Well, I have just been horrible about staying on top of this blog. I have it on my to-do list pretty much every day, but it finds its way further and further down my ever-expanding queue. Ironically, most of those things have to do with Helena. But without further ado, I will get to all the hellcat news you have been waiting so patiently for.Last month (it already feels like so long ago), my little sister, Lauren, and her baby girl, Charlie, came out to Arizona for a visit. It was some of my favorite days since I've moved here nine years ago. Wait... did I just say NINE years?! Wow, that is crazy. I honestly hadn't realized it until I just now counted the years – on my fingers, of course. During their time out here, Helena and Charlie were inseparable. They had slumber parties every night, wore matching outfits, made a stuffed animal pet store (I'll never forget when Charlie pointed out a horse and said it had a "heart on", but it sounded like "hard on"), they watched a documentary on turtles (and both started crying when they realized that most baby turtles die by predators on their journey from the sand to the ocean), they even got in the freezing cold pool. It's true, Charlie got a little too ballsy and nearly sunk to the bottom twice. Luckily, Lauren was waiting to save her, and shortly thereafter we picked up some water wings for her. We got to celebrate Charlie's 3rd birthday while they were here and we had a belated family birthday dinner at one of my favorite restaurants downtown, The Parlor. To draw the trip to an end, we had a final bash in their honor and screened the movie "Heathers" on the projector outside by the pool. We customized the food to suit the references in the movie, and took a crack at potato croquettes which came out AMAZING!
Birthday Pancakes for Baby Charlie
I should mention they were actually drinking grape juice
Apprentice snake handlers
Two kids in a candy store
Looking through the hole in the rock
Charlie, ya got a little something on your face...
As they left, and Spring Break was over, reality ensued and Helena, Jordon, and I were alone again and back to our normal routine. While having one of our regular dinners, Helena would share with us the usual type of conversation that she generally does.
"Gavin and Ryder were saying mean things about girls."
"What were they saying?"
"That girls have cooties. (I'm going to interject to say that I didn't realize that this was a thing kids actually said) And Gloria and I were running after them and trying to catch them, but they kept running away. And we kept chasing them and even grabbed their shirts to make them stop running, but they kept running. We tried to tell them to stop so we could talk to them, but they WOULDN'T STOP!"
"Well, what was so important that you were trying to tell them?"
"We were trying to tell them that it isn't nice to run away from people when they want to tell you something."
Yep, wrap your heads around that one, folks. That's all she had to say. Stop! I'm trying to tell you that it's not nice to not stop when someone has something to tell you, but I don't have anything to tell you besides just that, so now you may continue running. So priceless.
Our routine isn't all the same though. Hellcat and I have started waking up a bit earlier than usual, so we can sneak in some time to swing by Jamba Juice before heading to school. This has made her excited beyond belief. After the first day we did it successfully and I agreed to do it the next day, I woke up at 6:00AM – when my alarm doesn't go off until 6:45 – to a fully dressed and alert Helena asking me for her smoothie. It was the most seamless morning of getting ready and getting her out the door that we have ever had. I only wish every morning could be like that. But, I suppose, breaking routines is part of the excitement of our days. Who knows what tomorrow will be like? I don't, but I can't wait to find out. You probably won't because I stink at updating this blog. ;)
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