Winner

If there had been a contest at Kate's birthday brunch this morning for best costume, Jay'me would have totally won. Girlfriend rocked the "come in your jammies" theme.

The reality is Kate and I are the real winners. This house was filled with so much love. Shrieks of happiness, lots of stories, belly laughs, hugs, good food and great people. I just wish all of you could have been there with us.

Right before a large party I'm always a little (read a LOT) bitchy. I feel stressed, pressured, anxious. I stayed up way too late last night getting things done to avoid that feeling. It really paid off. I was quite relaxed and everything came together perfectly.
Unfortunately for my family, being prepared didn't cure my bitchy this morning. Except this time it was for a different reason. I just couldn't imagine celebrating Kate's fourth birthday without Scott. Most of the people that were coming were his family (friends) long before they were mine. This type of party was something he would have loved. The house just felt empty.
Then everyone started showing up. The house filled and the emptiness subsided. Not because I was distracted or because these people replace Scott but because he's alive in all of us. The gathering of the man harem, BigDan and Kathy driving out from Chicago, the squeals of the kids, Kate running past the picture of Scott on the wall and stopping to give it a kiss, the fighting over bacon, the warm blueberry scones, the peach glazed ham. He was here.
A wonderful day. Thanks to BigDan I have lots of photos to go through. I'll be sharing them soon. Tonight though, I'm taking the night off. I'm climbing into bed early, reading a book and hopefully getting some much needed sleep. It's going to be another busy week. The countdown to Disney World is officially on!

Thank you to everyone that came. Thank you to all of you that took a moment and thought about Kate and I today. Thank you to my family for helping cook and for coming early with coffee. Thank you to Dan for bringing me another coffee. More pictures soon I promise.