Fundraising Award / New Vest and Hoses

Poster at the awards ceremony above...

Close up of Lil' Chris' pic on the poster:)...

New Pipeline chart...

The award I was given at the award ceremony:) YEA!!...

A few nights ago, Chris and I went to an Appreciation Ceremony on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I was awarded for all my fundraising efforts and for raising the most money for the Wooster walk this past year!! YEA!! It's all thanks to YOU all who donated and to Kohl's for all the $500 grants for most of my fundraiser!!

So THANK YOU to:

• ALL my friends and family who donated
• ALL my awesome neighbors who donated, did a bake sale, and came to the walk:)


• ALL my Kohl's associates who helped out with all my fundraisers


• My boss, Bob, for letting me do Jeans 4 Genes days at work for 4 months and to ALL the associates who participated:)


• EVERYONE from the motorcycle run
  
• CiCi's Pizza for letting me do most of my fundraisers there AND for the 12 or 13 different CiCi's Pizza that did Pin-Ups for CF for the month of May.
• all the other restaurants I did a fundraiser at...Tumbleweed, Applebee's, & Friendly's.


• my MIL for setting up a walk in NJ for Lil' Chris and doing other fundraisers as well


• my sister, D, for setting up a walk in NC and doing fundraisers at her kids school and at a bouncy house.


• and ALL that made the walk a success!!

I couldn't have done it without you ALL!!!! CF WILL STAND FOR CURE FOUND SOON!!!!

In other news....I had to order ANOTHER set of hoses for the Vest!! I think that's the 5th or 6th time since we got the new blue Vest and it hasn't even been a year yet!! YIKES!! Hopefully they improve the new Vests soon. I also told them that the velcro on the shoulder straps are not sticking very well anymore too. They said to just order a new one and when it gets too bad, we can just change it. So we got the 2 new hoses and new blue outer shell the other day. I haven't washed the new shell yet, so here is a pic of what the old one was doing...(we had to keep the straps in the back instead of the front to make it tight, b/c it stuck better back there but would still pop off sometimes)....

Thanks again everybody for all that you do for Lil' Chris!! We love you all!!

M

CiCi's Pizza Fundraiser Results

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes a few days ago:) Unfortunately I woke up with a cold on my birthday:( Ughhhh! Ayla ended up getting it on the 25th and today Lil' Chris' nose has been running;( I wore my hospital mask around him, but he probably got it from Ayla. It's hard to keep them 2 apart;) Oh well, he can't go forever without getting a cold. He has done so well this winter! This is his first cold in a long time, so I can't complain. He still has a dry cough every now and then. It mainly shows up when he is crying...not sure if he is making himself do it though, so he doesn't have to do what he is asked to do or so he doesn't get in trouble for doing something bad...if you know what I mean;-) lol I'm keeping my eye on him though. Our next clinic appt is on March 31st.

On the 25th, I had another fundraiser at CiCi's Pizza from 4pm-8pm and it was a huge success!! I was able to get the 4 other Kohl's associates, so that means we will get the $500 grant from Kohl's! YEA!! Plus we got $150 in tips, donations, and raffle money!! It was pretty busy, even though it was snowing and the wind was just whipping around out there. I won't find out what we raised in the 10% of every ones bills for another couple of weeks. I'm guessing it's around $100. So if it is $100, then that brings the total to $750!! YEA!! I think I probably could have raised more, but I was sooooo sick that night. My nose just kept running and running. Luckily I have my clip on sanitizer;) It definitely came in handy that night! I tried to keep what I said to the customers short so my nose wouldn't run in front of them. Sad isn't it? But I would do it again for my Lil' Chris;-) He's worth it all!!

Our next fundraiser is on Tues March 9th all day long at Tumbleweed Restaurant. They will donate 10% of your bill IF you present the fundraiser coupon. Hopefully this time it won't be a blizzard like last time on Feb 9th! We only raised $8.80 that time. Which basically was just from my husband and I eating lunch and dinner and dessert there. Chris convinced the guy who worked with him that night to eat there too, so that was cool:) Plus when I went there to pick up my lunch, I gave a coupon to a table that had 3 customers;) Tumbleweed will never know;-) lol That is unless they read this blog;-) LOL :) Oh well, we got 2 feet of snow that day!!

Our next CiCi's fundraiser is on Thurs March 25th from 4pm-8pm. Come join us in the fun! We will be raffling off a basket full of Bath and Body Works products thanks to Stacy A. and Amy P. :) Thanks again girls!! The customer who won the basket the other night was Tina!! Congrats Tina!! Luckily she was coming to Kohl's the next day, so she just picked up her prize there;) It's so nice that Kohl's and CiCi's are right next to each other:)

So I didn't get anyone to donate $5 on my birthday, but Wayne Savings Community Bank donated $125 and is now my first "Single Rose Sponsor"!!! YEA!! Plus they are going to do Jeans 4 Genes too!! YEA!! I'm so excited!! Thank you Jeanette for spreading the word about Cystic Fibrosis and for getting the sponsorship!! You're AWESOME!! Tell your co-workers I said "Thank You for doing the Jeans 4 Genes for CF!!" Getting this news on my birthday just made my day:)

Also, "Thank You to Barb N." from work for your online donation!!! Thanks for always supporting Lil' Chris:) You're the best!!

My new total that I have raised that is showing up on my Great Strides page right now, is $1890.99!! Then if we add the $8.80 and the $750, that gives us $2649.79!! YEA!! My overall goal is $5000, so we are half way there;-) YEA!! 4 fundraisers down, 4 more to go!! I can't wait for our walk on May 1st!!

