Yesterday was a SNOW day ...

... NO SCHOOL for the kids and no work for Baba (too far to drive in the snowy mess)

It was a SICK day for me!  Yuck!  I came down with a cold HARD and FAST late Tuesday and it put me out on Wednesday.  Then I tried to be strong on Thursday and went to work.  Well, that pretty much wiped me out so now I stayed home another day. 

So, guess what that means ... ??

It means I can work on a POST!

I know it's been a while and now there's a lot that I can share with my readers.  

These two ...

... they either absolutely LOVE each other or despise one another (yep, we have days like that).  

Well, this little buddy has been working hard on his speech, consistently speaking clearly and slowly, while trying to articulate ALL the sounds.  There are quite a few sounds that he still really has trouble with but he's making progress.

One of the things I try to work on with him is getting him to exercise his lip muscles.  He has little concept of getting his upper lip to coordinate movement.  It is quite the challenge for him but he expresses interest in blowing bubbles with chewing gum and being able to whistle, which can only be achieved by him learning to exercise and control his upper lip movements.  

We've started a speech chart for Jonah and he gets stickers for the hard work that he does during his home sessions.  He is pretty excited because when he acquires a certain number of stickers, he will be rewarded ... with his favorite ... FOODS!

After Christmas always starts our string of non-stop birthdays for two months.  And I can't even believe that THIS HAPPENED!!!

My first-born ... oh-so-cute-and-cuddly-guy that he was ...

HE TURNED 25!!!

(I just cannot believe it!)

Then this guy turned 9!

He's our noodle-loving, Batman-crazed, bumble-boy, Jonah!!

He requested noodles (of course) for his birthday and chocolate cake for dessert.  What a guy!

He got a Batman bath robe as one of his gifts and, oh my goodness!!  He L-O-V-E-S it!!!  He wears it all the time.

A week later, we celebrated this girl's birthday!
We can't believe that she is 12 years old already ... seriously the fastest ten years of our lives!!!!  She's so incredibly simple.  She chose grilled cheese and tomato soup for her birthday dinner and a red velvet cake for dessert.  Yum!

In other Brynn news, she's been working really hard on her Learning Rx.  She was awarded with a certificate for accomplishing saying all the US Presidents, in order, in less than 30 seconds.  

Can YOU do that??

She and I work three times a week at home and then she attends at the center and works with her trainer twice a week.  It's A LOT but we have seen some improvements and we are hopeful that she continues to improve and succeed.

And then our little buddy, Rees, FINALLY lost his 1st tooth!!!

That is a huge milestone!

We weren't sure he was even going to lose a tooth.

It's his 8th birthday today!

We are really blessed to have him in our family.  

He's another simple one ... he chose pizza for his dinner ... good choice, buddy!

For his cake, he wanted something strawberry so we chose a strawberry shortcake.  Brynn was happy to be able to light his candles.

 

He finally got a bathrobe ... thought it was going to be a problem when Jonah got one first.  But our little man was patient and ... yippee ... it paid off!!

Later this week we will be taking our trip to Oklahoma City to meet a new surgeon.  We are excited for the opportunity and we will try to keep our scrutinizing to an acceptable level.  Hopefully, we will have a very exciting post to share after our return.  

Until then ... oh, and somebody will be turning Sweet Sixteen two weeks from today!  Good Grief!!