the morris family

i remember when we met our dear richie that i wanted to do anything and everything to remember him. thankfully my sweet friend jessica, dropped everything and came right away to capture pictures of his sweet little hands and his cute little nose. i cherish these photos and i am ever so grateful for her gift. unfortunately, you don't always have time to plan this, nor are you in the right frame of mind to even think of special things you might cherish months and years later.

i had heard a little about mamies poppy plates before our loss, but have now realized just how amazing the organization is. mamies poppy plate is a program developed by a mom that too lost her daughter oh so soon. its goal is to provide keepsakes for parents who are not able to take their babies home from the hospital with them. because handprints and footprints are something parents cherish of their children in Heaven and here on this earth, sarah (mamie's mom) wanted to find a beautiful way to preserve this precious reminder.

i have now become more familiar with mamies poppy plates and realized just how wonderful it is. mamie's is working hard to place blank plates in hospitals so they are ready for parents to place their child's footprints on them and then paint them exactly how they would like at a later time.

i remember being so thankful for the "share" program that guided rich and myself during this difficult time, because you just never plan for anything like this. they were familiar with the troubles and concerns were were facing and helped us through it. in fact SHARE was given over $500 in honor of our little richie from our amazing friends and family, what a blessing.

on thursday i had lunch with two special friends and we had a lovely time. toward the end our lunch, they handed me a box. tears poured down, as i opened our very own plate, complete with the footprints of our little boy. i couldn't believe it! they had been working on it from the moment they were told of our loss. i am so thankful for our friends and family that have done more than i could have ever imagined. they have comforted us, held us, prayed for us, and showered us with keepsakes that we will cherish forever. we love our boy and we will never forget him.

it is so funny how we laughed and laughed and we were , well, a little embarrassed that our son's middle name was "albert".......now i am so proud of his entire name. :-)

this is the 2nd load

it was in so many pieces

sallie is so excited about her new clubhouse. some friends of ours (thanks turpin's) were needing to get rid of their swing set because their kiddos had outgrown it. we had talked about getting a small swing set from walmart because our back yard is pretty tiny.......but who can pass up this fun surprise? the hard part was getting it moved, because this clubhouse is HUGE. we got a qote from a local moving company and realized this project might be a little more difficult than we expected because the quote was outrageous. thankfully my dad came up one weekend to help and the two boys got it done in two days. i was so impressed and sallie thinks she is pretty big stuff.

the clubhouse is bigger than our house, so we look pretty silly......but who cares, it's fun!!

tadah!

yep, we've got next year's vacation planned already.........headed to the springdale, staying at the comfort inn for a few nights and will spend our days and nights riding the elevators! ha! sallie loved riding the elevator. i think this one was extra special because it was close to our room and she could ride it all by herself.

here we go

and let's do it again

the grill master

trying to be like my friend amy.....her's always looks so much better

a little swimming, a little football throwing, a little grilling, a little time with family, and watermelon......what a great day to be thankful for living in the united states. we spent time at the beach and then had a little cookout at our condo. my parents had been in florida for a reunion with some of dad's army buddies and it was so fun having them join us on this 4th day of july celebration.

i seem to have a difficult time on holidays.....it is sorda bittersweet for me. while i sit back and think about what the day means, and i am so thankful for my family, friends, and freedom.....i can't help but think of our sweet boy that is not with us. it just doesn't seem complete. ups and downs for me continue, i guess. i am reminded daily, things are not quite exactly how we plan, and i try to be okay with that.

i did get a little sad today and sallie came up to me and said, "whats wrong mommy?" rich was there to help out and said "you know why mommy is sad? she misses baby brother" she looked at me holding my face with both hands and said "don't be sad mommy, i make you happy, see, i make you happy" and she smiled the biggest, most adorable smile.......she does make me so happy.

i really am thankful for this life and the lives that have made it exactly what it is today.

getting ready for the smores

love that belly......not mine, i don't love mine so much.

we are so thankful for our great friends. rich's bible study pulled off the most amazing celebration of our sweet baby richie. i posted in march about the incredible trip they gave to us and well, we planned it and are now enjoying it. we don't usually even take vacations. i think it is mainly because we traveled for so many years and it is has just been nice to stay home. now that sallie is older, we will try to plan some type of vacation in the summer. and i must say, i was super excited for this one. i started packing about two weeks before we headed out.

the weather is perfect, the beaches are beautiful and the water is so blue. sallie absolutely loves the sand and the "neverland sea" (guess we have been watching a few too many episodes of jake and the neverland pirates.

building a sandcastle