Friday night we participated in Relay for Life in Lake Park.

Relay for Life started in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt, a colorectal surgeon in Tacoma, WA ran and walked for 24 hours to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Since then it has grown in his community and has reached tons of hearts in other communities. We walk up to 24 hours (Lake Park's event was 18 hours) and ask friends, family members, and other community members to sponsor different teams in order to raise money for cancer research for the American Cancer Society. I love the fact that we walk to celebrate those who have battled cancer, remember those who have lost, and fight back against the disease.

I'm even more excited to get the girls involved in fundraising events at this age, so that reaching out to help their community will always be a part of who they are.

Here are some pictures from the event.

Getting ready for Relay...
Team Kelly campsite...I did not have a team this year, but since I was a committee member, one of the fellow committee members adopted me on her team. Bev Kelly lost her husband to Lung Cancer last year (3 months before the first Relay for Life for Lake Park).

This year's event had a Disney theme and Team Kelly's campsite was based on the Toy Story movies.

Barrel of Monkeys

"Ready to Play" Banner

Collage of Don Kelly (Bev's husband)

Building blocks "Team"

Building blocks "Kelly"

I was told last year's event was awesome, except they didn't have any place that the kids could play, and so when they switched venues...that was top on the list of must-haves. Lake Shore Park had it ALL! It was an awesome location with two playgrounds (one for 2-5 year olds, and one for 5-8 year olds). Also, it overlooked the ocean--so we had a nice breeze the entire night.

Opening Ceremony

Scientists for a Cure had 101 Dalmatian theme

Survivor Lap to begin the Relay

Kid Activities...making goo

Decorating our Luminaria bags

I am so sad that this came out blurry...each Luminaria Bag was lit at nightfall. Timber Trace Elementary school was not able to participate in the actual event, but we made them honorary members because they decorated bags for us. These bags decorated the track, as well as we were able to spell out the word "HOPE" with the bags. It was an extremely powerful view.

Gotta have a family picture!

Youngest walker at the event...she made a whole lap walking beside me without assistance! I was very proud and can't wait to remind her in the years to come.

My girls are so awesome and spectacular, not that I'm biases or anything! Both girls are loving their playroom and we love the location of it because we can all hang out together while they play. Gryffyn has been playing with the Fisher-Price House my parents gave Hannah for her first birthday and she learned how to put the shapes (triangle, square, circle, star) in the correct spots! So awesome and I love the smile she has afterwards when she realizes she got it right!
The girls love going to Publix Grocery store with me because Miss Lynne always gives them balloons that they get to play with the rest of the afternoon.
Gryffyn's new favorite food is Chicken and Grapes cooked with Applesauce and a dash of Cinnamon.
We just finished the Spring Session of Storytime at our local library, and have a few weeks until we start the next session. Until then I am trying new activities to see if the girls would prefer these activities to storytime. Yesterday we went to Loggerhead Marine Life Center for Storytime and I think we like the library's version better, but we did have fun looking at the turtles.









Today was our visit to the Park to have Pizza and Play. Gryffyn is getting really good at going down the slide. Hannah wanted to go on the monkey bars and I helped hold her as she crossed. She counted each monkey bar (7)!

We had such a great time last Sunday on Mother's Day. We went over to our friend Kristin's house for a swim and cookout. The Williamson Family joined us, as well as Bink and a few of Kristin's friends. Here are some fun pool pictures.










Daniel's sister, Diana, came to town for a conference on Wednesday and after she finished her conference on Thursday, we got to have a good visit until this morning when she flew back to Minnesota. We went to have sushi last night and the girls seemed to have a great time!

So Hannah has figured out a solution for what to do when visitors come and we don't have enough chairs at the kitchen table to accommodate. Do we ask them to sit at the island? No, Hannah will just sit on her rocking chair AT THE TABLE. I love seeing the solutions she comes up with...you can see her sitting, thinking it over, and then says "uh-huh" and it's a perfectly CUTE solution!
Pictures from today's Story Time at the Library. We go Mondays and Wednesdays and will be done with our 8-week Spring Session next week. It's been a blast.

We had a fun and "relaxing" weekend, except for Dan...he had lots of projects! Thankfully he finished all of his projects on Saturday in order to hang out with us wacky girls the rest of the weekend! We played outside, watched movies, and went to church on Sunday. Here are a few pictures from this weekend.


Today the girls and I worked on making some flowers for Mother's Day gifts for some special woman we know...shh, don't tell! These are the best kind of flowers because making them distract the girls for at least 2 hours and the flowers don't need watering to stay alive!