The Apple of Our Eye

A few weekends ago Helaina had her first trip to Apple Country - we headed for Lafayette on an unusually warm Sunday morning to Beak & Skiff orchards. Helaina loved every moment of the adventure - from the tractor ride to the hot apple fritters to the pony ride - she had a blast, and so did Momma and Daddy. We will definately be heading back there for another apple picking adventure in October.

Here's our beauty enjoying an apple she picked herself from a tree. The funny thing is that at home, Helaina will only eat apples if they are peeled, cut up and dunked in caramel apple dip! Must be they taste better if you pick them yourself because she ate 2 apples she plucked from the trees. She had apple juices running down her chin, her chubby little fingers and her arms - so funny.




"Is this a good one, Daddy?"








"Want a bite?"

After the apple picking came the hot apple fritters - a sugary hit with Helaina.

And cold cider too. "Um, Dad, is that my fritter you're eating?"

The crowing glory to the trip was Helaina's pony ride. She waited in line (impatiently jumping and shreaking) for her turn. Her pony's name was Brownie, or "Rownie" as she called him. For $4 it was a pretty long ride - she got her money's worth and enjoyed every second of the ride, as did Daddy.

When the horses came to a stop and Jim told her she had to get off Brownie, she leaned forward and gave him a kiss!! Is our daughter the most adorable, loving child there is??!!!

Daddy's Birthday

September 19th was Jim's birthday - first birthday as a Daddy! Helaina and I baked a chocolate cake. She loves to help with anything in the kitchen. She dragged the chair over to the counter, climbed up on it and started making a mess immediately!

"You sure we have to pick out the egg shells?"


"Watching this mix is boring. When can I lick something gooey?"


"Now this is more like it."


While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Helaina was unusually quiet. I looked around the corner and saw that she had piled her pillow, piggy and elephant on Heidi - and Heidi didn't even move! The picture's a little blurry, but still cute. I love Heidi's one eye peeking out from under the pillow as if to say "what the heck?"


Helaina LOVES birthday cakes and candles. Look at the smile on her face! We had to sing, blow out the candles, sing, relight the candles and blow them out again - several times. Heaven help us on February 27, 2009 when Helaina turns 3!

Waiting for the moment to blow them out...

Go!

Helaina models - reluctantly

At the end of May I decided to take some "posed" pictures of Helaina. I made my own backdrops and dressed her up in some favorite outfits and gave it a whirl. Now I know why professional photographers charge so much. I must have said a thousand times "Helaina, stand still. Helaina, get your finger out of your nose. Helaina, move back a little. Helaina, leave your hair bow alone. Helaina, get your hand out of your diaper. Helaina, smile. Helaina....." - well, you get the drift. She was fairly cooperative, for the most part, and I spread the "photo shoots" out over several days so it wasn't 5 hours straight of changing outfits and posing! Some of the pictures are adorable, and here are just a few of the MANY that I took!

This was the last photo taken on the last day. Helaina's pursed lips and hands on her hips (which I did not tell her to do) say it all: MOM, I've had enough pictures taken already!!!!

The Backyardigans

There are a few tv shows that Helaina truly loves - yes, we do let her watch tv! The Backyardigans is an adorable cartoon on Nick Jr and it is hands-down Helaina's favorite. There are 5 colorful animal characters who sing and dance their way through adventures in their backyard. When the cartoon comes on Helaina claps her hands, dances, jumps and squeals with delight. During the show she will dance and sing along with the characters. When it's over she grabs Jim or myself and we absolutely have to hold her hand while singing and dancing around the family room to the closing tune. Every time - no exceptions! Helaina has a Backyardigans musical radio that we got her, and a guitar courtesy of Uncle David and Aunt Cathy.

Imagine Helaina's delight while shopping at the Christmas Tree Shop one morning when we came across a Pablo sprinkler (Pablo the penguin just happens to be Helaina's favorite character), in his "surfer dude" costume. Needless to say, it was plucked off the shelf and tossed into the cart by Helaina! The $5 sprinkler has brought our little gal more joy than the most expensive toy ever could have. Go figure.








The crazy thing is that aside from Helaina knowing all the characters, their names and the songs they sing - Jim and I also know this too. You should see Daddy singing the theme song "we're your friends, the Backyardigans" with Helaina - it's truly a site!

Vacation, Part 2

Here are some photos from the 2nd half of our vacation during the last week of August. It included another trip to the fair, Helaina's first trip to Chuck E. Cheese, Green Lakes and more. Jim's vacation ended up being exhausting for us - every day we were on the go, but Helaina loved all the adventures.

Helaina was happy to see Cookie Monster at the WCNY station, but was looking for her favorite Sesame Street character - Elmo!


We waited quite a while to see the new Banana Derby and then left shortly after the show started. They had small monkeys that rode on the backs of dogs - sounds great - but the guy did a lot of talking and we only saw one "race" with only 2 dogs. Plus it was packed and Helaina was getting "squirmy"!


The baby chicks and ducks in the 4H building were one of Helaina's favorites.


We decided it wasn't in the best interest of the newly-hatched chicks for Helaina to hold them! We knew she wouldn't hurt them intentionally, but there certainly isn't anything "dainty" about our daughter and feared she might hold them a little too tightly!


First trip to Chuck E. Cheese's - and we probably won't visit there again until a very cold, snowy, wintery day when Helaina's stir-crazy! She loved the place. The pizza, the tokens, the rides, the games. She was a wild toddler. While we were there I asked Jim if he ever imagined us being at Chuck E. Cheese with a 2-year old, at our age. I got the usual eye-roll!


Guess Daddy liked Chuck E. Cheese too because you see he's playing this game all by himself. I wonder if Helaina knew he took one of her tokens?


Riding in Clifford. These rides were a bit too tame for our little daredevil, though.


She liked this ride because the seat moved and bumped.


Last trip to Green Lakes on Labor Day weekend. It was a beautiful day and made us kind of sad that we won't have Helaina splashing in the water and digging in the sand again until next year! She loves it SO much.




Snacking on Helaina's favorite treat - Lay's baked sour cream & onion chips. She absolutely loves them and will eat them until we take the bag away from her!


Coming down the enclosed curvy slide at the playground.



Hanging from bars - one of Helaina's favorite things to do.


We traveled to Bob's BBQ for a birthday celebration for Aunt Kathy. We had yummy food and Helaina was able to run around outside and play while eating. Thought it was funny that she squeezed herself through the little hole in this playground area.





So the timer feature does work on the camera!