from my friend through the mail thanking me for what I had done the day before.  This whole incident made me think of the smile we both had on our faces.  Neither of us had spent much time on the note or the shoe tying, but we had created a stronger bond and a memory that we would probably remember for the rest of our lives.  

Both of these stories are so motivational for me and the have made me think about how little time I have to spend on someone to create a memory worth saving.  What if you spent a couple minutes with your parents or children to create a moment of happiness. Please leave a comment! This is what I challenge you to do: Live life to the fullest and make sure everyone else does.   

- Justin Case


Ps. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this!

Kids and Comedy- Animals, Too!

Don’t you just love a little child’s crazy antics? What about animals? Do YOU find them as hilarious as I do? If so, then this is the video for you!

            As you probably noticed, a lot of the clips were of ferocious animals trying to attack the young kids. But some of the creatures were just acting out of interest in the child. Whatever the intentions of the animals, these clips make for good entertainment!

           Most of us love kids and their cute little mannerisms. We’re not the only ones, though. Here is a video that demonstrates everyone’s love for children:

(Video credit: YouTube channels Waggle TV and Burjan Falik.) 

           Kids can be great “pals” for animals, and animals can be great “pals” for kids!

          “Give a boy a dog and you've furnished him a playmate.”-Berton Braley

             “No symphony orchestra ever played music like a two-year-old girl laughing with a puppy.”-Bern Williams

  If you are reading this and are a kid, use this one:

  “The best way to get a puppy is to beg for a baby brother—and they'll settle for a puppy every time.” -Winston Pendleton

  Do you have any hilarious stories about child/animal interaction? Tell us about it! Please leave a comment below, because we Smile writers would love to know!

-Sebastian