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After Reading all about this event and viewing the photos,
please read some
comments that were left about the
"Little Mommies" Baby Shower by visiting here:
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Reflections of the Little Mommies Baby Shower |
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After months of planning, our Little Mommies Baby Shower is now
just a pleasant memory. Both of us are experiencing separation
anxiety - for the many baby dolls we washed, dressed and
otherwise prepared for the shower - and also for the adorable
children who adopted our babies.
It was love at first sight for us when the little campers filed
into the Log Cabin Lodge at
Camp Kiddie Keep Well, Edison, New Jersey, the site of our
event. Forty little girls, ages 6-9, were our guests of honor at
our shower and each little face was eager and expectant looking.
With wide eyes, they viewed all the pink and blue decorations,
the baskets of wrapped gifts and the lovely pastel colored
goodie bags and favors on the six round tables where they were
seated. The counselor at each table pinned the lacy confection
of corsages that awaited our honored guests.
After welcoming the girls, we explained that Miss Linda and Miss
Robin had too many baby dolls for us to give them the proper
amount of love and care. We asked if they would please help us
by each adopting one of our babies. There were squeals of
excitement throughout the room. We then explained that before we
did anything else, we would have refreshments and play some
games. We invited the counselor at each table to gather the
scrumptious homemade pink & blue cupcakes and juice boxes for
the children to enjoy while we started a game of musical chairs.
Little did the girls know that the first girl eliminated would
be the first girl to choose the baby she would adopt. If they
had known, perhaps they would not have played as lively and
competitively!
The first girl who was eliminated was ushered into our
"nursery", a conference room with an enormous table that we had
lined all the way around with the baby dolls to be adopted. The
little girl's eyes lit up as if it were Christmas! We told the
little girl that she should walk around the table and look at
each doll and decide which doll she would like to keep forever.
FOREVER?
But her counselor had told the girls that they would choose a
doll to play with that day - not to keep forever!
SURPRISE!
The little girl seemed to be in a daze as she circled
around the table, gazing into the baby doll faces. While she was
still trying to make up her mind, other girls started filing
into our doll nursery until it was a flurry of activity and
excitement. As each girl chose her very own "baby", she would
proudly show us her selection and we would tell her how special
that particular baby was and we'd ask the new mommy what name
she had chosen. The names were lovely and creative, "Bloom",
"Beautiful", "Nia"... Miss Joan wrote the baby's name on a
beautiful adoption certificate for each girl before she returned
to her seat with her new addition. As soon as baby dolls started
entering the party room, the noise rose to a low roar. Word was
spreading around like wildfire that the girls would be able to
KEEP their baby dolls.
Before long, all girls had chosen a doll and we finally took a
moment to take a breath. Then we took a few minutes to instruct
the girls on the proper care and handling of a baby and how a
baby requires lots of love and tenderness. Many of the girls
raised their hands to ask baby care questions and it took
several minutes to answer them all. Finally we headed off more
questions by asking if they would like to have some gifts for
their babies. It was clear that they would! Our helpers Katie
and Adrienne passed thru the room with large baskets of gifts
from which each girl could choose two. This was followed by more
games, the presentation of prizes and finally passing out the
goodie bags and favors as we bid goodbye to our sweet girls.
As the 6-9 year old girls left the log cabin lodge, we quickly
straightened up the room and opened the back door to invite the
10-12 year old girls in to adopt babies. This was a decision we
had made towards the end of the baby shower, as we had quite a
few dolls remaining. We were surprised at how mature looking
this group of 10-12 year old girls appeared to be and wondered
to ourselves if they would have any interest in our dolls at
all. We were quite surprised and pleased to hear their
enthusiastic comments and to see their eagerness to choose their
babies. Before long, we were sending this group out the door
with their dolls and certificates, happy and content.
