Friday, December 30, 2011

So Small, Yet So Big

You're pint sized,

But the lessons you teach are big.

I thank you Aviana.

I thank you for inspiring us all.

I thank you my dear little one.

I thank you for showing us how to visualize.

How to come together for a common goal,

Of good.

I thank you for showing me how,

For teaching me,

For driving me,

For guiding me.

For you are the heart,

That kept everything working.

When the lines sometimes blurred,

You were the focus.

You, my itty bitty,

Are the driving force.

Without a word,

You have taught us to appreciate the little,

The minuscule.

Look what you did Little Miss!

Can you see what you created?

A masterpiece.

A tapestry of everyone,

Together.

You have taught us to give greatly of ourselves.

To use our lives.

Above all,

You have taught me to use my body.

Because you can't,

I often feel like I need to.

For you,

And for me.

Because you can't,

I can.

And always will.

For you,

And for me.

For that is one of many reasons,

We make a good pair.

Before you,

I wanted to give physically,

But never found the time.

Let's be honest,

If I really wanted to,

I would have made the time,

Right?

Right.

Thank you for being you.

Thank you for showing us what's most important.

Thank you for giving me one of life's greatest gifts.

And that is,

The gift of truly giving.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Thank you!

I wanted to take the time to thank all of the businesses who helped us out as well. You all made it that much sweeter ; )

The families and hospital staff really appreciated all of your good will!




Thank you to William, Cari and Katy!

They provided cups, lids, straws, via packets, etc. 

Thank you all so much! And thank you to the downtown location for helping, too!

Four Starbucks locations helped us out. 

Awesome!




Thank you to Adrienne. 

She provided coupons for 20 cupcakes!





Thank you to Jake ~ you are truly amazing!

He provided two beautiful platters of 50 cookies each.

They were given to UCD and Kaiser.




Thank you to Stephanie! You are an absolute sweetheart. 

She provided a $100 Gift Card for supplies!




Thank you to all at Noah's Bagel!

They provided 70 bagels and boxes. These bagels were given to UCD and Kaiser.




Thank you Taco Bell. 

They provided certificates for meals.

I {heart} you!




Thank you to Bed, Bath & Beyond Corporate

They provided a $20 Gift Card, which went towards supplies.




Thank you to Theresa at Panera.

They provided 50 cookies which were given to Sutter.




Thank you Krispy Kreme!

These donuts were given to Kaiser, Sutter and the Homeless of Sacramento.




And one very special charity donated to us this year. You might remember Jennifer Tran of Red Balloon. She is a beautiful soul. She had contacted us last year and wanted to dedicate her benefit concert to Aviana. We were honored. This girl is changing the world. 

Thank you Jennifer!


Monday, December 26, 2011

The Best for Last

I only have a few more of these kinds of posts rolling around my head ;o)  I just have to share this one with you though! My mom had gone into Krispy Kreme a few weeks ago and asked if they would be willing to donate to our care packages. A woman named Susan called me and said they would not be able to donate per se, but what she would be able to do is give us the leftover donuts on Christmas Eve. 

We were to arrive at closing and she would give us gloves and boxes and then roll out the racks of donuts that were left. Once we boxed them up, we were welcomed to take them to the hospitals.

I had no idea what was coming our way. Dave, my Mom, Gary and I arrived and were ready to go. 












As we were waiting, I had time to take a bunch of pictures. 




And of course we had time to have some fun with the hats!




❤ My Mommy Pie ❤








Awww....




So cute!









Once again, it all starts with a box!




We boxed racks and racks of donuts!








The boxes ~ once they were completed.




Yep, there was a row behind, too ;o)




The staff at Krispy Kreme were some of the most outstanding people. 

So kind, so helpful, so everything. 




So after we had boxed all of the donuts, they offered us many more racks of what they call "cake donuts."  These ones are sturdier and were able to be put into bags. We stayed and bagged every last donut, even though we wondered who on earth we would share all these donuts with.

This picture doesn't even include the bags of donuts that were in our car!




Here were the boxes.

We asked how many donuts they thought they had given us and were shocked by the answer. Are you ready for this? 

In total ~ they believe they provided us with over two hundred dozen. Yep, that would be over 2,400 donuts. Amazing!




We decided to divide and conquer. My mom and Gary went to Sutter Roseville, while we went to Kaiser.

We left them for anyone they wanted to share them with, but mainly all of the staff working late on Christmas Eve.

We also gave a few bags for them to take home to their families.




This was the Supervisor and I. He was so sweet.




On the way to the hospital, Dave and I decided we wanted to take the remaining bags of donuts to a homeless shelter. While I was having fun with the Kaiser staff (hats included), Dave was busy calling around.




I just had to get in on this action!



We could not find a shelter to donate to, as they were all closed, or we had missed the donation drop off hours. We decided to just head to Downtown Sacramento in order to find homeless people. Once we found them, our plan was to give out the many remaining bags.

Do you happen to remember that I keep a bag of dog treats for homeless doggies under my drivers side seat? Well, at this stop light, they came in more than handy. We handed this guy and his dog Bullet a bag of dog treats and a bag of donuts! 

I was so in love with his dog, especially in his little Christmas sweater. I asked him if I could take a picture of him and his dog. He said yes, and asked me if it was going to end up on My Space? We all laughed when he said that. I said no, but if it's ok, it would end up on my blog. He was cool with that!

We continued on, and found a few guys on a corner, but we still had a car full of donuts. We turned down a street and it was lined with tents and homeless people. We both got out and were handing bags and bags of donuts out. It was one of the best feelings of our entire lives. We were on cloud 9 all the way home.

Krispy Kreme ~ we thank you for your generosity! You have affected so many people!


Sunday, December 25, 2011

Friday, December 23, 2011

The Last One





Round 3 ~ Sutter Roseville

Car 1 ~ Me

Car 2 ~ Summer and Grant








Wow, just wow!




For the last time...this year.

My mom stayed and watched Aviana while we delivered this one.

Notice the ginormous man hand in this picture. Yes, Grant has abnormally monstrous hands. And beyond that, he high fived me after all the deliveries were done and not only just about knocked me completely over, but hurt the hell out of my poor little hand.

Watch out for the dangerous man hand!




Summer, Grant, Me

He looks innocent...he's not!












The ending of the care package delivery was bitter sweet. I was so happy to free them into the world, but so sad it was ending.

Bye, bye boxes.

I'll miss you,

but will be seeing you again next year.

I promise.

The Last Night


After we delivered to Kaiser and UCD ~ we had only twenty boxes left to make that night.
























Aviana was just going to sleep that night. 




Surprisingly, Dave was still awake.




And so was Rainey.




This is how she sits and watches us in the kitchen. It is so cute.

She moved the pillows like that too. She is extremely particular about ow and where her pillows are.




And look, you can see a bed again ; )