Happy Memorial Day

We spent the long weekend outside and all have a little red to show for it. On Saturday we purchased our season tickets to the neighborhood water park, Hawaiian Falls. We stayed just a couple of hours since it was a bit chilly still and Conner was approaching his nap time. Saturday night we had company and Conner's first sleep over. Our friend Sophia was in town from New York with her son, Alejandro. We picked them up around 8 pm and came back to the house, we couldn't get the kiddos to go to sleep so they stayed up pretty late playing and then finally Alejandro went to sleep on the floor in Conner's room and Conner went to sleep in our bed. Aaron, Sophia and I stayed up to sample some beer left over from the Gala and then we finally went to sleep ourselves. We were all up early and the boys played a few more hours before we headed out. We dropped Sophia and Aljenadro off in Rockwall to meet her mom for their trip back to Wimberly and the Boatwright's headed to Cedar Creek Lake. The Cowley crew, Granny B and Papa John all met at the lake and we had a wonderful lunch at Charlotte and Bernie's. We then spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the lake. Conner was really tired and fell asleep along with mommy on the ride home. Aaron and I called it a night pretty early as well so we could start fresh this morning. Today we went back to the water park and played for a couple of hours. Conner isn't quite sure about all the stuff but he sure does enjoying walking around and watching everything. Aaron took him down the slide a couple of times and we did a handful of trips around the lazy river. Conner and I took it easy the rest of the afternoon with a nap and some cartoons. Aaron mowed the lawn and then we all went for a walk. I've been off since last Thursday and wish I could be off longer but it's back to work tomorrow. Aaron has two more weeks of school. His last day is June 5th. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

Success!

Gala was an amazing success. The week was grueling but we made it. With Sherry out of town on Monday and Tuesday we did some scrambling and found a sitter for Conner Monday and Aunt Glenda came to Garland Tuesday. I worked double duty - went to work at 8 am then came home for dinner and back to work till late and then worked at home pulling 15 hour plus days. Friday I headed to the hotel at 8 am and worked all day - we were behind schedule so Aaron came back to the hotel with me at 8 am Saturday and let me be the first to say he was a trooper and I appreciate his help so much. We cut out about 3 pm to go shower and then it was show time at 4:30 pm.

The decor was amazing - we had wonderful flower centerpieces with african masks and lots of decor to transport you to the Safari. Attendance was down by about 300 guests this year but all you did come where very generous. We had four "adventure" areas - the martini bar, beer pull, wine pull and Neiman Marcus pull. Each purchase entered you into a drawing. At the martini bar you purchase a martini glass for $100 and receive a glass and our engraver would engrave it for you and you had the opportunity to win a $5000 piece of jewelry from Tiffany & Co. At the beer pull you purcahsed a gourmet bottle of beer for $100 and you were entered into a drawing to win a 65" TV and black leather recliner. At the wine pull you purchased a bottle of wine for $100 and were entered into a drawing for a trip to Napa Valley. At the Neiman Marcus area you purchase a box for $200 and in each box an amazing designer gift from Neiman Marcus and a chance to win a $2000 pair of earrings. We didn't sell out at the adventure areas but we were over the top in silent auction. With over 350 silent auction items and 12 live auction items we made a good amount of money. Our premlimary totals for the entire Gala put us at $1,175,000. With all the challeneges we faced we are very gracious to our committed supporters and committee members that made this event a success. I have a few pictures from one of our volunteers and will post more in the coming days!

Now it's time to relax.

Light at the end of the tunnel

We are 9 days away and I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Last night was my first night to have problems sleeping. The closer the event gets, the less sleep I get. Without an intern this semester I've had a lot more work to take on, not to mention all the mishaps along the way. My days start to run together since I spend about 14 hours a day working. I work at the office 8 to 5 then come home eat dinner and hang out with Conner and Aaron, then after Conner is off to bed, it's back to work to play catch up. A couple nights a week I go back to the office and stay until about 10 pm. Saturdays are a must at this point and this will be the 4th Saturday in a row. People ask why I do it or do I get comp time and the answer is no, well sort of. In the event industry you are always trying to keep your head above water when the event nears but then you also have lulls during the year where I spend my time being friends with google. I have a lot of flexibility as far as coming in late or if I need to take off for taking care of Conner, etc. so in the end it all works out. And when the event is over, I know that all this work will benefit the kids who need it most and that's what keeps me going. This is going to be an exciting event - we have a few new features, a new venue, a to die for menu, the cast of The Lion King and of course Frank. Should be fun!

