Helaman & the Christmas Tree

Helaman and Natalie helped us unload the Christmas trees. They had lots of fun exploring all the trees at the lot while Michael, somehow, slept in the freezing cold.

Helaman enjoys the tree a little too much, especially removing the ornaments. You can see the tree is only decorated from where he can't reach and up.

Here's Helaman enjoying his stash of torn down ornaments.

Climinb In

Helaman has learned how to climb in the last week. He climbs onto, and into, everything. In this picture, he took the lid off of his blocks and climbed in to sit on them. He was really proud of himself, as you can see in the picture.

After I took this picture he decided that wasn't comfortable and kept climbing out and removing a few more blocks before hopping back in. He was finally happy when it was all empty, and sat in the box for a long time.



One of the funniest places Helaman climbs is into his wagon. He gets inside and then sits and waits for someone to come take him for a ride, laughing all the while.

Aunt Cari's Wedding

Aunt Cari got married on November 26 at the Oakland temple. I had lots of fun playing outside with Aunt Jelly during the wedding, and then with Uncle Mike later. I especially liked to fountain you can see in the background here. I thought it was really funny when the water would splash my hands.

I've gotten really attached to all of my family now, not just mommy and daddy, and everyone has lots of fun getting loves and playing with me.

Driving Uncle Spencer's Bug

and loving it!

Enjoying the Fall Leaves

Helaman loves playing in all of the Fall leaves. He throws them, crunches them, eats them (well, tries to until mommy cathes him...)

This was taken Saturday afternoon in Grandma Maggie's yard.

Wrestlers

Helamans getting big enough to wrestle with daddy, and for some reason especially loves playing around on this old blanket.



As he gets older he becomes more and more of a daddy's boy. When Omar's gone he walks around the house all day calling him "Da-da, Da-da." As soon as he gets home, he won't leave his side.

Halloween

Helaman had a lot of fun on Halloween. We visited all the grandmas and grandpas then went trick-or-treating in Uncle Jesse's neighborhood with all the cousins. Helaman got a ton of candy, which mommy and daddy are really enjoying. :)



Helaman was a space man for Halloween this year. The costume was one Grandma Maggie made for Uncle Mike when he was a baby. Mommy's favorite part was the spiked hair...



Here's a picture of the whole costume on our front porch with daddy.

Helaman Now - 1 year old

• Height: 29.5 inchesWeight: 20 lbs 10oz
  
  Favorite Books: The Very Hungry Catepillar; Que Color Es Este?; Moo, Baa, La La La
  
  Favorite Foods: French fries, grapes, Goldfish

Helaman has changed so much in the last few months. He's gone from a baby to a toddler, I guess. He walks like a pro (well, a pro that falls down a lot), gets into everything, knows what he wants and gets mad when he doesn't get it, eat big people food only, and just generally doesn't act like a baby any more.

He has 6 teeth now, and is working on several more. The better to bite you with, he says. (alas)

He loves to play soccer and spends many afternoons dribbling a ball around our living room. That sounds made up, but he really truly dribbles a soccer ball all over the place. He even seems to walk better when he has a soccer ball between his feet. Crazy kid--I guess he wants to grow up and play soccer like Grandpa Luis.

He's also become a daddy's boy. He wants to be everywhere daddy is and spends all day calling him--da-da, da-da--until Omar gets home from school. He goes fishing with daddy, reads books with daddy, follows daddy to the bathroom.... This picture is from a football game a couple of weeks ago. He wouldn't be happy staying home if dad was gone.

Helaman's 1st Birthday

We had Helaman's 1st Birthday Party on the 8th, a few days before he really turned 1 on the 11th. All of our family that lives close by was there as well as the Goodman's and Nick and Nicole. We had it out at the pavillion and had tons of fun. There were crafts, lots of games, a pinata, and of course lots of wonderful food. Grandma Elsa and mommy made a million (I think it was that many) tamales and she made beans and rice. Grandma Maggie brought a great salad and made rootbear and Tia Llael brought lots of yummy cookies.

We played pin-the-tail on the monkey (Aunt Greta, Grandma and mommy made the monkey), volleyball, horseshoes, croquet, bacci ball, soccer, and just generally had a great time. The most fun was probably just having everyone there together. We have such great family and friends!

Helaman wasn't quite sure about the pinata for himself, but he got a kick out of everyone else wacking it. He still laughts when he watched the video. And he loved eating the candy, of course.

Helaman's party was a wild animal theme. We decorated with stuffed animals and animal crackers and balloons. There was a craft table for kids to make animal puppets, and his cake was a great big snake that Grandma Maggie made.

Helaman loved the birthday cake. At first he dug in with his whole face, but he liked enough he was willing to use a spoon to eat it--his first time every!

Everyone was more than generous, he got lots of fun presents and had a great time. This one is a strange bouncy thing that makes all kinds of crazy noises when it bounces that Grandma Ruth gave him. He still thinks it's hillarious.

All in all it was a great party, and the birthday boy had a great time, too. He loved being around all the kids and the noise and excitement. He was really tired when we got home, but he couldn't stop playing with toys. We let him stay up and play, after all, you're only 1 once. :)