We Lit the Night

On October 23, we joined the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society (LLS) to walk for Light the Night. We walked in honor of my mom and in hopes of a cure for these diseases. There was a huge turnout for the event, and a wonderful turnout for our individual team. We ended up with 25 adults and 8 kiddos. We also reached 215% of our team fundraising goal with more than $1k raised. Thanks to everyone who joined, donated and supported us through thoughts and prayers.

The event was held in the new 7th street district on Crockett Street. It was a great setting. Olive Garden catered, there was a live band and many activities for the kiddos.

A view of the street, vendors and participants.

This was the Remembrance Wreath. Each color represents a different type of cancer. You were to take the colored ribbon corresponding to the cancer your loved one suffered and write their name on it, then tie it to the wreath. My mom's name is on two yellow ribbons - one for me and one for Julie.

Members of our team hanging out waiting for the walk to start. You can see that we each wore a flyer with my mom's photo. Today we walk in remembrance of you.

Julie and Mike

The guys were especially stoked to have an outdoor TV to watch from the patio of this restaurant. The Rangers and Cowboys almost overlapped on this night ;-)

Cousins: Scarlet Day and Jonathan Ewert

Another group of our team members including the O'Briens from Coppell

My bestie for almost 25 years: Lindsay

Aunt Krista and Will

Getting ready to walk! Sporting their Rangers World Series gear

Looking back into the race crowd

In case you were wondering, Light the Night comes from the practice of actually lighting the night - everyone has balloons with little light bulbs inside. On queue, the balloons, which are different colors with corresponding meanings, are lit before the walk begins. Red is for a cure, white is for survivors and gold is for a life lost. We carried one gold balloon for my mom and many reds in hope.

Walking intoTrinity Park at sundown. It was about 1/4 mile long "snake" of lit balloons. An awesome sight and experience. My mom would have loved it.

Our Halloween Mainstay

It has become our Halloween tradition to visit a local farm near our house known as Mainstay Farm. It is family-owned and operated and has everything from a petting zoo and tractor-pulled hayrides to a three-story treehouse and playground area. We were lucky to have two of my nieces join us this year - Payton and Addison. They are the youngest daughters of Waylen's sister, Krista. They are so much fun to be around and love playing with Scarlet, so it made it even more exciting to have them along on this special outting.

The farm is absolutely fantastic. They have thought of everything that a kid could want to do and see. They also have great things to eat, which is a highlight for us grown-up kids. They have the most amazing pumpkin pie and even pumpkin ice cream that can be purchased at their snack shacks. We partake every year ;-) Scarlet got her first taste of the ice cream this year and it was a big hit.

Here are some pics from the day:

Striking a pose before we set out through the field/parking lot. Will was plum tuckered out from the 2-mile drive to get there. 

This is the back of the hay stack area that faces the parking lot as you're walking toward the entrance.

Inside the haystacks area, the kids have so much fun running and jumping on top of them. The girls helped Scarlet have a positive, first-time experience.

She did really well getting her balance and running down the long line of them.

Will was still tuckered out.

Sweet Addison, age 9.

Lovely Payton, age 11.

Next, we were on to the petting area. This year there were only goats in this area. It was still fun though. They love eating the food you can get for 25 cents from the little bubble gum machine.

Scarlet wasn't much on heeding warnings. Luckily, the goats were very gentle with her and we never felt teeth...only tickling tongues.

...And Will still slept.

I love the pumpkin patch. Mainly because of the colors, but also just because I love this time of year and Scarlet really seemed to get into the spirit, too. 

She brought me this gourd and said, "Momma, yook at dis weird yittle punkin." (translation: Look at this weird little pumpkin).

I think she eyed the ice cream shack...

He woke up just in time...

For the hayride!

He was very jazzed about it. He laughed and shouted the whole time.

Scarlet loved the hayride too, but she definitely wasn't keen on the noises coming from the tractor. She kept telling us that it was too loud.

Sorry for the severe overexposure of this pic, but you can at least get a good idea on the size of the tree house. Scarlet is about to slide down a kiddie-sized slide on the first level.

For big kids and adults, the maze seems to offer at least minutes if not many minutes worth of entertainment. Payton and Addison made it through in under five minutes this year, but told us all about the time they got lost and couldn't figure on how to get out. You can see them both (barely) in the top left corner.

On the playground, Scarlet gave the girls a real run for their money. I think she wore them out. She loves to slide.

So Daddy took over. He's turned professional as a slide-spotter.

