Helena wipes her China now.

Helena likes to play mommy a lot, and lately when she does, she is “Cecelia”. So Dalen has been singing the song by Simon And Garfunkel to her quite a bit. Sometimes her doll is Cecelia, though, and she is just “mommy”.

Today Helena walked downstairs with a doll and told Dalen that Cecelia is a good girl, and she doesn’t go around breaking hearts.

“How do you spell ‘up’ backward?”

(Holding her nose) “P-U”

“Where did you learn that one, Punky?”

“One of the grandmas”

Helena’s birthday was Saturday, but she had a party at her daycare on Friday. Dalen couldn’t get the camera to work. Naturally, right before her party the camera breaks. Apparently, it is a common problem because we can send it in for service free. Oh, we could have had the only authorized Nikon dealership in Minnesota…one and a half blocks from our home, but it just closed its doors after decades of service about a month ago. Of course!

So we took pictures with a FILM camera, how retro. But they won’t turn out well because I kept forgetting to turn the flash on. So on Saturday, I used Helena’s digital camera and got these, which are a little poor quality, but at least they are something.

First, Helena grew by about 2.5 inches this year:

Helena and dad made the cake. Helena likes to crack the eggs. One splattered all over her hair, and it needed a good wash in the sink. I’d like to say that Helena frosted the cake.

Helena isn’t too sure about the raincoat that she got from her pop-pop. She did wear it later, though, and liked it quite a bit.

Helena opening her card from mom and dad. Helena loves “Where the Wild Things Are” so we got her a card with a Wild Thing on the front.

Helena is opening her dragon. She also got a prince, princess, horse, and most importantly, a unicorn. Helena loves unicorns. She knows that they aren’t real, but that doesn’t keep her asking me if she can ride on one day about once a week.

Here is Helena opening the big present. Dalen didn’t know what it was either, I think that she was more excited than Helena was as you can see by the picture below.

I had been in a particular toy store in Minneapolis a few times and had thought about getting Helena this toy castle for her. While walking by the store on the way to another, Liam saw Elmo in the store from the sidewalk. On our way back past it, he ran to the door and wanted to go in, so I let him take me. There was a model of the castle on the floor, and Liam immediately began playing with it, so I figured that this was the time. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get Liam out of the toy store.

Approximately 0.9 inches long and a heart beating 183 times a minute. 

I have no idea what we are looking at. Looks like a bean to me. Dalen had the ultrasound taken early because she was bleeding a bit. Apparently the baby doesn’t mind too much because it is well. As long as it isn’t being splashed with what Dalen is drinking I think it will be okay!

You can click on the image to see it more closely.

At dinner last night, Helena was concerned about the new kid. She said that when Dalen drinks her iced tea, the baby in her belly must get splashed in the face.

Liam had a great time with Aunt Libby and Aunt Dori.

Helena loved Elmo’s hit “Number 5 Rap”. All week long we were all singing it.

The house was a bit dry. Here is Helena on the couch.

and here she is on the phone, which was a common sight during the week.

Dad trying to figure out how to put the toys together.

The Towne family messing around.

Libby with Helena.

Dori fell asleep because all the reading of the big words in Helena’s coloring book.

Down in Brooklyn Pop-pop says “Negotiations didn’t go so well down here, Liam”

Helena trying out all of Pop-pop’s ringstyles. “Hello, Mojo”

Helena with Christina’s fish tanks. Helena would have overfed all the fish if she had her way.

Helena and Chubby getting ready. Helena woke up first, and ran down to wake Libby up. This is her getting ready for the fun of opening the presents. It turns out that she didn’t open them all up in one sitting, just like past years, though.

Opening some musical instruments. Helena like the kazoo, but not as much as Dalen.

I’m not sure how many times we played Go Fish over the week, but it was quite a few times. It is very difficult playing with Helena since she can’t hold the cards in her hand because she lays them out for all to see. Somehow, she still wins every time!

This was Helena’s favorite present, especially with the accessories that she got throughout the day. She has had the dress on everyday. She even wanted to take a nap in it today until I convinced her otherwise.

Another game of Helena’s.

Liam woke up to find that Santa had put together a train set for him. This train set was his favorite present, and the cause of many arguments with his sister over the course of the week. It also kept mom and dad busy putting the trains back together.

Liam loves Play-Doh.

Liam with new cars. His trains are nearby.

More cars. Train still nearby.

This game was actually for Helena, but Liam loved it. It is a donkey that kicks when too many items are put on its saddle. Helena was scared of it. Liam thought this it was really funny.