Lastly, Oma(my MIL) left today;( She was here for 2 weeks and it was GREAT!! She definitely spoiled me...I didn't have to touch the dishes, the laundry, the cooking, or the kids;) LOL

THANK YOU, OMA!! YOU'RE THE BEST!!

I hope you all have a GREAT day!!
M
PS. Pics to come of our time with Oma!!

FOX 8 Kalahari Contest/Update/CPT

Guess what??? I just submitted an entry to a Kalahari Contest that FOX 8 News is doing!! I really hope we win!! It is for 2 days at Kalahari Resorts Sandusky....we all know Lil' Chris LOVES Kalahari, even though he has only been there once;) If you would like to submit too, go to fox8.com. It is only until 11/1 so hurry!! There are going to be 15 winners!! I think it's awesome that they are doing this and I hope that some really deserving people win it. Now if only they had a Disney Contest....;-) I'm still determined to take Lil' Chris to Disney no matter what it takes! Some Christmas ideas....Disney bucks or just money to go to Disney:) Thanks.

I just put a link to the Kalahari video post up top of this blog, b/c he asks to see it EVERYDAY and I got tired of searching for it each time. Now it will be nice and easy to get to:)

Ronnie and Christina had a great post the other day on their blogs about CPT(Chest Physical Therapy: what we used to do to Lil' Chris before we got the Vest). I would show you a video of us doing CPT to Lil' Chris when he was a baby, but I don't think I ever took any, b/c it was too depressing. I didn't want that memory...it was a hard time for my husband and I to have to pound on our lil' baby like that. I thank God everyday that we were fortunate enough to get the Vest for Lil' Chris. It has made all of our lives soooooo much easier! Click here to see his last Vest video, and click here to see Ronnie's post about CPT and he also included Christina's post:) In Christina's video...I think it is around 13 minutes in that it shows her doing CPT on her son(what we used to do). Just watching it brought back all the memories of my arm killing me!!!

Update on Lil' Chris' cold....it is all gone, even his cough thankfully.....but unfortunately Ayla's nose started running yesterday:( I'll keep you posted.

Good news....we raised $200 for our first month of doing Jeans 4 Genes at work!! YEA!!! 3 more months to go, if we keep this pace up, that means we will raise $800 for a CURE for CF!!! Praise God!

We can't wait for Nov 12th, we are going to the 2nd Annual Volunteer Appreciation Reception which honor's our chapter's outstanding volunteer leaders with Robert J. Beall, Ph.D. as the special guest. He is the President & Chief Executive Officer of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. We are going to hear about the latest scientific advancements and progress we're making in the fight against Cystic Fibrosis. I'll share any good info I get;-)

Have a GREAT day!
M

Ayla has 2 more teeth!!

Ayla now has 4 teeth...well, the 2 on top are still coming in but are sooooo cute;)

She is getting into all her big brothers toys now and she is getting UNDER some of them...the slide;-)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We've raised $130 in the first 3 weeks of doing Jeans 4 Genes at work!! Everybody at work has always been so supportive of Lil' Chris. We greatly appreciate everything!! 14 more weeks to go!!

Lil' Chris' cold is getting much better!! His nose isn't running nearly as much as it was, thank God! He was quit cranky today, but who wouldn't be after not getting much sleep for 2 days. Last night he did sleep through the whole night though...Mommy was VERY grateful;-) His cough has gotten a little bit worse unfortunately:( Needless to say...he is doing more Vest treatments to help break up that mucus in his lungs. Hopefully he won't need an antibiotic, but I have a feeling he might need one if it doesn't clear up in a couple of days:(

I'll keep you posted. Please pray that the rest of us don't get sick too.
Thanks,
M
BTW.........remember that diet blog that I started back in April??? Welllllllll........I've lost 35 pounds!!!!! YEA!!!! I'll post another "after" pic soon;-)

Raised $80 in just 2 weeks!! YEA!! Wanna help?

Yea we raised $80 in 2 weeks for a CURE for Cystic Fibrosis!!!

My boss at work has approved us to do Jeans 4 Genes at work for the whole 4th quarter!! That means that any associate that wants to wear jeans on our slow days(Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays) can donate $3 to wear jeans and $2 to wear sneakers(or tennis shoes as they say out here...LOL;) for the months of October thru January!!! It's been 2 weeks and we have already raised $80!! I can't wait to see the end result in January;-) Thank you to all my fellow associates who have been participating:) We are getting closer to a CURE every day because of you:)

For my family and friends...if you would like to help out and do Jeans 4 Genes at your work for Lil' Chris, please comment on this post or email me and I can set you up with flyers and stickers:) I would love to get more help in raising money to help find a CURE!!

We need that CURE ASAP!!!! 2 of my fellow CF mom bloggers have been in the hospital recently with their little ones. Please pray for Ashley as she is out of the hospital now and has lots of treatments, and pray for Reilly who hopefully will get out of the hospital Monday but will also have many at home treatments. These 2 little girls have amazed me with all that they have gone thru and yet always have a smile for the camera. I can't imagine Lil' Chris having to stay in the hospital for 4, 5, or 6 days! I keep thinking about it, but my husband tells me not to. He says we will deal with it when the time comes. I pray it never comes, but I know it is inevitable with this horrible disease. . . unless we find a CURE! So help me out everyone! Ask your boss today if your work would be able to do Jeans 4 Genes. It can be once a week or once a month! Every penny helps! If your work is already casual or aren't allowed to wear jeans, then click here for some other fun fundraising ideas:)

Please let me know if you have any questions and thanks in advance for helping us get closer to a CURE,

M