Rewind Time to March

I'm on a roll - I might as well keep going! 

Sledding:
 We got even more snow in March, so we took advantage of it and did some more sledding, this time with my sister's family.

Grant, and his cousins, Bentley and Aiden, loved sliding down the hill on their stomachs. We called it the penguin slide because it reminded us of the penguins sliding around on the ice.

All the cousins

Once the plow came through our cul-de-sac, there was a big mound of snow piled up near our house, so Jenna and Grant decided to try to "tunnel" their way through it.  They made quite a bit of progress, but never made it all the way through.

Home School:
 March was another fun month with school because we got to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and rainbows (for Letter R week).

Grant was graphing the number of rainbows on his papers using Froot Loops.

Jenna working hard on her math paper.

Another fun activity for Letter R week - the Rainbow Toy Hunt.  They had a blast finding items in the toy room to make their colorful rainbow.

They each got a pile of Lucky Charms and sorted out the marshmallows and then filled in the graph with their marshmallows.  They then had to answer questions about their graph - which marshmallow did you have the most of, least of, etc.

We also did some fun St. Patrick's Day themed crafts including this rainbow and pot of gold.

Using bath crayons, I drew a rainbow on the tub walls.  I cut up a bunch of colorful foam shapes, tinted the water blue, and then had the kids fill in the rainbow.  They LOVED this!

So I left Jenna to finish her independent school work and when I came down later (after she said she had finished), I found this note.  In case you can't read it, it says, "I do not want to do this."  Oh my goodness, it made me laugh out loud!  So funny!  Unfortunately for her, she didn't have a choice in the matter and did end up finishing it later. 

Therapy: 
 I love the activities they have Hannah do while on the horse.  Sometimes they want the kids to identify different letters, numbers, or shapes on the walls as they're riding around.  Other times the kids have to pick something up and put it on posts in the middle.  I can't remember what they wanted Hannah to do on this particular day.  Sometimes the activities are a little more advanced than what Hannah's able to do, but they do a great job of adjusting it for her capabilities, while still trying to challenge her.

Misc:

 

Hannah was pulling herself over to the other kids in her toddler class at church.  She's so interested in being around other kids!  I love it!

I love this age.  The other kids in her class don't even notice her disabilities and include her in their play and class time.  So sweet!

Two of my best high school friends were in town and came over for a visit.  One just moved from Chicago to Indianapolis, and the other lives in Georgia.  We rarely are able to get together, mostly because of distance, but I love the times that we do see one another!  Great friends, even after all these years!

Jenna snapped this picture of Hannah and I in the Upsee!

He's definitely my shorts and t-shirt kid.  I probably had to convince him to put long pants on in order to play outside that day.  :)

Jenna is such a great big sister!  She loves to hold Hannah's hand when we're walking.  It makes me so happy because it's not something she gets to do with her very often.

Jenna with one of her good friends, Kaylee.

Bubble bath beards!

Love this sweet picture of her!  We were reading together on her bed before bedtime.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We had a rainbow fruit tray, corned beef and cabbage, and this year the kids and I tried a new, easy recipe - Irish bread.  It was surprisingly delicious!  Oh, and I dyed the kids' milk green because who doesn't want to drink green milk?!

I started this a few years back and they remember it each year and BEG for it months in advance.  I put green and gold coins and St. Patrick's necklaces in the tub and fill it with water and bubbles.  Then I spray a rainbow in the tub using food coloring and water in different spray bottles.  Then they have to "hunt" in the tub to find all the coins and necklaces. 

I don't remember where we were going, but all three of them fell asleep in the car - a rarity for sure!

This girl is so strong!  She is able to carry her 52 lb. brother.

Trying to keep up with the patching and glasses, even though neither are her favorite.

More walks and hand holding.  :)

We had a girl's date with my mom and sister to see Cinderella in the theater.  A really cute movie!

So much fun!  I love our girl time!

We discovered Hannah does a fairly good job of sitting in this push car.  There's a seatbelt around her waist and then she holds on (for dear life!) to the steering wheel (that doesn't actually steer).  She loves it!

A cutie in her birthday outfit from Uncle Brian and Aunt Natalie!  We LOVE it!

Dying Easter eggs at church.

Hunting for eggs at my dad's workplace. 

A picture with the Easter Bunny.  Jenna looks a little unsure about it.  :)

Since Hannah's horse therapy is a non-profit organization, they hold various fundraisers throughout the year.  Their biggest fundraiser is a sit-down dinner and auction (both silent and live).  We of course wanted to show support, so Drew, Hannah, and I attended.  They also asked us to say a few words about how horse therapy has been beneficial to Hannah, etc.  It was a great night and we heard they raised a good amount of money from it too, which we were glad to hear!

