Celebrate It!

We've had a few birthdays around here lately and some other things to celebrate. Let's start at the beginning.

August 31st was Justin's 36th birthday.  We celebrated by spending the day together, just the two of us. We went out for breakfast and then headed to Firefly Pottery to do some painting.  Justin made each of the kids a little something. Seth got a shark, McKayla got a turtle, and Huck got an inch worm.  I decorated a plate (more on that later). After our pottery painting Justin and I headed to lunch and finished off the day with a special birthday dinner at Ted's with the kids and his parents. 

That last picture is of the plate I made.  I call it the Celebrate It! plate.  This is an idea I heard about several years ago on an interview with Jennie Garth and have been wanting to create it ever since.  She explained in the interview that the plate was used to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and special accomplishments.  The person with the special occasion to celebrate, gets to eat off the plate.

Not too longer after we brought it home, we had something to celebrate.  McKayla finally learned how to ride her bike.  We were so excited and so was she. 

That night she was even more excited when she saw that she got to be the first to eat from the Celebrate It! plate.

Not longer after this, we celebrated two more birthdays.  Seth turned 7 on September 25th and McKayla turned 10 on October 3rd. Unfortunately, the kids were with their mom this year for their birthdays so we had to celebrate on alternate days. 

Justin and I got Seth some new clothes, a game for the wii, and a .22 rifle.  It's a small one that fits his body size.  Anytime you asked him what he wanted for his birthday, this was all he mentioned.  He LOVES going to the range with Justin to shoot it. 

We had something extra special planned for McKayla's big double digit birthday.  She gets to go on a trip with her daddy.  Just the two of them are going to spend about 5 days together to any place she wants to go in the contiguous United States.  Basically, she and Justin will pick a few cities which they will research together.  Once they pick a place, they will plan the entire trip together.  Right now it looks like it will probably be San Diego.  Seth will get to do the same thing when he turns 10.

The kids also got a really cool present from my mom this year.  They both went on the converse website and got to design their own "Chuck Taylors" right down to the color of the stitching.

 

 

I can't wait to see what we get to celebrate next!

 

College Football Kick Off

As I'm sure all of you know, this past weekend was the first weekend of the college football season.  Thanks to my cousin Anthony, Justin and the kids got to start it out in style (Huck and I stayed home).  He got them Hospitality Tent tickets, On Field tickets, and tickets to the game.  The kids were super excited and they all had a great time.

Thanks again Anthony!!!

A Good Deed

As I mentioned in my last post, the kids came up with something pretty amazing for the last day of the "Summer Chain of Events".  Early on in the summer, McKayla told us she wanted to do a lemonade stand.  In July we started talking about how to do it and what supplies we would need.  A week or so before we were set to do it, she made a pretty remarkable decision.  She came to us and told us that she wanted to donate the money she made to cancer research.  When we asked her how much of it she wanted to donate, she said, "all of it!". I'm sure you can imagine how proud that made Justin and me.  If you know McKayla, you know she has the biggest heart (especially for only being 9).  This is not the first time she has donated her own time and money to a charity. 

About a year ago or so, we were walking out of Publix and I saw some people raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training.  This is something I did a few years back.  Basically, you raise money and run in the "Rock 'n' Roll" marathon (or half) in San Diego.  Since I recognized and had been part of the charity I went and donated a few dollars and was talking to the woman about my experience.  As we walked to the car McKayla started asking questions about what it was and what the money was for.  Once I told her she immediately asked, "Can I give them some of my money?" So we went back to the booth they had set up and she gave them $15.00 (how much she had decided to donate). When we got home she ran to her piggy bank and gave me $15.00.  She has also participated with me in fundraisers for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Cancer Society. 

A couple days before she did her lemonade stand we got supplies (straws, cups, lemonade mix, soda, water), decided on prices, and made signs.  We put a sign up on Bannerman and two more leading people to our home. 

The sign on Bannerman

Justin and I may have helped with the signs :)

You're almost there...

Seth and McKayla are ready for customers. 

The neighbors helped too!!!

I must say, I was really impressed with all of our neighbors, many of them stopped by and gave much more than the cost of a drink.  We also had family and friends that came out to support the cause.  How much did they raise?

 

$126 

 

We are over the moon proud of these kids!!!