UNDER THE BIG TOP/3 RING CIRCUS ACT

Tonight was the Make-A-Wish annual Christmas party.  It's pretty much the funnest party EVER.  Of course we were really sad to go without Ben...he was always the guest of honor from our family.  I know he was there in spirit.  The theme for this year was "Under The Big Top" so we brought two of Ben's BIG elephants to represent.  The nice thing is that we were able to help out a little bit instead of completely receiving.  I say a little bit because you would be amazed at how many volunteers showed up to help.  WOW!  There were college kids and credit union people and random folks off the street.  It's always lovely to see so many people willing to help. I wish I had more pictures to share, but I was put on "picture taking duty" with our Wish Granters camera so SHE has all the pictures.  (hopefully I can get access to them soon)  There were lots of tables with so many things to do; sand art, face painting, beauty salon, ornament making, cupcake decorating, etc.  They always have a fun raffle where the kids win all kinds of donated gifts.  There were bouncy houses and basketball hoops, Santa's visit, photo booth, lots of characters roaming the party (Mickey, Minnie, Rudolph, Frosty) and FOOD!  Lots and lots of food.  The favorite every year is the chocolate fountain.  Our wish granters Maureen and Kim are the ones that pull the whole party off each year (AMAZING ladies), we feel so lucky to count them as family.  The news channel WMUR 9 showed up to do a piece on Make-A-Wish and Maureen approached our family and asked us if we would represent all the wish families.  How could we say no?  I'm not one that loves public speaking so Steve graciously stepped up as spokesperson while the rest of us stood there and looked pretty.  (ok, not really.  Kaleb was yawning in the background, I was teary, Kayla was embarrassed and Stevie had a giraffe painted all over her face)  Good times.  Hopefully they edit it to make us look good. :)  We are so grateful to this organization and look forward to many more ways to help give back now that Ben has passed away.  Thank you Kim and Maureen, thank you for making wishes come true. xo

On a side note, as we were driving home, we ran out of gas.  Thankfully we were just about a mile away from the gas station when it happened.  We pulled over into the breakdown lane, coasting about 10 miles an hour in neutral, when Steve told Kaleb to jump out and start pushing.  (he didn't want to completely stop the car from rolling)  10 miles an hour doesn't seem fast but when you're trying to jump out, it's a lot faster than it looks.  He did the 'tuck and roll' and had to sprint to catch up to us.  I think Steve anticipated the car coming to a complete stop but we were on a slight decline which kept the car rolling.  Kaleb couldn't keep up so now he's getting further and further behind (on the side of the highway, in the dark).  I told Steve to STOP the car but he didn't want to because it was moving steadily in the right direction.  I jumped out of the car and ran back to meet Kaleb who kept up a steady jog.  Steve finally slowed the car down enough for us to catch up.  He kept the car rolling, jumped OUT and maintained steering while I jumped INTO the drivers seat and took control.  (it was a three ring circus act...good grief)  I steered the car the last 1/4 mile while the two beefy boys in back pushed us into the gas station.  Nothing like an adventure on a cold, Sunday evening.  Thankfully I had $20 in cash (thank you Kathy) which gave us 6 gallons - enough to make it home.  

Here are some photo booth pictures from tonight...enjoy!