"To live, to struggle, to be in love with life - in love with all life holds, joyful or sorrowful - is fulfilment. The fullness of life is open to all of us." -Betty Smith

Miles for Melanoma

One of Angela's good friends, Allison Aiken, is going to run the DC Marine Corps Marathon in October and is raising money for the Melanoma Research Foundation, in honor of Angela. I wanted to help her in spreading her message, so I've put a link on the sidebar if anyone is interested in helping her out. Thanks to Allison for thinking of Ang and our family!

All of Angela's funeral events were last week, and were really sweet and comforting. So many people sent beautiful arrangements of flowers, which we loved and appreciated. It's been wonderful to be surrounded by all their beauty. Thank you for all the sweet thoughts and messages during the past two weeks. Most of us are back home now and appreciating this time to spend as a family.

Birthday Party

Clara's birthday was last week, but we had her party yesterday. She has been talking about it for months: she wanted to go to the pool, and have a cake and balloons. She and Sarah helped me make the cake, which they loved. (Especially wearing their aprons.)

The morning started out with Mickey Mouse "waff-waffs," which she was super excited about.


Sarah helped Clara look at the cake before we ate it. So cute.



Clara loved her side walk chalk and the pajamas that her Grandma made for her. She is glad to finally be 2!

Disney World

I realized I hadn't posted any pictures of Clara since January...oops. At the beginning of April my family went to Disney World, which was Clara's first time. My sisters taught her who all the Disney characters were, and she had a great time. The first day we went to Magic Kingdom it poured and then drizzled all day. But it kept the lines down. (You can barely see Cinderella's Castle.)

Also, Clara still had her cast on, and we were able to get a pass where we could use her stroller as a wheelchair. This let us go in all the Fast Pass lines and in the wheelchair entrances to all the rides. It was wonderful! Angela got this pass once because of her cancer, and she loved it. She absolutely loved Disney World.
Clara also loved eating her first Mickey ice cream bar. Can't you tell?