Enjoying the summer

One day last week we headed out to camp with the intention of spending the entire day - wrong.  The biting flies that literally swarmed and attacked us were too much to handle and we spent only a few hours at the lake.  Even the bug repellant we used on our skin didn't deter them and their bites hurt quite a bit.  We were there long enough for Helaina to take a dip and that was about it.  The picnic lunch we planned on eating outside turned into eating our sandwiches in the car on the way home in a hasty retreat. 

 

Whizzing around the yard in her jeep.  She's got 2 of her babies seatbelted next to her.

Sporting her new Rapunzel "tutu" dress that she absolutely loves.  Gotta love that sale rack at Target.  I've got her hair in 2 french braids.  It's her newest favorite hair style.  I'm a little rusty on the braiding technique but it looks cute even so.

The obsession with monkey bars continues.  She can't get enough of them and the numerous hard callouses on the palms of her hands proves it.

Helaina refuses to nap in her room, but she is more than happy to get her pillow, her baby and Zoey and snooze on the couch.  She plays so hard that most afternoons she'll sleep for at least an hour.  Works for me.

The Smurfs, ah yes, Helaina's latest fascination.  She watches the old cartoons on Boomerang and just loves them.  The Smurf cartoon she watched today was made in 1981.

Her favorite?  Smurfette.  Helaina even renamed her Cabbage Patch baby - it's no longer Sophia.  Her name now is Smurfette!  The movie opens this Friday and Jim has the day off.  I think it may be a Smurfy Friday for us all.

Who's in Charge at your House?

 Jim is giving it his all in attempting discipline with Helaina.  He's trying to make changes in how he handles things because right now, well ... let's just use the words "pushover", "marshmallow" and "doormat".  Helaina definately knows which parent she can get away with more (uh, Daddy) and instead of duplicating the semi-effective techniques I use, he's gone out and bought a book!  He's been reading it nightly and trying a few things out.  Helaina likes the book too and thinks it's a hoot.  There's one sample situation where a child wants a twinkie right before dinner.  She's had Jim read it to her so much that she's memorized it.  She picked up the book one afternoon, opened it up and by sheer memory, "read" the entire twinkie situation out loud almost verbatim (which I thought was a hoot).  She's even gone so far as to say to Jim "Daddy, you don't discipline me."  Hey, if she reads enough of the book maybe she can discipline herself.   1-2-3 Magic?  Nothing magic yet.

We visited Baby Sophia recently and she's just so stinkin' cute.  I held her for about 45 minutes and just stared at her face, watched her breathe, laughed at her facial expressions and little baby sounds, played with her tiny little feet (with unbelievably long toes!) and just drank in all that babyliciousness.

A pic from Helaina's bowling birthday party she went to a few weeks ago.  We've got some video of her bowling - I'll have to post it soon.  Too bad we didn't have the video camera rolling when she got a strike and when she picked up a spare that a pro bowler would have trouble making.

We went to the Penguin Palooza at the zoo Sunday evening.  Games, face painting, animals and the most important part - enough ice cream stations set up around the zoo to make you go into lactose shock by the time you leave.  Between the four of us we had small free samples of ice cream in dishes and cones, root beer and orange floats, fudgsicles, creamsicles, sundaes, cookies, donut holes.  Helaina's favorite of the night was bubble gum ice cream with pieces of gum running throughout it. 

Thought this pic came out funny.  Looks as if the male lion is complaining to his female counterpart about something and she's less than receptive to listening.  Hmmmmmm...

Saw the new $8 million elephant enclosure, play area and housing area.  Very nice.  Helaina's favorite part was the new baby elephant to pose on.

Cannonbaaaaaalllll !!!!!

It's been very hot lately.  The air conditioning has been cranking and the pool has been a life saver.  To say that Helaina has improved with her water abilities since we opened the pool this summer is an understatement.  At the beginning of the summer she wouldn't even put her face in the water.  Now dunking herself is her favorite thing to do.   She jumps in, dives in, swims with her face in the water, bounces off the bottom, likes being thrown in the air ending in a splash, and can almost swim across the entire width of the pool (21 feet) without her swimmies.  It's exhausting just watching her.
Joshua taught her the cannonball.  Just before she jumps off the deck she screams "cannonbaaaalllll"!

She likes to jump into the center of this tube - she got good aim and hasn't missed yet.

She also "dives" into the pool - more like bellyflops.  Occasionally she'll bend over far enough and point her arms and head down toward the bottom enough so that it's an actual dive.  No fear, which I haven't quite figured out is good or bad.

