Memorial Service & Daddy's Day

On June 12th, the fifth anniversary of Trey's passing, we celebrated his life with a balloon release and ice cream social.  Despite the rainy weather it was a beautiful memorial and we so enjoyed seeing everyone join together to honor his too short life.  Thank you to everyone who made it and/or sent us kind words!

Just before we released the balloons
grandma read a poem written by Trey's Aunt Mary Jane.  Since many folks
commented on how much they enjoyed it we're sharing it here:

An angel I was to be...

Right from the start,
I knew my part.
I've come from the heart,
To play this big part.
It was not meant to be,
That boyhood you wanted for me.
For you see,
I was not meant to be.
For my mom and my dad,
I was not meant to be a lad.
For you see,
An angel I was to be.
Although not fun,
My job here is done.
My very important part,
Was always to give Stella her start.
I did what all brothers do,
I helped her make it through.
Now when you look at your baby,
You will also see me.
For you see,
An angel I was to be.
I did what I was sent to do,
For my sister made it through.
Please don't be sad,
And certainly not mad.
For you see,
An angel I was meant to be.
I am glad I stayed so long,
But don't be sad I am gone.
Proud of me you should be,
The angel role is for me.
I am sorry for your pain,
But look at all you have to gain.
You have the love,
From an angel above.
You will always be well,
For you have my "Stell Bell".

Thanks to Adam Britton, Tim McCarthy
and Carl Zender for helping daddy scoop ice cream!

 Afterward we had some ice cream and the kids worked on some indoor crafts.  The girls had so much fun seeing their friends!  That evening, Stella said "Mommy, I wish we could do something fun like Trey's balloon party everyday!"

Oreos, sprinkles, and more!

Some more pics of the special occasion:

 Our girls LOVE craft time, and so did most of the other kids who joined us!  You can see from Claire's soaking wet hair just how rainy it was for the balloon release.

Some more pics from the past two weeks:

Working on a puzzle with papa

Claire-Bear painting her nails with grandma's polish

Fun with cousins at Aunt Heather's

Sleeping Beauty

Dress-up fun

On Father's Day Stella wanted to make daddy bacon and eggs so we did and then a few hours later we headed out for some golf.  Again, we faced a rainy day but we played five holes and everyone had so much fun being outdoors and being together.  Randy is such a very patient and loving daddy and it is easy to see our girls really have fun hanging out with him!

P.S. I took the girls to buy a card for their daddy for Father's Day and Stella wasted no time picking hers out.  Claire was choosing between two and after she finally decided we put one back - it was a card with a donkey on front who had two wiggly eyes.  The outside said 'Happy Father's Day' and the inside said 'from your smart-ass kid!'.  How appropriate that would have been Claire-Bear! :)