Happy Birthday Uncle David

Today we celebrated Uncle David's birthday and Helaina had been looking forward to the party for days. She started on Friday with all the questions: "I help Uncle David open his presents? I help blow out the candles? We sing happy birthday 2 times? What we do the day after tomorrow - the party? Anna and Nic come to the party? I SO excited!" You'd think it was her birthday.

Helaina, Nic and Anna. Helaina and Nic were in overdrive playing with toys, running in circles around the house, playing on the swings, running around outside and taking a spin in the Barbie jeep. Anna would sit in amazement and watch the 2 of them with all their activity. I'm sure the day will come when Anna will be running right behind them.


I think Helaina may be a party planner when she grows up because she just loves parties. Here's a clip from her 4th birthday in February. You can see how excited she was when the singing and candle-blowing began - she could hardly contain herself. She gets very excited even when it's someone else's birthday. There's something about lowering the lights, lighting the candles and singing that puts a special smile on that special little face.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And 7 weeks later ... my beloved Tiger Kitty

Must be that Tiger missed Heidi so much he wanted to join her in Heaven. I made that last tearful journey to the vet's office today with my beloved kitty. Tiger started having health issues in October that were manageable with medications for a while, but the nasty side effects of the meds coupled with the likelihood of cancer took a toll on him over the last few months. Yesterday he was unable to eat without vomiting so I knew it was time. The picture below was taken 17 years ago in March, 1993 when we brought our little kitten home. Josh was only 7 years old! Look at the smile on his little face, and look how tiny Tiger was.

Tiger's favorite place to hang out recently was on a bench in our living room. It is a quiet room with less "traffic" where he could get his beauty rest.

Pics from this morning, resting on the couch.

Helaina giving Tiger a bear hug and, as usual, Tiger trying to wriggle away! Tiger was a very affectionate cat, but only on his terms!

Helaina knew that Tiger was very sick. Yesterday when I told her that Tiger had a vet appointment she asked "Tiger going to Heaven?", followed by "I don't want him to go. I want him to stay here forever. I miss Heidi and Poppa. Go get them RIGHT NOW and bring them home!" Sigh - me too. We gave Tiger his favorite meal before I took him to the vet, something I knew he would eat no matter what - tuna!

Helaina getting one last look at her kitty.

At the vet's for a few final moments.

A furry little paw wrapped in pawprint gauze, and a final moment with an old pal. Bye bye sweet kitty, say hello to Heidi for us. Miss you both terribly.

Tiger's food dish, yah, he was a cool cat - and his clay pawprint made at the vet's office.

Joshua chose not to come to Tiger's final appointment with me. At first he wanted to then changed his mind - said he wouldn't be able to handle it. Guess he wanted to remember his kitty sitting on the bench in our living room while rubbing his head in that favorite spot that always made him purr. I didn't try to change his mind.

A few days after Heidi had her last vet visit I got a sympathy card in the mail from our vet and it included a small prayer card. On it was a comforting poem that gave you something to think about, and pull out the box of tissues again. It's called "At Rainbow Bridge", inspired by a Norse legend...

"By the edge of a wood, at the foot of a hill is a lush, green meadow where time stands still. Where the friends of man and woman do run, when their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next, is a place where each beloved creature finds rest. On this golden land they wait and they play, till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer in pain or in sadness, for here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness. Their limbs are restored, their health renewed, their bodies have healed with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass without even a care, until one day they start, and sniff at the air. All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back, then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met; Together again, both person and pet. So they run to each other, these friends from long past, the time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart, has turned into joy once more in each heart. They embrace with a love that will last forever, and then, side-by-side, they cross over ... together."

Some pictures from Tiger's "healthier" days. He loved to drink out of Helaina's pool.

And she didn't like it at all!

Happy among a bunch of stuffed animals left on the floor.

3 Day Weekend for Daddy means ...

... 3 days of exhaustion for us. We were on the go this weekend with our little adventure gal. Today was sunny, cool and crisp so we headed out to Chittenango Falls and the creek for some fresh air and fishing. Helaina and water are the ultimate combination, but you've got to be up for it - she's relentless in what she wants to do and will stop at nothing. Here she is doing a little fly fishing with Daddy.

