Ice Cream

My favorite ice cream flavor happens to be Chocolate Chip Mint and look what got off the bus on Friday!  The best ice cream cone ever!!!!

Crazy Hats

I've mentioned Ian's crazy principal before but I'm not sure if I've mentioned that he apparently has a hat fetish.  He must own every kind of unique hat that anyone has ever dreamed up.  He gave Ian an elf hat in December and wanted him to wear it every day until Christmas break.  Now, Ian comes home with a different hat every day and just thinks it's hilarious.  Sadly, I haven't taken pictures of all of them, but here are a few.  As you can imagine, Ian LOVES this thing they have going and whenever he sees Mr. Pinto, he points to his head and wants his hat.  We are so thankful to be at a school with a crazy principal who is crazy about Ian!

 Tom's caption for this one is "This chicken layed an Ian!"

 King Ian

This was a Hershey Kiss, complete with the paper streamer coming out of the top.

Keep reading - I did 2 posts at once.  (It's either feast or famine with me :-)

Sweetness!

Brenna Noelle is growing and changing so fast!  She is "talking" a lot and smiling and rolling over.  What a blessing and a joy our grandaughters are!

 This one is few weeks old, but I don't think I posted it and I just love it! 

Queen Brenna (as her daddy calls her) sitting in her throne.

"Babysitting" Brenna

Ian was out of school today due to snow and I already had plans to visit Miss Brenna, so he went along to help babysit.  Elizabeth lets me think I'm coming to help her out but mostly I just go to play with Brenna.  Anyway, this crazy grandma rarely leaves the camera behind when her grandchildren are around because after all, they are the most adorable babies that God ever created and I feel the need to share them with the world!  So...enjoy these pictures of sweet Brenna and I will soon go to Memphis to take some of Olivia!

Hat Night

Tom is at a meeting tonight and for some reason unknown to me, Ian insisted that we wear hats while we ate our dinner.  (Of course, we've been known to wear napkins on our heads throughout dinner at Ian's bidding.)  Funny kid!!!

The reason he's laughing so hysterically is because he was belching.  Lovely.

For the Grandparents

For Ian's birthday and Christmas, we asked the grandparents to contribute to the purchase of a joystick for Ian to use with the computer.  It acts as a mouse and allows him to do all kinds of activities on the computer, which he LOVES!  He has one at school, but we really wanted him to be able to use it at home as we strongly believe that technology will be Ian's friend as he learns to communicate.  Of course they obliged and and we were able to present him with a very special gift on Christmas day.  He was very excited and insisted on using it immediately.  Although we knew he used one at school, we hadn't witnessed it, so we were amazed at what he can do with it.  I took video of him opening it and using it, but can't get them to download, so I've resorted to still shots. 

 Here's what it looks like

 Here he is using it and concentrating

 This is one of the activities he likes to do - putting an object with a similar object (The hand with the pointer finger is the cursor)

And this is what he does when he gets it right! 

I can't even describe the sense of accomplishment and independence that it gives him to be able to manipulate and use the computer.  So.....all you grandparents (and anyone else!) just need to come see how valuable this little (ridiculously expensive) device is and how much Ian loves it.  If he could, he would tell you how much he appreciates it!  It is a gift that will keep on giving for years and years and have a lasting impact on his ability to learn. 

Thank you Mom-mom, Dad-dad, Mimi, Pa and Mamma!!! 

from Ian

I love you!