Mastering the Trike

Now that the weather has been nice, we’ve been tackling HG’s tricycling skills. Her legs were finally long enough to reach the pedals fine, but she struggled to keep constant forward momentum. I’m not sure what happened, but in a matter of a week, she has taken off like a bottle rocket. She suddenly grew bored with making circles in the driveway and decided on Sunday night that she wanted to bike around the lake behind our house. So off we went! She was a little timid when it came to big bumps (tree roots) or the down ramp of a bridge, but after a few times of stalling in apprehension and then trying it out, she conquered her fears and was soon yelling, “Whooo hoooo!” She rode the entire way and never stopped to walk, and I couldn’t have been more thankful that I didn’t have to carry her bike home!

Tonight, she wanted to make another loop around the lake, and this time, when we got to a bridge, she would just pedal faster on the downward slope. SO PROUD of her! Her daddy is now more than ever ready to get out and about so that he can go along on this new adventure!

Sunday night- 1st lake ride  

Tuesday night- 2nd ride. Look what we stumbled upon! She asked me to stop and take her pic on this bench.

Training video from the last few weeks

Maples’ Spring Program

Tuesday night was Helen Grace’s spring program at school. All of “her people” got there extra early so that we could have front row seats (since I learned my lesson at Christmastime with being way in the back, making it hard for her to find us). We gave her a big hug before the start, and she bounded off for her classroom to get ready. And a few minutes later, they all paraded onto the stage, and our bouncy little girl was gone, and a pouty, shy little girl was in her place. I have no idea what happened in those few minutes, but she was a totally different person, barely singing along and not smiling. I believe they told them not to wave during the performance, so maybe she took that too seriously?? Anywho, toward the end, she started to perk up a bit and caught on to the songs. When they started filing off the stage, she started waving and smiling- who knows?! We were so proud of her, none the less, and we loved seeing all of those sweet kiddos so proud of themselves!

Her buddy, Riley, was right next to her, so we got lots of cute pics with the two of them.

Sunday Fun Day

On Sunday, we had to get out of the house and get some fresh air. Although poor daddy was still stuck on the couch, he gave us his blessing. We met HG’s grandparents at the zoo for a fun afternoon. We checked out the new sting ray exhibit, and while HG was brave and tried to touch them, the walls were too wide and pool too deep for her to reach them. We caught up with the camels who are back from their winter hiatus, and we enjoyed riding Cotton this time. We made sure to run HG pretty hard so that she took a good, long nap! John was even up for his first dinner outing that night- Newk’s and Gracie Bleu, of course- so we topped off the day with a nice family dinner.

Spring Dance Recital Pics

Last night, in the middle of a literal monsoon, Helen Grace had her pictures for her spring dance recital coming up in May. We weren’t able to make it to her Nutcracker pictures last November (I believe we were out of town), so I was really anxious to get these done. I have such fun, vivid memories of my dance pictures as a child (although my mom might have a different story). I remember being so excited-  a big photo shoot set up in the dance studio; big, bright lights; lots of hairspray, lipstick, and {itchy} tulle; shadowing my teacher’s poses with a little cane or hat. My dance pictures still hang in my mama’s house, and I love seeing my chubby little legs and perfect hair do, proudly posing in my sequined outfit. (For the record, the actual performances scared me to death with all those bright lights and people staring at me, but thankfully, HG seems to love being the center of attention.)

And I was not disappointed with this photo shoot 25 years later! One of HG’s friends took her class’ pics earlier this week and was in a yellow outfit, so I tried to prepare HG that her outfit might not be pink or purple. She somehow set her mind that her outfit would be ‘rainbow,’ so when the lady handed her this little number last night, she was THRILLED- pink and purple rainbow!

She was a dream child- easy to get dressed and stood patiently while we waited forever for her turn. Then she posed and smiled and titled her head with every bit of direction and was tickled pink with herself. I was dying of the cuteness overload!

Eventually, she let me take the outfit off, and we headed home in the wild weather to celebrate her daddy’s 35th birthday. 

Happy that her daddy let her handle the candle-blowing-out

Battle + Codee

At Battle & Codee’s Engagement Party in Byhalia

Bubba and her girls My cousin, Battle, and his beautiful fiancee, Codee

Trike-a-thon

At school on Tuesday, HG’s class raised money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital by participating in a Trike-a-thon. Helen Grace had NOT been happy about wearing a helmet, even though we found a cute, purple princess one, but thankfully, peer pressure worked and she wore it that day! She chose to ride her scooter instead of her tricycle, and we decked it out with a bell and horn- I’m sure Mrs. Maureen wasn’t too excited about that! HG had all her grandparents there to cheer her on. John has torn his left ACL and had surgery at almost that exact time on Tuesday, so we were not able to be there. Sniff, sniff. They were so sweet to make sure that she was still well supported though.

On your mark, get set, go! Cheering section Throwing blossoms in the air like they’re snow