Fourth Birthday Letter to Quinnie C

Dear Quinnie Girl,

I love you so much. I can't believe you're four years old now. I bet you can't either. You have been counting down to your birthday since Christmas. These last two months have seemed like eternity to you but it's finally here. You are so adorable and you know it. You love smiling and having people smile back at you. You do this thing lately whenever you're at the store with me where you put the world's biggest grin on your face and you'll make eye contact with every person we pass by to see if you can get them to give you a big grin back. It's pretty funny actually. You get a lot of smiles back and you live for them. The first time someone didn't smile back you sure did let them know that they should have smiled back at you since you were giving them a big smile. It was so funny because your comment caught me off guard so I quickly left the aisle we were on but we did laugh about it after. 

Along with smiling you LOVE unicorns. You've also added alicorns, horses and zebras to your list but unicorns still remain at the very top. I think you talk about them every single day. I have a friend that lives nearby who owns horses and she has a unicorn horn costume she can attach to her horse and she mentioned that we might have to go over there one day to see it because of your love for unicorns.

You also love rainbows, Peppa Pig, princess Ariel and the color purple (or rainbow color). You also really enjoy drawing. You can sit down and draw for a full hour without getting bored. And of course I can't toss any of the drawings away because each one is your newest masterpiece. Which is fine except we're starting to run out of room for all of them haha. I recently bought a 500 pack of paper and it's already all gone. It's hard to say no to you though especially with your giant grin. I really love you and I love who you are. Every night we end it by saying "I love you all the days" and you were the one who actually came up with that. I love it so much. Happy birthday Quinnie Rue. I love you all the days.

Love,

Mom

Fourth Birthday Letter to Rylee Gene

Dear Ryles,

Happy birthday sweet girl. You are at a really fun stage and your personality is adorable. Lately you have been loving kitties, puppies and bunnies and all three have to be said together. You love the color pink, princess Rapunzel and you love going to Target. Whenever I say we have to run a quick errand at the store you immediately ask if it can be to Target. It's pretty cute.

You also LOVE to sing. You put on weekly concerts which are always highly praised. You sing about everything. It can be lyrics from songs you know or it can be a completely made up song that you're creating on the spot. You're kind of like Daddy in that sense because he also will randomly break out in song all the time. I should probably record them more often because I don't ever want to forget this of you.

My favorite thing you do though might be our nightly routine. This started a couple of months ago but every single night without fail we cannot leave your room or turn off your lights until you say your bedtime sayings. It used to be shorter and little by little more has been added on. Currently this is how it goes . . .

"Good night, sweet dreams, and I love you, and I love you so much, and I love you this much (show how much with arms outstretched), and I love you all the days (bring outstretched arms into a self hug)."

Then after you say it I repeat it back. Every night we get to say these things to each other and I love it so much. I love YOU so much. You definitely are a ray of light in our lives and we are so blessed we get to be a part of your very happy and musical life. Happy birthday Rye Rye.

Love,

Mom

Birthday Girls

Happy birthday to our little cabooses. 

Rylee (last night as a three year old)

Quinn (last night as a three year old)

We met Danny at his work for a little birthday lunch on compass before he had to return to his meetings. 

Rylee posing during lunch.

I told the girls that we would go to Target after lunch and on our way there we passed by the cutest door and wall so we parked for a quick impromptu photoshoot. They were so cute. 

Rylee is obsessed with Target so I had promised that we would go there. While we were at Target the girls picked out an extra present which wasn't the plan but since it was their birthday I caved. What we actually needed was their ice cream birthday cake but apparently Target doesn't sell them or at least didn't have any when we were there. They both picked out a baby doll, so we didn't leave empty handed and went from Target to Walmart where they did have the cake. 

On video call with Oma and Opa, while we were at the Walmart parking lot.

The girls were showing them their new baby dolls.

The timing was great because we didn't want to get home before the bus got there with the kids. The girls have been asking for weeks if they can have a surprise party (like they've seen done in a Mickey Mouse episode) but then on the day of their birthday they didn't mention it at all. I guess they forgot in all the excitement, which was perfect for us. Danny left work early so that he can get their presents to the basement and be home with the kids to surprise Rylee and Quinn when we got there. When we did get home, the house was dark and I asked the girls if they could come with me to the basement to grab something. Rylee and Quinn were very shocked when we got down there and everyone jumped out yelling surprise. Actually shocked probably isn't the best word. They were terrified. Haha they weren't expecting it at all and both screamed until they realized it was just the family and then they started laughing and laughing. It was so funny and cute. That's when they saw all their presents. This year they asked for a lot of princess dolls to add to their collection. We also got them their own balance bikes with Grandma Donna's help. Rylee got a pink one and Quinn got a yellow one. They're pretty excited about them. Opa and Oma also videoed them again during the present opening (they had called earlier when we were at Walmart) and we got to enjoy that together. 

Rylee and Quinn personally picked out their birthday wrapping paper this year. Rylee chose a white paper with cupcakes on them and Quinn chose pink strawberries. It did confuse us a few times because Rylee is typically pink and Quinn is white but they switched it on us.

Posing with their new bikes for pictures to send to Grandma Donna.

For dinner Danny made their favorite dinner, cajun chicken. They ask for this meal daily and it's one of the few these days where the majority of the kids all like it. We ended the night with singing happy birthday twice and eating their pink ice cream cake on unicorn plates. 

Rylee

Quinnie

Happy birthday Rylee and Quinn. We all love you so much.

FaceTime with Caide

I was able to FaceTime Caide and his caregiver Olivia today. It was what my soul needed. I was able to talk one on one with Olivia as well for a moment and I asked her a question I've always wondered about regarding the disease that Caide and my sister had. I asked if Caide was aware he has the disease. She thought about it for a minute and then told me that she really doesn't believe that he knows he has it or what he's about to go through because of HDL2. That brings me some relief because I've always feared that my sister was scared of the changes her body and mind were going through. She did tell me that she remembers Camila always being scared for her kids, especially Caide. She told me that she would always bring her pictures of her kids and try to talk about them. It's surreal that Caide used to be someone she knew from pictures to now someone she works with six days out of the week. Olivia says that Caide is very loved and very spoiled. Maybe it's because he's the youngest patient they have but she mentioned several times how much the staff all love him. Caide is very attached to Olivia in particular and just follows her around, wanting to help in any and every way he can. He seems to be doing well but she did say that he is deteriorating very quickly. He's losing a lot of muscle and weight. He needs help with everything. She helps him put on his clothes, shower, cut up his food and open all the things for him. I remember right after my sister's viewing I took him to Chick'Fil'A where I had to help him open up the sauce packet because he couldn't do it back then. That's when I knew he had the disease as well. He mostly just says one letter sentences. During our conversation today he really only said yes and no but he did once say 'horse', 'cute' and 'cool' and at the end when we were about to hang up he told me "love you". Olivia encouraged him to say more words in that sentence so then he said "I love you." It was a special moment. I love this kid so much. I'm glad I was able to have this virtual visit and that my kids also joined in and they were showing each other stuffed animals that they love. Caide showed my kids his babies, tiger, bracelets, puppies and sloth and my kids showed him their babies, stuffed elephant, unicorns, puppies and lego cars.

Caide I love you bud. I'm so sorry you have this awful disease. I love that you have someone like Olivia to be there by your side through this. I wish it could be me. Maybe one day I'll live close enough to regularly visit you before your time here is done. In the meantime I promise to call and FaceTime more now that we have each other's contact information. Love you.. . . I love you.