Another fun activity for big kids and adults were the ginormous hot wheels. I saw many daddies on these. Payton and Addison took a turn.

If you're in the area next year or want to make the trip to go with us, we'd love to have you - it's a blast!!

Light the Night!

On October 23, 2011, our family and many friends will be joining the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) in the Light the Night walk for a cure. We have named ourselves Nancy's Clan as we will be walking in honor and remembrance of my mom.

We would love anyone who can to join us for this 2-mile leisurely stroll around the 7th street cultural district of Fort Worth. If you are uanble to join, but would like to contribute to the cause in Nancy's honor, we would be touched and I know the organization would be very appreciative.

The link to sign up for the walk or donate is included here.

A Very Happy Second Birthday

My oldest baby turned two on September 7. When I think about all that's happened over the last two years, it is believable to me that she is this age; yet, I have a hard time believing two years have already passed. All in all, they have been wonderful and we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know this little human that we've been blessed with the opportunity to raise. She amazes us every day.

We did this birthday right - stretched it over the full birthday week with at least three separate celebrations. It was all so awesome, mainly because she is now old enough to get excited about the celebration, blowing out candles and opening gifts. We had a lot of fun, too...shopping for toys we knew she would love and planning it right down to minute details.

Her actual birthday fell on Tuesday, so that day started off at 8:15am with her photo appearing on the local Channel 4 news with a birthday wish. It was so fun to watch her as she watched the TV. You could tell she wasn't sure what to think about seeing herself. She kept pointing and exclaiming, "Scarlet Day!"

Next came a surprise birthday breakfast at Chick-fil-a. Daddy, Aunt Krista and Gumball all showed up to help us celebrate. She was beside-herself-excited. It was wonderful. Here are some of my favorites:

Gumball gave Scarlet a Fancy Nancy doll ;-)

The clan at Chick-fil-A

Brother was there with his big blue eyes all bright and early

This one is just too good not to share. Sorry for the food view, but she's a ham like this all the time. Daddy's expression is priceless

What's up?

Later that same evening, Waylen and I surprised her with a cake and her birthday presents from us. The cake was an amazing display of icing - her favorite. We got her the LeapPad and it's been a huge hit.

The following day was Thursday, a preschool day. Her teacher allowed her Gumball and I to surprise her at school with some cupcakes for her class.

The sign Mrs. Cristal drew when you enter the classroom.

These are her sweet little classmates: Tinsley, Abby and Rylin.

Mrs. Cristal and Scarlet. (she is too busy to be bothered with photo opps.)

This is how she attacks cake (and cupcakes)

A quiet moment between her and her snack.

The Big PartyThe next big event of the birthday week was the actual birthday party, which was on Saturday. We went with a Candy Shoppe theme and sent out lollipop invitations. My sister-in-law, Krista helped me create large, life-sized prints of each of the main characters from the new version of Candy Land, which we hung around the house.

I also created a life-size version of the game in our living room with colored squares, which the kids lined up and walked around to acquire loads of candy. We had about 55 people in attendance and Scarlet had a blast. Thanks to everyone for helping make it such a memorable event!

Scarlet and her sweet (second) cousin, Tyler. Her aunt Julie made her this precious outfit with a hand sewn "2" on the front and pink tutu to match. Thanks Julie!

Here all the kiddos are lined up playing our life-sized version of CandyLand. It was a real blast, although a bit overwhelming...for me, not the kids :-)

Our next game was "pin the wand on the princess." Jonathan did a very good job at this game. He would have gotten closer, but couldn't bear the thought of putting his lollipop down...

This is Scarlet's "Smash" cake. A friend of Julie's made it for us and it turned out SO cute.

The birthday girl was very excited about her birthday, her friends, and all the presents sitting over in the corner.

 

She was NOT excited about all the singing when "Happy Birthday" began by all those surrounding her. She tucked her head toward me and acted like she was going to cry.

But when she realized she could blow out the candle, she was super jazzed once again! And...she got it on the first try. May all your wishes come true baby girl!

And when we were done blowing out the candles, she dove right in. No more being shy!

Once again, we have the most generous friends and family. Thank you for all the toys, clothes, educational tools, etc. She has been playing with them non-stop ever since.

In this pic, you can see one of the images from the Candyland game that we hung as well as the banner I made with her name. She loves balloons, so we had 3 dozen scattered around the living room as well to add even more color. It really looked CandLand-ish!

Happy birthday, my sweet little angel. You are loved.