While reading through an adoption fundraiser page on Facebook, we found out about shoe fundraisers to help fund our adoption. Hm, I thought, this is a good idea and an opportunity to help someone else.
We spent 90 days collecting shoe donations from all over. Those shoes are then weighed and we receive a certain amount per pound. The shoes are then re-used/re-purposed by microenterprises in third world countries.
In order for us to get the full amount per pound, we had a set goal of 100 bags of 25 pairs of shoes. That’s 2500 pairs of shoes. Two thousand, five hundred.
We set it up and then sent out a plea to Facebook.
And boy did they respond! We had local businesses, doctors and dentists offices set up. Our neighbor asked people in stores…like normal shoppers. She was also responsible for getting boxes set up in local gyms! We even had a friend drive eight hours to bring us the stash she scored from a local consignment sale (over 13 bags!).
We had several pick ups, thankfully, so we didn’t have a garage of over 100 bags for 90 days.
It was definitely a family affair. The kids were super troopers pairing shoes and rubber banding and bagging them.
When all was said and done we had over 115 bags and made over $1100! This had to be one of our most favorite fundraisers because it brought our community and our family together. It was definitely a lot of work but it was so incredibly worth it.
Emmie’s favorite thing was the train.
The rest of us enjoyed the slides.
Bryant didn’t want to go alone so he got to ride with me.
The littles loved the slides and the “snow” pile (okay it was ice…a big ol’ pile of ice shavings).
Cabela’s had a booth set up with BB guns to shoot. 
It was quite interesting watching the kids hold the gun.
Emmie made friends with a panda bear.
And Zoe borrowed my phone to get pictures.
Okay, my super favorite selfie ever. These girls are a piece of my heart.
These girls! I started making Emmie outfits to go over her halo and am working on building up an inventory to sell them. I grabbed this fabric and just couldn’t resist outfits for two of our girls. They were none to shy about posing either.
And being silly.
Mark got Zoe to pose too.
Dress up time!
Emmie loves to play “nite nite.” She grabs all of her animals, wants a pillow behind her and then we count to three and she throws herself back as hard as she can.
Malachi and Bryant made the letter K.
Emmie has the proper way to eat oreos: Take off the top. Eat all the icing. Try a bite of a cookie and then declare, “Yuk!” as you toss it on the floor.
Oh, you know, just riding in the car, hanging on to my halo.
Emmie was blessed with a sweet gift from a neighbor. There was a beautiful handmade crochet rabbit blankie and a bigger crochet blankie. She calls her rabbits Hop Hop but this Hop Hop is her favorite buddy and goes everywhere with her.
Piling toys. Taking a nap.
Emmie’s made a little desk by my desk and loves to sit and color. We have since gotten a step stool for her to sit on but before that, she used a box of adoption tees.
She’s learned to turn to the side to sleep.
Braving the mall crowd to run some errands. My kids were amazing and we needed photographic evidence of this.
Mark got Star War pjs. Awesome. 
Preciousness
Our neighborhood had some pretty amazing lights on display. This one was one of our favorites.
Peek-a-…
Boo
He asked for a Minecraft cake birthday cake. I thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. The squares and my type A desire for perfection were at odds.
A fun time at the lights.
The kids finally realized that they could get up early this year and wake us up too. And so they did. When we get up, we read the Christmas story before heading downstairs to open gifts.
Already for Christmas! This year was the first year since the kids were really little that we actually wrapped presents before Christmas Eve. It was fun watching the kids try to figure out what they were getting. Then again, Frodo the Cat ruined the surprises by opening up a couple of gifts. 
She knows where her gifts are!
Traditional picture in front of the tree. Malachi has a matching shirt but it “was too big.” We pick our battles around here.
Burying the Malachi in presents.
He broke free.
A box. Woo-hoo
Fuzzy blankets
And something for Bitty Baby to ride in.
This wasn’t really a gift. Our mixer that we have had since we were married started to go bad. We had a friend who was able to fix it, but we started talking about the need for a larger mixer. The holiday deals meant we could get a larger mixer for less than one like what we already had. It’s proven to be a wise investment.
Mark decided a few years ago that he wanted to get me something every year that we could add to. He knows I love nativity/creche sets and so he researched. After some time, he settled upon the 
After all the gifts and a yummy brunch, Mark needed a nap.
Dipping pretzels. And opening gifts.
We also celebrated our December birthdays with them and enjoyed cake.
Candid moments before the gift opening began. Ge had a great idea this year that we would watch everyone open their gifts. It was perfect because usually all any of us see is paper flying everywhere.
This time we were able to get pictures.
Seriously, most appropriate shirt for our Liam!
My children are playing and not arguing…oh be still my heart.
Books are good to read while you wait.
Emmie just enjoys the chips.
Eager anticipation
Here they come!
It’s safe to say that Emmie hit the jackpot at the parade. A couple of floats were handing out stuffed animals and one sweet float rider ran back to Emmie to hand her a little stuffed lion. That lion has joined her menagerie and gets lots of hugs on various occasions.