Dashing through the snow ...

... on a 3-horse open sleigh. While Jim was still on vacation last week we took Helaina to Highland Forest for a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the woods. Helaina's infatuation with horses continues and she loved the adventure. To get up some of the hills the horses really had to run fast and at times the sleigh would slip and slide sideways, which Helaina thought was great.

Being goofy on the sleigh ride. After the horsie excursion we ate lunch in the lodge and "bungled up" (as Helaina would say) and headed over to their very STEEP sledding hill.

This was the picture I called "Speed Demon" and submitted to 9WSYR for their Picture of the Day feature they showcase each night on the news. At 6:15 when we heard the anchor say "And our picture of the day features sledding ..." we all screamed & clapped and quickly popped a disc in to record the segment. Just as I had written it, the anchor said "And here's 4-year old Helaina sledding last week at Highland Forest. She is fearless and loves to slide down the hill on her tube as fast as she can go. The picture was taken by her Mom, Roberta." Her picture was on the TV for quite a while. We all clapped and hugged (Helaina loves to hug) then we replayed and watched the clip about 10 times!

We stayed to the side of the hill because the center was way to dangerous with older kids sledding down out of control at times - and Helaina only went 1/4 of the way up the hill. Jim would send her down and I'd catch her, usually by the boot, so she wouldn't slide into the parking lot.

Making a bumpy run with Daddy.

After a while I got tired of catching her (and my boo boo knee was beginning to get sore) so Jim and I switched - I'd send her down the hill and Jim played goalie. Worked good until Jim's "trick back" went out while catching her on one of her faster trips down the hill (I think it was actually the face-first picture below that did him in).

Helaina getting a free ride up the hill when her legs got tired. I told Jim he was crazy. Helaina's pushing a very solid 50 pounds and with heavy warm clothes, jacket and boots it was more than that.

She was soon done. "I tired Mommy. Let's go." So, Jim's back has gotten progressively worse since last Thursday. Pain pills, hot showers, smelly cream rub, being uncomfortable and walking like a hunchback have become the norm. I think it's time for a visit to the doctor for some muscle relaxers - let's see if he listens to me.

Some pictures from Helaina's Christmas party at school - doing the Reindeer Pokey. Like the Hokey Pokey, except cuter. "You put your right antler in, you put your right antler out .... you put your left claw in, you put your left claw out and you scratch it all about!" Clever teachers.

Eating her red velvet cupcake with a giant topping of frosting. Heaven for Helaina.

Our gift that Helaina made us was her handprint on a ceramic tile. Also the bell and angel ornaments for our tree.

A few pics from the Christmas program at pre-school. Helaina was definately not shy this time, singing loudly and dancing. She had a blast and was very animated. Although in the first pic she looks like she's taking her jingle bell ringing very seriously.

Singing and acting out a "Go now in peace" song. Just adorable, a teary-eyed moment for Mommy.

So we ended 2011 exhausted and wounded, but our little girl had the best week off with Daddy. Sunday night she asked "Daddy, you have to go back to work?" When he told her yes she emphatically said "NO!!!" Yikes, guess the prospect of being stuck with just Mommy again is horrible. She was anxious to get back to school though - she missed her 2 wonderful teachers and her little buddies. Jim's back? Well, it better be healed by Saturday before we sit in tiny, rock-hard chairs in the ice-cold War Memorial for 2 hours to see Disney Princesses on Ice. Helaina is so excited about the show that she can hardly contain herself - Jim too!

Jim's off this week, so.....

... as usual, a week off with Daddy means lots of fun. This morning we went to the the mall to see the new Yogi Bear movie. It was only 80 minutes long so Helaina sat through the whole movie pretty well. I smuggled lots of snacks from home into the movie theater so she munched her way through the movie. It had lots of slapstick comedy and Helaina loves that, laughing & giggling out loud during much of the movie.

When Helaina was riding the carousel she saw a girl with a stuffed Clarice from Build A Bear. We've never taken Helaina into that store before and since she loves the Rudolf and Clarice Christmas cartoon, we thought it was time for the Build A Bear adventure. The adventure began when we found the store CRAMMED PACKED with the line to make your creation almost out the door. We waited and endured and 40 minutes later we checked out with an adorable girl reindeer and a very happy daughter. Pressing the foot pedal to stuff the fluff into Clarice's shell, then selecting Clarice's heart.

