Dear 2017,

Well, well, well 2017...

You've been quite a year and I must say I'm not sad to see you go. 
You really put us to the test, and in the end we came out still standing...winning actually I'd like to think.

But the journey was hard...hard like we have never experienced before.
Many tears were shed and many prayers were said.
Audra had the hardest fight and suffered the most...week after week in the hospital, day after day having tests and treatments:  MRI, EEGs, spinal tap, bloodwork, med after med after med, PICC line, TPN, IVIG and finally Rituximab. 

And the other kids, my three other babies, they struggled too.
Each time Audra has in the hospital for weeks at a time their world came to a crashing halt. 
They missed their sister and their Mom.  I stayed at the hospital for the entirety of all of Audra's admissions, it just made sense because I work there too. 
And they worried, more than I probably even know. 
They would cry: "how many more days" and "what's wrong with Audra".
It broke my heart one day when Aidan asked me if Audra was going to die.  The fear in his heart was real that day. 

But we were blessed...by many people who stood by us and walked with us.
Phone calls, emails, texts and visits at the hospital.
Gifts for Audra and some for the other kids too.
Meals at home, rides for the kids.
And prayers, lots of prayers!
Audra's Village...can't imagine how we would have done 2017 without you.

Now we are hopefully on the upside of this journey.  We have a diagnosis, a treatment plan and some big goals!  And two great home care nurses who work hard everyday with Audra to keep her well and safe and out of the hospital!

So goodbye 2017, we are done with you.  And there's not much we are going to miss about you {except the beach of course!}
And hello 2018, we have some high expectations for you. 
Let's do this!!

Christmas Eve and Day

We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house like we always do, but this year the house was even more full of love, merriment and presents!  My brother and his family were up from North Carolina for the holiday.

 

All of these cousins are growing up way too fast...

{ Maura, Lexy, Riley, Hanah, Brianna, Audra, Aidan

and on the floor Teagan and Tatum}

 





 There are those matching Christmas pajamas again...

Towards the end of the evening some big fluffy snowflakes began to fall,

which delighted Aunt Brownie...who had to run out and get a selfie with the little girls.

 

 Once we got home the kids all went to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly,

they were super excited for the next morning to arrive.

 

 



 

About 8 hours later... 

and MUCH too early for this tired Mama!

 

 (the trash can was part of Aidan's gift from Santa, his real gift was a mini fridge for his room, but Santa must have been worried about all the trash that might accumulate in his room)

 

 

 The whole family gang came over around lunch time.

We munched on food from the crockpots all afternoon long,

had ice cream cake to celebrate Sean's birthday,

and got a tab bit competitive with an ugly sweater Christmas cookie decorating contest.

 

Elf antics

The darn elf has been a bit high maintenance this year!

 

Shortly after his arrival, when he didn't move for two nights in a row Maura started getting worried.

There was no problem though, he explained himself on her chalkboard and even brought a small gift to make it up to her.

{Sorry Maura, I didn't mean to worry you, I was just having lots of fun at nighttime with your toys!P.S. here's a new toy for you}

 

One morning we found him zip lining from the chandelier to the Christmas tree along with the balloon reindeer and snowman from the YMCA Christmas party:

 

 

 

He was pretty excited for the first snow of the season:

 

Maura lost a tooth one day and the tooth fairy had her back that night...

{Maura, I tied Elfie up with floss so he wouldn't tell Santa that you don't always brush your teeth TWICE a day and floss sometimes. Your welcome!  Love, The Tooth Fairy  p.s. Don't use the floss I tied Elfie up with :)}

 

Maura had a Polar Express viewing party at school one day.  She was allowed to bring a pillow, blanket and stuffed animal which she packed up in a bag the night before.

The next morning we found that Elfie had packed himself for the trip to school too...Safe in a plastic container so he didn't have to worry about getting touched!

 

3rd weekend of Christmas fun

We have had so much fun with Christmas activities this month...and this past weekend (plus a few days this week) were no exception:

Saturday we did our traditional gingerbread houses making with Aunt Kristy and her girls.

