Party Time

For Riley's first-ever kids' party, we held the festivities at JoAnne's fabric store. The kids made no-sew pillows, which turned out adorable. All the kids we invited were able to attend, and after multiple disastrous pre-party meetings with the people at JoAnne's, the party arrived. (Seriously, ask us about what a nightmare it was to arrange the party. We were SO close to canceling several times, but we were wooed back by promises of discounts.)

The party pictures are on the defunct camera, but trust us in that it was a lot of fun. Jeremy wasn't the only boy there, as Riley invited a brother of one of her close friends. She invited some kids from her class, neighbors, friends from the bus stop and some close family friends. After making the pillows (which required more adult help than I think we all expected), the kids were able to decorate cupcakes and sing happy birthday to the birthday girl.

Since Riley's birthday is so close to Christmas, and we were having a family party for her the following week, we asked her guests to bring food that we could donate to the food pantry. For the 11 kids that we invited, we were floored at how generous people were! One family brought 40+ boxes of macaroni and cheese along with 15+ boxes of oatmeal. Another family had so much food that they had to load it into a shopping cart! I think it took Phil and I about 8 trips to the car.

Standing in front of all the food.

She was so proud to help others.

We took all the food to the pantry the following weekend. The parking lot was full of cars of people bringing and wanting food. The director of the pantry weighed the food that we donated, and it totaled 183 pounds! What a wonderful thing to do. We had so many parents say that this was a fantastic idea. I'm just glad we were able to help families in a time of need.