2nd Birthday post #1

Again, thanks to everyone who showed us in some way they were thinking of us for Carleigh’s birthday. We appreciate it! Here’s just a few things we got for Carleigh.

Caroline and her kids-Ridge, Jennifer, Thaniqua, and Carly-always send us so much love. They sent us cards and even made some brownies for her birthday. Thank you!

We got some cards from Jenny, Ashley, Sarita, and Bree. Thank you!

Our sitter, Ashley, made a neat little bag for our girls to take with us on our visits to the cemetery. They can fill it with gifts or activities to do while we are there. What a neat idea! Thank you!

We had a small celebration on Saturday, March 26th for her birthday. I left it an open invitation for family and friends. The people who ended up coming were my parents, my niece, and my best friend, Lindsey, and her family.

I ordered a cake-chocolate with buttercream frosting-and it turned out beautifully! The cake lady did an excellent job on it. I even bought a sculpture from The Midnight Orange as a cake topper. It went perfectly with the cake.

For lunch we had hamburger and potatoes on the grill. Yummy as always! The kids enjoyed playing together before and after we ate.

Then it was time for cake! I put 2 pink candles in the cake and lit them. We sang happy birthday to Carleigh and I let the girls blow out the candles. They were really excited to eat the cake and I must admit so was I! The cake was super good last year (same lady made it) and it was really good again.

After we all had our fill of cake we got the balloons around. We decided to do a small release in our backyard and then go out to the cemetery and do one. Lindsey and her family did the one in our backyard with us and then my parents just went out with us to the cemetery.

I had the same cards as last year that we wrote on and tied to the balloons.

One of the balloons ended up getting stuck on our antenna. Last time I checked it was still there! Oops! It was kinda windy that day so it wasn’t surprising.

Out at the cemetery I put a little stone angel by her vase on her headstone. The stone angel was a gift from my friend Amy. I love what it says.

I gave Carleigh some new flowers. I had a local flower shop make them but I wasn’t impressed with what they did so I bought my own white flowers and had my mom redo it when they came down before our little party started. It looked so much better after she fixed it! In the vase I also put a little butterfly decoration. The wings glow in the dark. It also came with 2 more. I put one in our backyard in Carleigh’s Corner and I gave one to my mom so she would have one at her house so when we visited we could see it and think of her.

We got the rest of the balloons out of the van and let them go.

Overall, the day was really good and lighthearted. The celebration was wonderful and we were with people who really cared for us.

Kyndra went home with my parents so later I took Lainey up to where I keep Carleigh’s memory chest. I started looking through it and showing her things that belong to her sister. I played a little musical statue that played the tune “I Will Always Love You”. You know, the song that Whitney Houston sings on the movie The Bodyguard? It was so pretty. So I just kept playing that over and over until we were done looking through her chest. So many cherished memories.