No Worries...

For the first time as a mother, I let my little boy put on clean clothes and go outside to play immediately after a huge rainstorm. I told him to have fun and not once did I yell out the window, "Easton! STOP!...Don't touch that...GET out of the MUD!" I just let him have fun and look at the result! Oh the bubble bath that followed was basically a tub full of creek water when all was said and done!

Wii WHAT FUN!!!! Wiiiiiiiii!

Bowling, boxing, balance games, dancing, tennis, golf, baseball, and many other activities are on the Wii. Unbalanced, muscle legend, couch potato, casual athlete...these are some of the words to describe our workouts on the Nintendo Wii. The Wii was our Christmas gift to US! We bought our Wii in South Africa and since we have gotten home we LOVE it! Gramsie (Susie) has had fun with the Wii while she has been here as well! Much fun has been had and much fun is to come from this AWESOME toy!

Lily and Easton love to bowl! Lily is actually pretty good at it!

Playing the Wii = MUCH laughter!

Susie and Kendall bowled...of course we can't remember who won!

An Amusement Park in AFRICA?!

Yes...tis true! There is a nice amusement park in Johannesburg called Gold Reef City. We took the kids along with the Allen Family while we were in Joburg and we had an AWESOME time! The price was VERY cheap (compared to America) and the lines were SHORT! Can't beat that huh? This was the first time that Lily or Easton had experienced an amusement park, they were champs and rode all the rides that they could!

The family train ride

Easton's first sight of a roller coaster. He called the roller coaster "the train".

Daddy and Easton ready to have some fun!

Lacie and Lily on their first ferris wheel ride! They loved it and were not scared!

Lauren chilled with Daddy on the ferris wheel.

Lily's first amusement park ride! YAHOO!

Kendall watching the kids while I watched Easton ride a ride by himself!

Steve, Lacie, Kendall, Easton, Joy, Lily at Gold Reef City

Easton LOVED driving the antique cars!

The first merry-go-round ride for the Helgren Kids!

Lauren conked out after lunch!

We all enjoyed the bird show!

Lily's Dictionary Word of the Day

Cash-you-sista....translation....cash register

We bought Lily a cash register in South Africa and when we got home to Nyimba with it she kept insisting that we open the "cashusista". Kendall and I were like "HUH?" Then we figured out that she was referring to the cash register!

Many hours have been spent scanning and ringing up groceries since we have arrived at home!

Lily funny for the day

We were in an outdoor store purchasing a new backpack.
Lily picks up the tag and says....
"Mama...how will that man get off that rock?"
(I look at the tag and there is a man who had hiked up to the top of the mountain and was looking into the horizon.)
I said, "Well, he is going to climb down..."
Lily replied.."did the man just get up there?"
I said ..."Yup, he just walked!"
Lily said..."oh okay, just wanted to know how he was going to get down."

Priceless!

Lauren and Nathan's 1st Birthday Celebration

A year ago, God blessed our family with the opportunity to make lifelong friends. Steve, Monica, Lacie, and Nathan Allen are missionaries in Swaziland and have become our dear friends. Lauren and Nathan were born weeks apart in 2008 and this year we all worked it out to have a birthday celebration in Johannesburg for Lacie and Nathan. Many of our missionary friends came to celebrate their birthday with us! God is so good and He cares about the little details in life like...cake, birthday parties, and good friends!

Lauren was PUMPED!

Steve and Kendall with the birthday babies!

Monica and Joy with the babies!

Lacie is Nathan's big sister. She and Lily are such good friends and are age mates! What a blessing for Lily to have such a sweet friend.CAKE! Thank you Jane for getting the cake!
She did not wait to pick up that piece of cake! She was hilarious!Gotta get it ALL! Too good to pass up! (After this she licked the plate and rubbed the plate on her head!)