Fundraising Gurus

Mallory and Madison have been spending quite a bit of their time lately fundraising for their Washington DC trip next summer. They are a little more than halfway to their goal. They spent Saturday all day parking cars at a car show in Ottawa. It was not hard work, but it was not really fun, exciting, or entertaining. And it did rain, which meant we got a little bit wet, and they did have to have a parent present, which meant that I spent half a day there and then Jim came down and spent the other half of the day.

When I was a kid, we used to go to Ottawa all the time....they had a nice Saturday morning auction there, and we shopped at the Town and Country. I have been there probably hundreds of times - and somehow managed to get lost not once, but twice on my way home! Next weekend, the girls have to go back to Ottawa to work in a concession stand at a demolition derby.....I am hoping Jim will take them, as I am still feeling rather silly for getting lost in a place I should know how to get home from! Luckily, we did not get lost on the way there, so they were on time for their jobs!

After spending so much time fundraising for this CWF trip, I was feeling kind of good about having a lot of the money already in their accounts. What happens when I start to feel good? Well, that is when the school sends home a letter requesting your presence at a band meeting. At the band meeting, we were informed that the band director had gotten permission to take his band (including both Mallory and Madison) to New York over spring break. He stated that the cost per student will run about $800. BUT never fear - he had some FUNDRAISING ideas that we can do so that he is hoping that there will be no out of pocket expense at all! GREAT!! Just what I wanted to hear! So now I am on a committee that is planning "Cow Pie Bingo" and I am working at all the high school football games. Although this is actually an advantage, because I will get into the games for free, which means that I can watch the girls marching band without having to pay! Gotta look for the bright side right? Truly, these are both trips of a lifetime, and I sure don't want to deny the girls the opportunity to go if we can make it happen for them...plus they really have been putting in a ton of effort, so it makes it seem like its worth it!

Add that to the fact that they brought home class ring order forms though, and I am starting to get a good feel for how financially draining high school students are!

But totally worth it, of course!

And so, that is what our weekends are going to be made of from now until forever because when the girls get back from Washington next summer, it will be time for Colin to apply to go! And so by the time I get all 8 kids through high school, I may have a future career in fundraising! I just pray that our family, friends, grandparents and neighbors will still be talking to me by then!

We have also been up to our eyeballs in other activities. Preston and Quincy are signed up to play flag football, Cam and Colin's football teams are both doing pretty well. Colin played a lot in his game last week, and they did win a game finally. Cam's team has not won a game yet....and their players keep getting hurt, so it has been a little bit of a rough season!

Colin also got contacts, but it has been a little bit of a challenge. He can get them in, but it is very time consuming. He doesn't seem to have any trouble getting them out. He absolutely loves them once he gets them into his eyes, and thinks they will be great when he is playing sports. I never realized that he has kind of narrow eye sockets so I really think the struggle is to get his eyes open wide enough to place the contact. I am sure he will get it with a little more time and practice!

I think that pretty much brings the blog up to date. Things haven't been overly exciting around here lately! Just the normal day to day grind!