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! :)

Helping Out!

Yesterday Randy and I both had commitments out of town so Stella and Claire spent the day with Grammie and Pa and had a sleepover too! 

Sunday afternoon, once we made it home from Canton, I asked the girls to help pick up a little before their friends Gigi and Cami visited for a playdate.  I was picking up some things in the other room and hear 'Claire, we need to clean up so our friends don't see this messy mess' and turn to see both girls sweeping the floor.  Wow!  Stella is getting to be such a big girl.  While I had to resweep the floor they both got a big high-five for helping out!  They aren't always great at picking up at home so this was awesome!  

Dinner out with Kalub & Neice on Friday

Soon we will be gearing up for our Memorial Celebration in honor of Trey.  We look forward to gathering with friends and family to remember and honor our sweet boy.  If you've haven't yet RSVP'd please visit our event page or send us a message!

Funeral, Wedding & Parade

This week has been a busy one and has been an opportunity to share some teachable moments with our girls about some of life's biggest disappointments as well as special moments.  On Friday we attended a funeral for a cousin's spouse who has went to his heavenly home ahead of their three young children.  We've prayed all week for their family - Claire cried once because she didn't like my answer about when you come back from heaven, but as expected, they didn't know exactly what was happening once we were there.  Since it was a Catholic funeral mass Stella had all kinds of questions and wanted to be able to see everything.  When I told her this church was different from ours, because all churches are different, she said 'just like all families are different?'.  (We can definitely tell she does listen and soak up what we are trying to teach her...)  At the end, when they incensed Stella whispered "Mommy, it smells like pancakes in here!".  Needless to say Mommy could really use her childish humor in that moment!  We've been trying to explain the difference between our spirits and our bodies for a while now, and they both had questions about that too so hopefully they are starting to understand this concept too!

On Saturday we went to a wedding for a childhood friend.  Everyone is tired and the girls have come down with a cold so while we didn't stay long they were able to see this special ritual too and Stella reminded me that I'm already married to daddy!

It's not often that Randy and I have a date night but this week we had two outings without the girls!  We had dinner out with friends on Saturday night and then played in the BMC Golf Tournament fundraiser on Sunday.  The girls were super excited to hang out with Grammie and Pa and Micaela while we were out!



Monday we celebrated Memorial Day with a trip to Canton to participate in the parade. A few weeks back the girls distributed poppies and collected money for programs which support Veteran's families.  Claire was the Poppy Princess this year and although she was definitely not feeling well, she was excited and happy to be there (then she went home and took a 4-hour nap!).  Stella passed out bubbles with Maddyn to many of the children who came out to watch the parade.  Tomorrow the girls get an extra day at home with daddy since BMC didn't use all of their snow days this year. May has been passing quickly and were looking forward to June to have a little bit of quiet and time at home!

Fun Times in May!

New Balance Climbing Structure

Arthur's House

We've had some fun outings the past two weeks and here are some pictures that captured the fun at the Boston Children's Museum!

While we don't watch or read much 'Arthur' the girls loved the exhibit!

Arthur's backyard camp-out

Having a picnic

Underneath the aquarium

Mother's Day Smiles and lunch on the pier

The construction zone!

The Salon @ Boston Black:

Peeps World:

Claire especially loved exploring
the wonders of water!

The 'Fix-It' Area:

The Art Studio:

Other Fun this month:

Finally digging out all of our outdoor toys from the garage!

Dinner Selfie with Daddy @ 'Sticks'

A trip to the Thompson Park Zoo in Watertown, NY with Mommy and Grammie!

Long Jump!