January

I’m super thankful to have multiple friend groups that love any excuse for a celebration, especially birthdays! January we got to celebrate the fabulous Laura turning 43!

And of course we have to document it with a bazillion pictures!

Next up was a celebration with my tennis group for Morgan’s birthday! Round Robin tennis tournament with champagne is always a blast!

This goofball was so excited that she could finally put her hair into tiny little pigtails! I’m not sure if it’s the IVIG infusions or the homeopathy or a combo of both, but this is our biggest sign that things are finally moving in the right direction! She’s definitely still pulling, but this is the most hair growth we’ve seen in years and I’m so proud of her for staying strong!

She got a little pony in the back too and I think it looks adorable!

Ellis is still struggling with friendships. The group of girls that she did a secret Santa sleepover with are no longer talking to her. Not being in school or extra curricular activities doesn’t help things either, but on the bright side, she has the coolest and sweetest little brother that would do anything to make her smile! Ellis really wanted to go to the mall with a friend, and Shep without hesitation, agreed to go with her!

He even wore matching Astro’s jerseys with her!!

They wanted to ride the carousel for old times sake!

Gosh I miss these days! We always went to the mall on rainy days when they were little to get out of the house, ride the carousel, and play on the indoor playground!

Shep said the mannequin needed shoes, so he took his off and put them on her, lol…

I mean what are the odds of spending $67 dollars total. I had to make them do the 6-7 trend!

After our fun day at the mall we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner for the first time ever, and they liked the cheap $12 steaks almost as much as Daddy’s (shhhh don’t tell him)!

I hope she always feels this way! I tell them all the time that others will come and go, but they will always have eachother!

Ellis’ love language is gift giving, so she made Shep this “dinosaur” for spending the day with her!

Shep went through a little rough patch at the beginning of the school year where he came home crying several days in a row, saying he didn’t feel like himself. We weren’t sure if it was the adhd medicine, so we stopped giving it to him for about a week. We never give it to him on the weekends or over any holidays, so I honestly never see him when he’s on it. We told him to pay attention to how he feels and let us know if he’d prefer not to take the medicine anymore or maybe try a new one. He came to the conclusion that he liked school better with the help of the medicine and wanted to get back on it. It’s amazing how much that little pill helps him with his focus. I just want him to feel as smart and cool and awesome and hilarious as we all think he is!

He begged me to take him to the public library the other day to get more graphic novels!

Not only is he an amazing student and super athlete, he’s also incredible at Interpretive dance, lol

That air guitar though!

Feeling the music, lol

I’ve started doing “Fun Fridays” with Ellis to help get her out of the house and we both really look forward to them!

For our very first one we went to a claw machine arcade! Ellis’ version of a slot machine!

I bought her a $25 package, and the machines are basically $1 a try. This lasted her almost an hour and I think it was totally worth it! I believe she ended up with 8 plushies. Way cheaper than a normal arcade with a higher winning percentage!

Her winnings!

She was so sweet and gave each of her brothers a plushie!

Running errands is so much more fun with my little sidekick!

Friday night game night with our friends! Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza for the girls…

Poker after fajitas for the boys…

Margaritas and Mexican Train for the parents!

This dude and his care level cracks me up

There’s nothing he can’t do! He finally mastered swallowing his first pill!

Just look at his free throw form!

Sweet girl agreed to two more tries of the infusions and then we’ll reassess, get baseline bloodwork, and see how much they’re helping. The medicine is so hard on her body and just wipes her out. Again, so thankful they can administer it in the comfort of our home!

A little retail therapy as a reward! It’s a win win for both of us!

Our sweet nurses daughter is in the striped sweater and she had a class with Ellis at the beginning of the school year. She heard Ellis was sad and struggling with friends and wanted to surprise her with dinner while she was getting her infusion. She brought two more friends with her that went to elementary school with Ellis. It meant so much to Ellis and completely brightened her evening!

My sweet friend, Tiffany, remembered how hard of a time Ellis had with her infusion the month before and baked her this yummy banana bread and gave her a cute plushy. I could cry just typing this out and thinking about all of the amazing friends we have in our lives!

Shep wanted to help and Ellis wasn’t so sure…

Maybe Shep helping wasn’t such a great idea, lol

I would go to the ends of the earth for this precious angel, and do everything and anything in my power to make her feel better and heal her poor body. I pray she always knows how unconditionally loved she is. I’m beyond thrilled to report that this month was the very time she did not have an adverse reaction to her infusions! No vomiting or migraine! Hallelujah!!! We did avoid refined sugar and put a day in between doses and we’re praying that was the trick!

So thankful the infusion was a success, because we woke up the next day to a winter wonderland!

The ice was so slick Shep made it halfway down the street on his sled!

Daredevil Brooks had to of course snowboard down the driveway

This was the first year the kids went out adventuring on their own, so Adam and I got to enjoy the snow from the comfort of our home! Brooks even made it all the way to the school park!

Day 2 (Sunday) brought in more snow!

Boys were back at it bright and early!

They made it back to the park and some awesome friends sent me pics and videos of their shenanigans!

Jumbo sled!

Ellis finally decided to head outside!

The entrepreneur in her decided she wanted to try and earn money shoveling driveways…

She quit after 30 seconds, lol!

All the kids decided they wanted to try the “BIG” hill by Adriatica this year, and I was the lucky one that got to drive them and make sure they didn’t die

There were 100 teenagers and like 5 adults, but the hill was epic!

Super brother sandwhich almost gave me a heart attack!

Ellis was freezing and couldn’t breathe so we only did a few runs at the big hill before I had to bring her home, but I brought the boys to the school park to end the day!

I love how Brooks named all of the tricks, lol. He called this one the PB&J…

The “holding hands in a circle” trick…

The “double sandwhich”!

Sunday was also Nanny’s 81st birthday and we got to help her celebrate with board games and cake!

Happy birthday Nanny!

Day 3 (Monday)…still snow!

Snow = no school = another day at the park sledding and building snowmen!

Snowball fight!

Big Boys decided to brave the “BIG” hill again!

3 musketeers (Henry, Brooks, and Nolan)

Night sledding at Adriatica!

Day 4 (Tuesday)…still snow = still no school! Ellis finally decided to go outside again after her panic attack 2 days before!

Ellis snowboard sledding!

Having the time of their lives! Snow days are the best days!

That’s one way to dry your pants, Shep!

Back to the Stolarski’s to hang with Nanny!

They were so bored that Ellis convinced Shep to ask Grace to be his Valentine, and even made a sign for him to ask her!

Shep’s first Valentine, awwwwww!! Shep and Grace were such troopers to go along with Ellis, lol. I think they both might have a little bit of an innocent little crush though for real 😍!

Day 5 (Wednesday)…still snow and still no school, and we were running out of food. There was a line wrapped around the building at HEB!

Had to sneak away from the kids to enjoy some “me time” for a bit!

This little prince also turned two on January 28th (aka snow day #5)!

Sweet “pup” treat for our big teenager!

Happy 2nd birthday Oreo

We love you!!!

Kids FINALLY went back to school on Friday and Saturday we got the heck out of dodge and headed to Houston!

We surprised Ellis, she didn’t know she was having a sleepover with Maddie! She just thought she was going to her house real quick to do a GALentines exchange with her!

Maddie made this sweet card for Ellis. The friendship the two of them have is something special and I’m just so darn grateful she has her. It’s not about quantity but quality, and Maddie sure is a good one!