Sunday, August 22, 2010

We raised $575 for LFAW!

Thanks to the generosity of my mom's family & friends, we were able to raise $575, plus several doggy items to donate to the League for Animal Welfare.

When we went to the shelter to drop off the donation, they were so happy and appreciative of what everyone was willing to do for them. We were informed that this was the largest "birthday party donation" they have ever received!

Thank you to everyone who helped plan and prepare for the party. Many hours went into the preparation of this event, and I'm sure everyone is very happy to get some sleep about now!

I would encourage others to think about having a fundraiser for their future birthday parties. It is a great way to celebrate and to come together with family and friends to give back to those who need our help.

Happy birthday mom!

Signing off for the last time,
Stephanie

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Here is a brief schedule for the party:

5:00 - gathering / start of the party

6:00 - dinner is served!

7:00 - cake walk

7:30 - poker tournament

9:00 - raffle basket drawing

Various fun/games will occur throughout the evening! We look forward to seeing you all there!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

One week and counting!

Here we go... 7 days left till the big party!

Yesterday was the actual big day... Julie turned 50! It was a great day.

*First, Julie and Don won tickets to go see John Melloncamp (basically Julie's favorite singer)
*Next, Don sent Julie flowers at work
*The day ended at the Cincinnati Red's baseball game

Sounds like a pretty good birthday to me!

We are anticipating approximately 50 friends joining us for the party / fundraiser next week! If you have not yet informed us of your intentions to be there, please let us know so we can be sure to have enough food. The more the merrier!!!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

RSVP's are coming in!!!

We are less than 2 weeks to the party and the RSVP's are coming in! So far I'm counting approximately 30 guests. If you haven't already sent in your RSVP, please feel free to comment on this post with the number of guests who are coming.


This weekend Julie, Don, Karl and I (oh, and Rocky, Shenzi, Zappa, and Lucy) attended the annual League for Animal Welfare picnic. It was a great time to see all the dogs that have been adopted over the years, visit old friends, and support a great organization. Every year when we come back for this event, Donna, the trainer at LFAW, gets really excited to see Rocky. During the nine months he was at the shelter, Donna spent a lot of time training Rocky, so she is always excited to see how he is doing.

One of the activities at this year's picnic was Doggy Finger Painting. Lucy was the lone representative from our family to participate (meaning Karl was the only person brave enough to handle a 70 lb dog near a bucket of paint). Here is the lovely artwork we brought home!











Stay tuned for new details about the party later this week!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Finally... It's August!

After months of talking about this party, it is now finally August and only 19 days away! Here is where we are at in the party-planning process:

Homemade BBQ Pulled Pork & Pulled Chicken ready to be defrosted

7 hours of music downloaded to a play list

Invitations arrived and on their way in the mail

At least 5 confirmed cakes / desserts for the Cake Walk

Delicious side dishes ready to be made, courtesy of Julie's sisters and nieces

Handmade Bracelets by Zoe for sale (made by Julie's niece's 8 year-old daughter, and all proceeds go to the animal shelter, so be sure to bring spare change and singles)

Concept for the cake... mostly there!


Lot's of wonderful people have been putting in lots of time to make this party special for Julie. Thanks to our aunts and cousins who have been working many long hours to get everything ready to go! I wish I had thought to bring a camera with me this weekend so I could add a picture of everyone working so hard (well, maybe we didn't work that hard... but we had lots of fun!)

Monday, July 26, 2010

The Birthday Cake

This week our (Stephanie and Karl) project is to start designing the birthday cake!

Here are a few ideas I found (it's amazing what you can find with a quick Google search!) Some are obviously more difficult to make than others, but we are up for the challenge!








Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Food & Fun

Next weekend several members of Julie's family will be meeting to continue preparing for the party. On the agenda for this meeting:

*Food (from what we've heard, it may be a pork-pulling party to get started on making lots and lots of delicious BBQ!)

*Music

*Fund-raising Activities & Games (currently on the list of ideas: a poker tournament, a cake-walk, and a three-legged race /balloon-toss / other classic childhood games)

If you have any great ideas you'd like to share, feel free to add them in the comments section of this post!