Here Comes the Cow

One night this week, HG and I met our friends, Amy and Mary Claire and Ginna and Sallie Key, at Chick-fil-A for a girls’ night out. We didn’t realize that it was Family Night, complete with Bingo, a balloon man, and {unfortunately} the cow mascot. When we saw him walking out, I think all of us moms were momentarily frozen, unsure of how the girls were going to react. I have to say that we had the complete spectrum- Sallie Key was excited and brave, Mary Claire was terrified and trembling, and Helen Grace vacillated between hiding under the table and trying to make MC feel better by repeating, “It’s just a man in there.” When push came to shove, Sallie Key was the only one that would go close to the cow, and after she got her hug, we kept shoo-ing the cow away from our general vicinity. The girls were really excited about their ladybug balloon bracelets and the to-go ice cream that rounded out the night!

Sallie Key, Mary Claire, Helen Grace- that’s a lot of names for three little girls! Ladybugs!

Mallory’s Christening

On Sunday, Whitney’s youngest daughter, Mallory Carole, was baptized. After the church service, we celebrated over lunch at Chickasaw, and man, all our little chicks had a BALL together- as well as the hens, I might add!

Elliott and Adickes Thomas, Haney and Mallory Harris, Leighton Thomas, and Helen Grace Whitney, Sha, Reba Tons of fun watching the golfers practice Practicing her ballet moves This little corner of mirrors was PERFECT to entertain all the little girls.

This video of Leighton and HG dancing is hilarious…although it might have to disappear before they go through Rush- ha! 

First Trip to the Dentist

I’ve been dreading this ‘first’ since Helen Grace’s first tooth came in, but at three years old, I knew it was finally time to take the girl to the dentist. We are so lucky to have a great pediatric dentist group in Southaven, and a dentist friend recommended Dr. Jason Coleman. I’ve taken her with me to my dentist once a few months ago to give her a feel for it. I didn’t give her more than a day or two heads up of her appointment for fear of freaking her out, and while she wasn’t crazy about the idea, she didn’t protest too much. The waiting room was great and made her instantly at ease. She played and played while we waited.

When the dental hygienist called her name though, she started getting nervous. It took me a minute to talk her into sitting on the chair (laying down on it was out of the question), but after a few minutes of her warming up, she let the hygienist clean her teeth with some fluoride foam and a toothbrush. That was all they wanted to accomplish on the first appointment, so we sat there and waited for the doctor, checking out all the details of the chair area and the back office. She got much more comfortable with it all as she watched other kids come and go, but when the doc came to her, she got nervous again. I had him show her on me what he wanted to do – which was just look around with her mirror and bite down and open her mouth. She finally decided that was ok for him to do and opened up. Whew! Afterward, she got to pick a prize, and she was soooo excited. Overall, this first was a success, and now we’ve been charged with using ‘big girl’ (fluoride) toothpaste and flossing every now and then. I’m not sure who was more relieved to have this behind us- her or me!

Making herself at home Finally letting her get in her mouth Ok, that’s enough, lady! OH! There’s a tv up there! Picking out a prize from the doc- a duck whistle. Her prize from Mama- cupcakes!

Summertime Fun

Swimming and playing princess dress up- it doesn’t get any better than that for these little ladies!

Here, Ducky, Ducky…

One of Helen Grace’s favorite summertime rituals is chasing the duckies around our neighborhood lake. We try not to make a habit of feeding them, but we indulge them every now and then. Of course, when we do, it starts a feeding frenzy. And just for the record, the duck in the video that gets stuck in the fence DOES get loose! He has had a hurt foot this summer, and HG says she wants to be a doctor so that she can help the ducky’s foot. :)

Family Quality Time

This weekend we went down to Jackson for a long overdue visit with our Daniels side of the family. Helen Grace couldn’t get enough of her cousins, and we had the best time together. We stuffed our face on Friday night with Mexican food and then ice cream, and then Helen Grace and I went to cheer on Grace Ann at her city swim meet. She is one of the top NINE swimmers in her stroke in the city of Jackson!!! We are sooo proud, and I loved seeing the big, proud grin on her face afterward.

I think this might be her first ice cream cone experience, at least out in public for sure (think she had one at Grandma’s before). She saw the cone behind the counter and asked for it specifically. She did pretty well with it (and let me lick the edges occasionally to manage the drip), but when she got down to the cone, she turned up her nose and handed it to me. I didn’t plan it this way and she was the one that picked out the flavor/color of ice cream, but it was handy that her ice cream matched her dress!First snow cone ever at GA’s swim meet…it was HOT outside!! She ate about 10 bites and was ‘full’ but loved it.Warming up Suzanne teaching HG the ropes of swim meets PULL!!!!

Week 2 of Swim Lessons

On Monday, I was so proud of Helen Grace. She listened to Miss Gwin and minded her every request. She eagerly went to her and got really wet, did some arm strokes, kicked a bunch, and blew endless bubbles. About 15 minutes before the end of class, I heard the first, “I wanna go home.” Miss Gwin told her to come on and get in the water, and she responded, “I wanna go home NOW.” Miss Gwin told her to do it one more time, and she’d let her be done for the day. HG quickly hopped in, did her task, and came running to me. She watched me a lot more today, but I cheered her on and made silly faces to which she giggled and stuck her tongue out at me.

Afterward, we rewarded her with dinner and then met up with Granddaddy and Spiffer for Gracie Bleu. The second part of her reward was to walk through the new house down the street, but as we turned in the neighborhood, she told me she didn’t want to go to the ‘building’ because the boo boo on her foot hurt (a little blister that’s been bothering her). As we turned into our driveway, I heard her head drop against the side of her car seat. The child was CONKED OUT. I was able to get her right into bed, and she’s slept all night.

Tuesday’s class was rained out, and boy was she excited!

On Wednesday, she was doing a happy dance all day because it rained on and off, and she was convinced she wasn’t going to have to go. Well sure enough, the clouds parted and the sun peaked out enough that Miss Gwin had swim class. She wasn’t thrilled but went willingly. Again, she was into it for the first 30 minutes, but she soon grew tired and downright irate. Miss Gwin threw up her hands, quit making her get in, and declared it was a success that we got her in the water for as long as we did. She had promised her a cupcake, and we picked some up at Kroger on the way home. It was obviously time for a bath after one of those!

After her bath, she sat still long enough that I was able to not only brush her hair really well but also braid it for the first time in her entire life. HUGE accomplishment (and a surprise to me that I could still braid after all these years). Thank you, Dora.

Thursday was our last class for the week. It’s rained for the last several days, and the temp has dropped from the 100s down into the 80s. Unfortunately, the safety lesson for the day was about how “Cold Kills” (dangers of hypothermia). Well, the day that the pool water temp was 10 degrees lower than normal was NOT the day to teach that lesson. The little ones were all convinced they were going to die, and HG wasn’t the only one protesting. I was determined she was going to get in on the last day. Three or four times, she refused to get in, so I walked over there, picked her up, and handed her to Miss Gwin. She screamed the whole time (with no tears although you would have thought she were dying), but Miss Gwin got some bubble-blowing out of her. UGH. I had planned on asking about when she planned on doing some make up classes because of the rain, but then and there I decided we were done with swim class! Miss Gwin gave them all a report card and some candy, and the {fake} crying immediately stopped and a smile appeared.

P for Pass, I for Incomplete…and for the record, I think she was a little light in her grading. I never saw HG do any jumps…unless she meant jumping out of her arms to dry land…