Linus

The fingers go in the mouth as soon as Helena gets one of her blankets. We try to keep them in her bed, but occasionally she finds one (or is aided by a helpful sibling) and then she looks like this.

Big Balloons

We hit the annual Balloon Rally again since we had such fun last year. We arrived a little earlier this year, before any of the balloons started filling up. We picked a nice spot with four balloons close together and took in the action.The lump at the bottom of this picture is someone walking under the envelope to straighten it out. "The Spirit of Boise" was the first one upright. Go Idaho!

Helena : 19 months

The biggest change is that now she walks. Helena has been able to walk for over a month, but late last week she decided that she would. She is fun to watch as she totters from couch to table and down the hall. It still is different to see her enter a room at that height. She has also decided that she loves her hats and wears them constantly.

Even more summer fun

We've been too busy having fun to post anything here lately! Here are a few of the things we've been doing the past two weeks.
We claimed our free ice cream cones from the summer reading program.Nora is a generous big sister.We took out our pool for one last hurrah. Helena had a great time splashing in it, but she has a tendency to slide under the water. I pulled her out after her third dunking.
We had a potluck with friends. The kids had a great time running around making up games. In one Nora and her friend Grace were gunslingers.I often have volunteers for kitchen help. The kids love to top pizzas. Henry is especially careful about where each vegetable is placed. We also went to the county fair and to a local folk music festival and visited the sprinkler park a few more times. We've had to stop having lunch outside because our yellow jackets have become aggressive.

Life will be different now

She has been taking a few steps here and there, but Helena is getting much bolder about trying to walk.

Helena : 18 months

She has a handful of words and is adding more all the time. About 80% of her vocabulary is Finnish currently with "varpaat" (toes) second only to the Finnish "Mom." We have a lot of conversations about her very cute feet. She still isn't using those feet for walking, but surely will soon. She does like being walked around with a firm grip on someone's fingers.
Helena knows what she likes and can be insistent. She's still a happy and fun little one. She weighs 23 lbs 4 oz (10.5 K, 30th percentile) and is 31 inches (80 cm, 25th percentile) tall.

More summer fun

We went blueberry picking with friends a few weeks ago. It was a fun outing and the kids did a good job picking berries. Heading in to weigh our buckets. Our pleasant morning temperatures became hot by mid-morning.We've been eating breakfast and lunch on the back patio. It faces north so it is shaded by the house for most of the day. It is lovely to be out of doors and it means fewer crumbs to sweep up!