Fundraiser Time!

Hello!

UPDATE: Fundraiser closed, but I've opened a Go Fund  Me account to keep track of our goal and to make it easier for out of town friends and family to donate.

Here is the link for that!!



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I am not one to do fundraisers, like ever, so this is new to me. However, my son Owen desperately wants to go on a school trip to Washington DC! He's very excited!  As an effort to raise money, his grandmother kindly donated one of her own handmade pieces of artwork as a raffle item.  (Pictured below)
This is a 14" tall and 6" wide piece of glass and mirror with a giant iron/metal lizard on it it. :) Owen picked this out especially for his fundraiser.

Please help Owen get to Washington DC next year. He is attending through the World Strides program. We have a trip ID and confirmation if anyone would like to see proof of the trip. There may be an option to donate directly to the trip account on World Strides as well, but I will have to look into how to do that.

 I'm putting the price per raffle ticket at $5 - buy one or as many as you'd like.  I have several methods for donation: we can do Paypal, check, or cash. Paypal will accept major debit/credit cards. If using Paypal, you can send money to our address: snipsnsnails5@yahoo.com
When you donate via Paypal, make sure to choose "send money to friends or family" OR "GIFT" -otherwise it will tax me. :(

I'm not sure how well I could ship this - it is fairly heavy. However I'm sure it could be done! I would have to charge a little for shipping, but if win and you aren't local then we can figure out the best way to get it to you!

Lastly, I'm running this raffle for four weeks for maximum visibility. :)  Please share share share and consider donating! I will be putting each person's name on a raffle ticket every time they donate. At the end of the four weeks I will video tape Owen drawing a name out of the bucket to be sure it's all fair and legit.

Drawing date will be July 8th by 10am Pacific time.

Thank you so much!!

One-on-One Time In a Big Family

Many people wonder/ask how each child gets special time with mom and dad in a large family.  For us, we rotate which child gets to run errands with us (store trips, shopping, etc).  Also, we make special trips for the kids to have mom and dad time alone.

One of these trips we just made last week...

Owen's favorite celebrity is Ariana Grande. He LOVES her. Once he told me that he was sad because he thinks that she has no clue that he even exists. Well we surprised him by buying him tickets to her concert when we found out that she was coming to our state!

We decided it would be even more fun to make a fun day out of it in Seattle while waiting for the concert. We packed in as many things as we could into one day...

First was the Pacific Science Museum... He loved all the hands on things to do there.

At the Pacific Science Center we saw the Pompeii exhibit. It was both fascinating and sad. 

Before we left the Pacific Science Center, we watch Furious 7 on the Imax screen! Owen was amazed...

Next we went up the Space Needle!! Gulp. I had to swallow my fear of heights for that one... the elevator ride was the worst. I didn't know if I was going to cry or pass out as we neared the top. This picture was taken on the way down, however. Otherwise I would have NEVER stood by those glass windows in the elevator. 

Owen got to have an Italian soda at the top of the Space Needle while we enjoyed the view. 

Then, before the concert, we ate at the most amazing Chinese restaurant. SOOOO good.

Finally, it was time for the concert! Owen was star-struck. His eyes didn't move much off the stage. He also HAD to have the glowing cat ears that everyone else in the crowd had. It required we wait in line for half an hour, but it was worth it. They were programmed to her music. It was super cool to see all the lights in the arena "dance" to her songs...

 So all in all, it was a great trip! Owen had the time of his life I think. It was great to have this one-on-one time with us.

Guess who's 7!!

Owen is!

Our last kid birthday of the year (yes we get them all done and out of the way by early spring haha!)!

Owen is very happy to finally have his birthday. It's hard for him to have to wait through all FOUR of his brothers' birthdays and not get his special day yet.

So he's been planning it for awhile.

He wants a basketball cake with Michael Jordan dunking a basket on it. :?
I think I'll get pretty close to that...Ebay has cool basketball figure cake toppers. ;)

For his present he wants the Dairy Queen Blizzard maker that he's been eyeing for a long time. Uggh.

For his special dinner....he's still thinking about it.

So on to the celebration of Owen. :)

Owen is our April Fools' day baby. He was due on April Fools' day too. However I can't claim an actual "born on the due date" baby because he was induced by my doctor. ;) There really wasn't a medical reason and who knows if I would have really gone into labor on my own that day, but I'm thinking I might have. I was dilated pretty far, about 4 cm. and having nightly contractions from about 37 weeks on. I was worried about getting to the hospital in time after finding babysitters for the kids, etc etc. So my OB offered to break my water to get things moving. I jumped at the chance of course. When I checked in though, I was already contracting on my own according to the monitor...so maybe my body was already in beginning labor?

Anyway, everything went perfect. He was my first epidural baby and it really was a dream labor/birth. He was great after birth, 9's on his APGARS. He was beautiful. :)

It wasn't until after they took him to the nursery that we found out there was a problem. He was born with a semi-rare condition of not having an anal opening.

Needless to say, when my husband told me this, on April Fools day remember, I told him that it was  NOT a funny joke.
They took Owen via ambulance to Seattle Children's a couple hours after he was born. I had Billy go with him because I wanted to go home and pack our stuff. My parents drove me to Seattle a couple hours after.
He was only there for about three days. The surgery they did on day two went great and he had no other complications or defects that could have also accompanied this type of defect.
We were so greatful!

Now poor Owen just has an embrassing story that he'll really hate me for telling everyone about one day. lol

Okay...now for seven fun facts about Owen.

1. He's the biggest clown I know! ;) He always says its because he was born on April Fools day.
2. He is obsessed with the name Isaac. I don't know why? But if he could rename himself, he would, to Isaac.
3. He is my most sensitive child by far.
4. He's a great little artist.
5. He's not a morning person, and is always the last one out of the house, usually missing a shoe or two. grrr
6. He so looks up to his older brothers and is always trying to grow up too fast! :(
7. He LOVES video games. I have to reign in his video game playing quite a bit.

Now...the last 7 yrs of Owen :)

Newborn...finally coming home from the hospital! Poor little guy has straches and sores on his face from the suction tubing he had on for three days (to keep his tummy empty).


First birthday!!



Second birthday with his Auntie



Proud to be Three! :)



His fourth birthday we spent at the Portland Zoo. :)



With Auntie again, for number 5!



Silly Owen is happy to be six. :)



Finally seven! Happy Birthday Owen!