Merry Christmas

The reason for this season can not be expressed any better than from the mouths of children.    Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.  Mark 10:15

Happy Birthday to Jesus!  We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Love, The Helm's

Christmas Eve

The day, the night we have all been preparing for is here! The kids are super excited. The last couple of days more and more presents have been showing up under the tree. Anticipation is wearing on them. "Can we open a present?" I love this time of year. But I wish I could be done and prepared before the last two days come.

We have had a wonderful December. We started the month with Daddy gone at deer camp and getting to visit all the guys. We got to see Santa at our church's cookie walk. Evan was so excited to see him. But I was afraid that once he was in front of him he would get scared. But he did great and it only got him more excited! Then we had a wonderful but busy second weekend. The Helm Electric Christmas party on Friday night, where we spent an enjoyable evening with the best employees ever. And we saw another spectacular play put on at the Salina Community Theatre. I was so excited to see "White Christmas" and they did not disappoint. Saturday morning was spent with our church friends at the VeggieTales Christmas Event that I planned. It went great and everyone was pleased with the turnout. And then Sunday we spent the day celebrating a wonderful young man, Kaleb Speilman, and raising money to help with his fight with cancer.

And then last weekend we spent in KC with Chris' parents and aunts. It was a special gift to spend time with everyone. Even though we spent half of the weekend with the kids throwing up, it was still a great time. Tuesday we got to see Santa again at Dan's office. The kids had a wonderful time after a bit of apprehension. And they enjoyed getting to open an early gift from Santa. Evan's face is just priceless after opening his gift and seeing the tractor that he asked Santa for. Although it lead to questions from Madi why she didn't get what she asked for :) This last week we have all still spent fighting the flu. But Christmas prep still needs to get done and some how I still managed to get it finished. Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day and I can't wait to spend it with our loved ones.

Merry Christmas and I hope everyone has a blessed day with their loved ones as well.

Love, Amy

Cookies

I love to bake.  Cookies, bread, you name it, I like it.  So I was really excited to participate this year in our church Cookie Walk put on by the United Methodist Women's Groups.  I signed up to make 4 dozen cookies.  And as luck has it (and of course it is Christmas and everyone is making cookies this time of year) a couple blogs that I follow were featuring cookie recipes.  When I saw this picture at Shindig Parties to Go, I thought, that is super easy, I can definitely do these.  Plus they are super cute, who could pass them up, they will go like wildfire!! 

Here is my version!!  They were a little bit of work because I used what I had on hand.  So my holly and berries sprinkles were small and took some time.  But they turned out so cute!  They were a hit already this morning when I dropped them off, so we will see how they do tonight!!

I also made these Malted Chocolate Thins from Land O Lakes.  They turned out really yummy as well!

Hopefully I have now inspired someone as well to go out and experiment and make some yummy cookies!!  Who doesn't love a cookie...or two...or three?!  Maybe I will just make cookies for presents this year!

Love, Amy

Happy Thanksgiving

So much to be thankful for:

All of our wonderful family and everything they do for us.
My husband who works so hard to provide for us and allow me to stay home.
Madi, the best big sister I have ever seen!
Evan, always a smile and a hug!
Good health
Our church family and the wonderful new friends
Our loyal and hardworking employees
Our troops who are fighting for our freedom and their families for sharing them.
And above all, God.  Without God, we wouldn't have any of this.

Thank you Lord for all the wonderful things that you provide us.  Amen
Love, Amy

Happy Halloween!

We hope everyone had a fun, safe, spooky Halloween!!

We had a great day!  It started off at Madi's school.  We waited in the new gym for the kids to come in in their costumes.  They all looked so cute!  Madi was a little apprehensive before school.  And because of this she didn't want to wear everything I had done for her costume.  So no tattoo or hair up with ribbons and no ribbons on her shoes.  Just plain for school.  She has a fear right now of crowds and not knowing exactly what is going to happen.  We have to go over things several times and tell her what it is about, who is going to be there, and exactly what is going to happen.  But once she is there and participating she has a wonderful time and no worries anymore.  It's a little frustrating at times, but we are slowly working through it (I hope)!

They then had their party in the classroom and finished the day out.

Madi's School Parade



Watching the Parade

Evan was so upset when Madi came through and he wasn't able to go with her.  He loves her so much and it is so cute!  They are both really close and are really good with each other (most of the time!)

