4th of july weekend.

what a fun weekend.

since the last MRI, i have had more times of peace… fun. happiness. and less time spent watching eyes and worrying about the future. 

we did the regular 4th of july things. we went to the parade, swimming, hanging out with friends. it was a fabulous time.

***this first set of pics are with the underwater point and shoot - hence the reason they are a bit soft lol. and generally not as good. but let me tell you - nothing is more freeing than not checking your bag 100x for fear you lost your big girl camera ;)

i have tried to be in the pics, lately. even just selfies that make my kids laugh.

hope you noticed miller's ear protection ;) she does not like loud noises at all - so this helped a ton.

***the pics from here on out are DSLR pics.

we set up camp, like we have for the past few years, only a new location. we turned on music, got out food, and waited for the city of mckinney to light up the sky.




then last night, my sweet aidan rode a 2 wheeler. all by herself. she is so "safe". riding without training wheels is a huge deal for everyone, but its taken a long time for her to gain the confidence.

but now… NOW she is a rockstar on a bike!




today we had no plans. we got moving late, we went to grab some things for the beach next week, and then came home for nap time. at some point today we decided to go to the lake.

what a good decision it was.

we were not there long, but its such a short trip that all the giggles make the prep worth it.




as you can see, miller decided to take her bathing suit off. and she did, in fact, have panties on underneath because… why not, right?

i like to write these posts. i like to write posts that aren't filled with sadness. or medical terminology.

that being said, i am pretty sure i accidentally scheduled her port flush for next week and i need to change that to this week. tuesday.

she hates tuesdays. 

but it should be quick and easy.

hopefully its always easy.

its funny how i call these days easy. when, years ago, i would have thought them nightmares. i see people float through life without knowing the difference. that's okay.

i consider us the lucky ones.

making memories.

EJ got a weber. for no other reason than it supposedly cooks better than the big grill.

i think he is right.

going outside and grilling is one of our favorite things. its been a "cool" summer so far. high 80's/low 90's. so playing on the playset has burned memories of giggles into my brain. we color with chalk, make muffins and bring them outside to picnic, we set up the sprinkler and watch them run through in some sort of invented game. i take selfies with the girls.

the door to the house opens and closes a dozen times. we holler about "air-conditioning the outside!!" and making sure popsicles stay on the patio and not on the carpet. i tell miller to put my diet coke down and for sawyer to stop stealing aidan's swing. on and on.

but its all worth it.

on saturday evening, we decided to pack it up and go to the allen fireworks.

…and i am so glad we did. it was amazing. before we left, we quickly packed up a cooler, snacks, the strollers, chairs, everything. laid out a blanket and waited hours for fireworks. the kids ran around, reese made EJ make a sonic run (lol. she needed a cheese-cheese, or 2), and then it got dark. miller was scared of the noise, but i covered her ears and she was, then, all smiles. reese laughed at the booms, aidan and sawyer shrieked with excitement, and corbin just stared… not a peep from her.

sometimes, its hard to have 5 kids. it can be logistically hard to do things. but we always do them, when we make the time to make memories, it's like there was no other choice.

again, i've been on a point and shoot kick. so these are from that camera again.





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