We have so many precious memories of our time with the wonderful
girls, counselors and staff of Camp Kiddie Keep Well and we hope
that this will be only the first of many events that we plan for
them. We were happy and privileged to be associated with such a
fine organization and we sincerely thank them for their
hospitality. |
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Our Generous Benefactors |
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To borrow a catch phrase from Hilary Clinton, “it takes a
village…” An event begins as a seed, an idea, a thought of
one person. Then the idea is shared. It is at this point, if the
creator of the idea is blessed (as Linda was), someone else
embraces the idea (as Robin did), a partnership is formed and
the seed is fertilized. If the partnership is truly blessed (as
ours was) the idea will be shared again, will be met with
excitement and enthusiasm …and so on and so on…until the
partnership turns into a “village” dedicated to nurturing the
seed. Our villagers were many and they gave from their hearts,
without reserve so that the tiny seed could grow to full term,
and finally be born. Our “baby”, the Little Mommies Baby Shower,
came into this world at 2:00pm, Friday, August 10th at
Camp Kiddie Keep Well in Edison, NJ, much to the joy of our
entire village of benefactors.
Our Villagers showered us with many kindnesses as we prepared
for our “blessed event”:
Adoption certificates created for Miss Linda and Miss
Robin’s Dol-doption Agency!
Baby dolls – all kinds, colors, shapes, sizes – all
darling beyond words!
Cash donations to purchase the supplies that we needed
to create goodie bags, corsages and favors for our Little
Mommies!
Clothing – some store bought, some lovingly
hand-crafted, all given to us to dress the sweet baby dolls and
make them beautiful for their new mommies!
Decorations, paper goods, balloons, so festive in baby
pink and baby blue!
Fun stuff that little girls would love to have, to be
used for prizes for party games!
Manpower – for carting, lifting, packing, unpacking and
whatever else was needed!
Receiving blankets, bottles and toys for our baby
dolls!
Refreshments – yummy homemade cupcakes and juice boxes
for our Little Mommies!
Spa treatments for our babies – baths, treating
boo-boos & making them “all better”, new hair-do’s for the
babies that had hair-don’ts!
Volunteers to help us set up the Baby Shower and to
have fun with our Little Mommies!
Yes, it truly took a village…and to our villagers, we offer our
sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude for their unending
support and generosity.
Miss Linda – Linda Crockett
Miss Robin – Robin Bartky |
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With sincere appreciation, we'd like to
acknowledge the generosity of: |
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Patti Anderson - WA
Jeannie Barber - AK
Voula Begley - NJ
Arline Bernard - NJ
Joy & Pete Boucher - OH
Wanda Brost - MO
Angel Buchanan - NJ
Barb Byrnes - IL
Joan Caliendo - NJ
Betty Coppola - NJ
Wendy Delena - NJ
Linda Dryer - AZ
Tedi Duffield - OH
Bobbie Eimers - OR
Dorothy V. Gibbons - GA
Gloria’s Goodies - MI |
Nancy Haley - NY
Karleen Heinz - IL
Kathy Hinkelman - WA
Rachel Howard - UK
Kathy Innace - NY
Donna Kanka - NJ
Barbara Knowles - MA
Adrienne Mezey - NJ
Mary Mulrooney - WA
Mina Opoku - NJ
Katie Nale - NJ
Lisa Napier - NC
Liana Petritsch - CA
Helene Kates-Plotnick - PA
Diane Plumser and Family* - NJ
*In
loving memory of her mother,
Gwen Goddard |
Debbie Dean Rodriguez - KY
Anne Rollins - FL
Laura Saha - MI
Pat Sampson - CA
Marianne Shoaf - CA
Susan Sendelsky - NJ
Kate Sutter - ND
United Methodist Women
of the
Trinity United Methodist Church - NJ
Cindy Walker - NJ
Debra Walker - NJ
MaryTara Wurmser - NJ
Kristine Yakovchuk - NJ
Pauline Yohe - PA |
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A Very Special Thank You to my husband, Norman, who not only
photographed the entire event, but also put up with me & almost
every room of our home being stacked to the gills - and for
giving so unselfishly of his time and energy to help us with
this wonderful event.
- Robin |
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Please be sure visit the
Photo Gallery to enjoy the pictures
of the Little Mommies Baby Shower!
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The 2007 "Little Mommies Baby Shower" is Dedicated in Loving
Memory to:
Ethel Dougherty
Linda Crockett's mother, who instilled in Linda her love of dolls
May & Lee Sarfatty
Robin Bartky's parents, who always extended a helping hand and offered an
open door
Anne Wheeler
Robin's dearest friend, who lived for children but left us way too soon -
- and our dear departed fellow collectors who we miss ever so much
Carol Featherman
Rose Martin
Ron Rogers
Gloria Schroeder
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