I was taking a picture of Andrew and he tilted his hat to the side like this. Funny kid!
This is Andrew's classic "stinker face!"
Daddy and Andrew
Andrew and one of his best friends, Lilly. Lilly has been at the heartwalk every year, and it has been fun watching them grow up together. Sometime I need to dig back and find a picture from every year and post them all together!
These are the survivors wearing their red hats. Andrew and I are in the front left.
This is our team- Act for Andrew 2011!
Papa and Andrew beginning the walk!
I thought this picture was so neat with the fog in front of the buildings.
Andrew was squished in the wagon! Not sure what we'll do next year when there's two of them in it! Ha!
I LOVE this picture of Lilly and Andrew holding hands in their wagons.
I just love having the walk at the capitol. I think it is such a pretty setting.
Andrew and Lilly again- Andrew being silly as usual!
Someday Andrew just won't know how to pick between these two girlfriends! Ha! Lilly and Norah have been his best buds since they were all babies. He and Norah were born 2 months apart. He just loves both of these girls so much! They are just the sweetest little girls, too. He is so lucky they are both so sweet to him! Ha!
These girls are Hadley, Finley and Norah. Our families were all neighbors and friends before we had kids and we all had so much fun together! Now we live farther away from each other, but we so appreciate that both these families still support us and we still get to see each other once in a while!
The walk is always so fun, afterwards they have such great activities for all the kids!
Andrew had trouble climbing this at first, but he got the hang of it after a million times! Ha!
It was a pretty fun surprise to see Cy sitting at the bottom of the slide!
Andrew and Norah with Cy- our families are both big ISU fans!
This is Norah's mommy, my good friend Andrea. We grew up together in Ames and were even in the same kindergarten class! It is so fun to have kids the same age and have them be good friends, too. This is sweet Stella, she didn't want to walk so they hung out with Cy instead!
Sweet friends
These are our good friends, Kevin, Alissa and Lilly. Alissa and I met as teachers and became instant friends. Lilly and Andrew have known each other their whole life. I am so grateful to have Alissa as such a good friend, as she was there for me during all our struggles getting pregnant and when we found out about Andrew's heart. She is the kind of friend who has a healthy child, but she "gets it" and has always stuck by me and supported me. So many heart moms say they have friends who drifted away when their child's heart diagnosis happened. The opposite is true for Alissa and I. I am so grateful for her.
These are our friends, Gwyn and Bob and their sweet daughters. Gwyn was my student teacher many years ago (I always joke that she was just a kid then, but I guess I was too! Ha!)- She was one of the best student teachers I ever had! She is just awesome and I love that we've kept in touch over the years.
Andrew giving her daughter Grace a hug.
When we went over to their house to meet Grace's new sister and drop off their heartwalk shirts, Andrew was just enamored with baby Sophia. He LOVED her! He wanted to hold her (without my help!) and just loved on her the whole time. I told him I hope he is that sweet to his own baby sister! Ha!
This isn't the best family picture, but I had to post it because of my enormous belly! Ha! It just makes me laugh. I was 36 weeks pregnant here, and waddled my way along the one mile walk route. There was no way I could have made the 3 mile route! Everyone kept asking how I did it, but I just kept plugging away! I wanted to walk for my son! I was determined. Ha! The funny part is, the morning of the walk Craig and I had to trade shirts because mine didn't go over my belly! Ha! It was way too tight! I think it made Craig feel good that he could wear my shirt! Ha! It was worth a good laugh anyway.
Andrew with his Ga Ga and Papa who he just adores (if you couldn't tell!)
My special little survivor!
Our family (-1!) Although I did order baby sister a shirt for next year! I'm sure she'll be swimming in it!
Andrew was having fun after the walk running up the hill and rolling back down!
Our team raised $1,200 this year. Five heartwalks... and over the years we have raised almost $10,000 total!! That just amazes me. I know for a fact that we have made a difference in the lives of children born with congenital heart defects.
And it is all because of this special little boy...
Our heart hero. You have much to be proud of and thankful for my sweet boy.
Thank you again to everyone who supported us either by walking, donating, ordering shirts... you have all made a difference in our lives and we are so thankful for your support!
