Gung Hay Fat Choy

Happy New Year, Chinese style.  Welcome the Year of the Dragon.  Helaina was beyond excited today to head to school in her silky pink Chinese outfit with her hair done in a Mulan-type bun, wearing her adorable Chinese girl earrings and waiting until I arrived at school to bring cookies and goodie bags for her classmates and the Dragon Dance book to read to her class (I was quite excited too).

Pretty in pink.

Red envelopes with chocolate coins, noise makers, mandarin oranges for good luck, fortune cookies, little umbrellas, dragon pictures to color and whatever else we could cram into the bags.

I got fancy with the fortune cookies this year and dipped half of the cookie in melted chocolate then decorated with sprinkles.  Big hit, and yummy too.

Partying in Kindergarten.  That's our girl - seated at the table with all the boys!

I had a captive audience at school today as I entered the room carrying 2 giant bags of goodies.  I got to sit in the teacher's comfy rocking chair with all the little ones gathered on the rug at my feet while I read them the story and talked about Chinese New Year and some of the customs and traditions.  Helaina loves it when I come to school to visit.   She had a great day today ringing in the new year.  After lunch we went to our local library where they had a special craft day and Helaina made a dragon mask and a dragon lantern.  After a quick dinner it was off to gymnastics.  We had a few small cupcakes when we got home to celebrate even more, then it was bath, a little SU basketball on TV and then off to bed for our exhausted little gal.  Wishing everyone a happy, healthy Year of the Dragon.

Christmas week vacation

The week after Christmas Helaina would wake up each morning asking "What we doing today?"  We definately kept her busy - or was it the other way around.

Helaina was obsessed with getting an inflatable for our front lawn.  I absolutely refused to pay full price for one so the day after Christmas we went shopping and found these penguins at Target for half price.  Seems so funny to see green grass instead of the white stuff at Christmas.

A trip to the mall isn't complete without a carousel ride.

Aunt Barb gave Helaina a gift card for Build A Bear.  She selected Brittney from the new chipmunk movie.  It's funny, the place is called Build A Bear but Helaina has never selected a bear to stuff.  "Maybe next time, Mommy."  So of course, the next day we went to see the Chipmunk Chipwrecked movie.  It was cute but yikes, even the matinee is ridiculously expensive.  I smuggled in our own snacks and drinks because I refused to pay $3.50 for a small drink.

Basketball at a bounce house with one of Helaina's friends.

They loved this giant rubber ball.  It had 4 handles and seats and they really got it going.  I had to yell to Helaina to be careful because she outweighed the other 3 kids and at times her weight and enthusiasm almost rolled the thing right over her.  After the bounce house it was off to McDonald's for lunch and more climbing in their play structure.  Never ending energy.

We started the new year off with bowling one morning.  Helaina loves it and has great form!  Her and Jim bowled 2 games each and she got 2 strikes.  I had the video recorder with me but it never failed - each time I set it down for a while she got the strike.  After a while she'd run up to the line with the ball yelling "yabba dabba doo" then would hurl it down the alley.  Too funny.

Helaina's been playing with her Christmas gifts all week.  She loves stringing beads and making necklaces and bracelets.

Scrabble Alphabet Soup was a hit and it also helps her with spelling and reading words.

The big hit was Sorry Sliders.  She was obsessed with this game and thank goodness cousin Beth came through.  We've played it every day since Christmas - many, many, many times.

Play-do Dr. Drill and Fill is hysterical.  You make play-do teeth (Helaina made colorful teeth), then drill them out with a battery-powered drill and then fill them with gray play-do for the cavities.  You can also make braces to put on the teeth and it comes with dental tools.  I even like this one.

Yah, it was a busy week.  A hint for one of our other day trips during that week.  Where can you go and have butterflies land on your head?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, yippee it's all over

It's been a busy few weeks.  Between the hectic last-minute things to do right before Christmas and then Jim's week off after Christmas, it's been anything but peaceful.  We did something just about every day with Helaina and when it was all over Jim asked the question "Whose vacation was this anyways?"  Rewind to before Christmas.

Helaina's stocking was hung and the ornaments she made at school were proudly displayed for Santa to see.

The drawing she made for Santa was on the wall so he'd see it when he came down our chimney.

The reindeer food she mixed at school (oatmeal for eating and glitter to light the way) was sprinkled carefully around the lawn and house.  She checked the chimney to make sure it was safe for Santa, the tree was lit, some gifts from us were under the tree, and finally the cookies and milk were set out.

Fast forward to Christmas morning.  Helaina slept to an unbelievable 8:00am.  Jim and I had a chance to get up, get downstairs and get the camera and video all set up for when Helaina awoke.

Ahhhh, Christmas morning happiness.  The purple ladybug pillow pet that she had been longing for.  Santa delivered - thank goodness.

How adorable does she look in her Smurfette hat.

Santa's got a great memory.  He remembered the singing Mulan doll that the Disney Store also sells.  One of Helaina's favorite gifts.  She has played the Reflections song about a million times and now knows the words perfectly and acts out the scene from the movie as she sings.

Helaina's first ring - a sparkly beauty from the craft store, I mean that the Elves made and put in her stocking.

After our fun morning at home we headed to Aunt Barb's for more fun.

