Laurie Kathryn's 6th Annual Butterfly Dance

It's that time of year again! The girls can not wait to strut around with

their butterfly wings again at

 

Sunday September 9, 2012



1-6pm at Patch Park in Charlestown, NH

There will be food, music, 3 bounce houses,

activities and more!

Donations are welcome and greatly appreciated.

All proceeds go to children's charities in the community.

The event is rain or shine.

 

(if you need directions google "Charlestown NH Ambulance" ,

the park is out behind their building or "Fort Number 4" which is

267 Springfield Rd, Charlestown, NH is next to the park...

either way, you can't miss it)

 

The following I snagged from Dee's facebook page:

 

"For those of you who are wondering what this event is all about-Laurie was mine and Stacy's daughter. Shortly after she turned 3, she acquired a virus that turned into a nasty strain of pneumonia. The illness only lasted a few days, but she passed away from it.
In memory of Laurie, we have a Butterfly Dance. She loved butterflies and dancing. Here, we raise money and turn it around and donate it to local charities that benefit children. Some of the charities include the Headstart programs, Christmas Fund, Toddler Program at the Charlestown Library, clothing a toddler who's house burned, summer pool passes, and more!
It is just a fun day for kids. The bounce houses keep them well entertained. We also have activity tables, music and dancing, food and raffles. Please come and join the fun! Your child will look forward to it all year:) "

 

Check out the event and invite friends on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/events/154563748000910/

The last week of summer vacation

Jeremy is stuck in class this entire week somewhere in the outskirts of Boston, so the girls and I decided it would be a perfect time to go and bug Grandmama and Papa. Our week has contained lots of visting of course but everyone has to work during the day so the girls and I have entertained ourselves shedding new life on our Tabs For Taylor well.

Not looking so new after 3 years of New England weather beating down upon it.

The fun began with peeling off the old vinyl.

And of course, no project would be complete without the kids getting in the middle of things. I'm glad she did though.....I never would have guessed she had grown this much in such little time... or just how bad the well really did look. Yikes! I should have been on that a while ago.
 

 

So I finally got things going but ran into issue after issue. The first problem: the red wouldn't cover the unweathered spots on the well

                Then, I needed 46 star stencils cut out of contact paper to stick on the white roof. The plan was to paint over the stencils then when I pulled them off, they would leave beautiful white perfect stars. Well, there is problem 2 and 3. Cutting them out took FOREVER! And to make matters worse, they peeled off the white paint and some blue when i tried to pull them off. GRRRRRR!

 

 

So we got a different color red and it covered the vacant letter spaces, and everything else for that matter, perfectly. Yay! Then it was time for the new graphics.

And a new info board.....full of pictures of course. And the painful task of trying my darndest to cover it all with contact paper to help prolong its life outdoors

And today, its finished! And looks awesome if I do say so myself. It will get the white stars on top at some point soon. I just need to get them.

Yesterday, Grandmama and Aunty Kathy took their previously planned day and tossed it in the trash to bring us to Storyland!
 

We had soooooooooooooooooooooo much fun! I can not even begin to tell you what a great day it was. Filled with Cinderella, Alice, Red, Tink, the StoryBops, Duke the Dragon, Humpty Dumpty, Corduroy....you know, the bear with the green overalls....I remember him from Miss Hesh's kindergarden class....you should too ;)  Tons of rides, and soaked is not even the word for Pharaoh's Reign. Oh my goodness was that fun! 

 

Back to reality

Ahhh the joys of "real" internet again. I could rock the high speed down in town but had virtually nothing at the homestead after Verizon turned their towers like a bunch of idiots >:( Oh well. I guess that's all in the past now. Now its just a waiting game for our bank to finish making us submit paper after paper and answer questions over and over again and then we can finally move into our new place. I can not wait to get in there and clean it, paint it and move my 8 tons of crap into it. Oh its gonna be awesome. Then it'll be time to find my broke butt a new job. BOOO! With Jeremy's new employer he's basically either at work or on call for work. The days of flowing opposite schedules are no more. Which makes reliability with kid drop offs and pick ups at school non existant. And, the kids have to go to two different schools this year. UGH! The preK is overloaded here so tons of kids are on the waiting list for not only this school but all their 'partner' schools. So Tayt going local is not going to happen. i did find her a spot in NH at a school Ashtyn went to a few years ago and I'm psyched about that but its private pay and not cheap by any means so I'm battling with the state of VT to cover at least their supposed required 10 hours of preK that is entitled to all VT kiddos and trying to figure out how to cover the rest of that. Yay. So whenever i can figure out the answers to all that crap, then i can work on the job issue. But for now its hold down the fort, get the bank, house, school and iep crud going forward, keep myself busy and this place cleaned, and help out with Gram as much as I can.

