Children's Centennial Gala

Natalie was SO SO excited about the Children's Centennial Gala--for weeks she was looking forward to the day with as much anticipation as she does for Christmas.  Natalie arrived at the hotel early with David for an early morning rehearsal while I took Stephen to his t-ball game.  Then we met for lunch and all headed to the hotel to enjoy an afternoon at the pool.  

This was the great view from our hotel room at the Omni Dallas.

Brian likes hotels as much as Natalie & Stephen do---it's always such an exciting treat for kids to stay at a hotel.

The pool was beautiful but I must admit it was pretty cold water...

lucky for us there was a hot tub!!

These beautiful flowers were in the room for Natalie when we arrived along with a beautiful thank you letter from the hospital's CEO and a fun gift card to Justice as a thank you gift to Natalie for all her help. 

 Natalie felt so special and that feeling just intensified as the night went on...

Stephen was such a trooper--it's not always easy when your sister is the center of attention.  A wonderful couple volunteered to babysit Stephen and Brian in our hotel room so we could enjoy the evening with Natalie.  They were great and Stephen had a lot of fun with them and the new lego set I left him with.  

But we had our two cuties get dressed up for a few pictures first...

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It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Natalie was not a bit nervous to be out on stage in front of an entire ballroom full of people.  

I posted this before, but this is the commercial Natalie was in to thank all the centennial sponsors.  They played it as part of the gala and it was SO perfect and cute!  If you haven't seen this video it is great!  It is the lead-up to Natalie and Ed coming out on stage...

No stage-fright here...

I know I am super sappy, but I loved listening to the CEO talk about how far Children's has come in 100 years and talk about how they started out.  A lot of amazing and caring people have done a lot to help kids over the last 100 years and some amazing advances have happened.  Can I help if I get teary eyed by these kind of things...seeing how the past has blessed us now always inspires me.  I know I am more grateful than words can express for all the amazing people who have done so much to improve cancer treatment and care so that I have the blessing of having my beautiful daughter in my life.  

And the balloons made me a little teary eyed too...

This video is super short and super cute.  It is the kids introduction to the entertainment for the evening---The Pointer Sisters!!  It was pretty cool!!

I know these ladies are getting older, but they did an amazing job.  

It was so fun listening to them...

After introducing the Pointer Sisters, Natalie got to come enjoy the music and dinner with us.  

It was lots of fun.  At our table, we had a local radio talk show host that she enjoyed chatting away with.  

What a special evening.  Me and my girl!!

After the Pointer Sisters there was some fun cover singers that did a good job, before Jennifer Hudson made her appearance.  

This woman was BEAUTIFUL and her voice was even more BEAUTIFUL.  

At one point in her performance, Jennifer Hudson invited people to dance with her on stage.  Natalie was a little nervous (for the first time all evening--about dancing) but when her adoring fans insisted she get on stage she went.  It was super cool!!

I think this ended up being one of her favorite moments of the evening!!

Love this of Natalie & Daddy!

This video is of my favorite song that Jennifer Hudson performed.  Her voice is so beautiful. 

What a fun evening and wonderful opportunity to be able to give back to our hospital that we have grown so attached to here in Dallas.  We are so proud of them and the great care they give so many kids like Natalie.  Natalie is such a great ambassador and loves to help some of the organizations that are near and dear to our hearts--and Children's Medical Center is one of those special places for us.

Plus it was a TON of fun for her--she was like a rock star getting mobbed with compliments and people asking for her to pose in pictures with them.  Going to the restroom took us forever because so many people wanted to talk to her! 

One of my favorite moments was at the end of the evening when we were finally headed upstairs and a group of people asked if she still had M & M's in her purse (David made sure to get her a bag to put in there that day--he is so smart) and without missing a beat she opens her purse and gave them all an M & M.  It was perfect.   

It was a perfect evening!!

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And I just have to share this video so you can see what I mean about Dallas Children's...makes me teary eyed to think of how one person can make a difference and get such a great thing started and cause so many good people to go on making a difference.  Plus--I love how cute Natalie is in this video with her toothless grin.  My favorite part is at the end when Natalie says..."P.S. Nurse Smith, in all those old pictures I noticed you never smiled...but I bet you are now."