 After naps, we got all dressed up again and headed out!  We have about 6 stops we make every year and then walk a couple blocks around my parents neighborhood.  We started early this year and thought we would get some extra trick or treating in, or at least make it around the block before all the candy was gone.  But Evan was pretty slow and he had to take his hat off after each house and he couldn't carry his bucket.  And after 3 houses he wanted to be carried.  So him and I headed back to my parents house and Chris and Madi continued on.  They weren't gone long though.  Madi just wasn't into it this year.

But we had a fun time and the kids got some candy that now Mom and Dad can't keep out of.  So it was probably a good thing it was a short night!!

Ell-Saline Cardinals Cheerleader

Train Conductor



Trick or Treat!!

Evan had the trick or treat down really good, I was surprised!!  But of course he had a great teacher!  I love my little munchkins!

Love, Amy

September/October

We have had so much going on.  The end of September was busy with Flywheels preparation, church activities and school for Madi.  Plus we have finally had some gorgeous weather and have enjoyed a lot of outside activities.

End of September Madi was able to participate in the Little Cheerleaders with the High School Cheerleaders.  She got to ride over to the high school on the bus and hang out and learn cheers with the older girls.  Then during the football game, her group cheered for the first quarter.  She had so much fun.  So much so, that she is going to be a Cardinals cheerleader for Halloween this year.  (Got to get busy on making that costume!)  She also had conferences last month.  She is a smart kid and gets along great with the other kids.  She is really enjoying herself, she loves it, once she gets there!  We have been having a lot of problems getting her there though.  She gets very sad and weepy in the mornings.  She had so much anxiety built up that she would get sick in the mornings before we left the house.  We tried everything and finally had to get a hold of the principal for some help.  She has a fantastic principal and Madi has been meeting with her every morning, gives her a high five and a smile and sends her to class.  It has really helped her and she has been doing much, much better.  We usually only have one meltdown a week now and no more crying all morning.  I never would have dreamed we would have these problems with Madi.  She loved preschool and never had any problems.  She started the school year off great and three weeks into it, this all started.  And even then, she would come out of school at the end of the day and said she had a great day, all smiles.  But she would dwell on what we were doing without her at home and what she was missing out on.  Even though we weren't doing anything and making it sound as dull and boring as I could.  I guess it was our preparation for Evan, because I can already tell he is going to be a major cling when I start leaving him at school.

We finished up all our tractors shows for the year.  The Flywheels show was windy and wet.  But we still had a fairly good turnout.  We bought a new tractor.  It is a Farmall B and the driver sits to one side of the tractor and the wheel hub has a large space where Chris made a seat and a seat belt for the kids to ride on.  So much fun and both kids love it.  For now they can ride together but not for too long with them getting so big!  I also did my first tractor pull with the B this year.  It was fun, a little nerve racking because I didn't know what I was doing, first one to pull and with a new tractor that I didn't want to tear up.  But I did great and got first place!!  (I was the only one in my class!)  Chris and Dan also pulled two tractors a piece and both placed.  Madi won her pedal pull and Evan got to do his second pedal pull of the year.  We all had fun!

We have been enjoying the cooler weather and have had some great outdoors fun just playing around here at the house.  Madi had a field trip to the pumpkin patch and then we went again this weekend.  We had a great time with Aunt Tabatha and Jaxson Friday at their house and then all of us went for a nature walk with Uncle Jason.  It was great spending time with them.  Madi also recently learned to ride her bike without training wheels.  She was so excited and happy.  It took her no time at all to catch on and she is doing great!  Evan got his hair cut last week and he looks like a totally different little boy, so cute!!

Enjoy the slide show of all of our doings!!  And I'll have more pics after Halloween.  Stay safe and enjoy!
Love, Amy

2 Years Old--Monkey Birthday Party

Sunday was Evan's 2nd Birthday!  We had a wonderful day with our family and friends.  And I had a great time planning this Monkey Birthday Party!

Front of the Invitation
All done on my Cricut

The back of the invitation.

I love wreaths and I was so excited to make this balloon wreath after finding it on the Internet.  So super simple and only took 30 minutes to do.  I think I will get some orange balloons and stick those in and change out the monkey ribbon and use it for fall.



Balloon wreath on the front door.



