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

1st Day of Kindergarten

Madi started Kindergarten!! Doesn't seem possible that she is old enough to be in kindergarten this year! But she is. She was so super excited for school to start. 5 weeks before she started her own countdown. "How many more days until school starts?!" And then when we enrolled, she got an advent calendar that counted down the last 14 days and had getting ready for school activities each day. So that made her even more excited.

Everybody told me to be prepared, it's going to be hard leaving her. I got a little choked up on the way there, thinking about her being gone all morning. But I held it together so she wouldn't get upset. Luckily I had Evan to take my mind off of it. He did enough crying for both of us. He was pretty upset about leaving Madi behind.

But she did great! Went right into her classroom and was all smiles when I picked her up. She had a wonderful first day! I am so proud of her and the big girl that she is growing up to be!

I love you Madi!
Mommy

1st Day of School Picture at Home

Out in front of the school

Finding her name tag

Another Update

I can't keep up!!  So much stuff going on.  Plus, I get depressed when I sit down and try to put a post together only to find that I don't have any photos.  It is so hard to take photos of the kids anymore.  They are both running in different directions at a hundred miles an hour...I just don't have enough hands.  I saw a facebook comment that said "if evolution were true, moms would have more hands."  Agree!!

It has been super hot this summer.  Most of our activities have been centered around water or it is just too unbearable to be outside.  We have made several trips to the water park with friends and family.  Madi also completed her first swimming lessons at the end of last month!  She had fun but not sure how much she actually learned.  The class sizes were a little big and when I asked her what she did, she only told me about the games they played.  But she loves the water and we have been working with her in our own pool.  Which we have used a lot this summer also.  Both kids are fishes, very tan fishes!!

Cousins hanging out.  Jaxson, Madi and Evan.

First of August is fair time!  We were in the parade again this year.  Chris with his tractor pulling a wagon load of kids and three mommy's walking, handing out candy.  Last year we ran out of candy early so we bought extra.  But half way I was wishing we had run out.  It was so hot.  This may be our last year to hand out.  Very expensive and people really don't pay attention to what you are promoting, they just want candy.  I think I will just drive my own tractor in the parade from now on :)  But the kids loved it.  We had 9 kids riding this year!

My little cowboy!

And the cutest cowgirls I have ever seen!

The wagon load!

We opted to not go to the actual fair this year.  Madi had fun the past couple years riding rides and having fun with her cousins.  But Evan is so aware of everything that Madi does and has to do what she is doing at all times.  I knew that there would not be any rides that he would be big enough to ride on and it would be torture on him to not be able to go.  But really, she didn't even miss it.  She asked about it the first night and then didn't say a word about it again.  We did enter items again this year for judging.  And did a great job!  Our Sand Plum Jelly received 2nd place!  I can now say that it is prize winning jelly when we give it away!  Unfortunately, our bushes didn't produce plums this year.  Madi entered a ceramic dinosaur that she painted at On the Pot.  She got first place!  She also painted a wood heart and placed second!  She was so excited seeing those ribbons.  Daddy made her a shelf in her room to put all her breakables and trophies.  So they are proudly on display now!  I also entered a quilted tree skirt and Christmas table runner that my mom made.  And she placed first on both!  I was so shocked and happy when I went to pick up our items and saw two blue ribbons!  I think I have her hooked now and she is working on items that she may want to enter next year! 

We also made a trip to Goessel earlier this month for their tractor show.  The first one we have been too so far this summer.  We had a great family day.  Evan is so into tractors right now, he was on cloud 9 seeing all those tractors.  We saw the tale end of the parade and he was just in awe.  They have great kids activities.  Madi enjoyed making all the crafts and Evan had fun playing in the seed tables.  Madi also placed first in the pedal pull for the 5 year old group.  She was super excited about her trophy and it is also proudly displayed on her shelf!

Feeding the baby goat!

We acquired a couple more tractors and began restoring one, celebrated Raelynne's wedding (Chris' cousin), we had a pool party with friends from church, made a trip to the zoo, spent the weekend at the lake with friends, celebrated Nash's 1st birthday (my cousin's little boy), went shopping for school supplies and clothes for Madi's new adventure to Kindergarten, and started planning Evan's 2nd Birthday party.  Lots of fun and getting to spend time together.  It's been a great summer.  Lots of changes with the both of the kids too.  I'll update later. 

