Team Pearson!

Chrystelle - HDSA-OC's President, Rick - the VP, the Mayor of Irvine and me!
Sherrie, my visiting teacher, met up with me before the walk -- what a great friend!
Walkers getting ready at the start area - see Chuck Street's helicopter? That's one of our event "signatures".
Jared didn't know what to do around those cute Lakers Girls -- so he just made faces for the cameras and ran around like crazy so they would notice him.
Kathryn presenting volunteer and fundraiser awards at the event.

Saturday morning was the Team Hope Walk for Huntington's Disease. Team Pearson did a fantastic job -- we were one of the top fundraising teams (awesome! too bad I didn't win the Hawaii condo stay raffle the top people go in on -- next year!) and the event itself was a lot of fun. It was a lot of work, but worth it. My chairpeople were amazing. Hopefully we "found" and encouraged more families in the area who haven't been out before. It's still a smallish event -- about 350 people were there, plus our CEO, the Mayor of Irvine, 3 Lakers Girls, 1 Cheer Team, over 100 Volunteers and some great music groups -- but I'm always hoping for more walkers. Here are some photos of the big day! Whew. Only one more "official" planning night this week and my Fall Season will be quite different -- less on the calendar! More focus on the home! Back to normal...until next summer when we prep for Team Hope Walk 2010! Go Team Pearson!

Closeups

Ah, the joys of fruitsnacks. This particular brand, Florida's Natural fruit nuggets, are pretty much amazing. A-maze-ing. I love them a little too much and it makes me feel a little guilty that I'm snacking on kid's treats. But I'm not too old for those, not by a long shot!
My sweet, sun-kissed little man!

Reading and Writing

Today was Jared's first day of preschool! Notice his "special" shoelaces -- it was his choice to have one dark blue, one white. I figured, hey, why fight this one? It was fun to see him get his bag together, choose his lunch items, lay out his school outfit and be so happy to go. He looked like an old pro going in there. This is his 2nd year of preschool and the difference between last year and this is astounding. Look how big he is now! His teacher said he had a GREAT first day and from what he was saying on the way home, that was true. Highlights from Jared's memory: he enjoyed the story of a froggie who dreamed he went to school with no clothes on (whoops of laughter at this) but that wasn't true and he actually had ALL his clothes when he went to school and he had a nice froggie teacher. Jared also like painting and playing with the nice kids.

Catching Up

Laura at 7 months. This picture perfectly captures the way she and Jared are at home. He loves being near her, she loves him being around. Lots of smiles. She still has only the 2 teeth on the bottom and is almost standing up and walking. She needs props to get around, like her walker or a piece of furniture, but she is getting strong! What a fun and beautiful little girl.