Shrine On Springfield 2012

x

Thank you everyone who strolled, roller skated, biked, was carried or walked Shrine On Springfield 2012!

Ellie Uhlig

Zane Putnam

Shawn Kincaid

Jaqi Kincaid

Beth Staples

Aiden Putnam
Wesley Putnam
Sam Putnam
Jess Rock
Justin Gallion
Darcy Lovell
Jayana Newhall

Jaxyn Lovell

Brockton Lovell
Bryan Butler  
Rachel Harrel  
Alana Butler 
Deb Burns 
Christine Brehio
Josh Brehio
Brody Brehio
Madison Brehio

Jack Brehio

Jackie Brehio
Kristi Morris   
Ajlyn Putnam  
Sam Putnam  
Jeremy Honeycutt 
Nina Honeycutt  
Taylor Honeycutt 

Ashtyn Honeycutt 

Julie St. Sauveur 
Ryan Sell 
Diane Gallion  
Clyde Gallion  
Leo LaFlamme 
Linda LaFlamme   
Linda Drew  
Candy Desrochers   
David Desrochers  
Cole Rapini  
Hanna Rapini   
Chris Rapini    
Jessica Bryant  
Cathy Hartmann    
Greg Precourt    
Jessi Dussault   
Charlie Dussault  
Lila Dussault 

Maebel Dussault

Tanya McAllister

And thank you guys for showing up for the walk before running off to conquer your zillions of parades that same morning!

Harold Rock
Mike Bamforth
Paul LaFlamme
Pat Sloan
Steven Stearns
Roger Adams
Wes Jewell
Ed LaFlamme
Thank you donors for enabling us to raise $1720 this year to help Shriners Hospitals for Children continue helping kids defy the odds!

Potentate Mt Sinai #3 Shawn Kincaid and Lady Jaqi
Past Potentate Mt Sinai #3 Leo LaFlamme and Lady Linda
Past Potentate Mt Sinai #3 Kristi Morris
Pastor of First Congregational Church in Springfield VT
Great Northern Comfort Home Improvements & Denis Chabot
John and Jane Waysville
Griffin Construction and The Dussault family
Maurine Parnet
Jack and Jackie Brehio
Empire Beauty Schools Inc
Pam Desrochers
Tonya Harding
Linda Drew
Leslie Huey
Glen and Lorraine Eckert
Candy and David Desrochers
Ashtyn and Taylor Honeycutt
Nicole Wheeler
High Priest of Bektash Richard Quindley
Ron and Sue Precourt
Kit N Kaboodle Consignments and Laurie Wallace
Paula Searles
Jessica Bryant
Beverly Waysville
Lori McElroy
Lisa Schulte
Scott Astle
Doug Hanson
Joanne Blodgett
John Hoscle
Kathy Chicoine
Cindy Stevens
Rick Sharron
Eileen Czechowicz
John Tomlinson
Lorie Desmarais
Stacy Gatto
Debbie Burns
Darcy Lovell
Tracy Lovell
Hubert Lovell
Justin Gallion
Opal Gallion
Miles Brock Lovell
Rich Pummer
Chris Rourke
Liam Smith
Tonya and Shawn Waters
Clyde and Diane Gallion
Bill Hauer
Mike Bryant
Bob Kirkbride
Rusty Towsley
Vinny Croney
Kim Stowell
Donna Jones
Betty Andreson
Bill Barrows
Bill O'Brien
Samantha Kuid
Connie Rathburn
Daniel Putnam
the "BATZ" Putnam family.

And, thank you to all of our tabbies. There are so SO many of you out there!

We had a ton of tabs brought to the walkathon thanks to

Deb Burns
Cole's Cause
Cathy Hartmann

They brought approximatly 40 gallons between them. A lot of the tab collectors had special stories and reasons for getting involved. It was amazing to hear them. The tabs turned in at the walk were from

Anthony LeClair
Rose Palmer
Debbie Burns
Florence Spaulding
Valley Regional Hospital Employees and Patients
Henry Marrotte
Bomar Company
Josh Brehio
Maplewood Nursing Home Employees
Greg Precourt and Cathy Hartmann
Cole's Cause friends and family

***we turned in about 280 gallons of tabs in July.....on top of the 140 gallons in February :)

Thanks again to our suppliers and sponsors

Doolittle's Print Serv
The Ink Factory
Roland III and Sue Irish
Ray St Sauveur and Linda Schettino
Candy and David Desrochers
Ron and Sue Precourt

and thanks to our volluntold cook Greg Precourt for all his hard work and keeping everyone's tummies full.



