Big feet, little mouth, new toys

There's not much new in our world, but some fun new pictures that I got this past week.

New things Helen eats...

Dirt...
Lipstick...
Mashed Potatoes

Helen got this Train Tent over the weekend at Academy Sports. It folds up into this tiny little bag we can carry to work with us. She loves to play in it. I'd say, for ten dollars, it's a pretty great investment.

How cute. Those are Brian's shoes. This was taken today. If you look closely at her fingers, she's got white goo all over them. She got into my french manicure nail polish this morning while I was in the shower. Thank the Lord she made that mess on the linoleum and not the carpet. This picture was taken after she had been cleaned up with nail polish remover....her legs and fingers were COVERED in polish. HAPPY WEDNESDAY

ELECTRIFYING!

So after two or three slides down Helen's Little Tykes slide, their hair stood up on end! As soon as they stopped touching the slide, their hair would fall flat, but if one body part put touched taht red slide....BAM, straight back up! That's not the wind blowing! The static electricity going through their bodies was intense! I made the mistake of touching Helen at the bottom of the slide and she shocked the stew out of me! Youch!

(P.s. This is my second blog today, read the next one too)


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Roll Tide

Here's to all the future Alabama fans out there.

Helen's daddy bought this little dress for her while we were visiting Carrollton a few weeks ago. I loved it and was glad he decided to get it! I didn't even beg! Helen wore it to church a couple of weeks ago and while we were getting ready she wanted to wear Daddy's "At" (Translation: Hat). It was SO cute! Mimi....couldn't you just eat her up?!

Roomie Reunion at Zoo Atlanta

Last Saturday we went to the Atlanta zoo and met Tommy, Carol Leah, and Thomas, and Dan and Trudy for a quick Roomies reunion. I don't think we've all been together since CL's wedding. To say the least, it's been far too long. The time passed too quickly and while our trip was short it was so much fun! The zoo alone was great, but the company so much better! Enjoy the pictures!

Thomas: Are you kidding me? This girl will NOT shut up! Mom, get me out of here!

Deep in the Outback, waiting for his prey. Grr.

At the Little People tables, Mommy needs a break.

Waiting for the train to go. Helen didn't want to sit still. Little T, however, was just glad he was getting to ride.

Helen riding the carousel. She was on the panda bear. She held on to the pole like she knew exactly what to do. She didn't make a fuss over it, but the expression on her face made it seem like she was blissful.

Helen petting a goat. Half hesitation, half fascination.

Helen very ineterested in the kangaroos.

I don't remember ever being this close to a kangaroo. The look so strange up close. Nothing like Kanga and Roo on Winnie the Pooh.

Contimplating the things of her world.

So this fella, I don't remember the type of monkey it was, had it's habitat in the middle of the entry to the Outback area. There was a part of the path roped off so that no one could pass under one certain tree where these fellas were sitting (in case one wanted to jump down on ya). We met the Hatfields just a few feet from their main area, but far enough away to be separated from the siteseers. Well, Helen was getting a little hungry and I pulled out some grapes for her and put them on her tray. I heard a squeal and thought nothing of it considering the fact we were in a ZOO! Not a second after I heard the screech, a zoo employee says, "Oh, the monkeys see some food! They love grapes and are making known they see it!" At that point I was glad there was a roped off portion of the pathway. Otherwise we may have been bombarded with monkeys after Helen's snack!

Trudy and Kristy, the best meerkats in the zoo.

Carol Leah and little T, the cutest meerkats at the zoo!

Where did Carol Leah go?

Helen: "Uh sat?" (What's that?) She was looking at the giraffe.

A goodbye kiss..... Helen still only interested in the giraffe.

The Roomies...Don't we look slim next to that elephant?

A weekend with Grammy and Papa Tom

My mom and stepdad came to visit Thursday and Friday. Of course there was much picture-taking! I've uploaded some pics for your enjoyment.

"You talkin' to me....?"

"Hiya! Pow! Karate CHOP!"

She looks a little punch drunk. All that dancin' Elvis had her doing I guess. (j/k she's mid-blink)

Just wanted everyone to see how the camera caught Helen looking just like Brian!

Look out Tyra!

So you've seen the last post with the flip flops pic, this time she's got shoes on and wearing Daddy's flops! She looks like she's on skis!

We were playing "Where did Helen go?"

A beautiful pic of Papa Tom and Helen

Hi

Moma wouldn't let her stand up on the chair like she wanted to so she pushed her down (playfully) to make a game out of not standing in the chair. Well, Helen thought this was the FUNNIEST thing. Everytime she'd stand up, Grammy would push her down and she'd giggle and laugh! I'll bet she peed laughing so hard!

Just thought this one was cute

Helen teaching Mommy her ABCs.

This is Helen doing her tantrum thing and it was caught on camera. She just started this stamping-her-foot thing and on occasion this preceeds it. Brian saw this picture and immediately saw Mary Catherine Gallagher. (That Brian...so silly)

Helen and her crackers...Brodie eyeing them for the first sign of dropping to the floor!

And last and NOT least

My fave of the day! Grammy and Helen giving "Eskimos" to each other but making the SAME face. I don't know if one subconsciously copied the other's expression, but one thing is for sure....IT'S HILARIOUS!

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.