Lady Bugs

Many of you know that Noelle LOVES ladybugs. Possibly more than she loves us. :-) A few weeks ago, we had a resident ladybug who decided that Noelle's bathroom made a good home. For a couple of days we got to watch this ladybug crawl all over Noelle's stuff. She also held it, which is a huge deal. She normally won't get within 6 feet of anything that resembles an insect.

I love these pictures because it just shows how happy she is and how even the simplest things are so neat to a child.

I only turned my head for 5 seconds...

Easter

This post is late because we had March of Dimes stuff up. We had fun celebrating Easter this year! Noelle had 3 different egg hunts, but we only have pictures from one. Here she is picking up some raisins at a friend's house. Someone there got a kick out of how excited she was about raisins! (I guess Noelle doesn't get to eat much candy, so to her raisins are a treat.)

Here she is on Easter morning, posing in her dress.

She's modeling some sock monkey house shoes she got in her Easter basket. (Rebecca, do you notice the Peeps in the background??) :-)

Noelle's Current Temper Tantrum

Yes...she has them, all you people who think she's a perfect angel all the time. :-) Anyway, the fit she's throwing right now is actually pretty funny.

Chris reminded me that tonight there is a new America's Funniest Home Videos on. Noelle really likes this show and calls it "The Show Where Everyone Falls Down." So I turn it on for her while we're waiting for Chris to come home. It's being constantly interrupted by commercials and severe weather bulletins. Everytime the news breaks in, Noelle cries and says, "I want to see everyone fall down!" She's also crying when the clips are not about people falling down.

In honor of AFV, here's my favorite clip of all time:

March for Babies Day

Today was the March for Babies! I had a great time, and am so glad that we chose to do this walk together! It was such a great way for us to honor Jeffrey's life. And I actually got through the whole day without crying! (Big victory for me!) :-)

Anyway, the 5K was great. My friend Mia ran with me. Unfortunately I didn't have a picture from that part because I didn't want to deal with a camera the whole time. I ended up walking for part of it, but beat my best time from when I ran a 5K on a treadmill, so that was kinda cool. Plus, it was great doing it with a friend! Thank you so much, Mia! It meant so much to me that you joined me for that part!

Later that morning more friends of ours joined us for the walk. There was a great turnout from the community. Here are the people who turned out to walk for our team:


This is a friend from MOPS who also came (her daughter just didn't want to be in the above picture.) She wrote about her own experience with March of Dimes here. I thought it was pretty cool.

Along the way they had "Memory Mile" for people who were walking in honor of babies. It was really special to us to have a banner for Jeffrey.


Noelle was in the stroller until the very end when she and Chris "sprinted" to the finish line. She was so cute running!
We all celebrated with a picnic lunch at the end. They had tons of food and lots of activities for the kids.
Thank you all so much for the way you've supported us through this journey! Love you all!

Update for March for Babies

First of all, I just want to thank you all for your support for March for Babies. So many of you have sponsored us and encouraged us and it has meant so much. I can honestly say that when I put the $500 goal, I thought it was a little bit too much, but I thought I'd at least try. So, anyway, thank you so much! Your money is definitely going to a worthy cause. It's not too late to help out, either. Just click on the side bar, and it'll take you to our fundraising page.

I've found out more information about the event that will be happening this Saturday. So for those of you in town, feel free to participate with us. There's a 5K at Redbud park. Registration starts at 7:30, and the race is at 8:30. The cost for this event is $25.

The actual "March for Babies" will happen at 10:30, with registration starting at 9:30. (Originally I had just planned on doing the 5K, but we've decided that our whole family will do the walk, too.) Because of the fund raising we've done, anyone is able to walk on our team for free. If you want to join our family, you just need to sign up that morning under the "Family Teams" tent. Our team name is "Team Jeffrey M." After the walk, there will be lots of family friendly activities...air castles, face painting, food, etc. Feel free to join us for any of it! The weather is supposed to be really nice that day.

We'll put up pictures of the event, and then will resume our regularly scheduled Noelle posts. :-) We've got some good ones coming up.

March for Babies

As you've noticed, I've added a couple of things to the blog regarding March of Dimes. (Be sure to click Play on the video above...it's pretty funny.) I sent out an email about the March for Babies, but want to post it here in case I didn't get everyone.

Howdy, Friends & Family!

I hope you are all doing well. As you are probably aware, our family experienced a great loss this year when our son, Jeffrey, passed away before he was born. This year, I've decided to take part in the March of Dimes' March for Babies in honor of our son's life. March of Dimes mission is to prevent birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. Please consider joining us by walking on our team or by sponsoring our event.

The money we raise helps save premature and sick babies. Premature birth is the #1 cause of newborn death and the biggest threat to babies' health today. Through March for Babies, the March of Dimes is funding important research to find out why premature birth happens and what can be done to prevent it. It's so important to give every baby a healthy start in life.

Contributing to my team online is fast, easy, and secure. You can donate directly from my personal webpage with a credit/debit card or PayPal. If you prefer, I can also accept cash or check. (Clicking the MOD button on the right will take you there.)

The event in Abilene is at Redbud Park on Saturday, April 25th. It is broken into two parts: a 5K run at 8:30am ($25 entry fee), and a 3-mile walk at 10:30am ($10 entry fee). I'm planning on doing the 5K, but would love to have you join us for either. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

With your support, there's hope.

Thank You!

Sarah

Miss Sexist meet Captain Blunt

(Sarah is using a hammer to nail up a schedule of events for Noelle.)

Noelle: "You can't use that (hammer), Mommy. You're not a boy!"

Chris: "Yes, she can. Mommy is very good at using a hammer."

**Noelle pauses and watches Mommy hammer for about 20 seconds**

Noelle: "It doesn't look very good Mommy."