Lucky Smiles Picnic

Today we hosted our 2nd family fun day for our local craniofacial families. We had a fantastic day and everyone had a great time. This event was much smaller than last year. Last year we had it at a zoo in Syracuse and we had almost 150 people. This year we had 50 but still had fun. I think the location is what did it in for most. Being in Binghamton and almost all of our invites went to Syracuse families - the drive was just to much for them. So you live and learn. This picnic was a challenge for me this year as it was my first one of it's kind and I had so much other personal stuff going on. Between vacations, other parties and my mind pre-occupied with things going on with Cody, not to mention lining up donations and getting people to return a phone call - but the day went off without a hitch (or close to it). The whole event was sponsored by cleftAdvocate and thanks to Debbie we couldn't have done it without them. So a huge thank you to them. We also had two local guys donate their time and services to provide our entertainment to the kids. We had BoBo the Clown. A HUGE hit with the kids. He had them up and helping, throwing their magic dust around and everyone was in stitches. We also had a balloon artist that came and made all sorts of balloon figures for the kids. They loved this. If one popped, out came another. My neighbor came and did our face painting. The kids all looked so cute - of course though my 3 weren't impressed. A co-worker of mine came and took all of our pictures. He does it on the side and it was just so nice to have an event photographer. I saw lots of families mingling and it was so nice to see old faces and meet new ones. Its also amazing that when you get talking with other parents how much our kids do have in common. I personally came away from today with some great connections.

A big thank you to my family for helping and supporting me. I couldn't do all that I do without them. Today went seamless. My mom came to the house to watch the kids while Brett and I went to the park to set up. So much easier than having them under foot. After getting to the park, I realized that the pavilion wasn't where I thought, so I frantically called my brother-in-law and he came to my rescue with a sign to put at the end of the drive to let families know where to come. Also thanks to my sister who just steps up with setting things up, she knows what I want and where to do it without asking and mingles right in with the families. And to my husband, who sometimes I never get to thank and sometimes we seem to be at each others throats........he was my run man. He ran to get balloons filled, pick up pizza, call me from the party store as I send him all over the isles to get things that I just have to have, never complained - well until the balloons escaped from the Explorer and floated high into the sky! Yah, he was kind of ticked. He was tying smiley face ones around the park so people knew where to go, had gotten 2 up and left the windows open and out they went. So.......he's not in charge of balloons again! :) .

And of course a big thank you to my Cody, who would of ever thought that 4 years ago when you came into my world we would be where we are today. You are my inspiration to help other families on our journey. It's not an easy one and I don't doubt we will have lots of bumps but your smile lights up my life, to hear you giggle sends a shiver down my spine and to see you interact at an event in your honor (because without you I wouldn't be doing what I am doing) puts a huge smile on my face. I love you!