What a Gift

I can't believe that the month of May has come and gone, and now I am 13 months old!  I am getting older and wiser by the day..and pretty mischievous as well!
I've been so busy this month that it just flew by.  First off, every Tuesday I take a music class at The Old Town School of Folk Music in this wonderful place called Lincoln Square.  It's an area of Chicago that is so quaint and my Mama tells me all about how she used to live there and play softball at Wells Park, she would watch couples dance in the square on Wednesday evenings in the summer and she and her friends had a great time.  Not long after she lived there she met Daddy, so she says she gets very nostalgic when she thinks of it, whatever that means.
Anyways, music class is such a blast, and then after I get to meet up with my pal Sadie and we play and have a snack.  Mama said she signed me up for the summer session, so that means we keep going and I'm so excited!  I love music and love to strum, strum on Miss Julie's guitar.  All of my friends in the class are older and walking so I want to walk too.  Which brings me to my next subject..
I'm climbing and crawling!  Yes, it's true.  The day after my first music class I began to pull up to standing all on my own.  I crawl all over everything and I'm very quick.  I had been getting around doing my 'Army Crawl' and that was getting me where I needed to go just fine, but after seeing all those kids getting around on their legs I wanted to do that too!  Sometimes I get up into a 'downward dog' pose and everyone thinks I'm trying to stand up.  I'm going to keep practicing and I bet I'll be walking before anyone knows it!  Mama and Daddy just look at each other and say, "oh, jeez!"
I just say, "Relax, I'm growing up!"

              

Here's what happens when I'm left to my own devices...

Grandpa's Gift -- A True Gift

As you might know, my Grandpa Tom passed away in October.  To celebrate his life some of his friends and family decided to come together and plan a fun weekend camping trip at one of his favorite family vacation spots, Camp Dearborn in Milford, MI.  Along with honoring my Grandpa and celebrating his life we wanted to use this opportunity to raise money for the Osteogenesis Imperfecta Foundation (OIF).  Being such a kind and generous man himself, my Grandpa would've done everything he could to help me and other kids with OI.  In a way the OIF reminds me of my Grandpa.  Their sole purpose is to support families living with OI and raise money for research to find a cure.  My Grandpa always did everything he could to help others too.

After months of planning, and planning, and more planning the weekend-long event took place last weekend on Memorial Day.  What a fitting time to honor the memory of such a wonderful man, along with honoring those who honor our freedom.  It was also very fitting that it took place in May because my Grandpa would've been 63 years old on May 21st.  

My Mama and I traveled to my Gramma's house the week before and spent the week getting ready for camping and our golf and silent auction events.  Daddy came a few days later.  The OIF sent a banner to hang at the campsite and made polo shirts for our golfers.  No one could've ever imagined what a huge success this weekend would be, and it was a joint effort by many, many people.  My Grandpa's good friends worked tirelessly to get people to come out and camp - recreating the trip we'd all look forward to spending with our best buddies each summer.  We stayed from Friday to Monday, playing his favorite games: euchre and horseshoes and sitting around the campfire making smores, talking and laughing with each other.  There were 6 kids under 5 that camped and countless others that came during the day to play.  So many friends, family and even people who never knew Grandpa woke up at the crack of dawn on a beautiful Sunday morning to golf, something he loved to do. 

We had around 50 campers, 20 euchre and horseshoers, 72 golfers and countless bidders at our silent auction.  The weather just got better and better each day and every single person who showed up, even for just a visit, and waited patiently as we worked out our first-time kinks (none of us had ever done any of this before!) demonstrated the beauty of the human spirit.  Just thinking about how much money we raised and what fun we all had is enough to life your spirit for ages!

We raised over $2,400 from campers and our horseshoes and euchre events, and over $2,500 from our silent auction and generous people giving donations!  