"Showering" her off in the tub and at home with her creation.

Sunday was spent at home trying on clothes, cutting off tags, recycling thousands of clothing and toy boxes, playing with new toys and trying to clear space in our family room to walk through it. Helaina loved all her gifts, including her musical ballerina jewelry box. I told her how I had one when I was a little girl and she liked that she now has one too.

The Barbie doll complete with swimming puppies and pool was also a big hit - and a big wet mess all over Helaina and the kitchen - oh well, we knew it would be.

Jim and I have already become good with the face painting kit. I did a star and heart balloons while Jim added Santa and Rudolf.

Helaina loves the 2 Leapfrog items we got her (I mean Santa got her). The Leapster 2 is perfect with the Nemo and I Spy game cartridges. She's already got it figured out pretty well. We also got an alphabet tracing gizmo to help her learn to write letters properly. She's played with both of them daily so far.

Silly girl with her new baby doll. "Baby in my belly" she says, and sticks it under her shirt!

Yesterday we spent part of the morning at the library borrowing enough books and movies for Helaina to get us through the new year. Tomorrow we're headed back to the library in the afternoon for a lego playtime for parents and kids. Jim and I also have a long list of things we'd like to get done around the house while he's off, consisting mostly of getting the finished part of our basement reorganized and functioning as a toy room/toy storage area and rearranging the furniture, but who knows if that will get done - most likely not. Oh well, a week off with Daddy is for fun - not furniture arrangement.

Funny Helaina:

The other night when we were putting Helaina to bed I reached across her to tuck her sheet in against the wall. My shoulder has been sore for some reason and while tucking I said out loud "Gee, my shoulder really hurts tonight." Helaina said to me "Well why don't you put the hot pad on it?" I laughed like crazy and said "Oh yah, you're right. I'll use the heating pad." You can tell that you are geriatric parents when your 4-year old knows what a heating pad is!

A few Christmas pics

Christmas Day was fun and exhausting. Helaina slept until 7am. Jim and I were happy with that. I kept Helaina upstairs with me while Jim went downstairs and opened blinds, plugged in tree lights and got the video camera ready. Helaina's initial reaction upon seeing everything was "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Then "How did Santa get that down the chimney?" So cute and believing. She loved her talking baby doll and all the accessories.

Then there were the Bendaroos that Helaina was obsessed with for the last 2 months - actually hugging the Bendaroo box.

Face paints - another big hit.

Opening the Beauty and the Beast Mrs. Potts talking tea set.

Hungry Hungry Hippos from cousin Beth at Aunt Barb's house - another game she REALLY wanted. As if the game weren't noisy enough, when she's playing Helaina SCREAMS at the top of her lungs "Hungry hungry hippos! Hungry hungry hippos!" as she's pounding the hippos to "eat" the marbles. She just loves that game.

With Anna.

Yah, we all slept well Christmas night. Good thing because now comes the hard part - organizing it all.

Twas the night before Christmas...

... Helaina's asleep and Santa's elves just finished at 10:30pm with the set-up for Christmas morning. Considering that Jim and I have both been VERY sick for the last 10 days with horrible colds, sore throats, congestion, bone-rattling coughs and ultimately a sinus infection for Jim, we didn't do so bad (Helaina must have one heck of an immune system because she remains healthy surrounded by our germs, coughing, sneezing and nose-blowing). Jim only had one more gift to put together tonight - a Barbie skateboard/scooter thing that we were initially going to save for Helaina's birthday in February. Jim read on the box that the weight limit was 60 pounds and since Helaina's pushing 50 pounds right now (and she's really tough on outdoor bikes, scooters and the like), we decided it should be a Christmas gift. "Some assembly required" - a Daddy's favorite thing to see on a toy box.

We got everything set up and I said to Jim "Holy cow, it's a pink and purple explosion."

