First – a HUGE “Thank You!” to the many friends and colleagues who supported Evan’s 10th Birthday Benefit Party with such generous donations.

Evan and Mom

I can’t tell you enough how happy he was to see the outpouring of genourosity in his name.  The smile on his face, and in his heart, was priceless. 

(He brings it up to my wife and I every now and then, at random times, “how cool it was to see all those awesome people donating” on his behalf.)

So, here’s a recap:  The party was insane.

Honestly, I don’t know what the heck I was thinking by hosting the party at our house.  A $400 party at the local bounce house, chucky cheese, or whatever is definately worth every penny.  I know this now.

Why was it so crazy?

Well, having 35 nine and ten year old kids running amuck in your house is one thing.  But, loading them up on a steady stream of pure sugar is like throwing gasoline on a fire.

You see, last year, for Evan’s 9th birthday party, I rented a cotton candy machine from Detroit Popcorn Company.

Cotton Candy Mess!

The cotton candy was such a hit last year, that I would have been murdered by a mob of sugar-starved children, led by Evan, had I not repeated the event.

So, again, I got the cotton candy machine.  And, again, I set it on the front

porch since it made such a mess.  And, again – I was making cotton candy for hours at a time, feeding the addicted children with their much needed drug.  (What did I do wrong with this machine? Cotton Candy was flying everywhere!)

So, yeah – all the cotton candy made them a bit hyper.  (But, they had a blast.)

I should rewind.

It didn’t start out so crazy.  In fact, it was a little surreal when my wife and I walked into the family room to find every single child sitting down, silent, watching a DVD that I had made for Evan.  This DVD is sweet! I made it using iDVD on my Mac a few weeks earlier, with a bunch of songs and clips from a funny show I used to love on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim:  The Brak Show and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

The kids laughed and sang along to various songs by Brak, like “I love you baby“, “I love beans” and “Driving down highway 40 in my big ol’ pick up truck“.  (These links let you download the videos if you want ‘em…)

This was the calm before the storm.

Evan played guitar in the "Talent Show" during the Party.

Okay, I am exaggerating a bit here.  The kids weren’t all that crazy, but, they were having a very good time and the entire neighborhood could hear the screams of kids playing and running around from inside my house.  (My ears are no longer ringing.)

So, we had cotton candy, cheesy popcorn, buttered popcorn, cake, pizza, games, videos, dancing, and a talent show.

Yep, a talent show.

Several kids wanted to sing, dance, or play guitar in front of their classmates, while I and a panel of 3 girls judged them, American Idol style.  (Everyone got positive remarks – nobody played Simon Cowell.)

And, when we were able to rope up the kids and keep them quiet for a moment, I had them all sitting in the living room floor, while I talked with them about the importance of philanthropy and how proud we were of Evan for donating his birthday to charity, and how proud we were of all of the kids for being so generous.

That was really cool.

The kids gave Evan a big round of applause, and a couple of them told me that they wanted to do the same thing for their birthday.  They were inspired by Evan to donate their birthday to charity as well.  (Freakin’ cool, eh?)

So, that’s it.

The house is back to normal, Evan is now officially 10 years old, and we delivered a car filled with quality groceries to the local food bank, plus $500 in cash.  Also, we made a $600 donation to the Haiti children fund.  Yep – his party brought in over $1,100.

Again – thank you for all of your help, support and encouragement for Evan.

Most of the kids at the party gathered for 2 minutes for this shot.

I am so proud of my son.

Ever since he was born on Leap Day in 2000 (2/29/2000), he has always been a sweet, caring boy.  But, this goes above and beyond.

Let me explain.

His 10th Birthday is coming up this week — and we’re throwing him a fun party at our house.  We’re inviting all of his classmates, the neighbor kids, family friends and more.  (Yeah, that’s a LOT of kids in our house.  Yikes!)

Instead of gifts, he’s asking for donations to benefit charity.

Yep.  A 10 year old wants to forgo receiving any fun toys (like his favorite video games, MP3’s, electronic gadgets) and asks, instead, that his friends bring a donation for charity.

Can you believe that?

He honestly wants people to bring donations for charity, and not get any gifts, so the charity gets it all.

Again, I say:  I’m so proud of my son.

And get this — Evan has done this before.

In fact, this will be his second year in a row collecting donations instead of gifts for his birthday.  Last year, at his 9th birthday party, he asked for donations to benefit the local food bank.  In our economy here in Michigan, these charities are really hurt, and they really appreciated his help.  (I think he raised a little over $300 and a ton of groceries.)  He’s hoping to really grow the donations this time.

This year, the local food bank will, once again, be the primary focus of his donations.  However, he wanted to add another charity for this year’s “birthday benefit party”:  The Haiti Earthquake Victims.

A few weeks ago, after seeing the news coverage of the earthquake victims in Haiti, he immediately told me, “Dad, for my birthday party this year, I want to also get donations for the Haiti Earthquake Victims.”

So, Evan’s 10th Birthday will benefit two charities.  The local food bank and the Haiti Earthquake Victims.

Everyone who’s coming to the party will be bringing a donation.  Food or cash for the local food bank (the “Northville Civic Concern”) or a monetary donation for the “Save the Children” organization, where all donations will be earmarked for Haiti Relief.

And, for our out-of-state friends, we’d like to ask that you consider making a donation in his name.  It would really make him feel extra proud of what he’s doing to know that you have helped him in this endeavor.  (If you do, please be sure to email me, or make a comment below so he can see all that good that has come of this!)

Happy Birthday Evan!

I have a great family and friends.  I am blessed.  One person, in particular, that I am so very grateful for, is my wonderful Aunt Beth.

I LOVE my Aunt Beth!!!!

It’s simply impossible to summarize what a wonderful person she is; I cannot begin to describe her love, loyalty, dedication, devotion, thoughtfulness….

She’s simply AWESOME.

Here are a compilation of pictures that my friends have shared with me, or that I’ve taken.

These pics were taken by my new friend, Jen Goode
http://flickr.com/photos/jgoode/2763434505/in/set-72157606734453155/

Here are some that I took:
http://flickr.com/photos/toddfarmer123/sets/72157606670309339/