Reese's 4th Birthday

She is 4 today. My little angel has been gone now for 4 years. For whatever reason, this year has been really hard for both Don and I. We talked about it and think maybe it is because more and more people forget as every year passes. It is so hard on this end when it is so important that no one forget that we had this beautiful baby girl, but as Don put it this evening, the world has moved on. You want to scream it from the rooftop! You want everyone you pass to know that you had 3 little girls before Taegan and that the last little girl isn't here anymore, but she still matters. I know what should matter is that we know and we celebrate her life, and it does, but it is so hard when others forget the one day you think about all year. Ugh...

This year my parents came up the weekend before her birthday and we all went to the cemetery on Saturday. My mom brought flowers and we purchased another little angel statue from us and a pinwheel from each of our kids. We always try and get a decent family picture, but this was as good as it was getting this year. Lily can't stand the sun in her eyes (or anywhere near her eyes) and Taegan just refuses to look AT the camera!

Her grave with the decorations we brought.

I thought it was a good idea to try and at least get a good picture of the 3 kids (ha, ha!) and this was as good as it got. The girls are great, but Taegan refused to leave his pinwheel alone! It had to be spinning!!

Later that day we got a knock at the door and it was these gorgeous flowers from my Granny in honor of Reese's birthday. I absolutely LOVE them!!

Tonight, on her actual birthday, we took the kids to buy flowers from us and pick out a balloon. Here is a decent picture of the Engel clan with the new flowers in her vase.

I wanted the pale pink tulips. They were so pretty!

Don picked out an arrangement with some gorgeous green and orange flowers.

Here is a picture of the balloon we all picked out, and Taegan HAD to carry out of the store!

Her marker before we left.

Afterwards we went out to eat and then came home and set off our 4 sky lanterns. The kids were all so excited about this and so was I. They turned out great! I just wish we would have had a few more hands to help. Don and I got them up and going and we trusted the girls to take pictures (Madison) and videotape (Lily). I think they did great.

Getting the fire going...

You have to wait about 45 seconds for it to fill with hot air and...

Away it goes!!!

We set off 2 pink and 2 white.

They looked so pretty lit up in the sky. I just wish we would have had more people to help and then they would have gone up a little closer together. Either way, it turned out great and we will definitely be doing it again next year!

As each balloon went up in the air, the kids yelled "Happy Birthday Reese!"

Here is the video Lily (and Don) took of the last lantern being lit and drifting away.

We really did have a nice evening, just us. And I can say we survived another year. It was a tough week, a really bad day yesterday and pretty emotional day today, but we got through it. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for our family. I know they helped during those hard times.

We love you Reese! We are so glad God chose us to be your family. We miss you like crazy and we can't wait to see you again someday!!