Father's Day, finally

Backtracking a bit(!), here's how we celebrated Father's Day:  brunch, the zoo, and chocolate cheesecake.

"Don't bother me while I'm eating my Father's Day pancakes and sausage."  Daddy's wearing a shirt with Helaina's photo on it from when she was just a 2-year old little cutie pie.

Now she's a 6-year old cutie pie.  On her plate:  scrambled eggs, turkey sausages.  In her mouth:  the only pink frosted sprinkled donut on the buffet table that she grabbed in a flash, as soon as she saw it, before anyone else got it.

We usually hit the zoo on Mother's Day, but this year we went on Daddy's Day - whose day is it anyways?  I think it's Helaina's Day - always.

Tiger back riding.

As they were both running away from me I yelled:  "Joshua!  Don't let her climb the fence to the bear enclosure!"  6 years old or 20-something - neither of them listen to Momma.

Just what every Daddy wants on Father's Day - a grill cleaning brush.

A little gymnastics show for her Daddy.

Decadent chocolate cheesecake for dessert.  Unfortunately the bakery overbaked the very expensive cheesecake and it was extremely crumbly and dry (not how their products usually turn out).  Before I had a chance to call them and complain, the bakery closed!

Still have lots of pictures to catch up on and new ones of more current fun to post.  We're in the "get ready for school" mode now.  Helaina has her bus schedule notification, her teacher assignment and she's READY to go to school all day - on the bus at 8:30am and returned to me at 3:40pm.  Yikes!!  I can't believe I won't see her for 7 hours every day.   I told Jim the other day that it seems like just yesterday we were watching the Kindergarten summer celebration at the end of June.  The summer flew by.

On a brighter note (for those who are interested), my knee manipulation this past Wednesday went very well.  I was scared to death of the procedure, even though it took place at a one-day surgery center and I was knocked out completely and woken up when it was over.  "Manipulation" is a gentler word for having the patient on their back while the doctor extends the leg upward then forcefully bends the heck out of it downward at the knee to break up the scar tissue that formed (which was preventing range of motion for me).  I get squeamish just thinking about it, but the procedure worked.  At home that afternoon after the numbing injections wore off I was in excrutiating pain for about 2 hours - popped a few narcotic painkillers and it was all good.  My ankle actually hurt more than my knee.  Apparently the doctor uses your foot and ankle to do the pressing down on.  I'm doing physical therapy now every weekday for 2 weeks and on the weekends I have a home routine.  It's all getting me in shape in a hurry!  It's exhausting and time-consuming but so worth it.  Prior to the manipulation my knee would bend no more than the mid-70 degree range.  Under anesthesia the doctor got me to 115 degrees and at p.t. the therapist has gotten me to 102 degrees.  For the first time in 8 weeks I can sit in a chair and have my right foot flat on the floor at a 90 degree angle.  Joy!!!  I just have to keep diligently working hard to keep the scar tissue from prematurely forming again and I'll be home free - hopefully.  Keep your fingrs and toes crossed for me.

Summer pics

I've been meaning to post some pictures from the last few months but my knee issues have prevented me from anything even resembling a normal routine.  Despite doing absolutely EVERYTHING I've been told to by my doctors and physical therapist, my recovery is not progressing as it should.  I actually need another minor (well, not so minor in my opinion!) procedure done in a few weeks to increase my range of motion, so to say I've been depressed, sleepless and weapy over the last few weeks is an understatement (my poor hubby).  Enough about the knee.  So I went through some recent pics of my beautiful daughter to cheer me up and here are a few - with more to come.

Jim built Helaina a rock climbing wall and attached it toher playground.  Here's her first trip up the grips and she loves it.

Uh, yah, we're still mermaid obsessed in this house.  When Build A Bear sent out their latest catalog with an undersea bear and a mermaid outfit, let's just say that someone in this house flipped out.  Pushover Daddy told Helaina that she could get the bear and outfit for doing so well in Kindergarten this year, so she was one happy little gal that day.

The children's theater that Helaina belongs to had a picnic this summer - complete with a cookout, playground, bounce house and inflatable slide.  She's got callouses on her palms like you wouldn't believe from doing monkey bars every breathing moment.

Doing what she's not supposed to do, of course.

She swings so high it makes me dizzy just watching her.

Can't just go down the slide forward on her butt.  No, she's got to go backwards on her back.

We celebrated Anna's birthday this summer, complete with a pony to ride.  What a hoot!

Decked out in her cowgirl hat waiting for her pony ride.

We also celebrated sweet Sophia's first birthday about a month later.  Helaina just loves her cousins.