Sending birthday cards to Lainey

We went to the cemetery this afternoon and released a dozen pink balloons for Lainey.  The little girls had attached notes & birthday cards to their balloons.  We watched them until they were miles and miles away and went up into the clouds.

Happy Birthday, Lainey...

It was one year ago today that I saw the tiny little toes in the center of this picture for a few, short hours...held my baby in my arms so briefly.  The hardest thing I've ever done was to leave her there in a white basket at the hospital and get in the car and drive away.  I just wanted to scream, "No!  NO! I can't leave her there!!!!"  

The saying that the Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep people put on this picture is so true....There is no foot too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world.  I just finished reading my journal on the Caring Bridge website.  I have a huge pile of kleenexes laying beside me.  I'm so glad I journaled all of that...so glad I have it recorded forever.  I still may write that book one of these days.

We are going to the cemetery this afternoon to release balloons.  Autumn had the girls write letters & make birthday cards to attach to the balloons.  I brought the stone home that we've had at the cemetery all this time because they were pouring the concrete to set her permanent stone on.  The permanent stone won't be ready for a few more weeks, so we are going to take the other stone back out there this afternoon since the concrete is poured and set-up.  We will leave it there until the permanent stone is set so there is something marking her grave.  There just needs to be something there.

Isn't he cute?

Ryan - 10 weeks

Ryan was sitting on Pop's lap talking to him.  The camera wouldn't cooperate to get his biggest smiles, but you can tell he's having a good time visiting with his Pop.

Happy Mother's Day!

I was the only mom at church today with a corsage.  And what a beautiful one!!  The girls (& Nathan) special ordered a corsage for me with 9 roses...one for Autumn, Meagan, Krissy, Erin, Heather, Laura, Kara, Leah, & Nanna...and an unopened bud for Lainey.  The little girl that sat beside me in Junior Church pointed at the unopened bud and said, "It didn't grow."  I had to blink the tears away.  How very true!  You can bet this corsage & card will be stashed away with my keepsakes.

Krissy made our favorite coffee cake last night for a special breakfast this morning.  Then for dinner, I had a ribeye steak done to perfection...well, perfect to me with a little black around the edges.  Gary said he could hardly stand to throw that good ribeye on the hottest flame to do that to it, but that's just the way I like it.  We had baked potatoes and peas to go with it and brownies with frosting for dessert.  Then I took a nap.

It was a great day all around.  It's amazing the changes in a year's time.  Lainey is no longer with us, but we have a son-in-law and a grandson and Baby Stratton on the way.  

God is good all the time, All the time God is good.

Ouabache State Park

We loaded up the camper for our first camping trip of the season this past weekend.  We spent Saturday night through Monday afternoon at Ouabache (pronounced Wabash) State Park near Bluffton, Indiana.

 They have a herd of bison in the park.  The girls were pulling grass and feeding them.  They followed us all the way from the back of their pen to the front waiting for more grass.  They sure are awkward, nasty creatures.  We went to the library yesterday to get some books about bison/buffaloes...good subject for a school report.

 Meagan & I cooked pancakes and bacon on our portable gas grill.  We decided not to take firewood on this trip since we were going to be gone for such a short time.  I missed it though as soon as we got there and I smelled someone's fire.  It's just not the same to go camping without a fire and s'mores.  Next time!

 Laura & Kara enjoyed a game of checkers while we were cooking our breakfast supper.  We like to do breakfast food at supper time every once in a while.

 On Monday morning, we went bowling in Bluffton.  We used bumper guards so our balls would stay out of the gutters.  Ha!!  Laura managed to hit the end of the bumper so hard that she knocked it over.  Erin fell down after she let go of her ball and slid down the lane with it a little ways.  Heather sent her ball rolling backwards into the spectators.  Nanna has the slowest slow ball I've ever seen.  It seemed like it took 5 minutes for her ball to make it to the pins.  I did so well that Nanna was the only one with a score lower than mine.  Lowest score wins, right?  We were just glad we were the only ones in the bowling alley that morning!!  I'm sure that man that ran the bowling alley just shook his head when we left there!!  That's okay. We had a good time!

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

May 3rd was Grandpa Cooper's 82nd birthday.  We celebrated with a peanut butter dessert Erin made.

Shop til you drop!

We did double school work yesterday so we could take today off and go to the outlet mall in Tuscola, Illinois.  We all had a great time & found quite a few great bargains.  Most of the girls bought flipflops at Old Navy, among many other purchases.  It never ceases to amaze me what people's reactions are to our girls.  When we checked out at Christopher & Banks, one of the two ladies behind the counter asked if those 4 girls were all mine. Ha!!!  Yes, they are, but that's not all of them.  I have 9.  Both of the ladies just stood there and looked at me.  Didn't say a word or blink an eye.  It was just slightly uncomfortable!  Then they just started going on and on about how they could never do it and how wonderful it was...  Then while we were eating our supper, a couple came in about 15 minutes before we were finished.  The woman sat there and stared at us the whole time!  Not subtly...just plain staring....like we were the freak show at the circus!  I should have bought that plaque I saw in Shipshewana a month ago......"Now remember, as far as everyone knows, we're a nice, normal family."