Wow!!! What an amazing event!!! I took the boys to relay with me for Relay for Life. I could not believe the turn-out from out little town. It was so amazing to see the support from so many people, businesses, organizations, squadrons, and churches in the community, all in the name of cancer research, awareness, and fund-raising.
Our squadron, the 3rd SOS Dragons, put together a team, The Relaying Dragons. One of our very own squadron spouses, Laurin Stamps, is a cancer survivor. She was not only our team captain, but she was the 2010 Honorary Chair for the entire event!!! For more information about this awesome event, check out the
Relay for Life website!!!Julia, Laurin and I painted the team banner. The theme for Relay for Life this year is "Celebrating Another Year!" You can't see the dragon really well in this picture, but his flames are lighting the candle on the birthday cake; a birthday cake which reads "Celebrating Another Year" in pink frosting.
This cake was designed to match the cake on the banner.
The boys were given party bags filled with candy! They were in sugar heaven!
We saw tons of people that we knew. Here we are with Charlie and Henry! How adorable do they look in their Relay for Life shirts???
The Opening Ceremonies were conducted by DJs from our local radio station and included the posting of the colors, the National Anthem, an invocation, cheerleaders, belly dancing, a survivor's laps, teams pictures, and a parade of teams. But the most moving part of night for me, was the speech that Laurin gave (as Honorary Chair) in which she talked about her battle with cancer. She talked about how she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 18, right as she was preparing to leave for college. She talked about how her world came crashing down on her and those she loved. But she also talk about how she fought back, went through chemo, and defeated cancer!!!!! She is now happily married and has an adorable stepson and a beautiful 4-month old baby! Praise God!!!
As part of the Opening Ceremonies, the survivors and their families walked a "Survivor's Lap." Here are the Stamps on their initial lap!
After the survivor's lap, the teams each lined up and took a lap as a team with the team banner. For the rest of the night, until 10 this morning, the teams all had atleast one person out relaying on the course at all times.
Of course, we took a little break for some playground time!
You know I had to snap this one of Miss Ree with Colin!
As it started to get dark (and chilly) we bundled up, got some hot chocolate and kept walking!
The boys absolutely LOVED the entire evening. Each time that we got back to our squadron's "campsite," Gehrig would beg me to go around another lap. Which we did, until almost 10pm!!!
Once it was completely dark, they held the Luminary Ceremony. The lap course had been lined with paper sack luminaries, upon which the names of survivors, as well as those who lost the battle to cancer, were written. As the thousands of names were read (in "memory of" or in "honor of"), the volunteers lit the candles!! How moving it was to see!! The pictures do not even do it justice!!
Laurin's Luminary.
Laurin, I praise God for your life and the stuggles that you have been through!!! I am so honored to know you and to call you my friend. You are such a beauiful light shining in this world!
Avery, I can not wait to meet you and introduce you to your cousins, Gehrig and Colin!
One with Colin, too!!!
That morning, to celebrate their preschool graduation, Gehrig's class had a pancake breakfast!
Colin shoving pancakes into his face! It does my heart good to see this child eat!
I swear, Colin thinks that he is part of the class.
I made clip boards for Ms. Cato and Mrs. Holt for end of the year gifts to thank them for all of their hard work and dedication to our little ones.
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Last week, to celebrate the end of the year, Gehrig's school had "Fun in the Sun" day! It was really similar to the field day we used to have when I was growing up. His class went around to various stations participating in fun activities, games, and relays. Another mom and I were in charge of the Balloon Pop station, so I didnt get pictures of all his whole afternoon, but here is what I did get.
Inflatable slip and slide!!!
I think that his favorite station was the watergun station. All the moms that were out on the battle field trying to take pictures got soaken wet!!!
I bought a some cheapie guns to have for extras...Colin loved them!
Plotting his next move????
Riding the train with his 4th grade buddy.
A little break for a Freezey Pop!
