Memorial Day weekend - we're beat.

It's been a full 3-day weekend and Jim & I are tuckered out. There was a little work around the house done (garden set-up and closet switching - yes, winter garments still hang in our closets but it snowed on Mother's Day so ya never know) but mostly lots of fun in the sun. Helaina gave her new bathing suit a workout, especially since it's been so hot and sunny for so many days in a row (I'm expecting the great weather to end the day after our pool is installed).

Carbohydrate break for Helaina.

We squeezed in a trip to Onondaga Lake for the playground and a ride on the tram car.

Against my better judgment, we now let Helaina climb this tall ladder to reach one of the slides. It's way too high for my liking but our monkey gal runs to it constantly.

A ride on the tram car to the other end of the lake.

We also celebrated Anna's 1st birthday this weekend in true princess form with a castle cake and princess dress cookies! The Disney princess gifts were plenty, including a princess ball crawl and princess rocking chair from us.

There were 40 people at the party and about a dozen of them were kids under the age of 5, so you can imagine the noise and chaos. By the time we were ready to sing to Anna she was ready for her nap and got a bit overwhelmed, poor little darling ...

... but she got over it quickly!

Helaina had a glazed look in her eyes toward the end of the party, most likely from no-nap exhaustion combined with the pizza, cake, candy, soda, sugar high that she came crashing down from!

Just one more candy with Josh (uh huh), then strangling (I mean hugging) Nic.

We also spent most of Sunday at Green Lakes digging in the sand and splashing in the very cold water. Helaina and I went in the water up to our necks, but Jim only ventured in up to his waist - chicken! We were pleased and surprised to find a few of Helaina's friends at the beach too, so she ended up having a blast. I took pictures with a waterproof disposable camera because I didn't feel like bothering with my good camera and the sand, so those pics will come later. As usual, I think Jim's ready to get back to work to relax a little!

The bucket ... and the booboo

The bucket: bought the bucket to keep Helaina's small pool toys contained instead of having them scattered all over the deck. Worked good until she decided that it would be fun to fill the bucket with water and sit in it.

The booboo: a deep 3/4inch gash on Helaina's thumb - almost like her skin was shaved off. She came running to me and crying after getting out of the bucket and I saw the skin just hanging off her thumb and bleeding a lot. After first aid I checked the bucket and found that under the handle opening there was a sharp edge. Pretty nasty booboo. It needs either 2 bandaids or gauze to cover the whole thing. I tried keeping it uncovered for a while but it's so raw that it bleeds and it needs protecting until it heals a bit.

A few more bucket pics before the injury. She just loved sitting in it.

"I drink like Heidi and Tiger!" The kid is crazy.

Helaina got the cut on her thumb yesterday afternoon. This morning when I was covering it as best I could before school she said to me "We get rid of the bucket?" I told her that we'd keep it for toy storage but that she couldn't bathe in it any more!

Sprinkler fun

Yesterday it was very warm, in the 80's, so Helaina spent lots of time running through her ladybug sprinkler and flopping in her elephant pool. Josh was controlling the water coming out of the sprinkler. As soon as Helaina would get close to it he would crank it up high and she'd go running. She thought that was a hoot and they did that for about 30 minutes.

Helaina never tires of water play.

Ahhh, refreshing.

I guess the favorite elephant pool will be retired in a few weeks.

Happy 6th Wedding Anniversary to us!

6 official years as hubby and wifey. In my card to Jim I wrote "are you up for 6 more?!" and he wrote in mine that 6 years felt like 6 days - I think he meant 6 decades! We were married at 6pm on a Friday night then had Saturday to recover and finish packing for our Caribbean cruise that we were heading out for on Sunday. I'll post a few wedding, reception and honeymoon pics when I have a chance. I know as soon as I start looking at our honeymoon cruise photos that I'll start looking at Royal Caribbean's website! Tonight we went to Red Lobster for dinner to celebrate and had some yummy fru-fru frozen drinks, lobster and shrimp. Helaina had popcorn shrimp which is always a big hit with her, and a Shirley Temple.

We gave Helaina the camera toward the end of the meal when she started getting a bit antsy, so here are a few of the pics she snapped.

One of my gifts - a Scarecrow bobblehead to go with my Tinman bobblehead! Gotta love the Wizard of Oz. "If I had only a brain!" like Helaina says.

We also gave ourselves a good anniversary present this year. We went to the pool store and ordered our above-ground pool today. Now we're just waiting for the building permit and pre-electrical inspection work order from our town office and we should be set for installation during the week of June 7th. I'm ready to shop: goggles, flippers, floats, pool toys, a water-wing bathing suit for Helaina & anything else out there that looks interesting! Hope we have a long, warm summer this year.

"Agadaga" Lake

When I picked up Helaina from school today we had to stop at my eye doctor's office (note to self: never wrestle in bed with a 44 pound wildchild - the result will be eyeglasses [accidentally] being kicked off of your face then further mangled). I handed the glasses over to my doctor and he said "Wow, what happened to these?" - I pointed to Helaina and he laughed. We were right next to Onondaga Lake so I had a picnic lunch packed and we met Jim at the park. Helaina loves monkeybars now and is getting better at them. She still needs help but can reach and grasp the next bar pretty easily. She's no lightweight so it's hard for her!

