Happy New Year

Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Annie, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Halloween, Happy Greta and Happy Whatever Else I'm behind on.  We'll go in reverse order and see how far back into 2013 I feel like going.  We'll start with Christmas.  Helaina's wish list had 4 "must haves" on it:  Ivy, the American Girl Doll, make-up, a Rainbow Loom (for making rubberband bracelets) and a unicorn Dreamlight.  Good thing she's been a good girl because Santa came through on the "must haves" and a lot more.

Make-up for a 7 year old, yah right.

 That look on Helaina's face is worth what "Santa" shelled out for Ivy, the American Girl doll.

 Helaina loves Ivy because she's Chinese and because Ivy likes gymnastics, just like Helaina.

Gleo DeNile (Monster High) wig.  Too funny or what.  Helaina loves wigs.

 Helaina visited with Santa several times in December.  This was at breakfast with Santa at the zoo.

School holiday event.

 Jim was off from work starting with Christmas until after New Years, so Helaina kept us busy - and broke.  We went to a bounce house...

 ... and bowling.  Can't see the score too well but Helaina beat Jim in both games they bowled.  She also got 2 strikes in a row followed by 9 pins.  The pro bowling on the lane next to us gave her a high five and told her that he was impressed.  And ...

 ... we went to the movies with one of Helaina's buddies and saw Frozen - which is now Helaina's new obsession (they are both holding their Elsa dolls).  She sings the songs CONSTANTLY and knows every word to many.   And ...

 ... sledding.  It was all going well until...

Helaina went over this bump for the 2nd time,  flipped backwards and hit her head hard on the hill.  She landed perfectly after going airborne on her first run (of course I didn't get a picture of that) - I get the picture of her about to clunk her head. And...

... bucket list item for Helaina - the ropes course at WonderWorks.  She's been crazy to do this since she first saw it and we resisted as long as we could.  In a weak moment back in September, I told her that if she did good in 2nd grade that we'd let her do the ropes course around Thanksgiving.  Well, 2nd grade is going extremely well and we held off as long as we could, but the pestering made us finally grant her wish.

There was no way in heck I was harnessing up and doing this with my knees, so Jim was the winner.  Helaina was a pro after about 2 minutes, but Jim seemed to be frozen in time on the ropes.  Helaina finally left him behind to race through the 3 levels of the course multiple times while Jim kept yelling down to me "It's harder than you think!"

Helaina was fearless, tackling every aspect of the course and flying through it.  Thought this picture was neat because of the snow seen on the ceiling skylights above the course.

Brave Daddy, good sport Daddy, far far behind his daughter!  After I don't know how long, probably at least 45 minutes on the course, Helaina finally agreed to being finished because callouses were forming on her hands!

Halloween was a blast.  Monster High girl Laguna Blue was Helaina's pick this year.  Blonde wig with blue highlights, "creature from the black lagoon" type fins on her fishnet stockings and arms, fishy scaley jacket and shirt and shimmery black skirt completed the outfit.  She couldn't have been happier.

We even did makeup like Laguna Blue wears.  She was so pleased.

Halloween party at school.  Helaina went as "Zombie Dorothy" and had a spider in her basket instead of Toto.

The Zoo Boo.

A rare opportunity to see Ophelia the octopus at the zoo.  She's usually hiding in one of the caves in her enclosure.  Next post, our sweet sweet Greta Garbo.

 

Few more...summer

Last of the summer pics, then on to Fall - which has been particularly exciting with the newest addition to our family - that would be canine, finally.  Pics of apple picking, Halloween and sweet puppy Greta coming soon.

 One of my favorite summer pics, doing my least favorite thing - trying to catch fish.

 Sassy Monster High gal.

 This Fall soccer game was played on a wet muddy field, but the kids didn't mind at all - especially the puddles of standing water they constantly ran through.  The socks and cleats were soaked and coated in mud.

 The dunking of the bread tradition continues.  Years ago I explained to Helaina that every time my Mom made meatballs and sauce, when the meatballs were simmering we'd get to take a piece of bread and dunk it in the sauce.  I have fond memories of that and now Helaina will have them too.  She loves it.

 After she takes the first bite she always moans "mmmmmmmmmmm".  Our little Chinese Italian!

 Finally moving into Fall.  Making mooncakes with our FCC group to celebrate the autumn moon festival.  Filling the mooncake molds with sweet dough and even sweeter fillings - chocolate chips, marshmallows, candies, jelly and my absolute favorite, the Chinese sweet bean paste.  Sounds yucky but it's delicious.

So proud of her creations.  They look pretty, taste good and are relatively easy to make.  The best part (and the noisyest part) is slamming the mold on the table to get the cookie out onto the baking sheet.

Summer wrap up, a little late

Now that it's late Fall (I'd actually say winter), it's time to wrap up summer fun.  The months just seem to fly by and Helaina's growing up way too fast right before our eyes.  Most of these pics show the daredevil that Jim and I live with - Helaina's desire to walk on the wild side and her need for speed.

Our Seabreeze outing this summer was eventful for Helaina.  Before our trip she'd been BEGGING to go on the full-sized Jack Rabbit wooden roller coaster.  I hadn't been on it in years but remember it being fun.  She met the height requirement (over the line by just a smidge) and we reluctantly agreed she could ride (she was ready to cry if we said no).  Jim didn't want to ride but I felt I had to go to supervise Josh and Helaina - as if I could do anything or protect her from harm while riding in the seat behind her.  The ride was as the name warns - just like a hopping jack rabbit - three steep up and down drops in quick succession, and turnaround then 3 more up and down drops on the way back, ending in one final drop through a pitch black tunnel.  All the while Helaina's laughing and I'm screaming "Are you ok?  You ok?  Hold on!  It's almost over!"  Yikes, it was fun but I was glad it was over.  Daredevil daughter comment before the ride ended: "Can I go again?"  Uh, no.

