Buddies Walked!

Last weekend our family and friends gathered together in Indianapolis for our first ever Buddy Walk.





We were all decked out in our red Lexi Lou's Whos shirts, korker bows, and Seuss paraphernalia.





The weather was perfect, everyone was healthy, and Alexis loved all the attention. Her shirt reads,

I'm Lexi Lou.

These are my Whos.

Having the Seuss theme was great fun (for the kids and me anyway). Lots of people commented and took pictures of Alexis. We were even stopped by people who were not there for the walk. Besides the shirts, we had some hats for the kids to wear, ring pops that looked like Seuss hats, there were stuffed Maxes and a Grinch, the boys had made some red and turquoise bracelets to pass out to our team, and I made a Seuss hat ornament for each family of walkers. (Who left their ornament on my stroller? I have extras!)




And it's a true friend that will rock a Seuss hat for you!

And before we headed off to walk along the canal, a good luck kiss from Grandma Connie...

The kids took turns carrying the Lexi Lou's Whos sign. They held the sign with pride, and with some impressive height, considering all the kids were, well, short.

And my favorite pic (besides the ones of my 3 shorties of course) is the trio of wagons.

Good ole Pop Pop Tom got some great shots of the group walking the canal. He would run ahead to a bridge and get some pictures from a distance. Wonder how many miles he ended up walking that day...

Nicholas asked to pull his sister, and did so for quite a while. Max the dog helped guide the sleigh wagon.

...until Nick got tired and hitched a ride with his cousins. And the Grinch.

Can you spot our team?

Blake hitched a ride on the Grinch Jason. (I think J's heart has grown 2 sizes with each kid we've had.)

Lexi loves the Grinch. Both the daddy kind and the plush kind.

It was a great day. Last I heard, there were over 3500 walkers and over $160,000 was raised for DSI. I'm so grateful for all those that donated to the Lexi Lou's Whos! Our team raised over $1500 and we had 28 walkers! Thank you to all who donated, who supported us, were with us in spirit, or walked on our team:

Grandma Connie and Pop Pop Jim

Jo Jo and Pop Pop Tom

Uncle Ron and Aunt Paula

Aunt Conya, Uncle Marc, Caden, Caylee, Conner, and Caitlin

Uncle Brent, Aunt Dizzy, Layla and Marley

Tanya, Gabriel, and Mia

Scott, Melissa, Kinsey, and Joslyn

and my littlest Who, a couple of Things, a Grinch, and me!

Our team of 28. Our incredible family. (And our friends are our family.)

An extra special thank you goes out to Jo Jo, Paula, and Elizabeth for your fundraising efforts!! Thank you so much!!! Thank you also to Pop Pop, Jo Jo, and E. for taking all of these pictures!

After the walk was over, we relaxed and had some lunch...

And enjoyed the entertainment...it's CORKY!

It was a fantastic day! Mark your calendars, because next year's walk has been scheduled for October 8, 2011.

We returned to our home for a 7th birthday party. We slept well that night.

Gearin' up!

The Indianapolis Buddy Walk is only a week away! Lexi Lou and her Whos are getting ready for our first ever walk. We could have attended last year's but I don't think I was ready yet. And at that time, Alexis had been out of the hospital for less than a month following her heart surgery, which was my excuse not to go. This year however, we are going all out!



We've got hats! We've got banners! We've got shirts--sort of. I know they pass out Buddy Walk shirts at the walk, but I'm making some Lexi Lou's Whos shirts for my family and anyone else that wants one (just let me know!). In the attempt to save money, I'm printing off my own transfers. It's not perfect. But it will work for us.

We even have the Grinch and Max the Dog to accompany little Lexi Lou Who on the walk. Wonder if I should have registered them...

And little Lexi Lou herself is ready as well.

It's not too late to make a donation! www.firstgiving.com/lexilou

Get that book an antibiotic!

Blake came home from kindergarten today and told me what he learned. Turn up your volume so you can really hear what he says.

In case you didn't catch that, instead of fiction/nonfiction, he calls them "infection/not infection". Precious boy. Leave it to Nicholas to correct him.

By the way, if you are wondering what Nick is doing in the video, he's playing a bowling game on my new Droid. He got a spare.

18 months old!

Alexis has a new physical therapist. We love her! We've always had Alexis stand up by leaning forward on something, but this time, she had Lexi stand up while leaning back against the couch.



It took a minute to get her footing.

But she got it. And she stayed up.

And she liked it!

And I think she was as proud of herself as I was of her!

Happy 18 month birthday (yesterday!) Alexis!