A Twist on Birthday Parties: 4th Birthday Celebration (For the Sake of Others)

We celebrated Alessondra's 4th Birthday this Sunday. Her actual birthday was Tuesday March 17th. We typically do not do a party celebration, Last year we devoted the whole day to Alessondra and spent the day having family time!

However this year we decided to do something a little different.

Alessondra is always asking "Mommy, when am I old enough to help people?" "When can I go on a mission trip?"

We wanted to encourage and foster her giving spirit.  
Studies show children who take on altruistic responsibilities at an early age exhibit higher self-esteem, gain a deeper understanding of the needs of others and improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

So for her birthday this year we teamed up with The Tapestry Project to provide some much needed items for a Mom, Jennifer and her daughter Serenity.
If you would like to help this family see the list below and contact me or another family check out The Tapestry Projects website 

Jenifer & Serenity list of much needed items:

1. household kitchen ( silver ware, cups, dishes, pans)

2. towels

3. baby toys ( this is a BIG need) and reading books (cardboard)

4. girl clothes 6months

5. Bottles

6. Formula

7. any decorative house needs.

8. clothes for mom. ( Large, size 12-14)

9. Walmart gift cards (these will be used to purchase some of the bigger itmes needed for the baby and mom)

Thank you Angela Steele for lending us your "cupcake tower"


Alessondra blowing out her candle, (Thanks Jeanie for such a great picture!)


Alessondra "helping" me make the cupcakes, more licking than helping...


Alessondra enjoying her cupcake: (her eyes sparkle when sweets are involved!)



My niece's Ashlen and Makayla


Jackson and Alessondra have so much fun together!


Brother and Sister, Ashlen and Blake checking out the windows in the new playset (Thanks again to Jeanie for capturing a cute moment)


Alessondra caught a lady bug which she named Frances, and wanted to keep it close by:


Cousin Sophia enjoying playing outside:


Papa (Richard, Jeff's Dad)), Kari and newest edition to the Click family, Kinzie


My mom (G-ma) helping Alessondra and Frances up:


Nephew & Cousin Blake, cousin Jackson and Alessondra enjoying the playset:


Jeff with his Mom, Cindy:


My mom (Kathey) and I..."Party pic time"


Little sis, Kerri, Aunt Loretta, Mom and Me



CJ (Jeff's Brother) and Ava enjoying some "daddy daughter time"


Fun with Friends, Blake, Alessondra, Makayla, Jackson and Ava


Family Pic:


Bangs in our face (as my older sister always says "An apple doesn't fall too far from the tree")



More party pics: Steve and Jeanie (Sophia and Jackson's parents)


Nindy reading a book to Kinzie and Alessondra



Jackson, Alessondra and I checking out all the gifts that guests brought for Serenity and Jennifer.
Bottles, formula, towels, lots of CUTE clothes, cleaning supplies, baby toys and books!

Family and friends, your generosity was AWESOME.  Thank you so much for showing the love that Jesus Christ shows us daily! Without your help we would not been able to bless this family so abundantly


Gpa, Andy, Cj and Jeff preparing to move the play set over a few feet (with a little help from Ava and Blake)


The almost finished playset. Alessondra and I are so proud of Daddy for working his tail off this week to get it done for the party.

I originally called around to see how much it would cost to hire someone to put this together...$350-$450. Jeff said "NO WAY, I want to do it!" And he did!
One of our friends Dustin, came and helped one evening (Thank you D-Train), other than that Jeff did it ALL BY HIMSELF!



98% finished!!!