Everybody sing with me now, even if you won't admit it, you know the
song by Ernie. If you don't shame on you. I used to sing it at the top of my lungs with my little brother, Adam, just to annoy my dad. That and
"C is for Cookie"
Anyway, lately, the whole family has been obsessed with the little plastic yellow ducks. Not just the regular bath tub ones, but all the different decorated ones. Tonight we found the Sonny and Cher look-alike duckies in the bag of ducks. Yesterday, Suzanne received a shipment of over 100 ducks! It's ducky heaven (which we also have a ducky for).
If you don't know the reason for our ducky obsession, Make-A-Wish is the answer. Every year, the Utah chapter of Make A Wish holds a R
ubber Ducky Derby. This is the 21st year of the derby. Since Make A Wish has so graciously accepted Alia, my beautiful and inspirational niece, as a Wish Child, Alia and her family wanted to do something for Make-A-Wish in return.
Alia has never had a birthday party because her true b-day is in January. Not quite the conditions for a child who can have severe complications from even something as small as the common cold. The past year and a half have been really hard and she has had one of her lungs removed and had a broviac "installed" to keep her on some really strong antibiotics. Well, Alia wants a b-day party, but she has so much she wanted to sell duckies for the Make-A-Wish foundation. That is where our adventure begins.
Alia's birthday party has turned into an actual media event! A newspaper reporter from the Standard Examiner has called and asked questions. They will have a short write-up announcing the fundraising going on at the party, announcing Alia's own website for "selling" her duckies. Then, they will also be there on the day to take pics and do a full write-up for the newspaper. How cool is that?
Anyway, if you would like to sponsor a duck in Alia's honor, her website is
www.ducks4Alia.com
those of you outside of Utah, we know the top half, donor half, will not let you change your state from Utah - I was explained the reason, but don't remember the whole reason why...but the billing information will let you put in your state and billing will work perfectly.
Party planning has just gotten more interesting. Last week I did an quick photo shoot of Alia with about a dozen rubber duckies so we could get her invites sent out. We also did an event posting on Facebook. They've had such a great response to sponsor her duckies. She's already sold over 20 at $5 each. Her goal is to sell 100 - I'm hoping for a lot more.
Alia has had a lot of input into what she wants, her list includes: duck pond where you use a fishing net to catch ducks in a swimming pool, a bouncy house, and since she's into Monster's Inc right now, she wanted bowling with Mike W. as the ball and Randall on the pins. Jared (Alia's dad) painted some awesome eyeballs onto some green playground balls. My mom made a bean bag toss where she painted a duck. Seriously, this is a major b-day party.
There will also be popcorn, shaved ice and cotton candy for treats. Robby and Crystal have been working with a rental company to get the stuff for a really great price. Charlotte has been helping get games together....see it's a big family effort. We even had my aunt, Judy, write a poem that we used on the invites.
I am so thankful for such a supportive and giving family. It has been a great opportunity to teach Jenna about giving. Today Jenna asked if how she could earn $5 to buy a ducky. I also got the opportunity to go to the Make-A-Wish office and you could just tell dreams really did come true there. So cool.
As for us, we had a blast being able to be there. I went down 2 waterslides with Jenna...ummmm....ouch, but she had fun. We also went into the wave pool and got hit with the waves. Jenna also got to spend some much needed time with her uncle Russell (my little bro), he's leaving for a stint in Iraq or Afghanistan tomorrow morning. One week in TX, then off he goes.