Of course, Colin got in on the Freezy Pop action!
One of the stations was a hair spray station.
Gehrig chose to have his hair sprayed red, orange and silver!
The bouncey houses were HUGE hits with the preschoolers!
And, of course, he had to show me how he had mastered the monkey bars!
Time sure is flying by! I truly can not believe that my little guy is headed for Kindergarten in the fall. We have decided to keep him at the Christian school. We just love his precious, little school, and ,Mrs. Curry, the teacher that he will have for kindergarten is PHENOMINAL!!!!!! Until then, we are ready to have a blast this summer!!!!
A super sill pose!
His class looked so SILLY! Even Ms. Cato dressed up!
Silly pose!
His buddy Evan came late, so we lined up again!
Also, it is Friday, so I videoed Gehrig saying his Bible Verse. 
The boys were given party bags filled with candy! They were in sugar heaven!
The Opening Ceremonies were conducted by DJs from our local radio station and included the posting of the colors, the National Anthem, an invocation, cheerleaders, belly dancing, a survivor's laps, teams pictures, and a parade of teams. But the most moving part of night for me, was the speech that Laurin gave (as Honorary Chair) in which she talked about her battle with cancer. She talked about how she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 18, right as she was preparing to leave for college. She talked about how her world came crashing down on her and those she loved. But she also talk about how she fought back, went through chemo, and defeated cancer!!!!! She is now happily married and has an adorable stepson and a beautiful 4-month old baby! Praise God!!!
As part of the Opening Ceremonies, the survivors and their families walked a "Survivor's Lap." Here are the Stamps on their initial lap!
After the survivor's lap, the teams each lined up and took a lap as a team with the team banner. For the rest of the night, until 10 this morning, the teams all had atleast one person out relaying on the course at all times. 
You know I had to snap this one of Miss Ree with Colin!
As it started to get dark (and chilly) we bundled up, got some hot chocolate and kept walking!
Once it was completely dark, they held the Luminary Ceremony. The lap course had been lined with paper sack luminaries, upon which the names of survivors, as well as those who lost the battle to cancer, were written. As the thousands of names were read (in "memory of" or in "honor of"), the volunteers lit the candles!! How moving it was to see!! The pictures do not even do it justice!!
Laurin's Luminary. 
Laurin, I praise God for your life and the stuggles that you have been through!!! I am so honored to know you and to call you my friend. You are such a beauiful light shining in this world! 
Sharon and I thought that it would be cute if we had each of the students walk in the next morning with a single flower for each of the teachers, and then, by the time all of the students had arrived in the morning, their teachers would have a full bouquet!! I thought that it would be even more fun if the teachers had a decorated vase to put their bouquets in.
And then I decorated with scrapbook paper, a ribbon, and a little tag that my friend, Lisa, designed for me!
I placed the vases on the teacher's desk and had each student walk in with a daisy stem. By the time all the students arrived at school, their desks had a bright, sunny boquet!! Ms. Cato and Mrs. Holt quickly figured out what the empty vases were for!!!
When searching for Teacher Appreciation gift ideas, I hit the JACKPOT when I stumbled across one of my n0w favorite blogs, Eighteen25.
asy peasy!!
For the next day, I tranformed this Symphony chocolate candy bar using the tag and tutorial from Eighteen25
Seriously cute, right????
For the last day, I made these adorable teacher supply and survival boxes following the tutorial on, yep, you guessed it, Eighteen25!!
I decorated it with scrapbook paper...can you tell that this is my new favorite paper???
After I made them, I realized that I forgot the ribbon! Oh well! 
Next, I filled each of the compartments with various teachers supplies, chocolates, mints, and hand sanitizer. Can you believe that I found all the cute designer supplies at Wal Mart???
Voila!!!
One last picture of Gehrig and his precious Pre-K teachers, Ms. Cato and Mrs. Holt! We appreciate all that they do for the little ones!
