The joys and thoughts of April

April treated us well! Easter was an absolute delight, we were graced with our annual April winter storm, and Adelynn turned 6!

Auntie Steph, Kaaren, and Chloe made the drive from MN to spend Easter with us in the UP. The girls were so excited about the Easter Bunny's visit, and this year Izzy actually found her own eggs (with a little pointing from everyone!) Izzy lost all focus when she realized that chocolate was involved....she spent most of the day attacking large pieces of chocolate. It was a really fun day.

Following Easter, Adelynn eagerly counted down the days until her birthday...we all thought that it would never come....and then it did. Mother nature played the same annual trick and unleashed over a foot of snow just a couple of days before her birthday...

Adelynn turned six on April, 23rd. She chose frog cupcakes to take to school, and I was lucky enough to be invited to stay and celebrate with her class! The family all went out to dinner at the North Shore Restaurant...which is tradition for Addy's birthday!

Opening gifts after school

Cheese!

Screature...the new member of the family! Thanks auntie Steph...

Dinner at the North Shore

This year I gathered my senses, and we held Adelynn's birthday party at a pool in an area hotel instead of in our home. It was so great! Auntie Steph made the drive yet again....to be here on the special day! (Thank you Steph for helping...your constant presence in the girls lives means so much...we all love you dearly....thank you for taking the time to share in these moments!)

It was a really fun/special day! Spent with family, good friends, and a great bunch of Addy's friends.

I am continually surprised that I have kept this blog going! As some of you know, I have expanded my horizons to include facebook. I realized though, that this blog is as much for my girls as for those of you reading it from a far. I know too personally how life changes in a minute....I know too painfully, how comforted I still am by reading the words and thoughts of my mother in her last emails...someday, this will be the story I leave for my girls of a time they will scantly remember. Because of this I must add: April is always a beautiful month when I celebrate the gift of motherhood...not just because I was blessed with the honor of being Adelynn's mom....but April marks the last month that I was ever mothered. This year, I am thankful to have two healthy beautiful daughters (one of which is a leftie like auntie Steph)...I am thankful that I have a sister that continually helps me mother...without a mother, and I am thankful that six years after her death....the pain is still so intense that I cry....for that type of pain to live....she must have been great. To my girls...oh you are loved...from Hancock and from Heaven.

We wish you all a happy summer!