How does my inbox get so full?

Things have been pretty busy around here lately that's how. Plus, as you all know Inara sure keeps me super busy every day. Last week was kinda a whirlwind. I hosted a craft playdate on Tue. We had 10 moms and 10 kids here. It was super crazy, loud, messy...I loved it! Inara got so wore out that day that she ended up taking 3 naps! Funny thing about Inara at the playdate: she didn't seem to into the socializing, playing with other kids aspect until one of the moms got snacks out for her little girl and Inara was right there wanting some. My daughter sure loves to eat lately. Then Thu we went to a playdate at our friend Laura and Whitney's house. Inara seemed to do a little better playing that day, but not much. The girl just loves to observe all the kids playing instead. My guess is she's learning by observing that way when she's ready to walk and play, she'll be a pro. This playdate was fun because it was an Iron Chef cook-off of sorts in that all the moms had to bring a dish using pumpkin. I brought pumpkin pancakes, which were not very good. Only after the playdate did I realize that in the madness of doubling the recipe, I forgot to add to eggs instead of just the one. Oops. At least I now know why they turned out thick and doughy.

On Saturday we hosted a small shower for Thane and Kristi and baby Jack who is due to arrive in less than a month now. Our good friend Eeutung made a ton of food, which I was very grateful for. It was a small gathering, but fun to catch up with old and new friends. I was super excited to give Kristi the scrapbook I've been making her for the past few months. What I did was make up all the pages so all Kristi has to do is add the pictures and write any text she wants to include. Each page is a letter of the alphabet, so like U is for Uncle Shawn, I is for Inara, S is for sister, etc. It was super fun making this book. There were some panic attacks along the way, but it was all worth it because I knew Kristi would love the book. As friends know, I love giving gifts, especially when it's something special that I've put a lot of thought into. Plus, I know this will make life easier for Kristi when it comes to scrapbooking and documenting Jack's first year.

Saturday night, Shawn and I got a bit of a surprise. It was about 7:30 when all of a sudden there's a knock at the door. When Shawn went to answer it, there was nobody there. However, there was a gift bag left on the porch. Shawn brought it in and opened the scroll that was inside. We were Boo'd! I've never heard of this, but one of our neighbors boo'd us, and we then had to boo two of our neighbors. Basically, what it is is we have to put some candies and surprises in a bag, make copies of the Halloween letter and the ghost that's to be posted on our front door once we're boo'd, then we have to do the same for two neighbors, but you have to knock on the door and run so they don't know who it's from. That's part of the fun of it. I thought this was totally cute and a fun way to get in the Halloween spirit. I swear I love our neighborhood. We are so lucky to have such cool people around us.

Sunday was another fun-filled day. We went to see Shawn's cousin Cari who sings kids songs. She and her partner were doing a Halloween performance in Boulder, so Barb and the 3 of us went out there and met Eetung and William. The auditorium was packed and kids were all dressed up. Duh, I didn't even think about putting Inara in her costume. Oh well. Inara loved the first two songs and even clapped along with one of the songs. However, after that, she was done and just wanted to walk around. I took her for a bit, then Shawn took the second shift. At one point, she almost walked onto the stage through the side door. Too funny. We then went to dinner at The Med, a yummy Mediterranean restaurant. Inara and William sat next to each other. It was pretty funny that Inara kept taking Goldfish out of her mouth and wanting to hand them to William, who was clearly puzzled by her gross kindness. Glad she wants to share, but really with soggy goldfish? Yuck! By the time we left, the floor was covered with Inara's dropped food. I picked some of it up, because I hate to be that mom who leaves a disaster. I remember what that was like when I worked at Olive Garden. It would make me so mad. I know she can't help it though, so I just picked up some of the mess.

Well, Inara is getting pissed that I'm on the computer, so I better jam. Pretty impressive it only took me less than 20 min. to write this long ass blog. So glad I can type fast with a toddling toddler around. I'll be sure to write about the Mom's Night Out I went to last night later. (Sorry if there's any typing errors. No time to proofread this one.)