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.

8 months!

 Where did the time go?  Miss Allison is up to a whopping 16 pounds! (I know, she's not all that big, but we're catching up!)  She's an incredibly social little thing...as long as I'm the one holding her.  She loves to smile and flirt with people, but not be held by them.  And I'm okay with that.  She babbles constantly, and now only says "Mama" when she sees me or wants my attention.  That makes me happy.  She's not crawling yet, although the last couple days she's been enticed onto her hands and knees, usually by the cat being just out reach.  Once she gets there, though, she's not sure what to do with herself.

As per her usual, Erin wanted to join in out photo shoot.  Which meant Patrick did too.  And this is seriously the best shot I got of all 3.  Oh well.

long walk

The van is in the shop at the moment, so I'm carless.  Since I needed a couple things for dinner, I decided we'd walk the 1.4 miles to the nearest grocery store instead of sending Matt to get them on the way home. We stopped by McDonald's for lunch, and then headed back home.

Patrick occasionally wanted to get out of the stroller

Erin asked to stop by the park on the way home.

Allison was asleep when we arrived, but I heard a coo and looked over to see this

So I let her have some play in the dirt time.

When we got home it was snack time while I loaded the dishwasher.  The girl LOVES graham crackers.

And it's apparently Coco's birthday today (all I knew was the last week of April last year, so I showed Erin a calendar and let her pick the day), so we gave him this tunnel and feather toy.  He's loving it.

Sprinklers

It was warm enough today to bring out the swimsuits.  Erin was SO excited

Patrick was a little less impressed

Allison liked the mist, but not getting any closer

And I couldn't stay out long since I burned myself pretty good yesterday.

 We've been here almost a year, and I still often think to myself just how grateful I am for a yard.  Being able to go out and play in the water without it being a major production was so nice.

There is springtime in my soul today

Not much going on...

We've spent a lot of our time lately being sick it seems.  So between being exhausted because my body is trying to heal itself and being exhausted because my sick kids are cranky and needing my attention...I'm just exhausted.

I'll try to do something interesting in the near future. Until then, I apologize.