Just after the New Year, Emma and Hallie began swimming lessons at the YMCA. They attended four sessions, once a week during the month of January. We saw them both make good progress - Hallie was swimming independently for short distances and Emma learned a variety of strokes.
Emma's in pink, practicing her swim stroke, and Hallie is in the background, swimming with guidance from her instructor.
Emma (left) and Hallie (right) both enjoyed jumping off the dive platforms
My birthday fell on a Wednesday, so we partied the weekend before at Dan's parents' house.
Emma used her multiplication skills to set up my birthday candles.
9 yellow candles x 5 blue candles = 45 years old!
The Saturday after my birthday, I was treated to a special pancake breakfast.
Dan was the chef, and the girls decorated my pancakes with chocolate chips. Yum!
He's still my favorite gift, year after year!
The girls had a teacher workday at their school one Friday in January, which meant there were no classes for students. We visited Oak Grove Lake Park and found this half-built teepee! They had so much fun adding to it and pretending it was their shelter.
The girls always love wading in the lake, too.
After working up an appetite at the park, we bought doughnuts at Krispy Kreme!
Emma and Hallie's smiles transformed in January.
Emma had braces for less than 4 months, and her orthodontist declared that his work was done. She already had a perfect bite, except for a cross bite where her front two lower teeth overlapped her two top teeth. Once that was corrected, she was braces-free and ready to eat gummy bears again!
And not to be outdone, Hallie lost her second tooth! She had a molar extracted months ago when it got infected, but this second tooth fell out the old-fashioned way, when she bit into a Reece's Peanut Butter Cup at school. She was upset because she wasn't allowed to finish her (somewhat bloody) candy, but excited to have another visit from the tooth fairy!
Hallie was invited to a birthday celebration for her friend, Fiona (in the center).
Each girl got to choose an animal figure to paint at a pottery shop. Hallie did a great job painting her fox.
After painting together and watching Fiona open her gifts, Hallie (left), Celiah (center), and Fiona (right) went out for frozen yogurt.
Our family had a few sick days in late January and early February. Hallie caught a stomach bug at the worst time - the day before her 1st grade classes' special Italy Day event. I was in her teacher's room helping to decorate for the event, when Hallie was brought to me by a worker because she was feeling ill. She tried her best to shake it off because she was so excited to go to school the next day. But she eventually vomited in her teacher's trash can, and we had to make a very fast exit. Sadly, she missed the fun at school, but Emma had the awesome idea to have our own Italy Day at home!
We made homemade dough balls and shaped it into noodles. We even boiled the noodles to eat, but they were disgusting.
The girls both dressed up as the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio, and Emma helped to paint Hallie's nails with sparkle polish.
I bought a ton of grapes so they could stomp them with their feet!! Hallie was grossed out, but Emma LOVED it!
I made Hallie pose while standing in the grapes, even though she wanted out of there.
Emma, on the other hand, stomped those grapes into pure juice.
Dan pitched in to help Hallie stomp her grapes. We did not drink the juice afterward, in case you were wondering.
Hallie made a pretty mosaic cross by gluing small pieces of construction paper onto a cross shape.
Her teacher sent home a Pinocchio puppet craft, and she loved putting it together. She didn't feel great for a few days, but getting to do Italy Day crafts helped a little bit with the disappointment of missing that day at school. Sadly, by the time, Hallie was feeling better, Emma got sick and missed a few days of school, too. Here's hoping for a healthier month in February!
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