KC Pink Ladies Part 2

Here are additional pictures from the Relay for Life Fundraiser I participated in. We were the KC Pink Ladies (KC stands for Kate's Cup which is the name of our women's ministry).

I had such an amazing time with some amazing, compassionate women - I feel very blessed that God placed me with this group!!



Walking the track - this was before it got to crazy cold!

Taking a break - I think I had been walking about 5 hours at this point!

This was taken about 10:30pm. The wind was crazy and it was freeeezzzzing! Hard to tell but I have a big ole fro on!! At least it kept my head warm!!


These last two pictures were the end of the night - when we finally decided that we were completely windblown and frozen! We are all still smiling!!

Mother's Day Tea at Preschool

Saturday was a special day for Mommy and Sydney - Sydney's preschool put on a Mother's Day Tea Party for all of the Mommy's!! It was sooooo cute!! They started by surprising us with a recital - they sang 4 songs to us!! I had no idea they were doing this. Then they put together a video presentation of pictures set to music of the kids. We all cried!! Then it was off to their classrooms where they surprised us again with hats they made for us and a special fish bowl with our pictures in it! We then got to walk around outside where they decorated everything so beautifully with the kids artwork and flowers. The teachers and staff did an amazing job!! Enjoy the pictures!!




They are releasing a butterfly they had in the classroom.


My beautiful hat!! I was so proud to wear it:)

The kids were to fill in the blanks: I am 11 years old with blue eyes and brown hair. My favorite colors are red and white and I like to cook toast and waffles!! I also like to go outside and play!! What a hoot!!


"I love my Mom because she makes dinner for me" I always wondered what I would look like as a red head!!



Sydney made this picture:)


Robyn, my neighbor! Her son is also in Sydney's room. They are best buddies:)

Relay for Life 2011

As most of you know, I try to do some kind of event each year to honor my Mother. This year I joined the KC Pink Ladies and completed the Relay for Life event. The KC Pink Ladies are a bunch of ladies from my women's ministry, Kate's Cup. We all decorated pink shirts and had a bake sale at our tent. The idea is that someone from your team is to be walking the track from 6pm - 6am. The weather was terrible, the wind broke records, tents were flying everywhere, dust/dirt everywhere - but we still had fun! We ended up closing down at midnight due to the weather conditions - so I ended up walking for about 5.5 hours. I was definitely feeling it the next day but no time to rest because I had to set up for the annual block party!

There were some very emotional moments throughout the night - I shed many tears as I listened to survivors tell their stories and to walkers tell their stories of loved ones' lost. I told my story a few times - I had my Mom with me the entire evening on the front of my shirt!

Every half hour they had a different themed lap. Some of the different themes were: the survivors lap; limbo lap; funny bunny lap; remembrance lap; lighting of the luminaries lap; dress a guy up as a lady lap; purple lap, etc. Some teams really got into it!! All in all, it was a great night of getting to know people, sharing stories, meeting survivors, remembering lost loved ones, and fighting for a cure.




The 1st lap around the track was for the survivors - very emotional!


This was the beginning of setup for our tent - we were not able to decorate everything due to the wind!!

I was upset that they spelled my Mom's name wrong - but thought my Mom might get a good laugh out of it! I must have walked by that luminary 100 times in the 5-6 hours I was there and EVERY time I was a little "bugged" by the misspelling of her name. Now that I look back at it, I probably should have just had them make another one right away - oh well:)

Once it got dark, they lit these luminaries on the bleachers that spelled Hope and we all followed a man playing "Amazing Grace" on the bag pipes. This was the most emotional part of the night for me and many others. This lap was called the "Remembrance" lap - most people walked in silence and cried...me included.

For you mom...I will keep fighting this battle for you and for our sweet Sydney...I love you

Easter 2011

We had a very nice Easter again this year! It started with Sydney waking up around 6am and seeing huge bunny paw prints from her bedroom door and down the stairs!! She came running into our room to tell us she saw "paw prints" and wanted us to come see them. So we all followed the paw prints down the stairs and saw that the Easter Bunny had come!! Sydney quickly started looking for hidden eggs!! She then found her Easter basket on top of the toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom. She thought this was sooo funny!

We later went to church. Sydney announced to EVERYONE she saw that the Easter Bunny came and left paw prints and an Easter basket in the toilet!! Later that day, we had our last big dinner with Nana & Paps and Aunt Peggy!! Nana & Paps left a few days later:( We had a wonderful dinner and now have many more beautiful memories!!

Preschool Easter Party

Sydney had a party at Preschool to celebrate Easter! I was volunteered in the classroom that day and helped the teachers:) I love to be in her classroom and to watch her interact with her peers. Her teachers are great and the classroom just feels so calm! We all had a great time!


Eating ice cream and strawberries!!



A picture of the front of the classroom!

Here are their Easter baskets they made! Then went out to the park to play after ice cream. A few Mommies stayed in the classroom and helped the Easter Bunny hide eggs! Sydney thinks the Easter Bunny lays Easter Eggs:)

Sydney found an egg!!

Back to circle time!! It was so much fun being a part of her special day at school!!

Fun at a Birthday Party!

I felt so bad for Sydney this week! We had 2 fun birthday parties to go to over the weekend but she ended up getting sick with a head cold!! I felt terrible for her! Her nose would seriously NOT stop running! Poor thing had a severely chapped upper lip and cheeks! We missed the party on Sat. but we did go to the one on Sunday - not sure if it was the best idea but it was for our neighbors son and they really wanted us there. Sydney had a blast but was very run down the next day:( A few days later, she was back to herself! Below are pictures from the birthday party. It was at the Railroad Park - lots of fun!!

The kids are all lined up and getting ready to start a game. The boy in the stripes is Jack, the birthday boy! He is such a cutie - he turned 3!!

Red light green light game!



Sydney always makes this face when she gets to do something special and knows people are looking at her - so cute!!




Look at her poor chapped face!! She was a trooper!!

Off to ride the train!


1st time riding the train without Mommy or Daddy holding on to her - Mommy was a nervous wreck!!

My Sweetie!



Giving Daddy a new hair cut!!