So many people donated items for our silent auction.  We had lighted wine bottles, jewelry and hand-knitted scarves; beautifully hand painted watercolor notecards made by my Great-Grandma and quilts made by my Aunt Brandy.  Someone donated a brand new pair of Oakley golf shoes, a golf bag and clubs! And the list goes on and on.  I wish we had a picture of our silent auction because everyone worked so hard on it, but we were so busy we forgot to take some!  So many people commented that they have items to donate next year, and we hope to be able to have it available online for people who can't make it.  The support has been overwhelming!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who loved my Grandpa and supports our mission: To create an annual event in memory of Grandpa Tom and to raise awareness and support for Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone Disease).

If you didn't get a chance to participate this year we're going bigger and better each year on out.  Plan to join us next year for The Annual Grandpa's Gift Camping Weekend, Golf Tournament & Silent Auction.  

If you would like to make a donation to our Grandpa's Gift OIF donation page please go here. Thank you!

Here are some pictures from our super fun weekend:

Here's our OI banner displayed for all to see at the campsite

 Here's my Gramma, Auntie Shannon and some of my Grandpa's closest friends before our golf Tournament

Here's on of the foursomes on the course

Here are our horseshoe champs and runner-ups!

Here I am around the campfire with my Mama - Hootie wouldn't miss it!

Here we are at our home for the weekend! 

My Papa and I watching the Horseshoe tournament

Our polo golf shirts - they were a hit!

You can also visit here for so many more great photos!

xoxo, 

Maggie Shae

Birthdays and Vacations -- what a great month!

Well, April is my birthday month, and wow was a special one!  

Birthdays..

Well, I am officially 1!

My big bday party was quite a success!  I had such a blast with all my buddies, I got some serious loot, and there was even a dance party!  Who can say there was an impromptu dance party at their 1st birthday party?  This gal.

It was a very special day, I must admit.  Everyone worked so, so, so hard to make it the best birthday for me - thanks, guys!

Grandma and Shannon came in early just to help bake and set-up, and Aunt Brandy and Carolyn came in on a late-night train just to see little ole me.  Cousin Tom had something special to do in Michigan and poor Erin got sick, so Uncle Ken and her had to stay behind :(  

We missed them all very much.  But there's always next year..and I don't know how they're going to outdo themselves!  Mama says I should just remember this one real good because it'll be a few years before we plan an extravaganza like this one...but it was all well worth it ;)

Aunt Katie was there and Nana and Papa too.  I had so many friends big and small there to play and teach me how to open presents and eat my cake.  I had never had cake before, and as you can tell from the picture above, I didn't quite smash it the way everyone wanted me to!  I was quite a little lady about it.

Here are some pictures that my Mama and Aunt Katie took:

                           

                  Here I am opening my very first present on my actual birthday!

                

                                                       

 Here's the cake my Mama made for me. 

She was bound and determined to make it!  Even if it is hard to figure out exactly what it is..

Yum! Here are the treats Gramma & Aunt Shannon made - they worked SO hard! Aren't they beautiful?!

                       Aw, here's me and my daddy.  He bought me a big owl balloon for the occasion.

Thanks everybody for making my very 1st birthday extra special! 

Vacation...

My Mama and Daddy and I went on our very first big vacation together to Hilton Head, SC.  We even took and airplane!  We met Papa and Nana there and did all sorts of things: took bike rides, went to the beach and pool, visited Savannah and ate lots and lots of seafood.  The water was cool and it was a little breezy, but it was very pretty.  I had a great time!

Here's my Daddy and I on the El and on the plane going to Hilton Head

                                       Here I am on our balcony -- what a view!!

Here we are in Savannah, GA

I really liked playing in the pool, and I met a lot of other nice kids

Me and my family

Wow, what a great time we all had in April!  May is going to be just as special because we have our big Grandpa's Gift Event that everybody's been planning for the past 6 months.  It's a way to celebrate my Grandpa and a fundraiser for Osteogenesis Imperfecta.  Read my next post to find out all about that..

Well, toodle-oo for now!