Update – July 24, 2009 – the winning photos have been announced. Congratulations to Zoe, Braden, and Reid who will appear in the calendar. That means a quarter of the photos in the calendar came from this community! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who submitted a photo and voted!
Update – June 30, 2009 – the contest is now closed, thanks to everyone for participating! According to the website, results will be posted by July 10. I wish I’d grabbed final numbers, but that doesn’t seem to be an option.
Update – June 8, 2009: There are only a few weeks left in the contest. The top 12 vote getters will receive digital cameras, but more importantly, the photos for the calendar will be chosen from the group that receives the most votes (I don’t know what the cut off is). Please vote for the photos on this page to get them in to the running for the calendar!
Have I missed your photo? If you’ve submitted a picture and would like to be listed on this page, please email me (ann@shinypebble.com) or leave a comment.
18 photos submitted!! More than enough to make our own calendar… There are a lot of great new pictures there now! Check it out.
Voting information: I’ve gotten a few questions: Yes, you can vote more than once and for more than one photo. To vote again, just close your browser and re-open it, or in Firefox, clear your cookies (note: this will affect more than just the voting page, for instance, if I clear my cookies, I have to re-log in to my blog to post). Voting runs until June 30, 2009.
~ ~ ~
I mentioned the Children’s Eye Foundation’s photo contest for their 2010 calendar in my post on Monday. It’s been bothering me ever since that so many of the photos that have been submitted seem to have nothing to do with children’s eye care. Now, to be fair, the theme of the calendar is “It’s a beautiful thing to see” and the site specifically says that pictures could be ” a child with glasses, a photo with children, or pretty much any beautiful thing.” So, I guess most of the submitted pictures qualify. But honestly, if the Children’s Eye Foundation publishes its “I care for eye care” calendar and it’s full of pictures of flowers and landscapes and puppies, but there aren’t at least a few pictures of kids in glasses? Well, that’s just not right!
Happily, we’ve got at least 5 photo submissions from the Little Four Eyes community, and they’re great submissions, too! I’m going to post the submitted photos here and if you click on a picture, it will take you to the voting page. Again, no registration is necessary to vote, and you can vote for more than one picture! I know that we can all band together and make sure this calendar has pictures of our beautiful kids.
I’d also love to see more pictures from our community submitted. Just take a look at our photo gallery and tell me that we aren’t a group with beautiful kids and good photography skills. If you do submit a picture, let me know and as soon as I see it’s posted (it usually takes 24-48 hours), I’ll post that picture as well. [Edited to add: One of the few restrictions is that you can only submit one photo per person.] I’ll also link to this page from the sidebar, so if you’re ever looking for some way to fill some time, you can go back and vote some more (voting runs until June 30). Pass along this link to friends and family, too, and ask them to vote with us.
Here are the photos submitted by Little Four Eyes parents to the Children’s Eye Foundation’s “I care for eye care” 2010 calendar contest. Click any picture to get to its voting page. I’ll put newly submitted photos at the beginning of this group, so it should be easy to find new pictures if you check back later. Vote for as many pictures as you like (including ones not from our group, there are other pictures that I quite like).
I see! by Jennifer. Peyton wears glasses for farsightedness.
Eli's First Pair of Glasses, by Becky. Eli wears glasses for farsightedness.
Look world, I can SEE, by Monica. Sofie wears glasses for farsightedness.
I see you, by Natalie. Nicky wears glasses for farsightedness.
Penny's beautiful eyes, by Nicole. Penny has cataracts.
Spring snow, by Momerabilia. Kate has amblyopia.
Pardon me, I can see, by Barb. Kaylee wears glasses for strabismus and amblyopia.
Mother and daughter, by Ingrid. Paris wears glasses for nearsightedness.
Peanutbutter bliss, by Melinda. Reid wears glasses for farsightedness.
I see you, by Jeana. Sophie wears glasses for nearsightedness.
Sleepy Eyes, by Ultravioletmama, an author at Amblyopia Kids. Maggie has amblyopia
My smiling eyes, by MT. Belle wears glasses and patches for amblyopia.
Trick or Treat, by Annie. Aubree wears glasses for farsightedness.
