Math is important.

Rise over Run people. 

Sorry Angela looks like you're stuck :)

Fights are better with sound

We do a lot of Taekwondo in our family.
Lot's and lots Bruce Lee sound impressions.

Even during peaceful calm moments there always seems to be a "wahhhhhh" sound going on.

Hannah's weapon form.

 For your safety she doesn't do the battle yells or the big slaps and hits on the ground. You know it's Sunday and we like to keep things Holy on that day. 

Also she's in a skirt.

I looked up fighting sounds on the internet. Andrew and Natalie had a great time taking turns doing awesome moves with cool sounds.

Our downstairs neighbors are going to be so happy when we move out.

Time change

I do not like day light savings time.

I do not like it in the morn
it makes me feel so forlorn.

I do not like it at noon
I do not like it on the moon.

I do not like it at nigh
and I fight it with all my might

No I do not like day light savings time.

Telephone Pictionary

We love to play telephone Pictionary. The Helm clan has been playing this game for years. A few years back we saw that it was for sale in Walmart. Oh Man we missed the opportunity to make Millions!

I have to post Natalie's run. We have a a bunch of funny ones but this one was so good that I have to post it.

Natalie started with "Release the Cracken!" She was talking about the huge ocean monster, The Kraken .

 Andrew was the next one whos job it was to draw the kraken But he didn't know what a Kraken was.

The fact that Andrew didn't know what a krahen/cracken was did not stop him. No, he proudly drew to the best of his ability.

 On the left side of the paper was this picture.

 And on the right.

 Focus on this section of the picture. Left side.

 Right side

Yep, Showing a little bum cracken.

I was next in the pictionary line and I had the picture upside down and thought that it was 2 swimmers diving head first into the water. WAY, way off. Should have noticed that little line.

Banana Car

Andrew is competitive about some things. The pine wood derby is not one of them.

2 days before the pine wood derby Andrew decided to work on his car. He wasn't interested in having the fastest car, he just wanted a car that was cool and funny at the same time

Bananas are way, way cool!

Meet the Banana Car 2016!

 Front view.

 Andrew was going to add a Dole sticker from a real Banana onto the car, but I found this Bobby the Banana playing soccer.

Andrew told us that he was planning on losing every single race. That was his goal.  But he won the first then the second and he kept on winning.
The other boys in his den would cheer on the banana car.

 The car ended up in fourth place!

Andrew was a little disappointed that he did not reach his goal, But after getting a small golden cup and some candy everything seemed to be alright.

Hannah's Birthday

Hannah turned 11 this month. In 2016 all three of my kids are going to be in the double didgets. Wow! Hard to believe.

The Kids love to decorate for each others Birthdays.  As tradition the decorations get to stay up for 1 week. This tradition just sorta happened. It wasn't on purpose but because I'm usually slow to clean up. Now the kids think that is the norm. Funny how those things work out.

 Natalie made these balloons and they represented Hannah's life.

 Here are some close ups. LOVE THEM!

 Did you see Emily's goats?

 

Hannah is so cute! So glad she is one of my girls.

There Hannah. Nothing cheesy.

It's all about that Bass

Hannah plays the Bass.

She loves that bass and practices diligently.
Hannah also wanted to take lessons but we were having a hard time finding a bass teacher. Those we did find were both far away and very expensive. Luckily there is a high school bass player who rents a bass from the store and he is an awesome teacher!


Most of the time Hannah is very happy with her choice of instrument, but a lot of the time she gets frustrated with the music written for the Bass.

I was walking past Hannah's art notebook and found these pictures.

I feel you Hannah. When viola's play in a waltz we just do the chuck, chucks. Boring and repetitive.

Los Alamos Nature Center

This will be the last post about our Christmas trip to New Mexico.

The nature Center in Los Alamos is small and does not have a ton of things to do, but we all had a pleasant time. I was surprised by how much the kids and I enjoyed it. AND it was free! Always a plus.

 They had an area where the kids could put things under a microscope. I didn't get a picture but Andrew put his face under the microscope and we all got to see his big old eye. It reminded me of the big eye in the movie, Flight of the Navigator.

 Natalie looking at lizards, spiders, millipedes, scorpions and salamanders.

 I got a new camera for my birthday. It's just a point and take a picture kind but it has a more buttons then my old camera. I needed a camera with better zoom and faster shutter speed. There was a lot of birds at the nature center for me to practice my picture taking skills.

 ...And this is poo... For some reason the kids seemed to like this exhibit.

 Melanie was kind enough to pose for me. Thanks sister!

Right now I am listening to Palestrina's, Missa Papae Marcelli and feeling very peaceful. A feeling that I don't get very often. It's nice. When was the last time you felt at peace with the world?

Santa Fe Children's Museum

During the Christmas break my kids were able to spend some time with their Great Aunts and second cousins at the Children's Museum.

 There was bubble makings.

 And this thing... Hannah gave herself blisters! Silly Girl

My mother and her sisters. Aren't the cute! See what Emily started with the photo bombing! I have very few pictures where there is not someone photo bombing.

 The kids seemed to spend the most time with the magnets.

I always wish that there were more opportunities to spend time with my extended family. But the larger a family gets and the older the kids are the harder it is to find the same dates/time to get together.

Ice Skating

There are 5 non-Christmas activities that my kids believe have to happen at Grandma's and Granddads.

1. Ice Skating
2. Swimming
3. Hiking/ Looking for pottery
4. Hecks Hole
5. Sledding.

This last Christmas the kids were able to do all except for go down Hecks Hole. Personal if I had to list the activity's from most excited to least excited about Hecks Hole would be at the bottom.

Natalie thinks that we didn't go down because Aunt Jenny left and she is the brave one. How true that is.

I only got pictures from one activity. Ice Skating. I'm very thankful that Jim took pictures for me, but I wish he had taken less of me and more of everyone else. I'm not sure if I should be flattered or slightly upset...

These are the only pictures that have other family members.

Christmas 2015

This post will be mostly pictures. FYI

This was a great Christmas! I'm not saying that this Christmas was better then the last, but just that this vacation was so very needed.

All except for one sibling was there for Christmas Day. I'm telling you it was awesome.

Before leaving for New Mexico, we set up our little tree and opened up our family gifts.Even though we are the proud owners of a mini van and now have room for more things, it has become a tradition that we open up some of our gifts early.

 We are going to need a bigger tree next year. I still had 20+ ornaments that didn't make it on the tree.

 Natalie had Andrew

Mom had Hannah

Andrew had Natalie

Music a a HUGE part of the Helm Christmas. We sing, play instruments, bells, recorders, guitars and sing LOUD and sometimes really high!

 Angela set up a night for anyone who played a stringed instrument. Four cellos

 Two violas. The wooden chair was my chair. Four violins (one came late).

 And Two Basses. Doesn't Hannah's litle bass look so cute?

And Jenny was helping us all stay together.

On Christmas Eve we open one gift that is P.J. or the like. Emily really got into photo bombing. Here are some of my favs.

Emily inspired others to become good photo bombers

 Angela's P.J.'s were just a little too big. She is wearing the pants like a tube top.

 Christmas morning... the line up

 In the evening we had the Christmas pageant.
Very reverent watchers...

 I loved how the kids took their rolls very seriously and did their bests. They knew they were acting out something special.

I have a a couple recording of angels singing, but Tom made us promise not to post. I might for the right price...