progress report

Haylee continues to laugh whenever the word, "toot" is said.  In fact, the kids had been in bed for an hour one night and Olivia finally came out and said that Haylee kept laughing and saying that and keeping her awake.  Funny girl.  I'm trying not to encourage it, but it's hard when you see her little sense of humor come out.
Haylee has been making better eye contact too.  On March 19th, Allison (her ABA therapist) came in the house and said, "Hi, Haylee."  Haylee responded, "hi."  Then again while Allison was leaving, she said, "bye, Haylee" and Haylee responded, "bye."  All without having to be prompted!  We were both impressed.
On March 17th, I put some radon test tubes in the basement.  I was telling Allison about these test tubes and where they were so they weren't disturbed during therapy.  Haylee was nearby, but playing on her ipad when I told Allison this.   We were actually all upstairs during this conversation.  A little while later, when we were all downstairs and Haylee got up for a break from therapy, she marched right over to where I had hidden the test tubes and climbed up on a bench to see them.  She never climbs up on that bench and looks up on that desk like she did and so it really makes me think that she was listening in on the conversation that had taken place between Allison and I.  I was pretty amazed.
Haylee is making progress with therapy it seems.  She seems to be repeating things a lot more and has even discovered a few toys that she really enjoys playing with that don't between with "ipad" or "phone."

February 2014

I'm nine days late!  I completely forgot to update the blog in February.  I've tried to get these pictures in order when they upload, but Blogger is super helpful in making that task impossible.  Sorry about the mix of pictures that aren't in order.

Haylee has fallen asleep a couple of times over the past month during the afternoon.  Therapy is wearing her out!  Haylee loves her bed and so she'll often go lay on her bed and things will get really quiet.

Last Thursday, I was swinging in the basement with Haylee during therapy and she tooted.  I said, "Haylee, did you toot?"  She thinks that word is so funny so she starts laughing.  I then said, "toots are funny."  Oh did I open a can of worms!  She repeated that phrase "toots are funny," over and over for several days.  She would laugh and laugh while saying it too.  She has quite the "typical" four year old sense of humor when it comes to potty talk.  We all just laugh because you can't tell her to be quiet when she finally wants to talk!!!

Carter took several weeks of swim lessons at the local YMCA this winter.  He loves to swim!

Haylee's OT, Ms. Julie, got out the sock swing a few weeks ago and it immediately became a favorite of Haylee's!  

Ryan doesn't get to run errands with me very often.  I think he had forgotten what it was like to be in a cart when I took him to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago.  He loved it!  For about 10 minutes.  Then the novelty wore off.

Aaron got me a big ol' Kitchen Aide for a combined Valentine's and Birthday gift!  It's fun to use!

Traditional candlelight Valentine dinner with the family!

This little stinker LOVES when he can get his hands on the laptop!

At a recent Relief Society activity, I had a friend, Lara Shadowens come and teach us a neat kind of hand quilting: English paper pieceing.  I got started with this little flower.

Haylee in Physical Therapy with Ms. Kelly.

Here is Lara teaching us all how to quilt those little flowers.  It was such a great activity.

Olivia and Connor Hales performed together at the school's talent show.  Dr. Seuss Rap!

Haylee just giggles when she is in this sock swing at OT!

Carter's duck face selfie.

much static on the trampoline?

We love when we get some spring weather!

I guess I was wrong, Ryan does ride in a grocery cart more than I thought.

Aaron took the kids to Harbin Park to go tubing.

Annual Valentine Sugar cookie extravaganza.

Let the decorating begin!

There is a bit too much finger licking going on when they decorate and so I just let them have their own and so we aren't giving away our germs to neighbors when we deliver cookies to the neighbors by doorbell ditching them every Valentine's Day.

Aaron and I went to dinner with some friends recently.  We found out when we got home that Olivia had been tracking our location on Carter's ipad when the babysitter was at home with the kids.  We later found these pictures on his ipad of our exact location while we were eating dinner.  Little stinker.  Apparently she saw when we started moving and quickly announced that we were on our way home and that they needed to go to bed before we got home!

I took this picture as a "before" because Haylee got her haircut after this picture, but I never really got an "after."  Her hair is such much easier now that it's shorter though!  No more tangles.

This is a March picture.  We recently had our March RS activity and I put together these cookbooks as the take home gift!

After all the talent show performances, the kids sang a song together on stage.  Can you find Olivia?

Connor and Olivia doing their Dr. Seuss Rap!  One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish!  Sarah Hales made their t-shirts for the big day.