Musical Harper + Sledding!

It's only January 12th, and I'm already feeling pretty good about my 2014 goals! Over the last few weeks, Harper has shown an interest in music and dancing. She's mastered the hokey pokey this week, and is constantly singing Frosty The Snowman, or her ABC's. As mentioned in my last blog post, we wanted to get Harper signed up for different activities throughout the year. After doing a bit of research, we came across a Music Together class close to home that just happened to start their winter session the week of the 6th. It seemed too perfect not to sign her up. 

For the next 10 Wednesdays from 10:30am-11:15am Harper will singing, dancing and playing musical instruments with her classmates. My Mom brought her to the first class last Wednesday, and shared a few snapshots with us. When I picked Harper up after work, she was anxious to show me her super cool stamps for doing a good job. She also told me she played the sticks, sang "Pop Goes The Weasel," and danced with a blue scarf that was shaped like a square. According to my Mom, Harper was quite the rule follower, and liked to stand right in front of the teacher. When a nearby girl wasn't participating and following the "rules" Harper tried to tell her what she needed to do. Typical bossypants. Week one was a total success and I'm looking forward to hearing how week 2 goes!

With Austin leaving to head back to college today, he and Harper enjoyed some extra bonding time this week. The two of them played a lot of hide-and-seek and basketball over winter break, but ended their week with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. It sounds like they had a blast. She was excited to tell Mitch and I how their mini field trip went. These are Harper's exact words when describing her Chuck E. Cheese trip: "Go Chuck Cheese. Play games. Get coins. Win tickets. Eat cheese pizza." After cashing in their winnings, she came home with two plastic spiders. One green, one orange. It's the most random prize she's picked so far, but she was very proud to show her new friends off! 

Since the arctic freeze came to end this week (thank goodness) we were finally able to enjoy some outdoor time. Sledding is a classic winter time activity that both Mitch and I have fond memories of. We were eager for the weather to cooperate so we could give Harper a taste of sledding fun, and that day finally came yesterday! We headed to my parents house Saturday morning since they have the perfect giant hill right in their back yard. We bundled up in our snowpants, boots, coats, hats and mittens. Once we had everything on, Harper could barely move. I told her she looked like a marshmallow, and her response was, "Mmmmm, marshmallows!" 

We got outside and the snow was too deep for Harper to walk. We made our way to the hill, and were ready for our sledding adventure! Mitch went down the hill a few times to establish a path. It was time for Harper to experience her first sledding run. Like I said, the snow was too deep for Harper so that meant we had to carry her and the sled up the hill. Mitch and I quickly realized we're not kids anymore, and we may be a little out of shape. :) Harper love love loved sledding, and even went down the big hill by herself a couple times! What a perfect family morning, sledding with my loves. 

Keeping with my new year goals, we decided to go to the 5:30 church service last night with Mitch's parents and Mike and Jennie. Our past experiences with Harper in the childcare center hadn't gone well. Usually our pager was buzzing within 15-20 minutes, which meant one of us was outside the sanctuary trying to keep Little Miss entertained. We both knew there was no way she'd sit still and be quiet for an entire hour (I'm not sure that's ever happened!) :) She's a little older now, so we thought it was worth another shot. Harper walked in, and immediately ran for the multiple train tables in the room. At that point, Mitch and I knew we'd be fine and we could enjoy the service without making multiple trips to the childcare room. After a great service, we headed to pick Harper up. With a huge smile on her face, she told us all the fun things she did. As we put on her coat, she kept saying, "that so fun!" Looks like she'll have some more fun next Saturday! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Until next time...

The Helleen's