Have a great week!
Love, Amy

Harvest and Fireworks

At the end of June we enjoyed all the wheat harvest around us.  The kids love seeing the tractors and combines out in the field and were constantly on the lookout when driving between the house and town.

On Saturday, June 25, we went out to the Flywheels to watch the cutting and binding of the wheat.  Chris and Dan helped load bundles on to the hay racks and Evan and I watched.  Madi was at a friends house spending the day.  She lost out on all the fun.  Evan was so cute because he wanted out there to help.  Him and I caught a ride on the hay rack for awhile while the guys were throwing bundles on.  But he got to help Daddy with the last bundle!!  Unfortunately, it won't be too long and he will be out there working too.  I can't think about that though, makes me sad thinking about how fast these two are growing up. :(

The rest of June was spent getting everything ready for the big 4th of July Party!  The Sunday before the party Chris and I took a trip down to Pittsburg, KS to pick up all the fireworks.  Of course Chris went overboard again this year.  But he did find a really good deal on fireworks.  I just can't divulge (here) what we did with all the extras without getting into trouble!! 

Sunday, July 3rd was the big day!!  I did make it a bit easier on myself this year going with the potluck instead of making all the food myself.  Good thing we went with the potluck though, we had 135 adults and kids come out!!  It was a grand time, but very tiring.  And unfortunately I was so busy running around for everyone else and keeping track of my two, I don't have any pictures of the festivities.  And I also forgot to take pics of the decorations and all the food and everything else.  I hate that I don't have any.  One of these days.  Maybe I should hire a photographer to come out and do pictures for me :)

We had lots of food, really good food!  Everyone sat around and ate and visited.  The kids ran around and played.  Dan drove the tractor and gave rides.  I think he did 6 trips with full loads each time.  The kids had a ball!  We also had ladder ball and horseshoes along with all the other toys.  I even saw a game of basketball going at one point.

We started fireworks at 9:30 and ended at 11:00.  And Chris still has fireworks in the trailer that they didn't get too.  They were getting tired and half deaf, so they called it before getting them all done.  Crazy!  We had one mishap this year.  One of the multiple shots fell over and shot into the crowd.  Thankfully no one was hurt.  And to my surprise, no one left.  So scary to see and I was ready to be done.  I just knew that everyone was going to leave after that.  But we have some ideas on how to improve it for next year already!!  We hope everyone enjoyed themselves and will come back out next year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!  Thank you to all the soldiers past and present who have fought for our country and for our freedom.  GOD BLESS THE USA!

Love, Amy

Update from the Last Month

So much has been going on this last month since my last post.  I have to play catch up and try to remember it all.

The end of May we celebrated Madi's 5th Birthday.  I guess we started something new this year.  What ever age you are turning, that's the number of birthday parties you get.  Madi had 5 birthday parties this year, she is so spoiled.  First she celebrated her birthday at school, we then had a family birthday party on the 22nd because Uncle Jon was going to be in town, but since Uncle Jason and Aunt Tabatha and Jaxson couldn't make it that weekend, we had another birthday party at the lake the following weekend.  (That takes us up to number 3 if you lost count.)  We celebrated just the four of us on her actual birthday with a supper out and then we had a friends party on June 4th, which was her Princess Party.  Yikes, lots of running around and lots of cake!

Luckily the Princess Party was all planned, put together, executed and cleaned up by someone else.  Now that was a party!  The girls had so much fun getting their hair done, nails polished, lipstick applied, tiaras placed, fairy wings adorned, all topped off with a princess fashion show from five of the cutest little girls I have ever seen.  Thank you to Carolee Jones and friends from CAPS who put on an amazing party.

The week of her birthday we also made a trip out to Rolling Hills.  It was a gorgeous day.  Not too hot so it made a very nice morning out.  We wanted to go say goodbye to Robbie, the orangutan.  This was his last week at RH before moving to the St. Louis Zoo.  We have been visiting him for the last four years and is always the highlight of our trips out there.

The first week of June we had Vacation Bible School.  It was an amazing week and we met lots of new friends and got to do some really cool activities and crafts.

June 7th, Chris and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary.  The four of us went out for supper and had a nice evening together.

