favorite thing friday

Charlie's brother, Steve, and his wife, Kathy, and their 16-year old daughter, Angela, are visiting with us. They are on a road trip to southern California, from northern California, to look at colleges for Angela who will be graduating from high school in 2010.

The last time I saw Angela she was 13-years-old and four inches shorter than me. Now, she's four inches taller at 5'11". Charlie has some very tall genes in his family considering he is the shortest of his three brothers (by several inches) at 6'1". One of our nieces, Alice, was 6'2" at the age of 17.

You know, up until the time I became a part of this family, I had never felt short before. But around my husband's people, I feel like a dwarf.

Because our dining room table only seats six chairs - and we had nine people gathered tonight - I opted to sit with our four children at their small table, so that they weren't eating alone. Seeing as I'm so small in stature, I fit perfectly well at the kiddie table and all of us little people had a grand time.

We bought the children their kiddie table two years ago from Pottery Barn Kids and it has been a wonderful addition to our furniture collection. Although we had bought a bar height table a few years ago for our kitchen, the chairs were way too high and our tile floor was way too hard for a house with so many small children that enjoy climbing way too much.

So we moved our big table out to the garage and put the kiddie table in it's place. And now, every night, our entire family gathers around the kiddie table to eat dinner. Except for when we have company, or we feel like being fancy. And only then, will we move in to the formal dining room.

What I love about our kiddie table - other than the fact that it is the perfect size for children and they use it all the time - is that it is made of such high quality materials, that I consider it "heirloom" caliber. I've seen other kiddie tables before and none of them are as durable or as aesthetically pleasing as the one we own. Not to mention, it is so sturdy that I fully expect it will be passed down to our grandchildren.

Because I have vowed to myself that I will not bring anything else in to our small house that we do not absolutely positively need. And because I have a Pottery Barn Rewards Certificate that is burning a hole in my pocket which expires soon, I will be raffling off one Pottery Barn Kids table and chair set.

For a $5.00 donation to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society via either Me or Charlie and a comment left on THIS post, you will be entered in to a raffle to win a table and two chair set that has an estimated value of $200.00. (That includes tax and shipping.) (Additional chairs can be purchased separately if you have more than two small people in residence.)

Note: If you make an online donation, please be sure to add PBK next to your name so that I can clearly make it out when it comes time to select a winner. (If you don't add this detail, it won't exclude you from the contest, it just makes it more difficult for me to identify you when I'm trying to sort through the names.)

If you would prefer to send a check, please make it payable to: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You can mail it to: The Amazing Trip to Cure Cancer, 2220 Otay Lakes Road, Suite 502, PMB #99, Chula Vista, CA 91915. However, to be entered in to this contest, all donations must be received by Monday April 19.

In case you didn't notice: I'm not including Margaret in this particular contest because now that we've all reached our minimum fundraising goals, the contest is to try and CATCH UP TO HER. Enough with the, "Oh, poor Maggie has twice as much money to raise as us!" pity party. While I thought we had all agreed to give up running for Lent, it seems she is now able to run 12 miles at a pop and she has raised almost three times as much as Charlie.

What's up with that?!

So the table and chair set comes in either espresso ...


Or, white and green.

I love both of these sets and I know that any small people that you have in your household would love them, too. As would their little friends.

And you might even love it, if you found yourself sequestered to the small table when your giant-sized family was visiting. For fun, you could yell over to them, "Hey where do you guys keep the goose that lays the golden egg?" Then when everyone gives you a perplexed look you could awkwardly say, "You know, from Jack and the Beanstalk? Ha. ha. Um. Do you have the sweet potatoes over there? Please don't crush me!!"

For a $5.00 donation, you will be entered in to the contest to win this beautiful set.

Your donation is 100% tax deductible.

Your donation will hopefully, get us closer to catching Maggie. Because it would be wrong on so many levels if she smoked us on the course and in fundraising.

But most importantly: your donation is fueling research for a cure which will help people - including Deana - have the opportunity to watch her beautiful little boys grow up.

The winner will be selected by Random Generator and announced on April 19, 2009.

Ready? Set? Let's GO!!