Exploring rocks by the ocean, by Amomofelly. Elly wears glasses for amblyopia.
hug me, by Danielle. Mia has a congenital cataract (and is fighting wearing glasses).
it's a beautiful creation, by Corrie. Ellie wears glasses for strabismus and amblyopia.
Lookin good, by Linda. Braden wears glasses for strabismus.
Zoe looks out over Lake Superior. Zoe wears glasses for strabismus.
For Little Eyes 
Thank you all for submitting entries in the calendar contest. We did try to keep it open-ended by requesting “beautiful things” and of course that leaves it up for interpretation. Pictures of kids are certainly preferred, so keep them coming! One of the only restrictions is that we can only accept one submission per person.
Thanks again!
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Ellie’s picture is up, and the title does not even have the word spring in it… It is “It’s A Beautiful Creation.” Sorry… I was having a senior moment. 🙂 Annie, I love the halloween costume!
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I love the pictures too! Ann – I wonder if people have figured out a way to vote more than once a day??? I noticed Looking Good has a ton of votes- maybe they can give us the inside scoop! I don’t even know that many people! Maybe if I was more computer savy I could write a program that would continously vote for our little ones =) I am so with you… a children eye foundation calendar should show children.
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All of the pictures are awesome! I’ve been trying to get everyone I know to vote for our kids! At least one of them will have to get in. I totally agree Ann…it should be filled with adorable kids in glasses. It only seems right! Thanks for letting us all know about it and keeping us posted 🙂
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Thanks everyone! Amomofelly, I added a note in the post about voting more than once a day. You can either close your browser and reopen it and you should have the voting buttons, or clear your browser’s cookies and then refresh the page.
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That would be my lookin good! I teach at a K-12 school so (very small community) so of course the “talk of the town” was Brady was in a calendar contest. Before you knew it, everyone was voting! Which was great! He had like 400 and some votes last night, and THEN a group of kids thought, hmmmmmmmmmmm what would happen if I continually clicked on the vote button. Lo and Behold, you could vote 25/30 times by clicking really quick. His votes went from 500 to 1000 in like 45 minutes.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO being the honest person I am, I called to tell them that, I was just thinking maybe they could adjust the ones fromthat 45 minute period- nope, they took me back down to 100 and some! : ( Oh well, like I said, it’s the talk of the town, I think he’ll get back up there! I am telling everyone to make sure that they vote for ALL kiddos in glasses! Let’s fill this calendar up ladies!!!
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Linda, I didn’t realize they were clicking the button 25 times really fast. Somehow, that makes it even more charming. I’m laughing at the image of these kids sitting there clicking as fast as they can. 😀
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Yea, of course NOW they are not happy because apparently the CEF didn’t “fix” the problem, and now others are up to those amounts. I told them to just wait it out, they wanted to start clickin today again! AAAGH, it is cute that they love me that much though!
love my kiddos! : ) (When you teach at a k-12 school- they are ALL your kiddos!)
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Of course, they also thought I was a big dork for telling on myself,
; )
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Thanks for linking. I posted at AK too and referred back to here so all the links are up. I also posted it on my facebook and twittered trying to get everyone to go and vote for THE KIDS! 🙂 I just told my best friend on the phone. Just go in and click on the ones with kids especially wearing glasses and patches – to heck with flowers LOL!
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Awesome, MT, thanks! As Linda and I were chatting to each other last night, “down with the hibiscus!”
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hi ann and all. I have submitted a photo of Paris. Please vote for us too. Great pics by all….
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I added Reid to the photo contest as well. Here is the link to his pic titled “Peanutbutter Bliss”:
http://www.childrenseyefoundation.org/Programs/Eye-Care-for-Kids/Vote.aspx?Page=10
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I added a picture of Kaylee to the photo contest as well titled “pardon me, I can see”.
http://www.childrenseyefoundation.org/Programs/Eye-Care-for-Kids/Vote.aspx?Page=11
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I love the picture and the title! Too Cute! How is she doing with the glasses? Still keeping them on?
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Hi Corrie!
Thanks!
She is doing EXTREMELY well with the glasses! She keeps them on for the most part, a few times we’ve had to coax her into putting them back on, but she’s generally pretty good. We told her that if she doesn’t wear them than she will get owies in her eyes. When she wakes up in the morning now she asks for them. So I think she’s realizing to some point that she sees better. I have to take her to the optical place tomorrow to get the glasses adjusted a bit as they are sliding down her nose a bit and have caused a slight sore on her nose. I’m starting the patching business tomorrow too, so hopefully she cooperates just as well wearing the patch (4 hours/day).
