Weekend Update

This weekend was a busy one. What am I talking about? Every weekend is a busy one. Friday was the Highlands Ranch Holiday Celebration at Town Center. There was a children's choir performing Christmas songs, a tree lighting ceremony, carriage rides, reindeers, and pictures with Santa. There was also a lot of free food. Shawn and Thane weren't able to get off work as early as we had hoped, but the rest of the fam got to enjoy the festivities. By the time the guys got there, it was getting a little chilly and Inara was hungry, so we had to cut the night short. All in all, it was a fun event and definitely something I'll check out again next year. Hopefully, we'll be able to get Inara's pic with Santa next year. I was hoping to get her pic with Jolly Ol Saint Nick this year since she really seems to be into him, but the mall charges an arm and a leg come to find out, so we'll have to pass on that one.

Then Saturday, we ventured out to find us a Christmas tree. The first two places we stopped started at $50 and up for a tree. We happened to pull into the grocery store parking lot and were surprised to see they had trees for sale and they were only $30! Bingo bango! We got a beautiful tree. Shawn said it's his favorite one yet. It looks perfect in our front living room too. Inara is already fascinated with it, as I knew she would be. The kid is all into Christmas things. She loves looking at lights and decorations. It's like rediscovering Christmas all over again now that we have a child to share it with.

Saturday night we hosted our first dinner party and game night. I had invited two couples from my mom's group over for pasta and games. Shawn keeps saying how everyone he's met from the group is so nice. I couldn't agree more. We had a fun time talking to the other couples and getting to know them better. Come to find out one of the couples is in their early twenties. Wow! Do I feel old? Given how much I love playing board games, the night was perfect, even though I sucked at the two games we played. The night ended relatively early at around 10:30. Much earlier than our game nights used to end, but the others had to get back home to relieve the babysitters. My how our lives are changing. No more drunken sloppy game nights until 2am here.

Today, Inara and I finished decorating the christmas tree. I put most of the ornaments on the top half out of Inara's reach. I did put a couple little ornaments on the bottom half for her to play with. I figured if I give her some to play with, then she won't try to get the other nicer ones up top. Let's see if that strategy works. Unfortunately, we already had one casualty tonight. A Boo from Monster's Inc. ornament got beheaded. Man, how does a 14 month old cause such havoc in a few short seconds? Oh well. It was one of the lesser important ones, so I'm not too upset. We'll try to save it with some crazy glue.

On a sad note, I got eliminated from our fantasy football playoffs tonight. I was in such a good position to at least make it to the playoffs until the worst team in the division whipped me. That makes the lose even worse.

But to end on a super great note, only 12 more days til my mom arrives. In case you didn't know, my mom will be spending Christmas with us. I couldn't be more ecstatic!!! With the holidays here, this is the most homesick I've been since we moved, so knowing my mom is coming makes things a little brighter. I wish my dad was coming too, but he can't take time off work. I knew Michael wouldn't be able to make it because of retail work, but I had hoped Pop could, but I understand. Hopefully next year we can all be together to celebrate with the little munchkin, otherwise known as Inara Grace.