Wednesday, June 8th, first thing in the morning, we got a call that Grandpa Tom had passed away.  He passed away from a blood clot that had developed after having heart surgery the week before.  At the same time, Grandma Betty was being admitted back into the hospital with severe stomach pains.  She has been very ill as well since February after having her third bypass surgery.  Her kidney's and liver were still not right and she has been having complications with all of that since.

We left Salina at 4 pm Wednesday evening and headed to Mobile, Alabama.  We got into town at 8:45 Thursday morning after driving straight through.  We went up to the hospital and we got to go in briefly and see Grandma.  She was in a lot of pain and just didn't look like herself at all.  They were getting ready to take her into surgery to have a pacemaker put in, port for dialysis, and to repair the blockage in her colon.  Surgery went well but they would have to go back in the next morning to finish the repair on the colon.  Unfortunately, she didn't make it and the next morning (Friday, June 10) while we were all at the hospital, she passed away as well.  It was so very sad losing them both so close together but also grateful knowing that they are both in heaven, able to walk together and speak together again.  No more hurt and no more pain.

Sunday June 12, we had a memorial for them both.  It was a wonderful tribute to their lives and to the wonderful family that they raised.  They will be sorely missed.

But along with the tragedy of death we also were able to spend some wonderful time together as a family.  And I know that Grandpa and Grandma got a kick being able to watch all of the little ones playing together and having a good time.

We left Mobile on Tuesday morning and took our time getting home.  We were going to spend some extra time in St. Louis.  Have a little family vacation.  But after one day, we were all done and ready to be home.  We toured the Budweiser Plant and went to Grant's Farm, which was a little zoo.  Free and a wonderful place to go.  And we were home late Wednesday night.  It was time to get back into our regular routine.

We had a lot at home waiting on us to get done.  Work, house, fields and now we are getting things planned and ready for our big 4th of July party.  Madi has gymnastics, nature center and art center next week, sleep over Friday night, harvest at the Flywheels Saturday.  Back to our busy, busy lives!

I put a slide show together from the last months activities.  Too much for single photos.



It was so great seeing all of our Helm family and a big thank you to Aunt Linda.  For opening up your home and everything you did for all of us while we were there.  I hope that we can all get together again and have more happy times together.

And for anybody in the Salina area, come see us Sunday, July 3rd for the big fireworks show.  It's going to be great!!  Chris spent all of last night watching video clips of fireworks and making a huge order.  Can't wait to see it all!

Love, Amy

End of the Year

Madi wrapped up her last year of preschool on Wednesday.  The last two weeks have been pretty fun for her at school.  They had a class picnic with a sack lunch with their families and school friends, they had pj day and got to wear their pajamas to school, on water day they got to wear their swim suits and play in buckets of water at the end of the day, and the last day of school was wheel day.  Everybody brought their bikes or scooters and they rode around the circle drive most of the day.  Madi also got to celebrate her birthday.  We were going to bring popsicles since they were outside anyways but her friend Kenley convinced her she needed to have cupcakes.  So instead she picked out strawberry cake with strawberry frosting and then picked out strawberry juice boxes.  I like strawberry, but that's a lot of strawberry!!  She said everybody LOVED the cupcakes, except one of the boys who said PINK, I'm not eating anything PINK!!  Boys!! :)

Later Wednesday evening was graduation.  They each walked in on their own with their construction paper mortar boards.  They did a little program and then they each got their diploma.  It was so cute!  They had cookies and punch and the girls played together and had lots of pictures taken and then we all went out to eat afterwards.  It was a fun evening.

Madi is so excited about going to Kindergarten next year.  She will get to make all new friends.  But she is not looking forward to shots this summer.  If anyone asks her if she is excited about Kindergarten, she says yes, but I don't want to get shots.  Then they look at me with a questionable look.  I'm just preparing her for her next doctors appointment knowing she will have to get all her shots up to date before going to school next year.

Now we have a couple of weeks off to play and do whatever we want.  June starts off with all of her summer activities and I have her booked solid for the summer!  VBS, swimming lessons, gymnastics, Nature Center, and Art Center.  Plus we will throw in some trips to the zoo, library, movies, some lake trips, and a couple of tractor shows.  Should be a fun summer, busy, but fun!

Love, Amy