For Ellie

The last few weeks have been filled with activities for Ellie's Light. I miss our girl a lot and the holiday season makes it that much worse. Ellie would be totally into the Christmas stuff this year- she'd be almost two. Having so many things to do has been exhausting to say the least, but great distraction from the constant awareness of what and who we are missing.
Ellie's 2nd birthday is on Jan. 15th and we will do another blanket drive/ event for that, but after that, Ellie's Light things are going to have to slow down a little bit. I am getting big rather fast, and just won't be able to keep up with much more than Max. That makes me sad because Ellie's Light is my way of still taking care of my little girl. Ellie's Light takes up a lot of my time but if Ellie were here, so would she. I'll have to come up with something I can do for her that's not quite so time and energy consuming for when I'm super gigantic this spring and once the babies arrive...
I am so grateful for the friends and family members that have participated in all of the activities with us the last month or so...  Its good to know that our girl is remembered and honored by those she loved and by those who love her. And it's nice knowing that everyone around us knows about Ellie and how we feel about this time of year.
Anyways, here's what we've been up to...

Serving dinner at the Ronald McDonald House: The RMH at the Minneapolis Children's Hospital serves families with children in the critical care units of the hospital. We purchased, prepared and served a meal for about 80 people.

Since the RMH serves ICU families, we also brought some toiletries, comfort and snack items for the RMH staff to pass out to them. Toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash for 50 people were donated by Dr. Perkins at Eagan Valley Dental.

 We brought in some BabyLegs (Ellie wore them all the time) and baby blankets to the NICU.

93X and Children's Hospital Toy Drive: Local radio station, 93X, contacted about taking their toys from their morning show toy drive. They requested the toys be given to the Children's Hospital. So they dropped off all 427 toys to us, and we sorted and boxed them. Two days later, we brought them down to the Minneapolis Children's Hospital where they will be used for Child Life needs, restocking the playrooms and as rewards for the children under going procedures and treatments.

Toys for Tots Shopping: The Ellie's Light Board of Directors and our family went shopping for Toys for Tots and spent $4000 on toys for children ages 0-18 years. We were able to get 259 items, including two bikes!

Green Mill Toy Drive: Local bar and grill, Green Mill, offered a mug of free beer for a toy that would be donated to Ellie's Light. We added these toys to our collection of toys and brought them into the Toys for Tots warehouse.

Toys for Tots Warehouse: A group of about 15 of us spent three hours at the Toys for Tots warehouse sorting, organizing and counting toys. They had a gigantic pile of toys that just kept growing! We even brought Ellie's 5 year old cousin, Evan, and Max to help out! They loved it! I'm glad we went- they definitely need the help!

"Every life leaves behind something beautiful..."

And it couldn't be more true for our amazing little girl. We love you so much Peanut!