My Favorite Things ~ Songs of Life

Happy New Year, everyone! In our house, we are looking forward to this year with happy hearts. This year we plan to live and love more than ever before. This year we plan to move forward and create some awesome "normal" family memories. This year we plan to be kind and give back. It's going to be the best year ever. ;)

This month our Songs of Life blog circle was shooting for the song, My Favorite Things, from the Sound of Music. If you would like to hear the song while looking at these photos, click here.

When I originally listened to this song I imagined a session in the snow with snowflakes that stay on nose and eyelashes (which didn't happen since it hasn't snowed). Or the paper packages tied up with string (hello, Christmas). Or even the girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes (have you met my kid? She dresses like that half the time anyway). In the end though, I thought about what the song really says to me...

When I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad. 

I can relate to that a LOT. When we were going through treatment I would often have to refocus my thoughts on the reasons for what we were doing. Past and future memories to fight for. I had to think of a few of my favorite things in order to keep putting one foot in front of the other sometimes.
These pictures represent what I felt like we were fighting for..... In the simplest way, these are some of my favorite things...
Daddy and E doing something simple and fun in our home... Elayna being SUPER into being a little geologist (dreaming of her future) - learning and enjoying and laughing. Watching them and feeling so much love and happiness in the simplicity of the memory.
I have to tell you... it is SO worth fighting for.

Since it's New Year's Day, I feel like I want to say something else here.
I urge all of you to value your time.
I know we hear this a lot, but please.... if you could do one thing for our family it would be that. Simply value it. I would love to think that Elayna's fight put things into perspective for a lot of us... maybe then it wasn't for nothing.

My goal for this year is to continue to see things the way I am seeing them now. With a little more clarity and purpose and JOY.


Love you all!

Gingerbread House Fun

It's so amazing to be feeling like we are getting back to a place of normalcy.
We had found a "new normal" while going through treatment, but this is different. Being able to do something like any other family would do it, without worrying about wearing a mask, without watching E extra closely for symptoms of side effects, without the nagging reminder that we had clinic the next day or the stress of upcoming surgeries. This outing was just us. Being us. Being normal. It was fantastic.

Thank you to Echo Bolland of Echo's Cookies for giving us these fun memories. It was just what we needed. :)

Elayna had a blast making our gingerbread house. I am still wondering if she put more candy on the house or in her mouth, but we had lots of giggles about it. Can you tell she had fun in the pictures? She adores Echo and didn't even want to leave with me when we were done. Ha!! Can't wait to do this again sometime. She does a Valentine's class similar (maybe with cookies?)- who wants to sign up with us!?

Six

I can hardly believe it.


It's so bittersweet watching my best girl growing up.
It is all of the joy I could have ever imagined, and I am SO very grateful and blessed to be allowed to witness her growing bigger and having birthdays, but I ache each year she grows. I cherish her snuggles and having her on my lap. I cherish her sweet kisses and her wishing for me to play with her. I know how fleeting time is. This year more than ever.

After her cancer diagnosis in April there were times when I realized with a shock that this birthday was not guaranteed to me. That none were. That our time was a blessing and not a given. Of course we all feel that we know this... life is short, blah blah.... but let me tell you that knowing it and understanding and feeling it are very different things. This birthday is a gift and I cherish it. I believe we have many more birthdays to celebrate together, but I do not know that and I will not take that for granted.

All I know for now is that remission is a beautiful thing and we are planning to make the most of it. We are planning to live.

Six is going to be awesome. So much better than five. ;)

*Thank you to Gia Rose Designs (giarosedesigns.https://www.etsy.com/shop/GiaRoseDesigns) for the custom made dress and headband. LOVE everything you've made for E! :)