Happily Ever After...

My sweet baby twins had the AUDACITY to grow older. Sniff. I have been begging them not to for quite some time. All of Celia's teachers and therapists surprised her by all coming over together! She was squealing and more excited than I expected. These wonderful ladies worked their entire school schedule around coming over on their birthday. How precious are they?!? It was like Christmas morning. For real. Feather boas, purses stuffed with goodies, birthday hats and games, and the list goes on and on...... They even brought gifts for the big sisters. Did I mention they are really special ladies? Celia's favorite thing was a audio book that each teacher/therapist recorded her voice on a page. On the last page, they all read it in unison. And yet again, these ladies had to work their schedules around meeting to say the last page together. After the teachers left, we went to feed ducks. I'm not sure why but my girls all think feeding hungry ducks on their birt...

I think many times I write about the ups and downs of Celia's and/or Gianna's medical issues, and I fail to mention the most AMAZING things I have learned from having two special needs kiddos. So here goes nothin'.... 1) We PAAARRTAY often. Yes, I am a middle aged party-girl. Who knew?!? Ahem .... No comments boys! From pre-surgery guacamole fests, to, "You held your head up for 30 seconds" or, "Let's make ourselves completely insane and buy a puppy for surgery #10"..... we see life's joys just a tad differently and we CELEBRATE. I just love the spontaneous trips for ice cream, the stay up late giggle parties and the princess parades that we have to celebrate milestones that no one else would think of.  And don't worry- our healthy kids give us lots of "normal" milestones that we celebrate too. Add it all together, and well, we PARTY! 2) We aren't in a rush. In fact, I wish time would stand still. To be ho...

 Celia started school at the beginning of August. Mrs. "B" is our AMAZING, AWESOME teacher that works with kids who are orthopedically impaired. She comes up with new and fun ways to get Celia to learn and we are so grateful for her. This year we have school or therapy every morning except Monday. Thankfully, all these sweet ladies come to our home to spare Celia the germs.  Aria and Gianna started their Tuesday fun classes. Aria takes violin, knitting and ballet. Gianna takes an American Girl literature class, a play productions class and ballet. I'd like to point out that I have a PUPPY in a bag on top of the stroller. HA! He is too little to leave at home for very long, so I schlepped him along with gtube supplies, diaper stuff, lunches, and oxygen. What's one more thing to take care of really?!? WhattheheckwereWethinkinggettingapuppy?!?!?  In other exciting news, my little Diva is taking her VERY FIRST BALLET CLASS!!! Sniff. Where has the last 3...

My precious friend Maegan from Maegan Hall Photography asked to do a photo shoot of me and my sweet girls. She took over 600 photos, and gave me just a few teasers. I can't wait to see the rest!

Well, it's July and so we are now back to school. The girls have been off since April 18, so don't feel too sorry for them. HA! Before they started, they spent 5 days with their brothers and their wives in sunny Florida. Let me just say, for posterity, that this was a BIG deal for Aria. She is unapologetically a "Mama's girl" and does not want to be away from me at any time, for any reason. She went, and had a wonderful time and many, many special memories were made.  What's not to love, right?  My married kids  were SUPER AWESOME in loving and caring for their sisters. And they willingly followed Mom's neurotic safety rules. Ahhh, I love them all to pieces! Meanwhile, back at the Ranch..... I had one quiet night with just the twinnies as Daddy was in England for business.  I collapsed right after they did at 7:32PM. Wild and crazy, I tell ya'.  We went to the airport to get Daddy and I hadn't told the twin...

Okay, I know, I know..... It's a tad sassy. Maybe a little bossy. Quite possibly not as polite as we would like. BUT............ She clearly said THREE WORDS together. This is a first! Sweeter phrases coming soon. I just know it!

I have been a MAJOR blog slacker. Thank you girls for those who were checking on us. With Instagr@m,  and the ease of checking the blogs I read on my iphone, I RARELY open my lap top any more. What is this world coming to when laptops are too inconvenient?!? First.World.Problems. Anyhoo.... here is a little catch up on the goings on of our family: In May, we went to a lovely reception for our son and his new bride. I'd show you all the great pictures, but I had to get a new phone, and I did the back up wrong (NO COMMENTS BOYS!) and so I lost a bunch of stuff. We stayed for a 11 days, and only had two trips to the ER. One for a g-tube infection for our little princess that came out of nowhere, and one to get more oxygen tubing because our little monkey girl can shred them with her toes....while attached to her face. Lil' Booger! We came home and had a plethora of Dr visits, a trip to the endoscopy center, Grandma visits, practice testing for the Iowa tests, Cousin Cam...