Checking to see if the elves that filled Helaina's stocking tonight got up the chimney ok. Helaina was on the computer with Jim after dinner so I grabbed the stocking stuffers and filled her empty stocking. Then I opened the glass doors to the fireplace, pushed the screen aside, gave her stocking a good push so it was swinging and started ringing my sleigh bells. She came running into the family room with Jim when she heard the bells and started squealing when she saw the swinging stocking and the fireplace doors open. The elves had visited - a sure sign that Santa's on his way! Jim said to Helaina "Look! There's a small footprint in the ashes that one of the elves left!" Too funny.

Opening some of her stocking stuffers.

This morning we made reindeer cupcakes. Oh my gosh, I couldn't stop smiling after they were all done, they are so cute.

Admiring her work before she digs in.

Chocolate frosted cupcake with broken pretzel antlers, mini m&m eyes, flattened tootsie roll ears and mini nilla wafers with red m&m noses. Too cute, right?

The only thing Jim and I ever wanted for Christmas - absolutely love that adorable little face.

Tonight's conversation in Helaina's bedroom while tucking her in.

Helaina: I didn't get dirty coal in my stocking (said with a grin on her face).

Me: No you didn't. Must be Santa and the elves thought you've been a good girl.

Helaina: Daddy, you have the outside lights on?

Jim: Oh yes. The house is all lit up and the roof is ready for the landing.

Satisfied with that answer, she snuggled herself under her Dora comforter and went to bed with a smile on her face. Yup, Christmas with a child in the house who believes in Santa takes on a whole new meaning. I just hope she sleeps in a little bit tomorrow morning.

Busy ... and still sad ...

I'm way behind in getting ready for Christmas this year. I started out good but the unexpected death of my brother on the 9th stopped me in my tracks and brought out my inner Grinch. But, with a 4-year old in the house life marches on and Santa's coming in a few days - ready or not. We finally got the tree up, with Helaina's pink tree next to it decorated all by herself. She tends to "cluster" ornaments in one spot but when her tiny tree toppled over from being front-heavy, she rearranged her decorations a bit.

We also managed to get some lights up outside but not as many as in previous years. All of the shrubs we usually decorate with lights were completely buried under feet of snow.

Yah, this is one of the bushes we usually decorate - uh, nope, not this year. An insane amount of record-breaking snow has fallen in Syracuse this month. On the NBC national news last night Syracuse was mentioned as having 72 inches of snow so far this season. A few weeks ago there was a TV crew and reporter in town from Good Morning America doing a segment on the early snow. White Christmas? Oh yah. Too white for my liking.

Helaina tumbled off the front porch last week and had a heck of a time getting herself un-stuck from the snow. Did I help her out? No, I snapped pictures of her.

The gutters are full of snow and ice and the house has huge icicles dangerously hanging from it. I took the screen out in Helaina's bedroom window and knocked this big one off to give her. We came downstairs with it and Jim looked at me as if I was nuts: Are you really giving her a pointed ice sword to play with? No, just to hold and take a few licks of - then she smashed it in the sink.

My sister sent Helaina this gingerbread lighthouse from LLBean. Her and Josh have been anxious to take it apart but I told them we need to enjoy it for a while before demolishing it. Every day Helaina wakes up and asks me "We done 'joying it yet?" So funny.

I gave her the meat mallet the other night after dinner and let her start smashing the little house that we made a few weeks ago. Man, that royal icing hardens like cement. She really had to pound it hard to break some of it apart.

We drove through Lights on the Lake the other night. Helaina enjoys it every year, anxiously waiting to drive through the Wizard of Oz display.

Jim and I went to Helaina's class Christmas party yesterday at school and this morning we attended the Christmas "concert". Too darn adorable. She was so excited. As she entered the church with her class we could tell she was looking for us. After they all sat down she finally spotted us, jumped up with a huge smile on her face and started waving wildly "Hi Daddy! Hi Mommy!" I took pictures and Jim did the video that I hope to eventually post because Helaina was funny as heck singing, moving to the music, shaking her jingle bell and going through all the motions. In between my laughter I found myself tearing up while listening to her sing (now that's a big surprise). She just makes us so happy because she's so happy.