The festivities of Jaxsen's third birthday weekend continued well into Saturday. It was another busy day centered around our next appearance at a St.Baldrick's event. In the morning, my mom and I went over to Jax's great grandfather's (Pop Pop Edward) house to help finish installing his new garage door opener. While I was busy getting dirty, Meg was hard at work making Jaxsen's very delicious 3rd birthday cake.
When we got back home, we were greeted by a bunch of colorful drawings on the driveway and porch, leading up to the door. Mama and Jax had been enjoying the (almost) spring-like weather outside by creating chalk masterpieces. Excitedly, Jaxsen asked for my hand when I approached him. He quickly traced it alongside his and Meg's. It was nice to see him outside and so excited. After a few moments, we cleaned up the sidewalk chalk and headed inside. The cake looked so tasty, but before we could enjoy it, we needed to head over to Hightopps Backstage Grille for Alex's 10th birthday party. We were excited!
After Jaxsen's afternoon nap, we packed up the car and headed up to Timonium. Jaxsen was an honored kid and guest at Alex's party. Alex is an awesome and extraordinary young man, who decided that he wanted to do something more than the usual party with friends and family for his birthday.
After I became a shavee, and Jax became an honored kid on the St. Baldrick's website, Meg and I were contacted my Gina. Gina asked if we would like to have Jaxsen honored at a St.Baldrick's event that she and her son were hosting. She explained that her soon-to-be 10-year-old son Alex wanted to help raise money for kids suffering from cancer. How could we say no to such an endearing act? It is amazing to know that even young kids want to make a difference and help out other kids with cancer.
We arrived at the event shortly after it began (we were a little late because we had to wait for Jax to wake up). The restaurant was crammed with all of Alex's friends and family. It was an awesome sight. We were promptly greeted by Gina and Alex. It was a pleasure to finally meet them in person and to offer our support for our common cause. Jaxsen was really excited too, but for a different reason.
Before we sat down, we had made our way through the room to check out all of the cool raffle items, including Orioles merchandise and photography packages, to name a few. It was so nice to see many local businesses supporting childhood cancer research, as well! At the end of the table was Alex's birthday cake, shaped like a Ravens jersey. Right next to it, staring back at Jax, was a minion cake, made especially for him! Gina had gotten a cake made with one of Jax's favorite cartoon characters. Both of the cakes looked delicious and we couldn't wait to dig in!
It was time to sing happy birthday, so everyone gathered around the table and started to sing to both Alex and Jax. They were both very excited. Alex blew out his candles right away, but Jax needed just a little help. When Jax finally got a piece of cake, he wanted to eat the minion's eyeball! He gobbled it right up.
Now it was time for the main event, the excitement that everyone came to see. Alex and a few of his friends were all getting their heads shaved, all to benefit childhood cancer research. This has been one of my favorite St. Baldrick's event that we've been to so far. It may not have been as big as some others, but the fact that these young boys wanted to do something so genuine and noble to help other children gives us hope that someday, hopefully in the near future, doctors and researchers will one day find a cure for cancer.
Alex was the first one to get his head shaved. His hair was down to his shoulders, which tends to happen when you don't get a haircut for two years ;) It took a while to get down to his scalp, but his friends and family and the three of us were cheering him on as he bravely became bald. Seeing him with both a full head of head and no hair at all was like looking at night and day, but he can definitely pull off both looks.
We had to cut our visit with Alex short because we had a birthday photo shoot scheduled for Jax. We had such a good time at the event. Jax loved his cake, and Alex and Gina were also generous enough to get Jaxsen a ton of awesome gifts. It is the actions of people like those two that make this tough time a little easier.
After a quick trip home, we cleaned up the little man and grabbed his cake and some decorations, then we were off to our next adventure. We arrived at Cox's Point park where we met with our photographer, my mom, Meg's parents, brother, sister and a few other family members. Everyone wanted to be there to wish Jax a happy birthday!
Our photographer is named Kathleen Hertel. She is a talented, award-winning photographer with her own studio that is located in Catonsville. Meg became a fan of hers more than a year ago when she designed a Grinch Christmas photo shoot. Meg loved the style and creativity of Kathleen's photography, and she often checked her Facebook page for updates. One day, Kathleen posted on the page that she wanted to donate a photo session to a family that was affected by cancer, as part of Project Joy. Project Joy was created after her own mother had passed away after battling cancer.Unfortunately, her mother passed before her family was able to get an up-to-date picture taken of everyone. Kathleen did not want another family to have that same experience, so she vowed to donate a session per month to someone affected by cancer. As soon as Meg saw the post on the Facebook wall, she contacted Kathleen. A few days later, Kathleen responded and told us that not only did she want to donate a family photo session to us, but she also wanted to shoot a session every month, and turn it into a documentary-like album. We were thrilled by her offer and graciously accepted. Kathleen will be photographing Jaxsen throughout his treatment and will capture all of the major milestones that happen during that time, including trips to the hospital, birthdays, and other accomplishments. We are so happy to be on the receiving end of Project Joy and are so appreciative of her generosity.
