The Henderson Family: January 2014

January is usually pretty slow, but it didn't seem that way this year! Highlights in January:

-Hallie got her ears pierced! Big deal around here. She has adorable little studs and likes having them pierced, but hates having them cleaned. She has fairly sensitive ears and they are taking longer than normal to heal, so that doesn't help either. But she looks so grown up! She also started going to Activity Days, since she's old enough now. Wow, she's getting so big!

We took this picture one evening after we'd all gotten out of the shower--the girls wanted their hair wrapped up in a towel like mine.

See those earrings?

My grown-up girl!

-Claire took a cooking class, which lasted for three weeks. They made foods like supreme grilled cheese sandwiches and pizza-dillas. She loved it and wants to do it again!

My little chef!

-Rob and I celebrated Valentine's Day a couple weeks early by staying the night at Anniversary Inn in Logan. Stephanie was kind enough to take our kids for the night, and we had a wonderful, relaxing, romantic time! It was great to just go on a date and spend so much uninterrupted time with each other. I am so lucky to be married to him!

-School Spirit Week at school. They always center it on reading, so it was called Pig Out on Books week. The first day was Dinosaur day. We don't really own a lot of dinosaur-themed clothes, so we went all out on the hair:

Big shirt and tie day

Crazy clothes and colors day

I think there was a crazy hair day too, but we must have been running late that day so I didn't take a picture :(

-I made an owl hat for Taylee Hall. Tenya Hall is my best friend and we are very close family friends with the Halls. They're practically family! I had made little Sammy a hat when she was born, but I still hadn't gotten around to making one for Taylee. So finally, here it is!

-I started teaching Zumba two nights a week instead of one. I had lots of people request this, so I thought I'd try it. I now teach every Tuesday and Thursday evening at 7:00-8:00 PM instead of from 5:00-6:00. Also, we changed venues; I used to teach at the Mountain View high school, and now I teach at Urie Elementary, my kids' school, which is a block away from my house. I LOVE the new time slot and equally LOVE the new location! It's been a great change.

-We babysat Taylee one night when the Halls were out of town, and I got to take these three cuties to storytime. I just couldn't resist getting a picture of them--or four pictures!

Best friends!

Look! I french braided her hair--that is quite a feat, since she has SUPER thin, wispy hair.

-Shannon asked me to make her a hat, which I did, and it inspired me! So, I made a new hat for me and a new scarf for Claire--she was kind enough to model them both for me. She's a born model, that little Claire-bear! The chevron scarf is my own design.

The biggest event in January was the science fair. Hallie and Claire both chose to participate in the science fair this year. Claire did her science experiment with my dad when they were staying with us over Christmas break, then we repeated it to take pictures for her poster later. Hallie and I did her experiment a couple weeks before it was due.

Claire's experiment was on static electricity. She charged a comb and then tested which kinds of materials it could pick up using static electricity.

She tested paper, wood chips, plastic grocery sack, styrofoam cup, rubber band bits, and Band-aid bits. The comb picked up everything but the rubber band bits

Hallie's project was based on the question: Which takes up more space: hot air or cold air? She blew up two balloons to the same diameter and then buried one in the snow outside and taped one up above the hot wood stove. After three hours, she measured the balloons again to see if they had grown or shrunk.

They both started at 26.5"

The "hot" balloon--it ended up at 28 inches

The "cold" balloon--it ended up at 25 inches.

Then came the hard part--making the posters! The girls helped quite a bit, but Mom still stayed up late the night before finishing the posters up.

Then it was time for the girls to present their projects to the judges. They both won a prize! Hallie won 3rd place and Claire won 2nd place!! Congratulations girls! The night of the awards ceremony also happened to fall on a Zumba night. Thankfully, I teach Zumba at the elementary school, so right after it was done, I ran down the hall and made it in time to see them receive their awards!

Hallie with a few of the other winners. Her friend Adam Lemon won 1st prize for the 2nd graders and Hallie was so excited for him--way more excited than she was for herself! It was adorable to see her cheer for him.

Side note--all these pictures are in black and white because the gym has the WORST fluorescent lights in the history of ever and they make everyone look like aliens. I don't have photoshop or a particularly nice camera, so the best I can do is give you the pictures in black and white. Otherwise, everything has this sickly green cast to it--yuck.