Turkey & cheese "samij" with "sally" (lettuce, which Helaina calls "sally" for salad!) and rootbeer for a treat - then off to the playground behind her.

Helaina never used to like sandwiches but she loves them now. It cracks me up to watch her eat. Like most kids, she dives right into her food without any thought as to how she's eating or what she looks like while enjoying every bite. (That's not a bruise on her hand, by the way. It's a buffalo tattoo!)

Many times I find myself ignoring my meal and just watching her eat - it's the best entertainment.

Sitting on our front steps this morning before going to school. She was thrilled to be wearing her new Snoopy shirt from Old Navy and having a ponytail. First thing she did when she got to her classroom was run up to her teacher and say "You like my shirt? You like my tattoo!"

A weekend full of projects

With the warm weather comes the outdoor projects. I wish I could say that my inside-the-house projects were completed before we start the outside ones, but that's not the case - and probably never will be. I've wanted to plant a garden for as long as we've been in the house but never got around to it until now. Saturday afternoon Jim rented a rototiller and turned over the ground where my garden will be. This morning he toiled in the garage building a few raised beds. It took 3 trips to Home Depot and 2 trips to Ace Hardware, but we're almost there! I have great plans for my garden (in my head), now let's see if I follow through with living off the land! I secretly think that Jim will be glad to get back to work tomorrow and rest (I mean sit!) behind his desk. I don't know what's more sore on him - his back or his shoulder.

It was warm enough this afternoon for our bathing beauty to fill her elephant pool and take the plunge. She does not mind the cold water one bit.

She grabbed 2 noodles, put them up to her head and said "Look at my antennaes!"

When I say the water was ice cold, I mean it. She dumped 2 bowls of ice into the water and played with them until they melted.

Who needs pool toys. A plastic cup and bowl do just fine.

We went to Tulley's for dinner tonight, or Chulley's as Helaina calls it for some reason. I was too tired to make something and Jim was too tired to breathe. Everyone knows Helaina's obsession with balloons, especially helium balloons. Every time we go to Tulley's we explain to Helaina that the balloons are given out to people who are waiting for a table, and every time she moans about not being able to have one. Tonight she took matters into her own hands (gee, what a surprise). As we were on our way out Helaina ran up to the hostess and asked ever-so sweetly and politely "May I have a balloon please?" "Of course you can honey. What color would you like?" Hence, the green helium balloon and the look of pure happiness on our daughter's face.

Friday evening, after our first trip to Home Depot, we stopped for an ice cream on the way home. Judging by the mess around Helaina's mouth and the spots on her shirt, can you tell what flavor she had? "I LOVE chocolate" she said as she enjoyed her gelato. She is definately Daddy's girl.

Snow on Mother's Day ...

You know you live in Central New York when you wake up to snow on Mother's Day. It was windy and cold, just like it's been the last few days, but snow? And it snowed all morning right through late afternoon - nothing stuck, thank goodness, but it was still snow. We had planned on going to the zoo (Helaina's request), and we didn't let the blustery weather stop us. After breakfast and some gifts we put on our winter jackets, hats and gloves and headed out. It was 38 degrees and snowing, but we were determined!

Inside the aviary at the zoo this duck was standing on a rock minding his own business. Helaina wanted to see how close she could get to him. This was it, then he took off waddling. Smart bird!

"This the girl lion!"

Snack break after lunch at the zoo - Helaina's newest obsession is oreos.

"Just 2? Dat all?" Yup. Of course she eats them like most kids, twisted apart eating the frosting first.

Watching Indy eat some hay and carrots.

Helaina was waving a Sunchip back and forth in front of this penguin who followed it through the glass and kept trying to bite at it!

Momma and baby penguin...

... and check out the crazed look on this Daddy penguin. Looks like Jack Nicholson busting through the door in The Shining!

Helaina's class made a marigold pot and card for each Mommy. The best gift ever.

Jim made reservations for dinner at a restaurant I'd never been to before. We had some yummy seafood and Helaina kept us all busy while waiting for our food to be served. We were glad when it arrived because Helaina was hungry and dove right in to her chicken fingers. She also likes to sample what she thinks looks interesting from our plates "You share, I have some, one bite?" - she had some of Josh's caesar salad and mashed potatoes, she tried one of my clams casino then ate most of my rice pilaf and some of Jim's. The cook messed up Jim's order which delayed his dish being served, so they offered us 2 complimentary desserts for the mistake. We got them to go and brought home a yummy slice of pineapple upside-down cheesecake and a sinful slice of 7-layer chocolate cake (guess which chocoholic picked that one). We shared them at home to end our day. My day started out with Jim bringing Helaina into our room, her jumping in bed next to me yelling "Happy Day Happy Mother's Day!" This is my third wonderful year as Helaina's Mommy and yes, it was a happy day - and snowy.