A huge thanks goes out to everyone who has helped us continue our mission. Your never ending support means the world to us. Every penny and every tab matters! Thank you all so very much. We are all looking forward to next year being even bigger and better than years past and we hope to see all of you as well as some new faces in June 2013!

Chaos and Mayhem is no where near accurate...

So after 2 years and some weeks of no 2000 sq ft house, no land line, oil, pellet stove or drier (we do have a washer!) no dishwasher, or electricity  even (unless the generator is on), no water bill, or septic bill, no pool, no garage, no route 12 traffic outside our living room window, or NECR smashing railcars at midnight because they still haven't learned how to properly make a hitch, no family near by to cure our boredom on those days we just can't entertain ourselves and no neighbors which also used to help us with our lacking entertainment..... We are about to rejoin the alleged 'real world' and head back south and east to our home-ish soil on the NH side of the Connecticut River. We will be welcoming back the real internet and looking forward to ditching our not-so-smart-phones. And the idea of being able to walk into a room and flick on a light switch is, well, very exciting..... I'm sure I won't think so the first electric bill we get :) And not hearing the hummmmmm of the genny will be nice as well.

But i'm going to miss the sound of silence. The coydogs chatting from our treeline at the camp to other coydogs at the north end, the scary ass bear that attempted to come visit us last weekend when we were tenting outside. Going up to the gamecam and having hundreds of pictures each day of all the wildthings around us. I'm even going to miss plowing the mile long driveway when there's 3 feet dumped on us overnight and splitting and stacking wood then having to hawl that garbage inside all winter when it's 40 below outside. I'm going to miss my residents. I'm absolutely devastated to leave them. And i'll miss most of my coworkers.... A few, i'll be happy to never see again ;) And I'm definitely going to miss the incredible teachers that both girls had this past year. I could not have asked for better. They rank right up their with Mr. Parker! For those that don't know, that's a major, major compliment. They are awesome!!!! I think the only thing I won't miss here is paying $9 for a jug of Miracle Whip and other such crazy prices for things and the what seemed to be never ending pipe freezing we had to deal with this past winter.

I have found comfort in knowing we'll still visit....and who knows, maybe in 20 years we really will build a house here and live out what's left of our days at 'camp'. But for now we are, once again, New Hampshire bound. To grass that's the same color, just a little bit more plentiful and a lot cheaper to mow.

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Taylor rocks the newspaper!

Many thanks to the Springfield Vermont News Blog www.springfieldvt.blogspot.com , the Newport Daily Express www.newportvermontdailyexpress.com and the Shopper http://www.vermontjournal.com/content/shopper-may-30-2012 for helping support us by spreading the word.

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Tabs For Taylor tab drop 7/2/12

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Shrine On Springfield and Tabs For Taylor

Shrine On Springfield and Tabs For Taylor

Helping Shriners Hospitals continue helping kids defy the odds!

　

Taylor Marie was born like most other babies. A full term, healthy little girl weighing in at 7lbs 7 oz. The only thing that made her birth out of the ordinary, Taylor was born with one hand. Around 6 weeks gestation, Taylor developed a blood clot which prohibited her arm from growing completely. Her left arm ends just below her elbow. Since her birth, she has been a patient of Shriners Hospitals for Children, where she receives prosthetics and participates in upper extremity clinics.

 

Shriners Hospitals for Children® is a health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Children up to age 18 with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for admission and receive all care in a family-centered environment with no financial obligation to the patient or their families. Shriners Hospitals relies on the generosity of donors to deliver this mission every day.

 

Taylor received her first arm prosthesis at 3 months of age and instantly fell in love. She has always been able to do everything she wants or needs with just her available hand, but as most of us know some tasks are easier with two. Taylor has always been a devout wearer and user of her prosthetics and will show any who see her that they are a useful tool and not an "unnecessary cosmetic" as some believe.

