Winter Fun!

We had the BEST family day yesterday!  Started with dance class and a basketball game for Sam, then we bundled up for some winter fun!  A nature center near our house was having a "Snow Fun" day, so we headed there after lunch. We spent the afternoon riding kick sleds down a hill, snowshoeing through the deep snow, ice fishing, cooking s'mores over an open fire, and attending an animal show inside the center where the kids got to see and touch Chinchillas, hedgehogs, scorpions, a desert fox, raccoon, snow gliders, and a red-tailed hawk. It was a great afternoon to be outside in the winter air enjoying the fresh snow and getting some outside exercise!

Life otherwise has been busy with school for the kids and Dan, work for me, and all the various activities.  Sam is LOVING playing basketball his first year, and can't wait to get on the court for each practice and game. Piano is still going well, and the girls are still going to dance several times a week.

Kendra had her poet-op visit to the ENT this week. Things are healing well with her tympanoplasty, and there are no signs of rejection as of yet. She was able to recover a good amount of hearing in the higher tones with the surgery, but still has some trouble hearing in the lower tones. Her ENT believes this might be permanent, but at this time, she does not require additional hearing aids.  He was actually very pleased with the amount of hearing that she has recovered so far, as he told us this week that he didn't believe she would recover enough of her hearing to be able to function without hearing aids.  He was very happy that things are going as well as they are, and so are we! After talking with him more this week, we realized even more how fortunate she is. 

Kendra will be having more surgeries down the road to maintain her current level of hearing. The tubes that were put in place this time are for long-term use, and not designed to fall out.  She will have surgery at a later date to remove them and replace them.  The hope is to give her eardrum time to heal and to prevent more frequent surgeries to replace them. So far, so good!

~Ali