Cora's birthday

I can't believe it's been 6 years.  Now that Erin is beginning to understand a bit more, she's been the driving force of most of Cora's birthday celebration the past couple years.  This year was no different.  She has been talking about Cora's birthday for a couple weeks now, and today as we were out grocery shopping, she was telling everyone, which was a bit difficult for me when people would say "Oh, is Cora your sister? Is she in school?"

Luckily our butterflies all emerged, so we were able to release them all today. And the weather was good, unlike last year, so we got to actually release them on her birthday.

 We then went out to eat, at Noodles and Company.  They've got the best mac & cheese ever.

Noodles & Company is right next to Build-a-bear, and Erin informed me that Cora needed one like the rest of them had.  Erin chose a rainbow bear, which nearly made me tear up.  In the pregnancy loss communities online, a "rainbow" baby is one that follows a loss, just as a rainbow follows a storm, bringing color back into the world.

After that we came home for Cora's cake.  I almost didn't do it this year (I've been eating an awful lot of junk this week).  Erin wouldn't let me not, though, so we bought a little personal cake.  And of course, Erin had to blow out the candle for Cora.

All in all it was a good day.  I miss Cora a lot (I'm snuggling her bear right now), so I'm always glad to be able to do things to remember her.