Nice weather

LOVE THIS LITTLE FACE.

Hello Kitty face courtesy of family fun day at our local YMCA.  Helaina had to wait in line a long time to get this done, but it was worth it.  Adorable.

It's been a beautiful week with temperatures in the 70's.  Helaina is thrilled to finally be wearing shorts to school.  Last Saturday she said "It's hot.  Why can't we open the pool today?"  A bit too early, little one.  We told her she could play with her water table instead and she ran into the house so fast it was unbelievable.  "Can I wear one of my new Monster High bathing suits?  The 2-piece one?"  Sure.  Jim unburied the water table from the shed, found some of her water toys and Helaina filled the table with freezing cold hose water.  Cold water doesn't bother her in the least.

First thing she did was plop her butt into the cold water.  Squeal heard throughout the neighborhood.

Jim and I just watch in disbelief.  Debut of Monster High bathing suit #1.

Wet and wild happiness.

Bathing suit gymnastics.  Helaina's got a sweet cartwheel.  It should be awesome because she cartwheels through the house, the yard, the playground, school, the grocery store (if she can get away with it) - ANYWHERE she can.

She's so proud of herself now that she can do a back walkover and get all the way around.  She'll stand straight up, put her hands in the air over her head and bend backwards down to the ground into a table, then kickes each leg over and stands up.  She's getting better on the uneven parallel bars too.  She's got really strong arms.

Our little gal has a style all her own.  Her "Monster High" outfit, as she calls it.  Monster High shirt, Monster High skirt, Monster High bracelet and Monster High hair clip.  Add in striped monkey kneesocks and purple glitter shoes and voila - ready for the kiddie red carpet.  Helaina's teacher loves some of the outfits she comes up with.  She told me one day that "Miss M said my outfit was wackadoodle!!!" 

A few weekends ago we took Helaina to her first Saturday morning Lowe's workshop.  The project was building a Croods planter, which was right up her alley because we saw the movie The Croods at the mall and it was great.  Take a look at Helaina's expression and her left hand position.  She's like "Dad, stop moving your hands when I swing the hammer!"  Jim learned with the first swing of the hammer that she was not very accurate.  After getting hit several times he was leary after that.  Every time she'd raise the hammer he'd move his hands and the wood pieces would fall.  So this is me:  "Oh for Pete's sake.  Just hold the wood.  Here, let me do it.  How hard can she hit?"  Well, I found out on the first whack because the blood blister she gave me next to my thumb took 2 weeks to go away.

We got through it.  Helaina's hammer wielding improved.

And tah-dah, a Croods planter.  They gave us a packet of tomato seeds and hopefully they will sprout.  It was fun.  She got the red apron to keep and a little Croods planter badge that I ironed onto her apron.  We'll go back for another workshop - hopefully the next one won't involve a hammer.