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All of the children are so damn cute, it kills me. Did anyone from this blog put the picture up titled “reading”. Oh my god, that picture is precious. I wish I could get Mia and Alex to sit together long enough to take a picture. Maybe in a few years.
If any of our children are beat by a flower I will be soooo mad, the hibiscus flower and the Gerber daisy are in the lead.
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We put it up as our homepage so that we remember to vote every day and sent a link to all our family and friends to vote for all the little ones in glasses.
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DOWN WITH THE HISBISCUS (and gerber daisy)
: )
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My mother called a few of my relatives in Italy and they are voting. My mother is on this crazy voting kick and she is calling everyone. A lot of my family live in Europe so she is actually making long distance calls for this contest. I asked her to tell them to vote for all the kids in glasses. Well except for Mia, since she will not keep them on her face long enough to take a picture.
I agree, down with all the flowers.
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Ann, I submitted a pic of Penny tonight, so I’d expect it to be up on what…Monday? I’m not expecting to get the votes that everyone else does, but it would be neat to see how many she does get. I will add the pic to facebook tomorrow.
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Yay! Probably Monday or Tuesday. The site seems to be down for me right now, but I’ll keep a look out.
There’s still 5 or 6 weeks before voting ends, so there’s time to get the votes up.
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Lotta talk about down with the flowers and such, but have you really thought about the whole idea? The calendars are made to raise money for the foundation (hence, more help for the kids) – yeah, the kids are adorable, but would that many people really be interested in purchasing a calendar with nothing but somebody else’s kids on it? I like the idea of some kids being in it since it is for a children’s foundation, but for the benefit of the foundation and the kids, I think the inclusion of some of the other stuff like flowers and such would help raise more money. Just my .02 Anyway, good luck to all who are entered!
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Heh, thanks for the comment SS! The “down with the flowers” talk is pretty lighthearted competitive talk, I think. At least, it always makes me chuckle quietly to myself (yes, my coworkers wonder about me).
But to your point, previous to this year, the calendar was all children’s drawings of eye care, so I’m not sure that your concern makes sense – people interested in calendars that show what children think of eye care, would probably be more interested in a calendar showing children who have thrived because of good eye care. And I know I’ve seen plenty of calendars for sale with pictures of cute kids, so it’s not like there’s no market for pictures of cute kids. I was also under the impression that this calendar was sold primarily to eye care providers, but in looking back, I see nothing to indicate who they market the calendar to at all, so I could be totally wrong.
In any case, my original frustration came from seeing this calendar contest, titled “I care for eyecare: it’s a beautiful thing to see” sponsored by a group that I support and that meshes well with this community, and yet before Zoe, there was only one submission with a child in glasses, and very few that had anything to do with children’s vision.
Whatever. I honestly have no problem with other pictures ending up in the calendar, it just seemed like the perfect contest for parents here to enter their kids into, and yeah, I’m going to support those pictures over pictures of flowers.
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I totally agree Ann! I can buy a calendar any day with beautiful scenic photos, but a calendar with children in glasses is what this foundation is about! The entire point of the calendar is to raise the awareness about the importance of eye care in children. This is something that so many parents are completely unaware of. I think all us parents have answered hundreds of questions from friends, family, & strangers about our childrens vision, and shocked many people that had no idea children our age had vision problems let alone could be examined. I personally have told everyone I know that they should get eye exams by 1 for their children just as a precaution. I also don’t know what types of markets this calendar was for, but I would purchase it as a parent of a child in glasses. I also could see every eye glasses office & PO I visit being interested in these calendars as well. I know because of your blog I have sent out tons of e-mails & messages on facebook for people to come view the calendar and vote. I think letting all the parents in this group know about this contest has in itself spread the word about eye care for children. I say props to you!!!