The first major milestone that Kathleen wanted to photograph was Jaxsen's 3rd birthday. We went to work decorating the picnic tables at the pavilion with green tablecloths and blue and grey accessories. Normally this would have been an easy task that even Jax could do with little help, but because of the hurricane-like wind, it took all of mine, Meg's and Mike's might just to keep everything from blowing into the Chesapeake Bay.
Although the not-so-spring-like weather was undesirable, we didn't let that stop us from having fun. It didn't seem to phase Jax one bit. He was running around with Lia non-stop since the second he stepped out of the car. Kathleen fed off his energy and took many candid shots as Jax and Lia palyed by the water, fed the ducks, and played on the slide. The crappy weather didn't seem to put a damper on Jax's fun.
We put candles on Jax's cake and sang happy birthday. They remained unlit though, despite our fierce battle against the gale-force winds, but he didn't mind. We all gathered behind him and took a group photo to commemorate the event. When it came time to take a bite of the cake, Jax decided that it was a better idea to shove the cake right into mine and Meg's faces. Needless to say, we returned the favor!
It was getting cold and we were all covered in cake, so we decided to call it a day and head home for some rest. It was a busy day for the newly-three year old, but it was a great way to start his next action-packed year.
Before we sat down, we had made our way through the room to check out all of the cool raffle items, including Orioles merchandise and photography packages, to name a few. It was so nice to see many local businesses supporting childhood cancer research, as well! At the end of the table was Alex's birthday cake, shaped like a Ravens jersey. Right next to it, staring back at Jax, was a minion cake, made especially for him! Gina had gotten a cake made with one of Jax's favorite cartoon characters. Both of the cakes looked delicious and we couldn't wait to dig in!It was time to sing happy birthday, so everyone gathered around the table and started to sing to both Alex and Jax. They were both very excited. Alex blew out his candles right away, but Jax needed just a little help. When Jax finally got a piece of cake, he wanted to eat the minion's eyeball! He gobbled it right up.
Alex was the first one to get his head shaved. His hair was down to his shoulders, which tends to happen when you don't get a haircut for two years ;) It took a while to get down to his scalp, but his friends and family and the three of us were cheering him on as he bravely became bald. Seeing him with both a full head of head and no hair at all was like looking at night and day, but he can definitely pull off both looks.
We had to cut our visit with Alex short because we had a birthday photo shoot scheduled for Jax. We had such a good time at the event. Jax loved his cake, and Alex and Gina were also generous enough to get Jaxsen a ton of awesome gifts. It is the actions of people like those two that make this tough time a little easier.
After a quick trip home, we cleaned up the little man and grabbed his cake and some decorations, then we were off to our next adventure. We arrived at Cox's Point park where we met with our photographer, my mom, Meg's parents, brother, sister and a few other family members. Everyone wanted to be there to wish Jax a happy birthday!
Our photographer is named Kathleen Hertel. She is a talented, award-winning photographer with her own studio that is located in Catonsville. Meg became a fan of hers more than a year ago when she designed a Grinch Christmas photo shoot. Meg loved the style and creativity of Kathleen's photography, and she often checked her Facebook page for updates. One day, Kathleen posted on the page that she wanted to donate a photo session to a family that was affected by cancer, as part of Project Joy. Project Joy was created after her own mother had passed away after battling cancer.Unfortunately, her mother passed before her family was able to get an up-to-date picture taken of everyone. Kathleen did not want another family to have that same experience, so she vowed to donate a session per month to someone affected by cancer. As soon as Meg saw the post on the Facebook wall, she contacted Kathleen. A few days later, Kathleen responded and told us that not only did she want to donate a family photo session to us, but she also wanted to shoot a session every month, and turn it into a documentary-like album. We were thrilled by her offer and graciously accepted. Kathleen will be photographing Jaxsen throughout his treatment and will capture all of the major milestones that happen during that time, including trips to the hospital, birthdays, and other accomplishments. We are so happy to be on the receiving end of Project Joy and are so appreciative of her generosity.
The first major milestone that Kathleen wanted to photograph was Jaxsen's 3rd birthday. We went to work decorating the picnic tables at the pavilion with green tablecloths and blue and grey accessories. Normally this would have been an easy task that even Jax could do with little help, but because of the hurricane-like wind, it took all of mine, Meg's and Mike's might just to keep everything from blowing into the Chesapeake Bay.
Although the not-so-spring-like weather was undesirable, we didn't let that stop us from having fun. It didn't seem to phase Jax one bit. He was running around with Lia non-stop since the second he stepped out of the car. Kathleen fed off his energy and took many candid shots as Jax and Lia palyed by the water, fed the ducks, and played on the slide. The crappy weather didn't seem to put a damper on Jax's fun.
We put candles on Jax's cake and sang happy birthday. They remained unlit though, despite our fierce battle against the gale-force winds, but he didn't mind. We all gathered behind him and took a group photo to commemorate the event. When it came time to take a bite of the cake, Jax decided that it was a better idea to shove the cake right into mine and Meg's faces. Needless to say, we returned the favor!
It was getting cold and we were all covered in cake, so we decided to call it a day and head home for some rest. It was a busy day for the newly-three year old, but it was a great way to start his next action-packed year.
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