december celebrations.

last year, we were at the hospital, the day after reese's 2nd resection, on aidan's bday.

this year, i planned ahead so she could have a party for her 7th bday with her friends.

…but, we were in the hospital with reese this year, as well… luckily, we made it work. and it was so much fun. aidan's friends came over for a sleepover.

we did crafts.
makeup and glitter tattoos. (Thanks to my amazing friend, rach, who stayed the night in case I went crazy oooooor into labor lol)
pics by the tree to remember her friends who were there.
pizza and ice cream sundaes.
presents.
and then "go upstairs, watch a movie, and make loom bracelets" to end the night lol

i cannot believe aidan is 7. its unreal to me. thats so… old.

she is caught between still being such a baby.  needing me, wanting to just be a cuddle bug (which i welcome with open arms) -- and then being so independent. she's responsible, a huge help around the house, extremely smart…

she's emotional. and smart mouthed. obstinate. and so silly.

the best. happy 7th bday, my love.

then there was christmas. after so many days in the hospital, we were so happy to be home, altogether.

on xmas eve, we did our normal things - with a few crazy additions - like home abx and shopping lol

we also went and saw santa. not just ANY santa, but the santa we have seen since aidan was 1yo. i love him. he is real and awesome and omg. butttttt everyone else loves him, too ;) so on xmas eve we got in line, outside (brrrr…), at like 9am for the doors to open at 10am. then waited for pics. santa was so awesome with reese. "can i talk to her for a min?' ::sigh:: sweet man. and then for the pic, reese is sad bc miller is so sad. lol

i put them to bed in their xmas PJs and counted my blessings.


christmas morning we had a few pant swaps LOL reese's were wet and sawyer apparently wanted miller's 12 mo size or something… a friend of ours dropped off xmas breakfast the night before and omg delish!! unfortunately, EJ was dx with flu AND strep on xmas eve… so… we just sort of incubated ourselves for the day. but it was quiet and nice.




so now we are in 2014. new year. new beginnings. new adventures. same family.