January Misc

Random pictures from January...

Our good college friend, Phil, came to visit over New Years.  We always enjoy having him and the kids love their "Uncle Phil."

I just know they're going to be the best of friends...

Eating some scrambled eggs

Jenna organizing her new jewelry box from B.

Time at the eye doctor - still trying to figure out how best to help her eyesight.  She's making it quite challenging since she refuses to wear her eye patch or glasses.

Girl time!  My mom, sister, Jenna, and I went to get manicures and lunch out.  Jenna loved being included and enjoyed having her nails painted!

The smile says it all!

Enjoyed this time together.

I noticed there was a "Frozen" themed night at McDonalds, so we decided to check it out.  Anna and Elsa were there, although Elsa's wig was a tad frightening.

They got their hands painted...

And Jenna even stood in line for probably a good 20 minutes so she could sing karaoke.  Her song of choice was...you guessed it - "Let It Go!"  I was completely shocked that she actually sang the whole song alone without any help.  She's a much braver girl than I was at her age!  (By the way, I have the whole thing on video if you ever want to see it...)

Hannah looks so big in Grant's lap.

Snuggles

He has become quite the crafty boy.  He loves cutting, coloring, gluing, taping, and creating!  It's so fun to see what he'll come up with.  His favorite right now is cutting up boxes and gluing or taping things to them. 

She found the Mickey ears I had made for Grant's Halloween costume a few years back.

Our January date night was a progressive dinner.  Appetizers at Applebees...

...dinner at Olive Garden....

...and dessert at Dairy Queen.  So fun!

Someone got a hold of my phone and is already practicing the selfies.  Oh boy!

Remember those Perler Beads as a kid - those little cylindrical beads with holes in the  middle that you put on the pegs to make colorful designs that you then iron to melt them together....anyone....no?  They were a favorite of my sister and me, so I picked some up for the kids.  Grant really enjoyed it and even wanted to help me iron it afterward.

Practicing the fishtail braid.  One of my new favorite braids that Cathy taught me to do!

The snow was just right for building a snowman...albeit a miniature one.  (Anyone else have the song, "Do You Want To Build a Snowman" from the movie Frozen running through their head ?!?)

While the kids were out building their snowmen, Hannah and Bailey were inside.  Apparently they found it quite interesting because Hannah scooted herself all the way across the slippery hardwood floor to peer out through the door.  This was what I found when I went to check on them.  Too cute!

So this is what all the pictures of Hannah should look like.  Somehow I managed to get a picture of her wearing both the eye patch and glasses before she ripped them off her face. 

Hannah had some rough, sleepless nights for a while due to a double ear infection that refused to go away.  The only way we could calm her down was by rocking her to sleep.  We didn't mind though - those snuggles are too precious.

More therapy with Faye.  Here she worked on extension (getting Hannah to extend her body and arms up high because she rarely raises her hands above her eye level) as well as trunk rotation.  Notice the bucket on one side and the blocks on the other.  Faye rotates her body to the blocks, has her grasp a block, and then rotates her to the other side and has her drop it in the bucket.  Sounds easy enough, but it's very difficult for Hannah to hold the block the entire time.  She typically drops it once she's brought back to midline, and even dropping it into the bucket is difficult.  They're working on her release.  Amazing how all these "little" things come so easily - we don't have to even think about telling our brains when to grasp and release objects, but with Hannah those things don't come as easily.  We do see improvement, so we're confident she'll get there.

Penny (the OT) also works on grasping and releasing with her.

We're involved in a small home school group from our church and each month we have an activity that we do.  For the month of January we had a Science Fair.  With Jenna only being six years old and in Kindergarten, we needed a fairly simple experiment - one that she would be able to not only understand, but also explain.  So we went with "What Makes Ice Melt?"  Her hypothesis was that heat makes ice melt faster, so we placed cups with ice in different spots around the house (refrigerator, by the vent, on the kitchen counter, etc) and timed how long the ice took to melt.  She did a fantastic job explaining the experiment and what she learned.

The home school group, plus some siblings.