Log flume is always a favorite for Josh and Helaina.  I think they rode it 3 times in a row.

 She loves the wave pool.  Like I always say, no fear and ready for anything adventurous - our little daredevil.

 She still goes on the kiddy water slides but now tackles the adult ones too.  I always had her ride down a double tube with Josh but this year she wanted to use a single tube - which she barely fits in.  Josh rides down before her and she follows.  They must have done this slide at least 5 times in a row.

 One of Helaina's favorite water slides in the soak zone.  It's for kids only but you slide down it pretty fast without any control, as you can see by the position of her feet.  We lost count how many times she went on this one.

 If Helaina had a bucket list (or if she knew what a bucket list was), she would have crossed off one of her items.  Along with about 30 of her children's theater buddies, she sang the National Anthem at a Chiefs game this summer.  She was SO excited.  Anyone that knows our daughter well knows that she's obsessed with the National Anthem and sings it all the time - perfectly. 

 Ah, Wonderworks - another favorite of Helaina's.  This is the wind tunnel.  You stand in a small shack and a GIANT fan blows unbelievably strong wind, so strong that you need safety goggles and have to hang on to a pole.  Once was enough for me - I came out with my hair in knots looking like I had combed it with an egg beater.  Helaina dragged Jim in it about 4 times.  She's nuts.

This is the 4-D theater, where you buckle yourself into a seat that moves, turns, vibrates and bumps while you watch a 3-D movie on a huge screen.  They have 3 different movies and Helaina experienced them all - a roller coaster mine ride (my favorite), a flying machine ride and a haunted house ride.  Jim and I watched 2 of the movies with her and she did the last one by herself.  This is the screen and monitor that the ride operator watches from outside the theater to see if anyone is getting motion sick and signals to stop the seat movement.  Helaina's in the front row (of course) on the left, while Jim and I watched from outside.  This girl is up for anything.  I always say that she'd bungee jump if we let her.  More summer fun to come...

The Jersey shore

Summer's gone (the state fair is gone for another year and the pool is closed).  Fall is here (leaves are turning and it's apple picking time).  Helaina's been a 2nd grader for more than a month now.  Even with my "free" days with Helaina at school, I've been keeping busy and am still behind on lots of things.  We headed out to Wildwood for a wild time in August.  Fun in the sand and sun, as always.

First time we ever buried her in the sand completely.  She loved it - especially when it came time for her to break out.

We brought mermaids and Barbie dolls this year to the beach.  They loved the surf too.

 The ocean water was really warm.

 Yah, she's cool in her Monster High sunglasses.

 She would have stayed in the water all day if we let her.

 Tube rides at the water park.  She's a brave gal and went down colossal water slides all by herself.  Braver than Jim and I (well, I used to go down them but not any more).

Nothing like a tire swing under a waterfall.

 Ahh, yes, the curvy snake tunnel slide.  She must have gone down this thing at least 20 times throughout our week-long vacation.  Absolutely loved the thing.

 The Flitzer - a fast steel coaster with lots of speed and curves for a relatively small coaster.  Two years ago Jim and I went on it with her, but this year she was tall enough to go it alone - and she did, many many times.  Absolutely loved it, laughing the through the entire ride.

Another favorite of Helaina's was this superman style ride.  It went up and around in circles, but also tilted while circling. It would have made me sick but she rode it daily - multiple times.

 Yup, asleep on the swings.  It was late.  We bought her a wrist bracelet that day so she could ride from noon to midnight all she wanted.  We hit the beach in the morning, did the rides after lunch, then back to the hotel and out to dinner, then back to the boardwalk for more rides.  She kept saying "just one more ride, one more".  This was finally the last ride of the night.

Our beach bunny sound asleep at last, with her 2 stuffed animals from home, her favorite little pillow and the Hello Kitty that Jim won her on the boardwalk at one of those water race games.  She was so excited when the bell rang at the game and she saw that her Daddy had won.  See you again in a few years, Wildwood.

In the blink of an eye...

Helaina's now officially a second grader.  Yikes.  She was SO excited to start school, talking about it for weeks now.  Her new dress was ready, the Monster High backpack was stuffed to the brim with supplies - she was way beyond ready to roll.

Victory! 

On her way to 2nd grade adventures.  Such a big girl now.

I did my usual first day of school routine.  After she got on the bus at home I drove to the school to watch her get off the bus.  "Mommy!" she screamed when she saw me.  Ran up to me, gave me a hug, told her I loved her and to have a good day, then she was off (holding hands) with a friend as they raced through the doors.  (sniff)

Yah, look at that smile.  She was super excited to be home and tell us about her day.  She loves her teacher already.  Second graders have their own desks in the classroom (instead of sharing round tables) and she likes that.  Mrs. M gave them popsicles today as a treat - score.  The cafeteria's first day meal was one of her favorites - hamburger - score.  They went outside for recess - score.  It was a good day.  She was tired so we got her in bed at her new school bed time, 8pm.  She called us up to her room twice though because she couldn't fall asleep (even though she was falling asleep on the couch tonight watching TV).  "I can't fall asleep.  I'm too excited.  I'm still excited about my first day of 2nd grade.  I keep thinking about all the things I did today and I'm excited about going to school tomorrow for my 2nd day.  Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?"  She finally zonked out, little sweetie pie.  In the blink of an eye, she's 7 years old and growing up way too quickly.  I often say to Helaina "I wish you could go back to being 2 years old again, just for a day, so I could take care of my adorable baby girl."  "Mom, you know I can't do that" is her usual answer.  Sad but true.