I waited too long into the day to get pictures of the girls.  They were very tired and not interested in posing, as you can see by Anna looking away and Helaina's glazed over stare.

No matter how tired, though, I can count on little Miss Sophia for a laugh and a smile.  Helaina was jumping around and then pretending to fall down.  Sophia thought it was hysterical and did that true baby giggle for the longest time.  She thinks her cousin is a hoot.

More partying, eating and gift exchanging Christmas night.

Helaina and Josh checking out some stocking stuffers.

Christmas night when Helaina was finally in bed, Jim and I crashed.  Little did we know that Jim's vacation week ahead of us would exhaust us even more - let me rephrase - Helaina's vacation week would exhaust us even more.

The Santa run-down

Here are the rest of the Santa visits Helaina has enjoyed this year.  The big guy has got to be exhausted by now.

One of the walk-through nights for Lights on the Lake.

At our town's tree lighting ceremony.

Family fun night at Helaina's school.

And finally, breakfast at McDonalds.

We sat at a booth so she could watch Santa as she ate her breakfast.  She was thrilled and kept waving at him during her meal.

Busy, busy, busy, but it's almost over.

When it comes to candy...

... more is always better - especially on a gingerbread house.  Take one candy-obsessed 5-year old, a giant tube of royal icing, decorating candy and a "blank" gingerbread house and you've got a messy, sugary, but oh-so-much-fun afternoon.

Let the icing mess begin.

One candy for the house, one candy for the artist.  I think she licked her fingers after every candy she placed in the super sweet icing.  Who knew brushing teeth would be a requirement after decorating a gingerbread house.

Helaina was very pleased with her creativity and use of all the candy that came with the kit, and some additional items from our cupboard.

I think the house looks good enough to eat!

"When can we eat it?" was her question after it was finished.  I told her that we had to keep it around until after Christmas and enjoy looking at it because it's so beautiful - then her and Joshua can break it to pieces and nibble away.

Breakfast with the big guy in red....

Helaina has had lots of Santa exposure this year.  She's seen him 7 times, been to 3 tree lighting ceremonies and had breakfast with him twice.  Jim and I are Santa-ed out.  We told Helaina that Santa was heading back to the North Pole to help the elves get ready for Christmas.  Phew!

The first breakfast was at the zoo.

Bacon, sausage, Santa and snakes - what could be better.

Santa made a grand entrance during breakfast and visited with the kids at each table.

Then he took his place near the Christmas tree and got down to business.

Of all the cute body paintings she could choose from, Helaina picked a Christmas snake.  While she was geting the snake painted on her hand, Helaina told the woman all the facts she knows about snakes.

She was SO excited when she found out there would be a real snake on display.  She listened intently and asked some questions.  "Do snakes have ears?"  She learned where they are on the snake and how well (or not so well) snakes can hear.

This is the snake that Helaina would not even get near the glass to view only a few months ago.  Now it's her best friend.  "Can I have a real snake for Christmas?  We can put a flashlight in it's cage so it stays warm."  Uummm, sorry sweetie, I know we try like heck to fulfill all your wishes, but that's one wish that won't come true - ever!

"Daddy, hold me up higher so I can see the snake."

One of my favorite exhibits at the zoo is the lion area.  The giant wall of glass provides an amazing view of the 3 lions, which are almost always laying around right in front of the glass in perfect view.  We have NEVER seen these lions be anything but passive when people are checking them out - that was until this time.  Helaina did her usual face-to-the-glass viewing and this lion immediately made a snarling face and swatted her huge paw directly at Helaina.  It scared the heck out of me but Helaina was not rattled in the least.  She thought it was funny.  "She's cranky today!" Helaina said.

I love this picture because of the look on the lion's face.  You can tell she was still snarling at Helaina.  That encounter really made me remember that these are wild animals and not as tame as they appear to be behind that glass. 

Prancer and Donner waiting to take Santa back to the North Pole.

The zoo has had the same Santa every year since we've been taking Helaina, and he's a good one.  Patient, takes time to talk to all the kids and seems to genuinely care.  This is a tidbit from her lengthy discussion with him:

Santa:  I see you have Christmas tree earrings on.  I like them.  Now who is that you have in your hair?

Helaina:  That's Elmo on my piggy tails.

Santa:  Oh, Elmo, right.  Are you married?
Helaina:  No (laughing).

Santa:  How old do you think you should be before you get married?

Helaina:  21.

At least - good girl!!!!!

She did great!!!

Oh man, what a show.  Helaina was the cutest little bluebird ever.  Backstage when we had to leave her to get to our seats she felt a few pre-show jitters, but once on stage she did great.  She was in 4 song and dance routines and it didn't take her long to feel at ease on stage - moving and grooving in true Helaina form.  She was adorable and hysterical all at the same time.  We've got great video that we'll post after Jim gets it on the computer.

Backstage before the show with Snow White.

Beaming after the show, so thrilled with her flowers.  Just look at that face.

It was a performance that brought tears to her Mommy's eyes.  I just kept thinking that when we brought her home from China she didn't say a word for the first 2 months.  When she did start speaking she struggled for so very long just to be understood.  And now she's singing her heart out on stage before an audience.  She is truly an amazing little girl.