Ready for Noelle’s 8th birthday party! 

We had a blast taking the Pond girls and Emily out to eat for Noelle’s 8th Cinco de Mayo birthday dinner!  Good times!

We’re about to celebrate Noelle’s birthday up on here… are you guys cool with that!?!    Last week was so much fun but so hard too!  The night of Noelle’s birthday, she complained of an upset tummy after dinner.  She NEVER ever complains of being sick and is always a good sport about going to school, so I knew something was up.  I made her start the day after her birthday at school and promised her I would get a doctor’s appointment scheduled in the meantime and pick her up before lunch.  Sure enough, Tuesday afternoon, she tested positive for strep.  That threw me for a huge loop because she only complained of a tummy ache.  Then, I got tested positive for strep at the doctor on Wednesday, after a night of the sorest throat ever.  The littles both had to go to the doctor for different reasons after that, and Rose is on antibiotics too.  We were at the doctor 4/5 days last week, and it was Noelle’s birthday week!    I am just so thankful we have good doctors and access to them.  All the kids are happy and healthy this week, but last week was plain awful.  Taking care of them with strep (having it as an adult, I hear, hits us worse than kids for some reason) was pretty rough, but it’s my greatest honor to put them first and never let them down. 

Noelle and I text all the time, especially days when I’m down with fibro.  It has greatly improved her grammar, punctuation, spelling, and we get to be silly with Emojis.  Here’s a little peak into a text the morning after her birthday.  The picture on the left is from when she got home from school last Monday on her birthday.  She 100% picks out all of her outfits for school (new this year) and has done such a great job!  She’s so creative and always looks so cute!  She puts things together I wouldn’t think of in a million years.  I admire her fashion skills! 

Noelle asked for birthday donuts the morning of her birthday.  This has sort of become a birthday morning tradition and are the only mornings during the year we have donuts for breakfast; Gives us something to look forward to.  They take after their momma; White sprinkled donuts are my very favorite too!  After an awesome Monday morning celebrating Noelle and getting ready for school, it wouldn’t be long before her traditional birthday dinner got here, Cinco de Mayo style! 

Love, The Pond Girls

What an awesome end to a 3 year wait to all be together again!

I love these happy fun little girls that love letting me dress them up, even for swimming! 

Happy Birthday Noelle!  Love, Poppa and Rara (bubble gum necklace, money for college and a heart-felt note)  Rock it out, Bella!

This is my absolutely favorite picture from our reunion!  Hudson fell asleep in Andy’s lap while we were swimming one afternoon.  Heart melting, for sure!

Brother Man and Auntie Momo loved letting Hudson show us around our phones, and Noelle got picked to act out a game of charades.  I love Drew taking a guess! 

Harper got super scared and Noelle was comforting her until she just couldn’t take it anymore!  These GWL characters are a little creepy, but “There’s nothing to be scared of here!”  (yet…) 

Good times, good people, and good good friends!

My sister, Michele, and I with her and Andy’s new baby boy, Hudson!  He’s such a sweet, confident, happy boy, and was so much fun to get to know!  So excited he is a part of our family!

Some people get a kick out of splashing themselves in the water, hahaha!

Cutie Kate!

Be afraid, Harper… be very afraid!  Lol! (Perfect picture)

Thumbs up, Buttercup!

Loved watching these two play today!

Rara didn’t get to swim, but she was a great sport!

Anna arrives on the scene!

Sweet baby Saylor and Noelle with a random wolf! 

We had so much fun at the BanksFam5 family reunion last weekend!  It was our first time to all be together in 3 years!  That’s forever, especially with little ones growing so fast!  It is a blur looking back on it now, but a total blast was had by all!

First up, saying hi to our Ebert cousins and meeting our newest addition, Hudson!!!  Isn’t he awesome!?!  I snapped a quick pic of Drew (my sister’s oldest son) with Noelle and Hudson (my sister’s youngest son) with Rose but somehow I missed our middles, Anna and Anna Kate, and the Banks girls as they were just arriving.  They were all so incredibly cute together, loving on each other the whole time!

The girls have been waiting to sleep in bunk beds for their whole lives.  First time for everything, but no time to snooze, we were off to the water park!

Our little wolf pack! 

Wish I had Great Wolf Lodge pictures ready to post from last weekend, but Noelle and I got strep throat this week!  (and right when I said we were finally over all of our ailments, lol)  I’ll update as soon as I am able and until then, we’re going to spend some extra time getting well!  XOXO