Bowling fun with the March of Dimes

The Haynes' are big supporters of the March of Dimes, and yesterday we attended our first March for Babies awards dinner.

Amayah was born 8 weeks early in September of 2010. She weighed a whopping 3lbs 8oz and stayed in the NICU for 12 long days. It was the hardest thing I've ever been through, but she's a fighter and made it through with NO problems. When I heard about the March for Babies the following April I HAD to be a part. We raised almost $2,000 on our very first walk! The walk was an amazing experience. It was very emotional for me because it brought up the pain of seeing her so tiny and hooked up to all kinds of tubes, but I was also so very grateful that she didn't have a flower in The Memory Garden. We walked in HONOR of Amayah.

So back to the banquet...of course getting there did not go smoothly. The dinner started at 5:30 and after jumping my car AGAIN, willing a bird out of my garage(I have a fear that all birds want to attack me. I have no clue why because this has never happened :-/), and getting everyone dressed we were late, but I was determined to get there.

The dinner was nice. Amayah was recognized as a "Top Walker" and received a medal. She was even included in the slide show! I was so proud. After the dinner we got to bowl for a few hours. And the fun began,lol!

Of course Aaron had never been bowling, he's 2. He was mesmerized by the entire experience. He didn't care which ball he got or how much it weighed. He just wanted to throw it! He had a blast pushing the ball down the kiddie ramp, but of course that didn't last long. He wanted nothing more than to run out onto the lane...and he did!!! There he stood, in the middle of the super greasy lane while I stood at the black line yelling at him through my teeth to come back(I've got this under control right? Can't let all these people think I can't control a fearless, adventure loving 2 year old!). Yeah right...He saw that I was mad and really trying NOT to walk out onto the lane myself so this made it even more fun. I finally took my first slippery step onto the lane and got my kid. Luckily I didn't fall and bust both of our butts!

This was just the beginning of Aaron's madness. For the rest of the night he slid across the floor as if he were skating. Remember Mary Katherine Gellar from Saturday Night Live? Yeah, he was pretty much doing "SUPERSTAR!" for the rest of the night(minus the arm pit smelling of course). I was EXHAUSTED from bringing him back from the lanes, keeping him out of the other bowlers way, and lugging back the balls that BammBamm tried to throw down the lane. And the night wouldn't be complete without a full blown, red face, tears and snot tantrum. At one point he even started resetting the games by pushing the button on the ball return thingy. Geez. One day this stuff will all be hilarious memories. It's just never funny as it's happening ;-)