Eight is Great

Helaina is now 8 years old.  My oh my, where have the last 6 years gone?  We ended up celebrating during the entire birthday week, starting the weekend before her big day with a family birthday party combined with her Baptism, and ending the weekend after her birthday with a Fun Junction party that included 13 of her friends.  Parties, food, cake and gifts galore.  Done and done.  Glad February is over.  It's always a hectic month with Chinese New Year, Valentines Day, Father Daughter Dance, mid-winter school break and her birthday.  Glad March is finally here.

Last weekend after Mass Helaina was finally Baptized.  She's been attending religious education classes since September and she loves it.  Our church is very family friendly and geared towards the youth of the parish.  We've all participated in classes and lots of activities over the 7 months.  And here's a shocker - this past Sunday morning we were having breakfast and out of the blue Helaina says "Can we go to 8:30 Mass?"  Sure thing.  She loves to sing the songs and follow along in her children's mass booklet.  She's learning all her prayers too.  We're so impressed with big girl - she's growing up!

The moment Helaina had been waiting for. She was so excited that morning that she could hardly contain herself.  Of course, wearing her new pretty white dress, shoes with heels and having her hair done in a bun helped.

Blowing out her Baptismal candle.  "Do I get to keep the candle and the sash?"  Yes, she was thrilled.  She's wearing one of the crosses that I had when I was a little girl.  I had lots of cross necklaces and gave them all to Helaina.

Combination Baptism and birthday party after the big event.  Helaina's Frozen obsession continues (as does every girl in America's Frozen obsession), so Elsa and Anna had to be on the cake this year.  We have to video Helaina singing "Let it Go" sometime.  It's really something to see - and hear!

Finally the 27th arrived and we started out the day with a few presents before breakfast and then "anything you want" for your birthday breakfast.  Bacon, egg and cheese bagel was the choice.

Jim and I surprised Helaina by showing up at school during her lunch and sitting with her and her friends.  We brought her a birthday donut for dessert.  Later that afternoon she had ice cream with her classmates to celebrate.

Oh yah, it was definately a splurge day.  She picked Tulley's for dinner.  After we ate the servers brought her the birthday ice cream sundae and sang their version of happy birthday.

Then it was pool in the bar ...

 ... and home for gifts and (gulp), more sweets - cake.

"Fake" American Girl doll Phoebe (from Target) to be friends with her American Girl Doll Ivy that Santa brought her.  As gifts Helaina got some clothes for the "sisters" and a double carrying case that included bunk beds.

Helaina has wanted a DS for some time now but I didn't think it was necessary or needed, plus I had already purchased enough stuff for her birthday.  Overruled by pushover Daddy who bought her a purple Nintendo 3DS and Olaf's Quest game from (where else) the Disney Frozen movie.

 After gifts we had the ice cream cone shaped cake I made.  It came out really cute.

And finally this past Saturday was the final party with her friends at Fun Junction, where 14 8-year olds ran wild for 2 hours, hopped up on pizza, sugar and adreneline.

 Giant Carvel chocolate ice cream cake and...

 ... ice cream cone cupcakes that I made - also came out really cute - the kids loved them.

As if our home doesn't look like Toys R Us now, we added 13 more gifts into the mix.

Two games of lazer tag that all the kids love, boys and girls.  They run around in a dark castle-like maze with different colored vests that light up while trying to "shoot" the opposing teams with their lazer guns.  Insanity.

And then there was the arcade.  Each child at the party got a card to play video games.  This roller coaster simulator was popular.  Wind blew out of the turbo fans onto the kids while the seats shook and turned according to what was happening on the screen.  Crazy fun - they were all yelling and screaming on this thing the entire time.  Let me tell you, when we walked out of that place I was doing a happy dance on the inside.

WHAT WERE WE DOING 6 YEARS AGO TODAY?

Embarking on our biggest adventure since we had been married.  On the morning of March 7, 2008 we left our home to fly half way around the world to meet Men Ying.  Little did she know that in just 2 days we would rock her little world - but not as much as she rocked ours!

I remember landing in Chicago and being nervous, excited, scared, nauseaus - every feeling and emotion you can possibly experience is going on inside you. 

Chicago to Beijing.  I'll never forget it.  Little did I know that the next 13 days would be filled with  moments that I would never forget.

I remember saying a prayer when the landing gear hit the ground in China.  Huge sigh of relief for me.  I was definately not a good flyer prior to the trip, but after the 7 total flights it took to adopt Helaina and bring her home, I felt like a pro.  This truck was the first thing I saw out our window as we headed toward the terminal.  After the relief or arriving safely subsided, then the real panic set in - oh my gosh - we're really in CHINA.

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...