 

In the Spring of 2009, with the economy's rapid decline, the Shriners Hospital system, was faced with the grave possibility of having to close down their Springfield MA facility, where Taylor receives her care, as well as 5 of their other hospitals. Taylor's mother, Nina Honeycutt, along with some of her close friends, set out on a mission to aid in preventing the Springfield facility's shutdown and held a walkathon with the hope of gaining support and awareness to benefit the Springfield Shriners Hospital .

 

Leading up to that first walkathon, the friends realized financial uncertainty was preventing some would be supporters from being able to make monetary donations. The group also learned that Shriners and the Ladies of the Shrine, two of the main groups who support the hospitals, collect aluminum can tabs which benefit the hospitals and patients. The tabs are recycled as scrap and the money made in the process is then used to purchase items needed by the hospitals and patients ranging from books and games to IV pumps and X-ray machines. Tabs money can also be used for personalized adaptive equipment, or added into the transportation fund which assists families with the financial challenges they sometimes face in getting their child to the hospital. This fund also helps families with lodging so they may be nearby while their child is in the hospitals care, as well as covering med flights when a child's life hangs in the balance. These flights can cost thousands of dollars, a bill which a patient will never see or pay. With the assistance of the Old #4 Fire & Hose Ladies Auxiliary of Charlestown NH, Tabs For Taylor was born and people began collecting tabs and donated them to help the Shriners Hospitals as well.

 

The walkathon came to a successful end and the Tabs For Taylor collection continued. During this time, the patients, families and communities US wide, spoke out and showed just how much they needed, loved and appreciated the Shriners Hospitals network and at the Imperial Session in July, the Shriners decided none of the slated 6 would close. But the Honeycutt family's mission did not end there. They continue to host the Shrine On Springfield walkathon each June in Springfield VT and Tabs for Taylor goes year round.

 

The 4^th walkathon, held on June 9,2012, brought several walkers from outside the Connecticut River Valley. Crews arrived from VT's Northeast Kingdom and Alton Bay, NH as well as one very proud Great Grammy from Lakeland Florida, along with several members of Sinai Joe's Clown Unit, and "un-clowned" Mt Sinai Shriners as well as their Potentate Shawn and Lady Jaqi Kincaid. This year's walk total was a bit lower than usual but the group still raised $1,700 which has brought their total to $7,747 in 3 years. And as the Ladies of the Shrine say, "no amount is too small when the cause is so great!" Tabs For Taylor has also grown substantially. Deb Burns brought case after case full of tabs, around 30 gallons worth, from family members, coworkers and patients of Valley Regional Hospital, Cathy Hartman and Greg Precourt arrived with several bags filled as well from friends and staff at Maplewood Nursing Home and our little blue mohawk loving friend Cole (Cole's Cause) arrived just in time with a 6 gallon barrel full from his family in GA to this years walk. Taylor is currently holding onto around 200 gallons of tabs which come from not only NH and VT but as far away as Florida and Texas over the last 4 months! Taylor will drop them off at the Springfield Shriners Hospital on July 2 and bring the total of tabs collected and turned in to approximately 3,078,000 tabs.

 

A huge thank you goes out to everyone everywhere who supports Shriners Hospitals for Children, to all of our walkers, donors, "Tabbies", everyone who helps spread the word.. A special thank you goes out to Sinai Joe's Clown Unit, Mt Sinai Shriners and Ill. Shawn and Lady Jaqi Kincaid, and to all Shriners and Ladies, to our wonderful sponsors: Ray St. Sauveur & Linda Schettino, Candy & David Desrochers, Ron & Sue Precourt and Roland & Sue Irish, Thanks also to Greg Precourt for being our volun-told chef ;) and lastly to our suppliers Doolittle's PrintServ and the Ink Factory. Thank you all again for your continued support. We hope to see you all again next June!

 

 

 

 

 

  

Can't imagine why people can't afford to go to the doctors

This is one of the 4 bills I just received copies of for one simple visit. This is half of my lab bill. Over $1700! Ridiculous! It doesn't include the exam/ Dr part at all. I haven't even received that one yet. Tayt's bills are even worse at 260-550 per OT visit! I love how one week the provider is in network, the next they're out of network. They're all at the same hospital! Love it love it. Over 5 grand sitting here. Thanks a whole bunch Cigna. My policy isn't worth the paper it's written on.

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

Shriners Ball Photos

Tayt's video from the Shriners Ball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZKgj9UNNgo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

www.totalchaosandmayhem.blogspot.com

- Sent from my Palm Pixi

SHrINE ON Springfield 2012 pics

Just a taste to hold ya over ;) More pics and posting to follow :)

- Sent from my Palm Pixi