My Lil' Ballerina

My inner dance Mom might have peeked through this past weekend.

For the last few weeks, Harper's dance class have been busy perfecting their Itsy Bitsy Spider dance - and Saturday they had the opportunity to perform in front an actual audience. Family and friends of various dancers filled the bleachers of Fieldstone Elementary in St. Michael for Jete Dance Centre's "Bears That Care" event. 

The 2 year olds were set to perform 5th in the lineup. When their time came, the teachers led them out to the middle of the gymnasium floor ready for their dancing debut. Harper spotted me on the stairs of the bleachers, camera in hand. With a little wave and a giant smile on her face she was ready to show us her moves. 

The music came on and nothing could stop my perma grin. The dance was only a minute, but it was the cutest, most perfect 60 seconds. She did such a great job and I couldn't have been more proud. (Yes, I realize I sound slightly crazy) I picked Harper up on the side of the gym right after their performance and she could barely contain her excitement. "Mom, did you see me dance? That was so fun! The people clapped!" 

If I got this excited over a rinky dink performance, imagine how I'll be in May for her first recital. Scary, huh?

Emmett hit a major milestone last week - he slept through the night! Queue the fireworks! (This only lasted one night, but it was a glorious full night in my own bed!) Mr. E slept from 9pm-5am straight, skipping his usual 2:30am wake up call. I woke up at 3:45am realizing I had yet to make my nightly trip into this room. I had a slight moment of panic and tip toed into his room to make sure everything was okay. There he was, lying on his back snoozing away. 

Since then, Emmett and I are back to our early morning dates. As his 6-month appointment approaches, I know the whole "cry-it-out" talk is near. My hope is he continues with the longer stretches eventually pulling all nighters. At least now I know he can do it, we just need to make that his new normal! 

 

Last Friday, Mitch and I decided to take half days at work and do a little shopping. We've been saying for over a year now that we were going to re-do our entertainment area upstairs. The old Wal-Mart TV stand and college bookshelves weren't cutting it anymore. It was time to ditch our dorm room look and upgrade to something that appears more mature. 

Ikea was our first stop, since we had success there for our downstairs TV space. It didn't take long for us to find a few pieces we felt would be perfect for our upstairs living room. When we arrived to the warehouse to gather our goodies, we were bummed to see multiple items out of stock. Mitch and I regrouped and found an employee to answer our questions. They did a little research and found out the items were being discontinued and no shipments were scheduled to come in. With no "Plan B" we decided to buy the TV stand floor model and downsize on one of the shelving units. 

Mitch spent the rest of the night putting everything together. In the end, I love the way everything turned out. I'm enjoying our new living space!

Last Thursday we had a super fun TFFN (Thursday Family Fun Night). Mitch and the kiddos met me in Eden Prairie after work at Brunswick Zone for Harper's first bowling experience. We strapped on our velcro shoes, picked out our bowling balls and hit the lane. Harper used the ramp and I quickly realized, maybe I needed to use it too. I'm a terrible bowler!

She had an absolute blast bowling and even got a strike. We had dinner at the bowling alley and wrapped up our night in the arcade. This might have been Harper's favorite TFFN yet, it was certainly a memorable one!

Until next time…

The Helleens