BTHOM 2011

Last weekend, we attended a fund raiser for an event called Beat the Hell Outa Melanoma.  The event was founded by the family of a woman named Julie Koch Lyons who lost her life at a young age to melanoma.  Each year the fundraiser is held to raise funds to help another family that is battling this awful form of cancer.  We didn't know Julie personally, but have heard her story from our neighbor, Wendy, who grew up knowing Julie and her family.  There was wonderful barbeque to eat, a fantastic 2 person band who could play just about anything, free skin cancer screenings, a silent auction, and lots of activities for the kids.

Brenna and Jordan got right into the action by dancing their shoes off on the dance floor.  Well, okay their shoes were off because they had been in the bounce house and once you've been in the bounce house and all that adrenaline is pumping through your veins, who has time to remember to put on shoes.

Clowning around with a dancer.

She's poetry in motion

 Next up was a little barrel racing stick pony style.  

Look at them listening intently to the instructions given by the rodeo clown.

I guess Wendy and I should paint our faces and wear crazy big shoes all the time.  

Maybe Brenna and Jordan would listen to what we have to say for a change.

 Jordan went for speed and a perfect technical score...

 ...and Brenna took a bull riding approach!

Sometimes you ride the pony...

 

...and sometimes you carry it.

Either way you're darn cute.

 We met the largest long eared bunny I've ever seen.

Too bad for Austin, he wasn't a silent auction item.

He LOVED the bunny.

 

Brenna challenged me to a jump rope race.

She won, but in my defense, the rope was too short.

'Cause you know I'm so tall and all.

Wendy, Mark, Brent and I got into a bidding war in the silent auction over this framed cross made out of a baseball.  It is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  The crosses are sold to raise funds to impact the lives of children in the Dominican Republic as well as the Houston area by a group called Sports Fusion.  If you have a baseball fan in your life you might want to check them out.  Might make a good Christmas present.  The bidding war came down to the last minute, and I'm proud to say that Brent's bid was the highest and final bid.

 

  

It was a wonderful afternoon, and I'm glad we got to do our part to help a family going through troubling times.  Thinking about what others are going through makes you appreciate what you've got.  Even if it's just a good place to rest your head.

Photos taken by Wendy Pierce who's gonna be famous one day.

Num-Num Interruptus

 Austin... Austin... Austin!

 Who disturbs my num-num?!

Oh, hey Daddy.  Didn't see you standing there,

pointing your camera at me and

trying to get my attention.

It's not delivery... it's DiBrenna

One day last week, Brenna decided she was okay with staying home along while I went to to pick up Austin from school.  There are several caveats to her staying home alone.  

1)  I can't go anywhere other than his school.  

2)  I can't linger and chat with Austin's teacher or the ladies up front.

3)  She must call me at least 2 times before I get to his school, and it's only a 10 minute drive at the most.

As I was driving along, I realized that I should have preheated the oven before I left.  I thought about asking Brenna to turn on the oven, but I wasn't sure what temperature I needed.  Then it occurred to me that she CAN READ NOW!  So I called her up (in between her calls to me) and asked her if she would help me out.  She was VERY enthusiastic at the prospect of helping me with that night's dinner.  It was homemade pizza... the very first time we were making it.  She quickly located the dough canister in the fridge and had no trouble finding the instructions on the label.  Then she was over to the oven to get it turned on.  Fortunately I have used the oven enough times to remember the sequence of events to get the dang thing turned on.  Gone are the days of turning one knob to bake and the other knob to the desired temperature.  Now you have to push a button here, select the desired temperature there, and stand still for a retina scan before it will even turn on.  And don't even get me started on the difference between "cook time" and the "timer" buttons. 

Once I got home with Austin, she practically tackled me asking me when she could make the pizza.  What?  Make the pizza?  You want to help?  Who are you and what have you done with my Brenna?  She spread out the sauce, generously added cheese and topped it all off with pepperoni on one half.  The results were quite impressive.

Good grief, there's the gum sticking out of the corner of her mouth again.

 

And I guess she's got the baking bug now.  Today she wanted to bake cookies.  If this goes on too much longer, my waistline is going to suffer even more than it already is.

Into the oven with a little leg flair and head tilt.

Hurry up Mommy.  My hands are burning!

No cookies were harmed during this process or ended up on the floor.  Poor Jennie.