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I agree with both Ann and Annie. Most of the people visiting this site have children with eye disorders, or are some how affiliated with children‘s vision, not sick flowers. They will sell much more calendars if our children are the pictures on each page opposed to pictures of flowers and dogs. I know all of my family and friends will purchase a calendar. Most of the scenic pictures they have posted are what you usually see in a calendar, this contest is for the children’s eye foundation, and is to raise awareness for children’s eye disorders. The amount of worry and fear that comes along with raising a child that has vision problems is ongoing, and heart wrenching. People (myself included) take their good vision for granted, I never knew how complex the human eye was until I was told that my 12 day old daughter could not see from her right eye, and could possibly be blind. You don’t understand how your world stops. So yes, I stand by my first post “down with the flowers“.
Danielle
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FYI – I asked & the calendars will be available for sale after the contest ends on their website 🙂 We will all get to order one of these for our homes or offices. Hooray!
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Penny’s picture is up and since she entered later – she is in need of your votes… so head to page 24. She is just adorable!
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thanks amomofelly! I just went to look and saw 178 votes! that’s amazing! thank you everyone!
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does anyone know how to get ahold of the children’s eye foundation and tell them their website is down?
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Here is their contact number and the e-mail I recieved today =( Elly was put at 1,800 votes.
Hello,
I noticed voting irregularities on your entry “Exploring Rocks by the Ocean” and as a result, I have reset voting to our most recent record. If the excessive voting continues, the entry will be removed from the contest. It is OK to vote for your entry a few times each day, it is not OK to increase your votes by 20x.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Regards,
—
Thomas Rogers
Executive Director
Children’s Eye Foundation
http://www.childrenseyefoundation.org
Cell: (903) 452-1027
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They must not have checked our numbers in the last month. Elly was over 17,000 yesturday and the number has grown steadily from our family and friends clicking on her picture every day. I am not happy =(
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I saw the post here regarding the contest we’re holding and wanted to reply. First off, thank you all for your submissions, you are exactly who we’re trying to reach and I hope you will continue to vote for your favorite entries.
Regarding the “Exploring Rocks by The Ocean” submission, as of this morning the vote count was more than 99,000, which by any estimation is excessive.
My goal is to make the contest as fair as possible and that includes correcting irregular voting behavior, which I will continue to do.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me directly.
Thanks!
Thomas
t.rogers@childrenseyefoundation.org
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Thomas, I called and left 2 messages on your answering machine this afternoon and would love to discuss the issue with you as I completely agree that 99,000 points overnight is outrageous and I guarantee I cannot open that many windows within a 24 hour time frame. My fingers just aren’t that quick. We are looking forward to your call.
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Not that it would stand up in court or anything, but I made a text file on the 26th to see how many entries have more votes than Penny’s. I had Elly’s picture listed at 15,536 votes. To be knocked down to 1800 is a little unfair. I hope it gets straightened out =(
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Thanks ladies for the support. Elly’s picture is now at : 46628 =( Unfortunately I think some people are abusing the situation of voting and our kids votes are being affected. I sure hope the Children’s Eye Foundation understands that we as parents are trying to do things the honest and fair way. The number seems “excessive” as Thomas said and I feel bad.
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Mia’s votes jumped from 25,000 to 65,000 the other night. I emailed Thomas so he could ajust her numbers back down. I think there is a glitch in the system. It seems like the numbers are increasing at night, some by 20 to 30K.
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I had been thinking there was something wrong with the CEF website, since I have been unable to vote for Penny’s picture for the last 5 days. It just kept saying “Thank you for your vote”. Well, I just figured it out… if anyone else out there is like me – meaning computer is on 24/7 and most of the time I don’t even close my internet browser – the cookies never get cleared if you don’t close your browser. So if you’re having any trouble voting, quit the program, then try again.
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Addendum to the above: I figured out how people are ending up with thousands of votes more than they had the day before, like Elly’s pic. I quit Firefox, then opened it again so I could finally vote for Penny’s picture. Right after I posted last time about it, Firefox crashed on me. And when I started it again, I could vote again. This means every time you close the program and restart it, you can vote again. I don’t think anyone here would take advantage of that, but I’m just letting you know so you’re aware of how it’s happening.
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“Down with the flowers”????? *cough cough* *mumbling* We are just that good!!!!!!!! Go flowers!!!!! Cute kids, by the way.
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Heh! You just keep telling yourself that 🙂
(Some of the flower pictures are very stunning. Just not quite as charming.)
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Lol. Good luck to all who are entered!! I’m glad this is friendly!!!
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Congratulation to Reid, Braden and Zoe! They made it into the calendar!
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