A nice sunny Sunday

It was a bright, sunshiney day today - makes you want to plant something even though it's a bit too early - so on our way home from running around this morning we stopped at the garden shop and picked out a few daisy plants. Helaina selected pink for herself and orange for me. Lovely choices.



Mid-morning we headed out for some fresh air - but not before a quick stop at Tim Hortons. We hadn't been there in a long time so Helaina was excited and selected a donut with orange & blue sprinkles and cocoa with whipped cream. She was all sugared up for the playground.

We went to playgrounds at the middle school that Joshua attended - funny seeing Helaina playing on the same things that Joshua played on SO many years ago. This slide was steep and she loved it.

Swinging with Daddy.

How high can we go?

Enough of that, she spotted something better.

My sister and I discovered a stash of our childhood toys in my Dad's basement so Helaina's playing with a doll and tub that was mine as a child. The doll has different outfits, a bottle and pacifier. She loves her new baby and named her Lulu (Helaina met a new neighborhood dog last week named Lulu so that's where the name came from).

"She doing tricks."

Helaina is absolutely fascinated that this dolly can peepee!

New baby Lulu bathed, hair washed and combed (ha) and ready for her bedtime bottle.

Best $80 we ever spent...

We finally broke down and ordered Helaina a small (or what I thought was small) trampoline. She loves to jump & bounce and the only thing holding me back from getting one sooner was that I didn't want a trampoline in my living room. Saw one a few weeks ago on Walmart.com. The price was right, it had tons of great reviews and looked sturdy and fairly safe. Jim picked it up after dinner last night. He walked in the door with the box and set it on the floor. When Helaina saw what it was she dropped to her knees, began hugging the box and said "Thank you, thank you!" When I ordered the thing it didn't register with me that 55" across is 4-1/2 feet. The safety netting enclosure it comes makes it taller than me, so it takes up a large portion of the living room (sigh). Jim started putting it together last night but couldn't get it finished before Helaina's bedtime (she was bummed) - lots of parts, pipes, foam, netting and bungies so he finished it about 9:30 last night. This morning I was in the living room with the video camera running waiting for her to come down and see it fully assembled. She was upstairs begging Jim to put it together before he left for work, so she was very happy when she saw that she could start jumping. The assembly video is dark because it was night time and the jumping video is also dark because it was early morning, grey, dreary and raining outside with no sunlight coming in our window, but you get the idea.

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Helaina has since become a bouncing pro - bouncing very high and getting daring (bending her knees or doing a split while in the air, landing on her butt or knees - I'm waiting for her to try a flip or somersault. Let's just say I gasp a lot while supervising her. Some of the funny things she's said while jumping: "I stay in this forever. I brush my teeth and potty and go right back in? We having a carnival. This my bounce house. This my playhouse. We having a great day. I jump and spin really high. Thank you." She just loves this trampoline.

See ya next year, Easter Bunny

There were eggs to be colored,

and a giant basket to be found.

After a hot cross bun breakfast the Barbie jeep made it's first appearance of the year.

Hair blowing, shades on, Siri strapped in by her side and jelly beans in her belly - ah, nothing better.

A little pretend maintenance to be done under the hood.

A trip out to Aunt Barb's for Easter dinner. Taking a break from all the activities.

Helping Anna open the new toy we picked out for her. Anna just loves watching Helaina do anything.

Waiting for Uncle Gerd to fire up the tractor,

for a ride through the fields.

This is Helaina's Easter basket she made in school out of a milk jug we had to send in. The teachers have such clever ideas for crafts.

A glimpse back to Easter 2008, which was early that year - just 4 days after we got home with Helaina in March. We plopped her on the kitchen table with some assorted goodies on a plate and she dug right in. I remember that her favorites were beefstick (still is), crackers and kuchen.

86 degrees on April 2nd?

A few days ago when I heard the weather prediction of 81 degrees for today I thought to myself "Yah, right. It will probably snow." So sorry, Mr. Weatherman, you were right this time. It is wonderful to feel sunshine on our faces and to have all the windows open in the house. And Helaina, well, she's been thoroughly enjoying the warmth for the last few days. Swimming on Good Friday? Who would have thought. The water coming out of the hose was absolutely frigid but Helaina didn't care. She went in full throttle, the way she does everything.

She came out screaming, running for the towel, but then went right back in.

Helaina can "pump" on the swing now all by herself. She'll push it to the limit with how high she can go. I find myself repeating "That's high enough, Helaina. High enough. You're going to flip off. Stop pumping or you'll have to get off." Should just make a recording and play it constantly. Her reply? "It ok. I have strong body, Momma."

Back & forth, she could swing for hours.

This is the glare that I get when I make her slow down.

She's into jumping rope now too. Two of the older girls she plays with jump rope while running down the middle of the street, so of course Helaina has to do exactly the same thing.

A trip to Heids on an 81 degree day then over to the very crowded park to get sweated up.

Jim's trying to tell Helaina that it's time to go. Ha, good luck with that.

We also squeezed in a dental appointment on Thursday. Helaina had 2 final teeth that needed work. Not as long in the chair this time and the nitrous oxide worked for a while, but not throughout the entire procedure. I ended up with the usual scratch marks and hair ripped out of my head while holding her hands and letting her hug me around the neck during the procedure. The good news is there are no more cavities and we don't go back for another 6 months. Before, sitting in Dr. Scott's boat in the waiting room & after 2 restorations, taking a break before the cleaning.

At home finally having something to eat, some cream of wheat, while admiring all her goodies from Dr. Scott. The dental assistant gave her an extra gift because of everything she endured, so she came home with a stash. Dr. Scott called around 8:00 that night to see how Helaina was doing. I told him that after a 2 hour nap she woke up as good as new.

Helaina selected this outfit on Wednesday after school - picked it out entirely herself. Can you tell? Under her favorite striped sweater is her new favorite orange glitter t-shirt, and she just loves her pink frilly Kiki skirt. Oh yah, the blue ring pop was in her Easter basket she brought home from school. I brushed her teeth for 10 minutes after she finished it. She was spitting out blue the entire time!

We even had time for a visit with Baby Anna too.

Yup, we've been busy this week. Tomorrow Jim and I will tackle coloring Easter eggs with Helaina. I should just wrap the kitchen (and Helaina) in plastic before we begin to minimize the mess. Fun, fun and more fun.