Busy, Busy Bees!

There's never enough time, is there? On a daily basis I'm wishing for more time to spend with my family, to get housework done, to work, to exercise, to hang out with friends, to sleep, to catch up on TV shows, to blog and so on. My list of "to-do's" is never ending, and I've come to the realization - that's okay. I'm working on reminding myself to stop, take a nice deep breath and live in the present. Things will eventually get done, maybe not right when I want them to… but they will. 

It's been a week and a half since my last post and here's what we've been up to.

Emmett is officially 8 months old. (Sigh) As we hit each infant milestone we celebrate with joy, but lately a part of me has been getting a little sad too. I forgot how quick the first year goes. At night while I'm nursing E before bed, I notice how his once teeny tiny body now takes up the entire width of the rocking chair. His gummy smile has now turned into a toothy grin. My sweet boy is growing and Harper is turning into a little lady. Where are my babies? 

With the Minnesota Wild in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, we've been busy cheering them on. For the last 6 games, each of us has put on our Wild swag and plopped down in front of the TV. Mitch has perfected his fist pumps but refuses to watch the volume of his screams. (Good thing Emmett is a sound sleeper!) With our defeat against St. Louis, we're looking forward to the next round against Chicago! LETS GOOOOOOO WILD! 

This week at dance we got Harper's pictures back. Harper gave us her best awkward side smile and I love it. The group photo is enough to melt my heart, those 4 girls are just too cute. Our Tuesday nights continue to be dedicated to dance. In 4 short weeks, Harper has her very first recital. This Mama couldn't be more excited! 

After having something planned every day last week, we were excited for the weekend to start. It's been far too long since we've seen the Donahue clan, so we scheduled a playdate at Big Thrill Factory Friday night. 

This place is enormous and a kids dream. They have bowling, laser tag, arcade games, bumper cars, mini golf and a play area, Harper didn't know where to run first. We started off bowling. Nothing has changed since our last bowling experience, I'm still terrible. I think both kiddos beat me. 

After bowling Harper was all about the games. Mitch purchased a game card and Harper was in gaming heaven. Within the first few swipes of her card, the girl had won over 1,000 tickets! We grabbed some food at the café and let the kids run around. Like usual, our Donahue date was a blast. I think Big Thrill Factory might become a regular stop for us. 

Saturday morning, we signed up to do the American Heart Association Heart Walk through Mitch's work, St. Jude Medical. 100's of walkers flooded the streets of downtown Minneapolis to support AHA and bring awareness to cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

Harper loved the fresh air and crowds of people cheering her on. She was excited to get her picture taken with the Stormtrooper (she just referred to them as the "silly guys") It was a beautiful morning walking for a great cause.

With the sun finally shining, we were able to get some things done outside today! Harper couldn't wait to get outside. It only took a few minutes for her to ditch her sweatshirt, socks and shoes. For 3+ hours that girl ran around outside. She helped with some yard work in-between blowing bubbles and playing with chalk. We couldn't even convince her to come in for lunch, so she had a picnic outside. 

We're all thankful for the warmer weather, but I think Harper is the most excited! 

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Until next time…
The Helleens