Mardi Gras @ OLV

The annual OLV Marti Gras event is a school fundraiser and a very kid centered, fun-filled afternoon. It was held on Sunday, Feb 6th and we were excited to be able to have our nephews Nixin and Noah join in since they were visiting with their parents for the weekend.
The kids start out with tickets and play games. Most games allow the kids to earn gold coins. Nixin had a pretty good sized stash of coins he had earned.

Said coins are then turned in for prizes... lots of choices, so the decisions are very difficult.

Tickets can also be used for other fun items. Here is Uncle Steve helping Nixin to get

this cool dinosaur tattoo!
Some kids had fun Mardi Gras masks...

And some kids were just content to play with colorful fringe.

I helped with the Children's raffle, which had a little over 80 different prizes. The kids could place their tickets into the bag representing the gift he/she most wanted to win. Of course, the more tickets placed in the bag, the more chances of winning the coveted prize. As it turned out, announcing the prize winners yielded sequels of excitement from the recipients as well as tears of sadness from the kids who didn't get selected. Out of our kids, Abby won two of the raffles, but neither Kippy, Nixin or Noah were chosen. Noah did however, become the winner of some yummy chocolate/peanut butter bars from the Cake Walk; while Nixin & Kippy were happy with their prizes that they chose. All in all, it was a joyful day.