Pizza Party!!

Maura had her birthday party at a local pizzeria.  

While it was closed to the public Maura and her friends each got to make and eat their own pizza...

followed by pizza cake, of course!

A spot for each little pizza maker...

Preparing the dough...

Adding some toppings...

The finished product...

 So delicious, both Maura and Audra took their first bite with their eyes closed...

probably because they didn't want to see what they were about to eat...

Pepperoni-pickle pizza for Maura,

and

Pepperoni-mushroom-broccoli pizza for Audra!

Cake time...

It was a perfect pizza party for my second 7 year old princess!

January happenings...

I haven't been a very good blogger this month...so I might as well just wrap January up into one single post!

Disney on Ice..."Frozen"

January 4th

Keeping our tradition...

Maura, Audra and I went with Uncle Tim, Aunt Dawn and Charlotte

 After souvenirs, popcorn, cotton candy and drinks we were ready for the show to begin.

(geez...all of that cost almost as much as the show tickets!)

 Audra was either mesmerized by the show or over stimulated by her light up, spinning toys! 

Charlotte and Maura...two Frozen fanatics!  

They were going to dress up in their Anna and Elsa costumes from DisneyWorld...but it was raining pretty hard that day we opted out of wearing full length ball gown princess dresses.

Great Wolf Lodge

January 19th-21st

We have been lucky to visit this super fun place more than once.  So this time I didn't take many pictures, instead I soaked in all the fun with the kids (yes, pun intended!)

One thing we did this time that we haven't before is order the 

Great Wolf Bucket of Ice Cream

 Riley really was more excited than he looks, 

he just really wasn't in the mood for a picture when there was a bucket of ice cream waiting for him!

Four spoons digging in...

Audra's favorite moment...

once the other three had their fill of ice cream she had the bucket all to herself!

Maura's 7th Birthday

January 23rd

My sweet, sassy, smart girl is SEVEN!  

Now my two baby girls are seven years old.

Audra's "firsts" of 2014

January

1st hearing aids

1st time sledding

February

1st Chinese New Year at home

March

1st time bowling

 1st time ice skating

April

1st Easter

1st Familyversary

May

1st trip to Great Wolf Lodge

June

1st dance recital

July

Finally enjoying the swings....she was terrified for so long!

August

1st trip to the beach/ocean
Outerbanks, NC

September

1st time riding the bus to school

October

Audra had the honor of representing Brittany's Hope Foundation as their Hope Child at the Walk of Love

November

We finally started making some progress in unraveling the medical mystery of Audra.
We began the month investigating the possibility of seizures...
and ended the month on a completely different path with the diagnosis of an immunodeficiency...
CVID,
which began to explain so many of the unknowns we have experienced with Audra since bringing her home 19 months ago.

December

Audra, my brave girl, began her treatment for CVID...
weekly infusions of immunogloblulins.

New Year's Eve

Another first for Audra...

Celebrating New Year's Eve!

(last year I am pretty sure we were all fast asleep long before the ball dropped)

This year Audra stayed up late to ring in the new year with everyone.

Having many aunts, uncles and cousins here to celebrate with definitely helped.

She was super excited!

Just some of the family who joined us to celebrate:

Maura was still sporting her celebratory headband on New Year's Day