Helaina's turning into quite the athletic little girl.  She spends lots of time on her playground, specifically the monkey bars.  Again, at the beginning of summer she couldn't even move her hands from one bar to the next.  With stubborn persistence that makes Helaina who she is, she has practiced, grunted and groaned all 52 pounds of herself all the way across the bars now with the ability to turn herself around and head back.  She's got grit galore!

Last Day of Preschool

Here's the clip of Helaina accepting her recognition award on her last day of preschool in June.  Helaina had a great year at school and is more than ready for Kindergarten in every way possible.  Her teacher's words:   "... never standing still, never a dull moment, never more than 30 seconds of quiet...".  Oh yah, that's our amazing bundle of Helaina so very deserving of her "Energizer Bunny, Perpetual Motion" award!!

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Enchanted Forest Water Safari

During the last week of June we met 3 families at Enchanted Forest Water Safari for a day of fun in the sun.  Jim and I had been there once before, years ago, pre-Helaina; and I remember when I was young going to Enchanted Forest with my family.  I have memories of walking down the paths surrounded by tall trees, riding on a few of the rides and mostly the huge Paul Bunyan statue at the entrance.

Being the outrageously wet and wild child that she is (and also super adorable), Helaina had a blast.  Splashing in the water and riding rides with her friends was a winning combination.

This is one of my favorite pics from the day.  Helaina was so happy to be on this pint-sized water slide all by herself - zipping down big girl style.

Out the tunnel with a swoosh, climb back up the ladder, down the slide, up the ladder, down the other slide, up the ladder, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat over and over again for HOURS!

Launching into the lazy river, which is always a nice slow drift through the river, for a change of pace.

Jim and Helaina went down this Amazon River slide twice.  They both loved it and Helaina would have gone 10 more times, except for the fact that Jim had to carry the huge boat up the winding hill to the top by himself (it was at the end of the day and my aching boo-boo knee kept me from the hike up the hill).

Helaina went on this kiddie slide countless times.  The attendant would have all the kids sit at the top of their lane and then yell "Go!" so they could have a race to the little splash pool at the bottom.  Then it was a race by all the kids to get back up to the top the quickest.

Helaina had her eye on this sky ride from the second she saw it from the parking lot.  She had never been on anything like it before and couldn't wait to get the birds eye view.  I rode in the balloon behind them and was nervous the entire time.  The only thing to hold you in was a chair-life type bar that plopped loosly over your front.

Another first for Helaina - a ferris wheel.  She had never been on a grown-up version and was chomping at the bit to ride.  I was a ferris wheel fan when I was younger - way younger - and Jim didn't want anything to do with it.  Thank you to our friend and her daughter who braved the wheel with Helaina.

It was an amazingly fast ferris wheel and the trio loved every minute of it.  First thing Helaina said when she got off and came running down the ramp was "I want to ride again!"

Funny Helaina:
Helaina jumped for joy one afternoon last week when I told her we were having macaroni and meatballs for dinner.  "Yippie, my favorite" as she literally jumped in the kitchen while clapping her hands.  She was right by my side as I dumped the macaroni into the boiling water and she asked me "Is that tiggeroni?"  As I laughed out loud I said "Yes, it's RIGATONI."  "Oh yah, that what I mean."  How many 5-year olds know the names of the different shaped pastas?  She started out with a hefty plate of rigatoni and 2 meatballs.  After the 2 meatballs were gone she said "Another meatball please."  (in her defense, the meatballs were small).  I looked at Jim and groaned.  "Helaina, the plate of macaroni and 2 meatballs you had was plenty for a little girl."  "Noooo, I want another one, pleeeeezzzze!"  She begged.  Ugh, as I scooped up another small meatball for her I was muttering half out-loud, half to myself  "Geez, Helaina I sure hope you grow 4 inches by your 6-year check-up to spread yourself out a little bit."  She reached her hand down to the top of her leg, pinched it and with a grin yells out "Look at these thighs!"  Oh my gosh, we laughed out loud!  At her 5-year checkup this past March Helaina had grown 3 inches to a height of 43 inches, and gained 8 pounds.  Maybe she will top that this year and grow 4 inches!

Sophia Ann

We all excitedly headed to the hospital Wednesday evening so that we could meet little baby Sophia.  I just couldn't WAIT to get my hands on her and when I finally got to take her in my arms, I cried like a baby.  There's nothing more moving than holding a newborn and just staring at them, watching their facial expressions and listening to their little squeaks and coos.  I didn't want to put her down!
Too bad little Sophia couldn't enjoy any of her "welcome baby" cookie!

