Can You Call It A Birthday Party????

Question-Can you call it a birthday party if the birthday girl isn't there?
Answer-I can call it whatever I want :).

It didn't seem right to let Penelope's birthday pass without some sort of recognition so I decided we would celebrate for her. As much as I wish she would have been here in Illinois eating her cake instead of in Luoyang, I know she will never have another birthday without us, so we'll have some fun in her honor while we wait.

 The Red Thread Station.
Wear a red thread bracelet for Penelope Mei

 Quincy and I showing off our bracelets.

The Fingerprint Tree. We asked everyone to add their fingerprints. We're helping start Penelope's new Family Tree!

             

 I absolutely LOVE how this is turning out!

                                                                     

Instead of gifts, we asked for donations for Penelope's orphanage. Our tentative plan is to bring them in a carry on with us to China.  

       

 It may have been even more of a success than I was prepared for!

This is so awesome!!

Super Cute Cake!! 

Even cuter guests! 

We all said prayers and made our wishes for Penelope Mei. The Chinese wish lanterns were very cool!

You can not believe how high and how far they go! Pictures do not do it justice!

Dear Penelope,

Happy 2nd Birthday. 

You will not believe how many people love you!

Hurry Home.

Love,

Your Mama

Happy Birthday Penelope Mei and #RAKforher

Today Penelope Mei turns 2. 

I was completely prepared to be a hot mess today. It is physically painful to know that I missed her birthday. I hate it so much. I was sure I would mope and pout all day. 

To say the day turned out different than I thought was the understatement of the century!

I woke up to the best surprise I could possibly have besides getting my girl, new pictures! We were able to send Penelope a birthday cake. Today we got pictures of her birthday party!

Her cake looks super yummy!

Ok, how adorable is she? So, so beautiful.  

She got to share her cake with her friends! 

Love her barrettes, they're Minnie Mouse! Love this spunky little guy next to her. 

So they pictures would have been more than enough, but it got better. My fabulous sister Sarah decided we could do something good with today in Penelope's name. 

She started 24 hours of Random Acts of Kindness in Penelope's honor. #rakforher if you're part of the twitter world.

                                 

Personally I think what transpired today was kind of amazing. Sarah started it out last night with buying the polar pop of the next guy in line. From there, it has snow balled. I know I won't get everything, but I have to get this down. 

Penelope, today so much joy was spread in your name. I hope you could feel the love from the other side of the world!

~Rebekah gave 2 free casual passes to her coworkers. I assumed that meant she didn't call them out for a terrible outfit but maybe it's a real thing?

~I brought donuts for my office.

                                    

~Kelley made a donation to Make a Wish in Penelope's name

~Rebekah bought lunch for her coworkers

~Lisa made a donation to Planned Parenthood in Penelope's name. She also did this most amazing blog post, go check it out! She rules.

~Sarah paid for someone else's spin class

                                               

~I donated to CCAI's Henan Project supporting orphanages in Penelope's province in China.

 ~Monty bought lunch for his crew

~Rebekah's boss who we have never met donated to the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Drive in Penelope's name

~Dayna Lewis made chili for her neighbor

 ~Suzy Steber and Sarah both gave away lottery tickets


 ~Sarah sent Penelope flowers

~I donated to the Jeff Collins Suck It Cancer fund. Sarah said donations were up today!

~One of Rebekah's coworkers bought drinks for the people behind her in the drive through line

~Dora made a donation to the Oblong Christian Children's Home

~My friend Jill Michl took gift certificates for free ice cream cones to the entire Ste Marie School! She did it anonymously but I'm calling her out! 4 kindergarten classes, 2 pre k classes, and all the staff.

She has Penelope's initials on them :)

This is Dexter's class proudly holding their treasure!

I'm copying what fabulous Principal Kathy Johnson posted on the school's website and facebook page....

Today at approximately 1:00, an envelope with enough coupons for every Ste. Marie Elementary student and staff to get a free ice cream cone from The Freeze was delivered to SME.

When I delivered the coupons to each class, we talked about Random Acts of Kindness and what that meant.

One kindergarten student said, "If everyone did that, then the whole world would be nice to each other!" To the Random Acts of Kindness person: THANK YOU FOR BEING NICE!

 This turned out to be so much more than I ever could have imagined. The idea of well over 100 kids going home and telling their parents not just about their ice cream cone, but what it means. This is huge.