B came to visit, so we of course did some swimming in the hotel pool!  Notice Jenna is without her swim floaties!  She's really progressed with her swimming, that we were comfortable with her being in the pool without them while we were with her. 

Poor Hannah - the start of her stomach bug that turned into a hospital stay.

I feel terrible that I'm actually smiling in this picture.  Hannah and I pretty much lived in that chair for about 3 days while she was sick.  She did not want to be put down, and I have to admit, I really enjoyed the extra snuggles.

I know this picture is a little disturbing.  They love to dress in each others clothes and then run out to surprise us.  They think it's hilarious (and it is), although Drew can't stand to see Grant in dresses.  Ha!

The great-grandkids all visited Gram-Gram on her 90th birthday.  Happy birthday, Gram-Gram!!

Rewind Time to February

I was doing so well keeping up (or maybe catching up is a better description) with the blog and then got behind again.  So here it goes...

Hannah's Birthday and Birthday Party:
 February 12, Hannah turned two!!  We kept things low key this year and only had local, immediate family over for an ice-cream themed birthday party for her.  And of course, we had to give her a little something on her actual birthday, so she got a Valentine's cupcake.  She wasn't too sure about it and did more exploring than eating.

Snow Adventures:
 We got lots of snow in February, so of course we had to enjoy it!!

Therapy:

Hannah loves her mirror during therapy.  We put window clings on the mirror and then her PT rolls her on the ball to reach to pull the clings off.  It really works her, and she's usually exhausted by the end of it.

We practiced some more with her walking in her gait trainer.  She's not yet initiating the walking, but will at least take a step when we ask her to, or tap her leg.

Doing some ab work!  Her PT was boucing her on the ball and Hannah had to keep herself upright.

Her speech therapist will throw in some feeding therapy every once in a while.  Today she worked on her holding a cup to drink.  She's not able to do it on her own really, but she is doing really well with it!

School:
 We had a fun time in school this month.  Not only did we celebrate the 100th day of school, but we also hosted a Valentine's party!

Grant was very proud of his coloring.

Valentine's Day party with some friends.

Of course there had to be games too!

We made "love goggles" out of pipe cleaners.

And played Valentine's Bingo.

We made these goofy hats on the 100th day of school.  There are 10 strips and each strip has a group of 10 stickers...totaling 100.

Jenna had to write about what she would be like when she is 100 years old.  I downloaded a free app that will age you to look old, which both Jenna and Grant LOVED.  They loved it so much, they wanted to take everyone's picture when they came over and make them "old."  So I quickly had to stop that, because, as you can imagine, not too many adults want to look older, especially with how flattering these pictures are!  SCARY!!

Misc:
 

Grant made this turkey sandwich all by himself.  Proud of him!  Learning independence.

Learning water safety and canoeing skills during their swim class.

These two sure love each other.  :)

Jenna and Grant found a box of old Halloween costumes and decided to put this on Grant.  I believe it's probably a 24-month outift...

She loves her Belle dress from Uncle Keith and Aunt Mary.

During the winter months, Hannah's PT wanted her to wear theratogs.  They're a tight fitting stretchy fabric that is meant to help give her stability.  I was amazed at how well she was sitting on this particular day.  Most days her sitting is more slumped, but on this day she was sitting the tallest I've ever seen her sit!

Amazing to me!

Love this guy!

I can't help but laugh every time I see this picture!  He found Drew's coin magnifying glass.

We went to Texas Roadhouse after Drew's birthday and I mentioned his b'day to our waiter.  He's such a good sport to sit on the horse saddle while everyone loudly "yee-hawed" for him.

Jenna and Grant snuck into our closet and decided to dress up like us.  So funny!

Morning snuggles

We had the boys overnight and so we spent some time playing at McDonald's...and eating ice-cream.

Yummy Valentine donuts!

Grant loved his Valentine's stuffed animal.  He's been named Fuzzy.

Swim lessons

Playing peek-a-boo

Hannah understands so much more than she's able to communicate.  She heard me asking the kids to raise their hand, and I turn around to see her doing it as well.  So smart!

Bailey decided he would snuggle with Grant, especially since he was asleep.

Jenna reading a bedtime story to Hannah.

Sisters

She lost another tooth!

Someone stole my phone and took quite a few selfies...

I took Jenna to see a play down in Dayton at the Victoria Theater.  The play was Pinkalicious, based off some well-known kids books.  (Of course we had to wear pink, right?)