A Tribute To Dawson

I can't believe I forgot to post about Dawson Day! January 5th will forever be a special day in our family. A hard day, but so so special! 

Last year we had a "flower" bouquet delivery. It was one of those baskets that was all fruit made to look like flowers. Some were chocolate dipped. YUM! 

This year Jasmine & Logan sent us another fun basket of "flowers".

Mallory about came undone! Raw Veggies are her VERY favorite! 

Isn't it beautiful? Mallory ate almost the whole dang thing....seriously! 

Now, my friend Maryon plays a HUGE part in this day! She doesn't even know how much! First part: the cemetery! Maryon has a brother that passed away before she was born. She shared with me a tradition that they have in their family. They met every year at his grave site to sing "Families Can Be Together Forever". She said that this has changed her life and created such a close relationship with her brother that passed before she was born. When she talks about him, I feel the influence this has had on her life. It is totally something that I wanted in our family! 

So stop #1 (even in the dark) we stopped to release balloons and sing for D. 

When we started the tradition of writing notes to Dawson on balloons and sending them to him, I honestly thought that it would mostly be for Mallory. Not so! It is amazing how serious Jake takes this, and I love it! 

I also love Mallory's face in this picture! Smile AND look at the camera....to much to ask! 

Then Jake held a balloon so Mally could write her own note. SO SWEET! It is moments like this that just make my heart melt! 

Before the release, we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever", by the way, we were missing Ryan. He was working away in North Dakota. 

After the song Jake requested that we sing the 3rd verse of "Be Still My Soul". Loved that! 

Then we sent some love to Dawson! 

It was dark, but we watched the balloons until we couldn't see them anymore. 

Next stop was the 2nd thing that Maryon did to make this day a good one. She started "Dawson Day". A bunch of friends and family bought flowers and took them to their local hospital to deliver to parents that had children in the hospital. With each bouquet there was a little note about Dawson and a link to our blog so they could learn more about him. 

My kids were so excited to get to do this! They really felt close to Dawson. 

And they loved stopping for a bit in the hallway in the kids section of the hospital, to play a little hopscotch! 

We miss our little Deiter! However, instead of spending the day feeling sorry for ourselves, we tried to spend the day celebrating his life and the lessons he taught us! Such a great day!