~Sarah rounded out #rakforher with one more polar pop give away

Please know, I'm not posting any of this to point anyone's good works, though there were a lot of them! I want you to have a chance to share in the joy that my family, friends, and perfect strangers brought me today. I can't imagine a better gift than joy. Today I received so much, my cup runneth over. I'm not sure words can do justice to what this represents to me. In short, Penelope matters. Not just to me. Today she mattered to so many people.
I know Penelope will read this some day. I'd like to think that this is one she reads a lot.

Thank You Thank You Thank You to everyone who participated in #rakforher. 

Sarah thank you so much for thinking of it. It was so much fun. It's not too late to pass it on! 

And to Penelope, I promise we will never miss another birthday again!!

Newton Football 2013

Another Newton Eagle Football season has come to an end. We were SOOOO not ready for football to be over this year!
Truth-there have been years where I was ready for it to be over I was much less sad to see it end. This was no one of them, we had a GREAT time!
I think I see high school football from a much different perspective than most. I am the wife of the coach.
I wish I could say I have handled it with the never ending grace and dignity I watched Jadean have all those years with Coach Bob, but the truth is that has not always been the case.
I have come to terms with the fact that many, many people will never have the chance to know Jason. Not Coach Fulton, but Jason.
I promise if you did, you would never scream at him from the stands. You would never ever send him an anonymous letter filled with so much hate that I try not to remember it. You would not shame yourself, your family, and your school board by standing in a public forum to speak against him. You would not make yourself look even more the fool wasting time at the ball park trying to get others to rise up with you. You would not call board member after board member to see what it will take to get him fired.

The truth is, he's this guy. 

The guy who's not embarrassed to wear matching tye died Christmas Mickey Mouse shirts at Disney world because he knows it make his wife happy.

Or matching Fulton Family Vacation shirts because it is a tradition. 

He's the guy that takes pictures on the first day of Pre-K cause I had to work. 

He's the guy who said YES to him.... 

And Him.... 

And to Her. 

So whatever you think you know about him, think again.

That being said, on to football 2013!....

Newton Eagle Football 2013 Continued

As I was saying, this season was so fun!! One game away from play offs. We hated to see it end. This was a great group of kids.
Again, I come from somewhat of a different perspective. I may be the wife of the coach, but I know nothing about football. Or any other sport for that matter. So I can't tell you anything about the plays. Or the offense. Or the defense. Or what you really call the hiker.
But I can tell you that the parents of Newton Football should be proud of the sons they are raising! They are great kids with wonderful manners. We love having them around our house and our kids!

Newton Eagle Football has the prettiest and best managers!

These were taken from my yard. Jason always says we have the best view in the county!

I get a little confused of which game was which from here on out...

Go Cheerleaders! 

These pictures get me ever time!

Go Payton!

Look up, don't miss her flying high above the band!

Here comes the Eagles!

Running through the paper-I'll always call it the paper.

I can't type this without crying. Payton is a senior. 

My favorite cheerleader has cheered her last football game!

Dex and Q showing their Eagle Pride.

Q and I apparently showing our Miley side??

All hail the king!

The band was GREAT this year! I loved the show. I always love the band but this show has been my favorite for a while!!

We love the HILL!! We love Coach Short!

Gabe got called up to the big show, he spotted one game for Shane. Jackie went up to take this picture for me, I'm too scared to get that high in the stands.

I like to tell myself that Payton and I look alike. I love this girl so much! She had a GREAT football season for a few reasons. Very fun to watch. I can't wait to see whats next for my favorite niece!

Quinn caught a football! Every game he acts like he's never gotten one before :)

Dex and Bamp.

Love this.

The huddle. Looks like we won!

Jason and Gabe, hard to believe Gabe will be on the freshman team next year!

Bonus shot-Bill and I have a special football bond :).

We had great seniors, we hate to see them go. We made some good friends this season, I hate for Michael to be done and hate to not have Jamie and Tina but hopefully they'll still be around. Can't wait to be a football mom with Jessica Frohning-she understands the game so I know its safe to cheer when she cheers.

We loved having Coach Tarr, it was great to have his family around.

K Klier became a dad. Kamden is just precious beyond words!

I was so impressed with Stephani Beverlin, she works her butt off all week at school but still made it home to cheer on her hubby and the team. Football wouldn't be the same without all these and many many more!

Jackie Schackmann is always a huge help to me, and this season was no different. Thank you thank you thank you!

I couldn't get through the season without my mom, my sisters, and Nanny. They keep me going with planning and making food and taking us to all the games. 

So all in all, a great season. Wish we could have kept playing, but I think its safe to say we have a lot to look forward to in years to come.

As Always, Go Eagles!!