Our Thursday

Here are the kids as we were heading out that day. We had taken the kids to Target to pick out some toys to donate....I told Leah she kinda looked like Santa with that big red bag of toys!

I ended up just taking Noah and Leah, we weren't sure how Rachel would act and she wasn't feeling well. As I said in the last post....this was a great, fun thing to do with them, and they enjoyed it too! I was SO SO proud of how good they were, and so helpful. They were truly excited to get to do that for the kids.

And, I truly think that Alicen Bennett and her husband that runs this...are Angels. Alicen has a fulltime job at DHS working with the adoption coalition. Then, she is the liason for The Call, so she does all the home studies and child placement for the families that train with the call. Then, she and her husband started this organizations a few years ago b/c she saw a need to provide a nice Christmas for the kids in Foster care. They have been up at the collection site every morning starting at 5 a.m. until 9, then on to sort the toys, and then off to their regular jobs!! I am truly amazed by all that she does.

I am also just so glad to see how much this organization has grown for them. They get a lot of media coverage, and just yesterday the collected over 1,000 toys....that has been their average everyday, along with a good amount of money she said they will use to buy items for the teenages.

Sorry this ones so blurry... again, had the mommy camera with me....this is the pile of girl's toys....this was the biggest pile of toys.

Everytime there was a big bag of stuffed animals, they gave it to Leah to count and stack
some had come wrapped, and they wanted them unwrapped so they could see what toys were there....so they recruited Noah and Leah to unwrap! They loved it!
All the toys are sorted into piles, and next week, the case workers will come and go "shopping" with the kid's X-mas lists in hand.
Good grief...do you see the spots on all these pics?? This is on the camera that I dropped..that is really annoying!
While I was waiting in line at WM, the kids were entertaining themselves on the Razorback row. Noah told me to take his pic, and I just happened to have my camera in my purse....I am sure the lady checking me out thought I was nuts...but she was kind enough to laugh!

The I let them ride the horse at the end b/c I acutally had enough quarters for once!

Today

O.K....I am so excited about today. I am SO glad I took my kids with me....the were super helpers!!!! It was awesome to get to share that with them and watch how excited they were....and not once did they ask for anything in return.....you know I had worried about that b/c you know kids who love toys.......

Anyway, I am absolutely exhausted...I have been sick this week....I got up at 5 am this morning,....something I NEVER do! Then went to the office a couple of hours, went and helped with the toys, then grocery shopping for 2 hrs with 2 kiddos in tow....then home for an engagement session...and more work at office.......Whew! I will post pics tomorrow!

Oh, and I haven't gotten any of my e=mails for comment moderation today....I was so surprised when I had 5 comments waiting on me!! And 2 on my photography blog.... Thanks for the love guys!!

Stuff the Sleigh

Look at what we are going to do tomorrow. We are going to go be Elves for Stuff the Sleigh. Alicen Bennett (who I have been working with at DHS) and her husband have created an organization to collect Christmas toys for Arkansas' Children in Foster Care. We will meet up at the collection site after the sleigh has picked up toys at Walmart and we will help sort them out. Then, next week, their case workers will come "shopping" for all the stuff the kids have on their list.

We are doing this as a family, so I am anxious to see how the kids act! I hope they will cooperate and really help instead of us spending the whole time chasing them down! I will try to take pictures.

Wordless Wednesday

My elf family

Check out my elf family....minus my hubby, it would only let me do 4.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1161002553

And here is another one that my friend did for me....the faces look better.


http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1160765549

More Ornaments

I am so used to posting everyday, it felt really weird not to yesterday! I have some pics on my little camera to post, but I don't feel like loading it...so here are a few more of my ornaments on my tree. These are just a few of my favorites. These are the ones I get excited about each year when I unpack them b/c I forget just how cute they are!

I found these at Dollar Tree. I guess I got these the first year I decided to do snowmen. I have several of these....and I love them.
One of my friends surprised me with this as a Christmas present one year. I wasn't expecting anything from her, and I don't think she even knew I like snowmen, so I was really excited!
I love this one! It was one of my after Christmas 75% markdowns that was once a really expensive ornament, that I got for super cheap! And he is iceskating...I love iceskating!

Frozen Army Men

Noah had the idea to put his army men in a cup and freeze them. We thought the results were kinda cool!

I love this one!