I also designed all the paper elements of the party.  My first design for the Happy Birthday banner was ovals using the brown, yellow and green colors.  But then I found this clip art leaf and ran with the idea for the tree with the Birthday banner in it.  I am so glad I went this way.  I think it turned out really neat and made a great backdrop for the sweets table!

Monkey cake.  Also really easy.  Round cake with one cupcake cut in half and tooth picked to the side for ears.

Chocolate cupcakes with the cupcake toppers I made.

Sugar cookies with frosting monkey faces.  Yum!!  The kids loved these.

Barrel of Monkeys!

I always like to have something to send home with the kids.  But I didn't want to do little gift bags with trinket toys that get broken or thrown away or a bunch of candy.  I wanted something that they could keep and wouldn't just be a waste of money.  I found these stuffable monkey dolls, like Build-a-Bear.  The kids had fun stuffing their monkey and then I also bought little shirts that fit the monkey doll.  So, with fabric markers, each kid got to decorate and draw on the shirt and each wrote their names on the back of the shirt.  Made it easier to know who's monkey belonged to each little monkey at the party!

We had a huge spread of food.  I highly recommend Wal-Mart's 6 foot party sub sandwiches.  You get lots of food for very little price.  I over ordered on the sandwiches and ended up sending food home with some of our guests.  We had 9 kids and 19 adults and we only ate 5 of the one foot sandwiches.  (I ordered 12, that's the reason for giving them away!)  And they come with all the toppings on the side!  Made it very easy.  I also made pasta salad, potato salad, chips, fruit dip and lots of different fruits along with the cake, cupcakes and cookies.  I hope nobody went home hungry!

And of course, no Helm party is complete without a tractor ride.  We got a bigger hay wagon and replaced all the wood on it and it was plenty big enough for all the kids and a couple of adults to go for a ride!  It was a very fun party.  And I hope everyone who helped us celebrate enjoyed themselves as well!

Sunday morning we woke up to Daddy's surprise!  A Farmall M pedal tractor.  Evan was so excited!

Blowing out the candles

Yum, cupcakes!

Riding his new big wheel bike!

Loving his tractor.  Kind of hard to get up the hill and very scary watching him go down the hill!

Taking a tractor ride with Mom and Dad!
9/12/11

It doesn't seem possible that Evan is 2 years old.  Seems like just yesterday we were making plans for his arrival.  He is so full of love.  He gives the best hugs and kisses and would follow his big sister anywhere.  It melts my heart everyday that he loves to stay with me!  He tells me everyday after dropping Madi off at school "I stay with you," in his best pouty voice, and holds on tight as we walk to the car.  I wish I could keep him this age forever.  Loving and innocent and eager to explore and learn.

I love you Evan!
Mommy

End of Another Summer

We finished up another busy summer.  I guess I consider Labor Day weekend to be the end of summer.  The kids have started back to school and temperatures have started falling.  (Thankfully!)  The end of August and start of September have been busy for us.  And since I left my camera at my cousin's house a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't able to add my pictures until today.  So here is a little photo montage of the end of our summer!

Raelynne and Sam's Wedding.  Super hot that day, but a nice ceremony.
8/13/11

Madi and Haley playing after the ceremony.  The kids were so cute in their wedding attire!
8/13/11

End of the summer/Going away party with all of our church/mommy group friends!
8/13/11

Trip to the zoo!  What a ham Evan is!!
8/17/11

Camp out weekend with friends at Kanopolis.
8/19/11--8/21/11

Nash's 1st Birthday Party
8/21/11

And lots and lots of swimming this summer!
8/28/11

Madi jumping in!  Notice no life jacket?  Big summer for Madi and learning to swim!

And Evan jumping in!  He loved the water this summer!

Labor Day Weekend in Clyde, KS at the Watermelon Festival and Tractor show!
Really great event and we had lots of fun.
9/3/11

The guys showing off their tractors in the parade.

Evan loves his tractors!

Madi won second place in the pedal pull!  Way to go Madi!

Loving my Evan!  Such a sweet boy and always great for our outings!

Bonfire night at home.  Evan kept calling it fireworks!
9/4/11

We woke up to a gorgeous, full rainbow outside our window. 
Kicking off a wonderful weekend for Evan's birthday!
9/10/11

That was the end of our summer!!  Check back tomorrow for some swinging birthday pics!!
Love, Amy