Helaina, could you get any closer to your new little cousin?  Helaina renamed her baby doll Sophia and later asked me to "waddle" her baby - she meant swaddle - too funny.

I could have stared at this adorable little face for hours.

And here is Anna's picture when she was 24 hours old.  To look at Anna today with her locks of light brown Shirley Temple curls you wouldn't believe she was born with a dark head of "helmet hair"!  By the looks of it, I think in about 2 years we're going to have 2 little sisters that look very alike!

Helaina's good news!

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As Helaina would say, yippee skippy!  At 7:05pm tonight, July 5th, my niece Beth Ann gave birth to her 2nd child - another beautiful daughter, Sophia Ann.  She weighs a healthy 9-1/2 pounds and looks like Anna did when she was born with lots of dark hair.  Sophia out-weighs Anna at birth by 10 ounces - and I thought Anna was a big newborn!  Baby, Mommy and Daddy are doing wonderful and Aunt Berta is very excited as well!

Happy 4th of July

It's been a very hot 4th of July weekend which meant lots of pool time - nice to be able to cool off in the backyard instead of packing everything up and driving to the crowded beach.  We'll hit a few beaches this summer, though, because Helaina loves sand.  Her little sandbox on our deck just doesn't cut it.  Patriotic Helaina in her sparkle butterfly shirt and new ruffle skirt from Aunt Cynthia

Baby Anna, although I can't call her "baby" any more - she's 2 and about to be a big sister ANY day now.  This suimsuit is totally Bedrock.  All she needs is the bone tied into her wild hair and she'd have the Pebbles Flintstone look going on.

Ahhh, you know summer is here when the watermelon sherbet roll is at Friendly's.  Notice the holes in Helaina's slice?  That's because she picks out all the chocolate "seeds" and eats them first!  Face painting courtesy of Daddy.

My latest internet find - cake pops.  Made them for sis-in-law Cathy's birthday this weekend.  Super yuuummmyyyy, but time consuming to make.  There definately was a learning curve making them this first time around.  They were a big hit and I'll be making them again.

Dragon Boat Festival

Helaina had more than a blast at the annual FCC Dragon Boat Festival.  It's a really fun event for the kids, as well as the parents.  She spent lots of time on the playground but then went running to each event when she heard them announced over the megaphone.  Just like last year, Helaina was at the head of the pack for the parade.

The race for kids 5 years and younger.  Again, her feet were flying as soon as she heard "Go!"

A fun relay game where the kids were split into teams and raced with cups full of colored water and  dumped the water (that they hadn't spilled while running!) into a bottle.

Then they ran back to pass off to the next team mate.  First team with a full bottle won.

New this year was the tug of war.  The kids LOVED this one.

Helaina couldn't stop smiling.

Parents and kids then took a turn.

Helaina and Jim's side won this tug.  Helaina did a victory hoot when they were declared the winners.

Our contributions:  Worms in dirt cupcakes ...

... and 50 water balloons.

Helaina and her partner.

Helaina dripping after the balloon toss and free-for-all.  "I soaked!"

There were even 2 rickshaws there.  Helaina conned this boy into giving her a ride, but he seemed happy to do it.

Then she hops off and then tells him it's his turn.  I'm yelling to Jim to go help her because she'll never get going on her own.  Uh, I was wrong.  Being the muscular "ironman" that she is, she gave one little grunt and our suma wrestler was off ...

... however, when she tried to turn around she went into the grass, down a tiny slant and the boy went flying (literally) out of the rickshaw, landed on the ground, rolled like a stuntman and got up holding his wrist.  As I gasped I'm screaming to him "are you ok, honey?" and Helaina is running off to the playground.  Jim gave him a lift back but look at the boy's face - he's probably thinking "girls, hmmmfffff".

Yes, it was a bit cloudy and cool with a good breeze off the lake but that didn't stop the fearless kids from putting on their bathing suits and sliding down through freezing hose water.

The park has a great playground that Helaina always enjoys.  This year she was OBSESSED with this bar.  She wanted to climb it, sit on it, hang from it - oh my gosh, she was nuts.

See, nuts.

At home, resting on the couch with her cute little green cat painted on her face.  Exhausted and dreaming about all the fun she had - or wait a minute, dreaming about her next adventure - Enchanted Forest Water Safari.