Hop, Skip & Jump-a-Thon!

On April 12 at James A. Rutherford Park in Boca Raton, FL, Sunflower Creative Arts is hosting a Hop, Skip, & a Jump-A-Thon, a crazy playful walkathon for families of all sizes and ages.

Starting at 9:30 am, families can participate in  PLAY + NATURE + ARTS 1/3 mile walk-a-thon course filled with playfully creative activities including hopscotch, music making, walking like your favorite animal, and more!

Registration is one-size-fits-all – only $35 for a family of up to six members! Once you register, asking friends and family to pledge their support will be an easy click or Facebook post away.

The money pledged will help Sunflower’s programs, but can also benefit you! We will have prize packages for our top pledge-getters: A Stay-cation package for the most money raised by a registered family, and a Family Fun package for the registered family with the highest number of pledges. Stay tuned for prize details!

We can’t wait to hop, skip and jump with you to benefit Sunflower Creative Arts.

Register & Donate:

If you are local to South Florida, register here today and join us for this awesome event on April 12th. Sponsor The Leaping Lobos! If you are not able to join us at the event, please consider supporting The Leaping Lobos  by DONATING to OUR TEAM, HERE! Every bit helps Sunflower for art supplies, tape, homemade play dough, paint, magna tiles or scholarship funds towards future Seedlings!

Learn More About Sunflower Creative Arts and Their Dedication to Play and Community Here:

How Do We Find "Our People?", Our Place, Our Community? by Susan Caruso

In Defense of a Magical Childhood by Meade Peers McCoy

The Trust Tree by Callie Bosch

Remembering Play at the US Play Coalition Conference by Susan Caruso

What Sunflower Creative Arts Is For Our Family?

If you've read our "Remember Play?" post then you know that Sunflower Creative Arts is a very special place for our family. It's where our family dynamic has evolved and often times a sanctuary for both our children and us as adults. 

The two mottos for Sunflower:

Remember Play? We do.

What if your child’s first educational experience didn’t just prepare them for kindergarten?What if​ it prepared them for life?

Please do consider supporting The Leaping Lobos by DONATING to OUR TEAM for the Hop, Skip, & a Jump-a-thon, HERE!

Blogging To Remember: "There is no footprint so small, that it cannot leave an imprint on this world.."

I've always been pretty open about my experience throughout the years with pregnancy loss (three in total), in hopes that it could help someone in some way. It's a topic that seems pretty taboo, people tend to get twitchy and distant when you bring it up. Of course, this makes me bring it up in hopes that they begin to feel a bit less uncomfortable by the end of the conversation. It doesn't seem to matter whether you've battled with infertility, or already have children and experience a pregnancy loss. I myself, have dealt with both (two losses before my boys and one after). They each hurt equally and take the same emotional toll on a famly. I can't tell you how many times I've heard an insensitive (albeit well meaning) comment like: "At least you had two already". Grrrrrrr.

All life is important and should be acknowledged, it doesn't matter whether you suffered early pregnancy loss, late term loss, still birth or child loss. Which brings me to my point!

In late May I posted openly about a dear friend and fellow blogger Lindsay from You Are The Roots and how she tragically lost her beautiful baby girl Wylie in her third trimester from congenital heart failure. Lindsay is quite possibly one of the best moms I know who gives selflessly in a capacity that can only be described as superhuman. Never would I ever have imagined she could have experienced something so tragic. But that's the point, grief knows no distinction. These experiences happen to everyday families, and they need support.

Every year Lindsay takes part in a blog-a-thon, an online marathon of sorts. She participates by blogging every half hour for 24 hours straight, in hopes of bringing awareness to a specific cause and gaining sponsors to donate to that cause. This year naturally, she is blogging for The Compassionate Friends. It's an incredible organization that provides grief support to families who have experienced pregnancy or child loss.

The Mission of The Compassionate Friends: When a child dies, at any age, the family suffers intense pain and may feel hopeless and isolated. The Compassionate Friends provides highly personal comfort, hope, and support to every family experiencing the death of a son or a daughter, a brother or a sister, or a grandchild, and helps others better assist the grieving family.

Blogathon 2014 will will kick off at 8:00 a.m. EST on November 22nd, 2014 and will come to a close at 8:00 a.m. EST on November 23rd, 2014. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to this organization! You can donate here. Donations will be accepted up until the very end of the Blogathon, but the earlier you donate, the more raffles you'll be eligible for!

Yes, there are prizes! For info and updates on all the eligible prizes click here.

I have already donated and hope you will too, every donation counts! You can learn more about Lindsay and her beautiful baby girl  Wylie Meadow.

"Someday we may see a woman king" 

- Iron & Wine

                                    

Essentially Yours,

Erika

The Virtual Heart Walk

My heart is heavy this evening, a dear friend and fellow blogger (www.youaretheroots.com) has lost her sweet baby girl Wylie Meadow Joly to congenital heart failure at 1:10am this morning. 

I like to think that I'm an open minded person who is very spiritually connected. I spend hours on meditation and reflecting on all of life's meanings.

But on days like today, I find it hard not to try and make "sense" of a heart wrenching situation. I guess it's only "human" to try and gain some sort of control or perspective in order to understand how to process it all. Today I draw a blank... I simply cannot seem to wrap my mind around this loss.

So instead I have to channel this energy in the most positive way I can come up with.

The Joly family has asked that in lieu of flowers, a donation be made to the Children's Heart Foundation. 

If you visit www.childrensheartfoundation.org, there are Heart Walks you can attend all over the country. Seeing as how the closest walk is in Tampa, I am inviting you to join me in the Virtual Heart Walk in honor of Wylie Meadow Joly. You can register your donation at: 

http://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1102257&supId=408252278

"No footprints are too small, to leave a big imprint on the world."

Essentially yours,

Erika

Spread the Word: The Great Give

Sunflower Creative Arts is an organization near and dear to my heart. They are more like family! 

It's an awesome place for kids and adults   alike. Once a year they host a fundraiser in order to raise money for their scholarship fund, and they need your help to keep growing! 

This year Sunflower is participating in the GREAT GIVE, a 24-hour online giving event, on May 6.

Donations will help us grow the Sunflower Scholarship Fund so we can make our amazing play, nature and arts-based classes available to all families, regardless of financial situation. 

How can you help? 

1. Join our event on Facebook and invite all your friends! Every donation makes a difference- gifts made May 6 will receive a portion of bonus funds- making your dollar go even further than it would on any other day.

2. Donate! Here's the link you'll need to make your donation on May 6 (share it!):  

 

 GREAT GIVE to benefit Sunflower Scholarship Fund  

 

(OR http://www.greatgivepbc.org/#npo/sunflower-creative-arts)

If your looking for a place to give, this is it! 

Essentially yours,

Erika