June stuff

Pictures of June fun.

Lots of birthday parties to attend.  One cousin had a horse riding party, while another cousin had a bounce house party.

Bowling party for a school friend.

Children's Theater picnic.  It rained a bit during that afternoon and the bouncy slide became a wet slip and slide.  The kids' clothes were drenched but they had a blast.  I've learned to always travel with spare clothes for Helaina because you never know what will unfold. 

Out to brunch for Father's Day.  Helaina LOVES brunch.

This look is "Mom, I'm not posing for pictures while I'm eating."  If you can't tell, that's a chocolate frosted donut on her plate, with a side of bacon (only a tiny morsel remains).

Yearly Dragon Boat Festival.  Helaina's "boat" from last year still fits, so I didn't have to be crafty for this event - this year.

New location this year so they were able to do a little fishing - with no luck - what a surprise...

... and a little paddle boating.  Helaina was excited to this (never had before) and begged Jim to take her for a spin around the small pond.  Her legs didn't reach the pedals so it was a Daddy-powered paddle boat.

The festival ended with a bonfire and smores.  Sticky, messy, gooey but ever so yummy.

We've been to the zoo - a lot.  This trip was one day after the new Giant Pacific Octopus made her deput.  Ophelia is her name.  It was only Ophelia's 2nd day on display and she had mostly hidden in a cave-like opening in the rocks, but we were fortunate enough to be there when she briefly came out of the hiding spot, took a spin around her tank and hung on some rocks for a while.  Very cool critter.  We've also been to the zoo for a private party, an aquarium adventure academy and Penguin Palooza.

Helaina and I made a trip to the beach the week after school let out.  Have to hit the beach once in a while for the sand and lake swimming.  We had fun.  We met up with one of Helaina's friends from school and they splashed until their skin was shrivvly.

Many times throughout the day Helaina would say "Poor Daddy.  He has to be at work and we're having all the fun."  Well, someone in this family has to bring in some bucks.  Poor Daddy.

Sprinkler fun.  Even with a pool, you can't beat that old fashioned sprinkler.

Oh yah, there's been some shopping.  On this shopping adventure we were out looking for some PRACTICAL sandals for Helaina.  She needed some comfy, wide flats to wear with shorts.  Majorly sidetracked.  "Oh Mommy.  Can we PLEASE get these high heels?  Please, please, pretty please.  I'll be careful in them, please?"  So, we ended up with these beauties and a pair of sparkly Hello Kitty sneaker-shoes.  Not exactly what we headed out for, but oh well.  When Jim got home from work that afternoon and Helaina showed him 2 more pair of shoes, he said "You're kidding?!  How many pair of shoes do you need?"  I informed him that his daughter was Carrie Bradshaw Junior and that you can never have too many shoes.  She also has giganticly wide feet and when we find something that fits, we simply have to buy them.  She wore those blue strappy shoes in the house that entire night.  Just loves them.  (I know kids aren't supposed to wear heals - not good for their feet - but Helaina only wears them if we go out to dinner or if we won't be walking for any length of time.)

School's out

School has been out for just over 2 weeks now and we've already crammed more activities into those 2 weeks than I would have ever imagined.  Weekends have been packed with parties and events.  The entire month of June flew by and now here it is 4th of July.

Last day of school on June 19th.  Since she was in school for less than 2 hours on her final day, I let her wear her Monster High flipflops (normally a no no).  She was thrilled.

Helaina's 1st grade class celebration was a series of plays - Readers Theater.  Helaina was "Reader Leader #1" - a narrator - for the story City and Country Mouse.  She practiced her lines so much that she had most of them memorized and hardly had to look at her script.

At her school carnival there was a fire truck parked right in front of the school.  The kids got to wear a real fire jacket and helmet.

Then best of all, they got to squirt water through the giant hose and knock down the "fire".  Big hit with all the kiddos.

Ah yes, the glitter station.  I must have been CRAZY.  Helaina's favorite hairdresser from Snip-Its was there.  She squeezed a giant blob of white glue gunk the length of her hair then sprinkled purple glitter over the entire thing.  I knew it was a big mistake the moment it started.  Helaina didn't want it washed out that night (of course), so there was glitter in her bed, on her pillow and sheets, stuck in her ears, on her skin, EVERYWHERE in the house - for days, weeks.  Once in a while I still come across a blop of purple glitter lurking in a corner somewhere.  Never again.

Helaina's 1st grade field trip was to the zoo.  I chaperoned and was in charge of Helaina and 2 of her buddies.  The combined energy of three excited 7-year olds surpasses anything that I had in my tank.  Three hours later when it was time for them to board the buses back to school, the chaperones were high-fiving each other.

Helaina is a Bubble Guppy fan and still a mermaid fanatic.  When I saw that Toys R Us had Bubble Guppy dolls I made the trip and got pink-haired Molly (Helaina's favorite).  Bubble Guppys are boy and girl mermaids that sing, dance and swim through all sorts of underwater adventures.  This was one of Helaina's 1st grade graduation presents.  When she unwrapped the package and saw what it was, she immediately smiled and said "Oh, thank you!!!"  They've been pool pals ever since.  Helaina's sporting her purple Aqua Bandit headband that is added protection for her custom made pink swirled earplugs underneath.  All in an effort to keep water out of those troublesome ears.  We finally have an appointment with the eardrum specialist for September.  Ugh.

Helaina's other graduation gift - a Monster High pillow for her new bedroom (if I ever get the walls primed and painted anytime soon).

 Joshua's old room is being transformed into a princess palace.  Helaina already has her new purple corner bed in her current room.  We've promised her a vanity set for the new room.  Now if she'll just settle on a color - yellow was the first choice but now she's leaning toward pink.  She's got until I prime the walls to make up her mind.

Everything is pushed into the middle of the room.  I started painting the beige crown molding white and that's about as far as I've gotten.  Good thing we're not on a schedule because we'd never make it.