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New faces, old friends and groundhog stew

We went back down to Springfield today so Tayt could have her one year check up in Orthopedics. 10 miles into our journey, as we crossed the Bernardston line, Puxatawny Phil ruined my memory of yesterday and snow began to fall. 

Soon after I, along with 1,000 other cars, felt the wrath of the snow as we sat bumper to bumper for what felt like an eternity

But Tayt didn't let it bother her

When we arrived at Shriners Hospital yesterday with our zillions of Tabs For Taylor, it was like spring was already here. We ran around in T-shirts and did cartwheels on the lawn. Today, we arrive to be greeted by 3 inches of gick and slop and almost whiteout conditions. Grrr!

But we didn't let that ruin our day, even though it did ruin my not-so-dry-anymore socks. 

We dropped off our Tabs For Taylor cash ($25.50- money left in tabs bins, bags, etc and the donation from a family at the Bethlehem NH elementary school) with Karen and then proceeded to go bug Lee for a few minutes. Lee had another visitor shortly before we arrived.... Our buddy Fix It (one of our clowny Shriner friends) dropped off a super sweet card and some awesome pins for the girls. 

Then came time for the doctor stuff....on our way to check in however, Tayt met up with 4 different girls who were there for their own check ups....all of them were lefties just like her..... And a cute as a button little baby and an older boy....both lefties too! It was definitely armie day and totally funny everyone was a lefty too.

Doctor stuff is what it is. Tayt was basically being her usual "I can't hear you Mom" self :/ but the nurses kept her happy with gifts of crayons and a coloring book and a fancy new pair of pjs (someone donated tons of pajama sets for patients) and after a not too painful visit we went to O&P to meet with her new Armie person (Rob, who has been "her arm guy" since day one has unfortunately left SHC.) Much to our surprise, her new guy is Brock! Who I had planned to bug anyway to ask for help with her current harness issue. We just met a little girl who lives near us and Brock made her armie so I was hoping he might know what to do. No surprise, he did. And he fixed her harness, replaced her abused to death hand, wrist, bands and missing gaskets.

That's about it for now I guess. 

Oh my!!!

I keep saying I'm going to get better about staying current and I'm failing miserably :( but I just HAVE to share this! We just brought 10 months worth of tabs down to Shriners Hospital.... Our tab total was between 4.5-4.5 MILLION tabs!!!!! Woo hoo! 3,000 pounds of "trash" to help kids like my little Taylor kick the tushy of the odds! Thank you to everyone who helps this wonderful cause! #tabsfortaylor <3

(My truck is still over half full of tabs!!!)

Springfield Shriners Hospital's 4th annual walk and BBQ

Anyone looking for a fantastic event to enjoy before the evil white stuff begins to fall from the sky.... Taylor's hospital, as most of you are very well aware of ;) , Shriners Hospital in Springfield MA, is hosting their 4th annual walkathon and BBQ on Saturday September 14. The walk begins and ends at the hospital which is located at 516 Carew St in Springfield Massachusetts. (this is their event, not my Vermont one and i don't want to confuse people)

All proceeds from the event will stay right at the Springfield Shriners Hospital for Children  and help more kids like my Taylor Marie continue to defy the odds!

Long Overdue

Where do I begin? 

 April, instead of bringing showers, it brought us Shriners Maple Sugar Bowl banquets!

The first one for the football players...

and the second was for the cheerleaders and band members.

Taylor was on cloud 9. Ashtyn was pretty excited too but obviously a tad jealous.

We cured that, at least temporarily by the beginning of May when we went back to Springfield Mass for the 

Melha Shriners Circus!

 

And we had a blast!

The girls of course had to stalk the clowns ;) 

CLOWN LOVE <3 nbsp="" p="">

"Fix It"

June came along and brought with it A HOME! We finally FINALLY have a home again! In between moving and unpacking and running around like a bunch of crazy people, we snagged a few moments to go out and have fun as a family ;)

The day after we bought the house was our annual Shrine On Springfield walkathon for Shriners Hospitals. It was a much smaller group this year due to the multiple graduations that were happening that day as well as 3 different alumni "happenings" and parades but we still raised $1733 for Shriners Hospital in Springfield and we had a fun time doing it. "Fix It" even came up from Mass for our little shindig and made the girls' day ;)

Then it was back to craziness.......

July (and especially Grammy) brought us a trip to Old Orchard Beach Maine......

.....and then sent us to see TAYLOR SWIFT! 

Which was an experience I can't say I ever want to relive. The show itself was fine, good even, but getting into Gillette Stadium was stupid! Then the first 30 or so employees we dealt were so beyond idiotic and down right mind numbing....... its no wonder some people just go postal. Wow! Luckily we met a few employees who had common sense, personalities and were completely down right awesome and turned our (or at least my) anger into a fun time. Liv, Auntie Momma and Boss Man, you guys saved the day ;)

We got a little soaked....... but all in all they enjoyed their first concert.

But if I ever even think about going to a place......

that seats 60,000 people again....someone slap me please!

Then it was time for another Sugar Bowl event............. the Golf Tournament. Ashtyn got to drive a golf cart at the country club and decided that was "the best thing EVER".

And then came the crowning of the King and Queen at the pre-game banquet last Friday

followed by the Saturday parade..............

 and THE GAME!!!!

 Tayt and her buddy Dan

We then all got a little R and R when the girls spent this past week visiting our Lakes Region family. Jeremy and I got to dust off our motorcycles and finally ride them. And the girls had their days filled with all the usual Chaos and Mayhem type fun.... Making trips to see some "Tabbies", heading to Maine for another adventure in Old Orchard, feeding reindeer and visiting with Santa up at Santa's Village, camping, baking, shopping, bubbles, bicycles and having a blast. 

I don't know about you but I'm exhausted just thinking about all of this ;) 

That's all I've got for now but there's plenty more to come........

Shrine On Springfield 2013 paperwork

This has already been a busy year and its continuing to get even crazier, but I'm excited to share the paperwork and info about our 5th walkathon for Shriners Hospitals for Children.

As always, every single penny collected goes directly to the Shriners Hospital in Springfield MA to help kids receive the medical care they need for spinal and orthopedic conditions as well as cleft lip and palate.

Children treated at Shriners Hospitals receive top of the line family-centered care AT NO COST and Shriners Hospitals relies on the generosity of Shriners and people like you and me to continue this mission.

Please consider making a donation to this wonderful cause either by sponsoring someone you know who is walking or securely online at www.tinyurl.com/sos2013 and help kids like my daughter Taylor continue defying the odds!



(Click on the pages below to open and print them)

Save the date

Just a quick ditty.....

Tabbie love

Little Miss Taylor has been quite the busy bee and making Mommy busy too ;)

Tayt just received a HUGE care package full of letters and picture from the Bethlehem NH kindergartners on top of the thousands of tabs they have been saving for her. She was pretty excited to say the least.

That following Friday Grandmama, Auntie Lisa and GG went down to Shriners Hospital in Springfield to present our 6 month old tab pile which consisted of approximately 650 pounds. We didn't get to go on this adventure because Taylor was sick but we did finally make it down Monday to drop off another 25 pounds of tabs that were dropped off in our North Walpole well over the weekend. And while we were there, little Mayhem was also fitted for her 6th Armie. She's still sticking with Dora the explorer and boots the monkey but this one is purple.

Saturday brought more tab love when we were invited to the BPOE in Springfield Vt so that the Elks members and Moose members could present the tabs they have been saving to Taylor personally. We were also able to visit with some Shriners who were there :) and now on top of all the excitement with the 60th Maple Sugar Bowl and Taylor's "queen status" we'll be making a few other appearances too.