Where to begin....

OK, here we go.

Starting with the last "real" posting. I got sick, Helen and Brian got sick, and we all got over our crud and are doing better. Thanks for the prayers.

Most of the pics I've pulled out are from the last two - three weeks. I'm certain that some things occured for which I have no pictures, but I hope the following will bring much joy.

Here are some things Helen loves to eat:

Here she's eating one of who-knows-how-many strawberries. A nice mother of one of the girls I was tutoring brought me a big gallon bucket of freshly picked strawberries from a local strawberry patch as a gesture of thanks. I was super excited to get them as strawberries are one of my favorite things to eat. They were nice and ripe and perfect to just take a BIG OLE juicy bite, and that is exactly what we both did. I pulled the stems out for Helen and she ate them practically whole! And the juice, as you can see, was all over her. I put her in her high chair to finish her berries because the juice was so intense. I think she ate 8-10 by herself. After the "snack," Helen, her clothes, and her high chair had to have a bath. I think she got the better end of the deal!

She got a little bored on one of our trips and decided that the best place for her toe was in her mouth, as opposed to in her sock and shoe. The girl, typical toddler, can't keep her shoes on for five minutes if she does not have her feet on the ground. If she's sitting, she's trying to get them off and especially so while in her car seat. Toys will not suffice.

Now she eats the bubbles. I think this could have been a part of previous blog, but I'm not sure. Even so, this is too funny to let it go. She loves bubbles and loves the bath, but now she loves bubbles in her mouth while she taking a bath. She has realized the hard way not to inhale....nuff said.

My mother, "Grammy" to Helen, taught her how to listen to the "Snap, Crackle, and Pop" of the Rice Krispies. She's also learning to eat with a spoon. Well, she decided to stop eating, spoon still in-hand, to listen to the cereal "talk." She hasn't quite figured out that she hears through her ears. She thinks she can hear through her eyes. So she puts the cereal as close to her face as possible to "hear." How sweet is that!

So, I've been doing a lot of research on homeschooling and finding a pre-K program that is right for Helen. I found a free curriculum website, Brightly Beaming, that starts fundamental concepts as early as the first month of life. Of course, I am not starting that early, but I am interested in teaching her by 18 months. I've looked thru the extensive lessons and they are fantastic. They actually start teaching 13 month old children foreign languages. While that sounds far fetched, it's really only a few words here and there. There are 48 lessons per year, each one week long. If any of you out there want to look into homeschooling, give BB a look-see. It's free and really easy to use. I've not researched past the 2-3 year old courses, but if you want to see if your up to the task (and if your kids will respond to you) try them out for a few lessons. It can't hurt! (I promise I was not paid to make this advertisement.)

Anyway, I say all of that to say that its going pretty well. We are learning to hold our crayons and scribble on the page. We are learning about leaves and trees and bark and dirt. We explored the unknown when we turned on the hose pipe and water came out. You would have though gold was coming out! Helen just LOVED it. She's learning new words everyday, her newest words are Tractor, Doctor, Cook, and Turtle. She says "daddy," "Ty," "PawPaw," "Papa," and "Uh sat?" (translation "What's that?") with more frequency than any other words. I've been working on her to start saying words together to help her into sentences. The closest formation to a sentence was "Daddy Work." (which means, Daddy is at work.) I'm so proud she's learning. Not only I, but Brian and Leslie and Ty are helping with the learning. Whether they know it or not, they are helping her learn so much.

Now, onto another subject. The slide:

My boss, Bill, had this slide at his house/my office for his little girl when she little. I say "had" because he brought it to my house for Helen. His little girl is too big for it and Helen saw it and loved it. I was THRILLED to have it because I've been looking for a Little Tykes playset for her. This one is still in great condition and while it's been loved, it has a lot more life still in it for Helen. She's in love with her "sigh." It site on our back deck and everytime she sees it through the window she wants to go "uh sigh .... SIGH" (outside to slide). The second picture is of her letting her sticks slide down. She loves to put other things down it and watch them go. She's put all kinds of things down it by now. Her favorite, though, are the sticks. She lets them go, then she goes, then she gets the sticks again and they go together. What fun it is to watch that innocence and joy!

Playtime, inside:

One Saturday morning, Daddy and Helen (mostly daddy) were playing "kick the ball into Brodie (the dog)" and while it was a little funny to see Brodie dodging the little plastic ball, I thought it would be more fun to get Helen involved a little more than just a bystander. Brian and I decided to kick the ball to her. Well, she didn't really understand the point of kicking (to get it back to the other person), so after a while we decided to kick the ball WITH Helen. We used her as our hockey stick and slung her all over the place and she couldn't have had more fun in her life! From the picture above it looks like she is in pain, but I swear on my life that she's laughing. She knew NOT to pick up her feet and just squeeled with delight evertime she "kicked" the ball. I played with her for a while and then Brian played with her. Both of us got tired pretty quick after that. A 21 pound hockey stick gets heavy after while. I wish I could have had this on video! Brodie, by the way, hid until the ball was put away. No animals were harmed in the making of this photograph, before or after. :)

Nap time...NO WAY!

I went to get Helen up because se was obviously NOT going to nap at this particular time of the this day. She wanted to play, and PLAY she did. I walked into her room and THIS is what I saw. She was wearing that shirt the correct way when I laid her down, and apparently wanted to make a new fashion statement about how pajamas should be worn in Helen's World. Of course, one this small wouldn't understand the rules of modesty. She'll soon learn how a young girl should dress, but for now, this is too funny not to share! She could have gone the rest of the day like this, but Mommy pooped on her parade and fixed it.

I'm a big kid now:

She loves my flip flops and never misses an opportunity to put them on if she sees them laying in the floor. She's always liked to put on the any big shoes she sees in the floor, but for some reason, THESE shoes are her faves. Nancy...can you blame her? Flip flops rock, right?

A weekend away:

Brian and I went with the youth to Palmetto Bible Camp this past weekend for their Spring Youth Rally. It's basically a weekend version of camp. It's a fun filled Friday night and Saturday where all one has to worry about is who's the cutest and where's my Bible. I love camp and everything about it. I've never been to PBC but after the Youth Rally, all of our kids and I, want to go back. The lessons were great, the grounds were beautiful, the kids were always with something to do, and the best part, there's a waterfall! The camp is amidst the Apalachian foothills and sits along side a small lake/pond. I'll have more from PBC on my next posting, so be ready.

While we were away, Helen stayed with Ty, Leslie, and Nathan. Here are a few pics taken by master photographer Leslie. She gets the best shots EVER!

This is my FAVE and I've saved it for last. Apparently, the kids were playing and Leslie smelled "something." I think she said something along the lines of, "Uh oh, I smell a stinky." And Nathan says, "It's Heh-Nee" (Helen) and proceeds to pull open the back of her diaper to check. The look on Helen's face is priceless. This one is going in the All-the-boys-you-date-must-see these-pictures Book.

The past few weeks haven't been all that eventful, but have been interesting. I found out yesterday that Helen has another ear infection, but this time in BOTH ears. Please keep that little one in your prayers. We have an eventful May so I hope to have many more stories to share.