Sherry is out of pocket on Monday and Tuesday next week so Conner will be staying with one of the ladies I work with. She takes care of her grandkids on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and works at the office on Tuesday and Thursday. One of her grandkids is a little girl named Sarah who is about the same age as Conner so I suspect he will have a blast. Tuesday my Aunt Glenda is coming to the house to watch Conner. Then Wednesday night, Conner will go stay with Granny B and Papa John until Sunday.

Swine Flu Go Away

It's not that Howie's not coming to the Gala or that I still need 400 people to buy tickets three weeks before the big day but the Swine Flu that is keeping me up at night and giving me nightmares. With all the news coverage and chatter I'm having nightmares that Conner, Aaron or me or the entire ballroom will be empty becuase they've come down with the Swine Flu - I've also run the scenario that we don't have enough workers. One of my co-workers told me that the store was out of antibacterial! AHHH! Swine Flu please go away!

This Gala season has been one challenge after another. A couple of weeks ago we found out that Howie was unable to attend. We've managed to secure Frank Calliendo last minute, thank goodness. Now we have to print postcards, notify guests and on, on. Two weeks and two days and we still have a number of seats to fill to meet our goal. I knew this year would be a challenge but sometimes I think it's just cursed.

On a more positive note, I found an awesome Gala dress and expect it to be here in a couple weeks!

Easter

We've had a really busy past couple of weeks. Grandma and Grandpa Wilson came to Denton for Easter. They were able to attend the annual Wilson Easter Egg Hunt this year. We had a couple of practice runs for Easter Egg hunting before going to the park. Conner had a blast picking up the eggs and REALLY enjoyed eating the candy. On Sunday we spent the day at the Bacons and had another Easter Egg hunt. Grandma and Grandpa Wilson offered to take Conner to Corpus for the week so with our busy schedules decided to take them up on their offer. The Center had an event at the Dr. Pepper Ballpark yesterday in honor of National Child Abuse Awareness month. We were a little worried about the rain but it ended up being perfect baseball weather by the time we arrived. Aaron and I drove to Austin today to meet my parents and pick up Conner. I have to give big props to the grandparents as Conner is now using the potty! Way to go Conner and way to go grandparents! I never thought I'd see the day. Here are a few pictures to catch you up with the last couple of weeks.
Wilson Easter Egg Hunt

Conner Dancing

Bluebonnets on the way home from the Bacons

Easter at the Bacons (Bri, Noah and Conner)

The Terrible Two's

We have officially hit the terrible two's. Conner has been introduced to time out in the last couple of weeks since it seems to be our best tool at curbing the terrible two behavior. He gets really frustrated and demands our attention immediately, and if he doesn't get it, well let's just say he goes from sweet to terrible in a blink of an eye. This morning I was getting breakfast ready to start and he wanted to sit on the stool and help me make pancakes. I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for him because you would have thought the world was coming to end with the crying and screaming. We are still working on potty training and resorted to bribery today. I love chocolate!

I'm officially in Gala panic mode - six weeks and counting. When we get this close to the event there is never enough hours in the day. Invitations were to be mailed two weeks ago. Our graphic designer created a 7 x 7 invitation and picked out paper that was out of stock and we could not find an envelope to accommodate. After several emails, phone calls and compromise with our printer we've managed to track down some paper and envelopes and made some adjustments to get them printed. The invitations should be printed and mailed this week. We had to find a new graphic designer unexpectedly as well but looks like we've found some one to create our final piece, the auction program. We are trying to wrap up the details of our twelve live auction items. Aaron and I picked up one last week, a "Legends Guitar" valued at $33,000. It is autographed by 24 musicians including people like B.B. King, Sting, Steve Vai, Keith Richards, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix and so on I can't remember all of them. We are working to get a confirmation on value and hopefully raise a lot of money for it at the event. In addition we will be hand delivering the VIP sponsor invitations this week. I've managed to keep some what sane with working from home after Conner goes to bed, there is just not enough hours in the day. I still need to find a dress and have looked around some but still not sure what I will wear. I'm ready for Gala to come and go yet I'm wondering how in the heck I'm going to get everything done in the short amount of time we have left.

I attended the baby shower of Chelsie today, Aaron's cousin is due in May and having a little girl. Other than that we didn't do much today. I'm hoping Aaron can teach me how to play basketball tomorrow. We are having a team building day at work on Thursday, my team the "Underdogs" has a limited number of people who can compete in the activities and I understand this will be one of our competitions. I'd like to avoid making a complete fool out of myself so I've recruited a training coach. Wish me luck!