Candy from Strangers

Last Saturday, we packed the circus up and headed downtown to St. Baldrick's.  Eve was happy to wear her new shirt and pin to show everyone how much she appreciates their efforts.  And not just because she likes new clothes and accessories.

Jo Garvin of Jo's PhotoMojo came out and took some amazing pics.  I love this one, right before Dan got on stage to shave:

When we were standing in line, he got a mild case of the stage-frights.  I think I'm about to get scared.  This isn't like nausea, where you can take some Zofran and wait for it to pass.  This is a time to bribe, and apparently I'm taking him to the nearest children's museum ASAP.

My dad was there to take some pictures as Matt and I escorted Dan on stage so he wouldn't change his mind, and if he did, so he couldn't get away.  We got him up there with a smile and a smock and a head full of hair.

The money is still coming in, but he raised about $1600 this year, which is a little bit higher than he can count only because he doesn't have 800 pairs of hands.

As he shaved, Eve walked along the stage and passed out Dum Dums.  Because nothing is better than eating a lollipop when a gust of wind blows while multiple of people are getting their heads shaved.

Eve gave about thirty lollipops to this fellow Wilms warrior pictured below next to Dan.

Fortunately, I didn't see her cough up any hairballs.

"Why are you shaving your head, Daniel?"

"To be bald."
"For your little sister, Eve?"
"Uh huh."

He gives a great interview.  We should get him an agent!

At the end, he was all smiles.  Well, after they got all that hair out of his face.

Jo gave him a Bead of Courage that he's been keeping in his pocket ever since:

And without hair as a distraction, people suddenly started noticing the bald kid wears yellow glasses.  A friend hypothesized hipsters all over Raleigh will soon be sporting them, but not before Daniel says they're too mainstream and he moves on to green ones.

Dan was in love with cornhole.  I know this, because he said, "I am in luuuuuv with cornhole!"  He also said he was in love with Dum Dums, hot dogs, and the older girl that he stared at for a half hour at a distance of twenty feet.

Natalie was content to have Eve bring her lollipop after lollipop.  Being Mom of the Year, I only let my kids eat the fruit-flavored ones because root beer and cream soda ain't even ON the food pyramid!

Eve passed out hundreds and hundreds of lollipops.

And then got scared that she was running out.

As if the good folks who gave her thousands of lollipops would allow that to happen.

Never.  I think they knocked over the Dum Dum factory.

It was a good day.  Even after the sugar crash.

And I got a TON of root beer Dum Dums.