As the girls get older they all want to be more independent...

which gets interesting when it involves icing and lots of little sticky candies

 

The end results were pretty good though

Then on Sunday we tried something new...

Foam gingerbread houses !

 YES, it's the next day even though Audra is wearing the same sweatshirt !!

 

I was thinking that this would be a less messy project...

no icing, no sticky candy...

The walls and roof all  snapped together,

then we decorated them with lots and lots of little glittery stickers.



Ok, not a less messy project :)

There were stickers, and paper backings and glitter everywhere!

Monday was Grandparents Day at Audra's school

 My mom helped Audra with some schoolwork and they had lunch together in the cafeteria.

Maura's school celebrated Reindeer day this week,

and she definitely looked the part in her reindeer shirt and antlers, with her light up reindeer plush that she got at the YMCA Christmas party.

The week before Christmas is crunch time with baking...

 Chocolate covered everything you can imagine for the teachers, bus drivers, neighbors and work friends.  New this year was chocolate covered doritos...some loved 'em, some did not!  Sometime chocolate covered pretzels and marshmallows get boring and you need to spice it up!

And it wouldn't be Christmas without cut-out cookies...

 Time was running out this week but Maura helped me frost and decorate these just in time.  Phew!

Ok Christmas....I think I am officially ready for you!

2nd weekend of Christmas fun

We packed so much into this past weekend...it was non-stop from morning til night both days!

 

Saturday was Maura's Nutcracker performance.

 

 

 After the show we hurried home to change and meet up with Aunt Kristy for our next holiday adventure.  This one required us to bundle up because it was an outdoor event and snow was in the forecast.  The first snowflakes started to fall as we arrived.

 

We went to the local Ace Hardware for a reindeer event!

Reindeer was a must-see on Tatum's bucket list of Christmas adventures this year.

I found the adorable reindeer hats in the dollar spot at Target.  Perfect!

 



We missed Santa, but these little reindeer looked so cute in his sleigh!

 

They had a craft table set up to make special reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve.

 

On the way out there was hot cocoa and cookies to warm us up.

It was a quick but unique adventure.

  

By the time we got home there was enough snow for Maura to suit up and go enjoy making some snow angels.

 Maura got a special letter in the mail.  At last week's YMCA Christmas party there was a station for writing letters to Santa.  And he replied!

  

Sunday we went to the Christmas tree display at our small town museum.  Each tree is decorated by a local business, shop, group, etc.

Here are my girls with the "Nurse Tree" sponsored by the hospital:

All the girls with the hot chocolate tree:

and my nieces with the Star Wars tree:

 

At the end of the tree display path was Santa and Mrs. Claus!



 

Sunday night was the main event we have been waiting for...

The Holiday Festival that Maura's dance group was performing at.

We made sure to get there right when it started so we wouldn't miss anything, even though she wasn't performing for over 2 hours.

It was c.o.l.d. but we were prepared !!

 

There were lots of characters near the glow wand give away table

 

The live nativity was so much fun to watch.

{at the end of the night Maura wanted to go back for another look, but by that time Mary and Joseph were no where to be found and the Shepherds were sitting on hay bales eating hot dogs...just didn't have the same ambiance - haha!}

 

We got in a good spot early for the dramatic arrival of the Man in Red



 

Maura spotted his light in the sky...

 

Santa arrived by helicopter !





 

with a police escort...



Fire pits really help to warm you up...

 

We went on the horse drawn carriage ride...

 

Our little reindeer with the big guy himself, Rudolf

And finally we went inside the firehouse for the a while before Maura was up to perform...so her little feet could warm up a bit before she had to dance outside on the stage.

 

There was coloring and cookies...

Then the coat came off and the accessories went on for show time...

Monday's holiday event:

Maura's winter concert

 

She participates in both orchestra {plays the viola} and chorus. 

I had to draw the line at joining band too!

 

Phew...what a long, busy, festive weekend !!