Next favorite thing: throwing stones in the water. She could do this for hours. Before throwing each rock she'd say "one, two, three, four, plop!" then hurl it.

Helaina had her Hello Kitty rubber boots on but wanted to be in the water like Jim. I bent down to fix my pants and when I looked up I saw this - bare legs, she had rolled her pants all the way up and it was cool and windy. She didn't care one bit.

One, two, three, four, plop goes the rock. She was actually trying to pick up rocks the size of cantelopes to throw.

Who needs waders? She was obsessed with standing on this rock.

Picking some daisies at Chittenango Falls to toss into the water.

Love these pudgy little fingers.

She ran up to the fence, saw the waterfall and the first thing she said was "wow". Wait until she sees Niagara Falls this summer.

Resting on a rock. Good thing the sun was out because it was very breezy.

We stopped at the swan pond after lunch. First time there for Helaina and she liked it.


She tossed some goldfish crackers into the water for the geese, ducks and swans. Before we knew it there were giant fish coming to the surface to slurp up the crackers. It was fun to see who'd get to the crackers first - the birds or the fish.

Can't go to the swan pond without stopping for an ice cream - purple, with rainbow sprinkles. What else?

Yesterday we found a new bounce house, Live 2 Bounce, and Helaina loved it. This is her "who me?" look when she gets a bit too wild.

Sheer toddler old joy. Helaina just loves any kind of ball, and lots of them.

A giant ball to get in and roll around.

We've got 3 family birthdays coming up soon so on Saturday we went to Waterloo for some shopping. Picked up a few birthday gifts and some new summer clothes for (who else) Helaina. I actually bought something for myself - a new package of socks! Riding a Dumbo elephant while holding her new favorite puppy, a beanie baby. She named it Chiwawawee and it now sleeps with her at night - Siri the elephant on one side and Chiwawawee on her other side.

The mall has a lot of these rides scattered around. Good thing we had quarters with us.

One night we tested out a Poptart recipe with our new box of Strawberry Milkshake Poptarts (which sounded gross to me but they were actually good). And yes, there are recipes that use Poptarts! This one was easy - just cut the Poptart into 4 squares, put a blop of vanilla ice cream on them and make an ice cream sandwich, then roll the edges in sprinkles (Helaina's favorite part). Notice the orange sprinkle stuck to her cheek. Like most kids, Helaina likes sprinkles. I never saw the attraction - they taste like wax to me.

Daddy Home!!!

Helaina anxiously awaits her Daddy's arrival home from work every afternoon. If we're in the house she'll listen for the garage door to open. When it's nice out she'll play on her swingset while keeping one eye on the street for his car. Sometimes we'll sit on the porch and she'll blow bubbles while waiting. Today she relaxed in her little lawn chair, wearing her "princess dress", while enjoying a purple tootsie pop. This is the look on her face when she sees his car coming down the street - followed by "Daddy home!"

She knows that she has to wait on the porch until the car's in the garage and the engine is turned off, but then she's off and running to greet him and give him a hug around his legs.

We made sugar cookies in the Easy Bake Oven tonight - a teeny tiny pile of sugar cookie mix blended with 3/4 teaspoon of water made 6 cookies. We decorated them with sprinkles and mini m&m's and then into the lightbulb chamber for 10 minutes! They actually weren't bad - much better than the "gritty" cake we made before.

They were a hit with Helaina ...

... and she even shared them with us.

Helaina's Easter basket contained some Koolaid fizzy tablets. She's fascinated with them and has a hard time waiting for the tablet to dissolve before she can enjoy her drink.

Funny Helaina:

One night this week we were on the front porch when Jim came home from work. I had to go in and start dinner and Helaina wanted Jim to take her for a bike ride around the block after he changed his clothes. When he emerged from the house I told Helaina she had to go in and potty before her bike ride. She grunted & groaned & complained, stomped her little feet as she struggled with the door to get in the house then declared "I SICK of going potty!" Jim and I looked at each other and cracked up. I couldn't stop laughing. That was the first time she said she was sick of something. Too funny.