Savannah's Birthday

Savannah turned 8 on November 29. 8, can you believe it? I can't I am still in denial. Since her birthday was on a Sunday and on Thanksgiving weekend we held her birthday party on Nov 20. She invited all the girls from her class, because I thought for sure we would have a few not be able to come. Alas all but one of the 12 invited came. So with my kids and nieces and nephew that made for a grand total of 17 children. Wow! The most amazing thing about that is that we took them all swimming and none of them drowned, except Dallin, but really that is to be expected. We had a really great time.

A few months ago I came up with this brilliant idea that since it was Savannah's 8th birthday she needed to do something to make it memorable. So I started trying to convince her that she should donate all the presents from her friend party to Toys for Tots. Guess what, she totally stepped up to the challenge. We sent the invitations out with the instructions to bring and new unwrapped toy to donate. When each girl arrived Savannah happily added their toy to the pile. The toys had to sit around the house for about 2 weeks while we waited for the toy drive to start. The whole time, she never once lamented about not being able to keep the toys.

I was able to contact one of the directors of Toys for Tots and came personally to pick up the toys. He presented Savannah with a certificate and a special coin that says US Marine Corp on one side and Toys for Tots on the other. He really went out of his way to make her feel special and to make this a great experience for her.

This is what Savannah had to say about her experience:

Hi my name is Savannah. Today I delivered a bunch of toys to toys for tots. it make me feel supper awesome.

I am so proud of her. She made me feel 'supper awesome' too. She is an amazing young lady, who is so tender hearted. I am so lucky she is in my family.