Happy Hololidays!

Holy frijoles! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind to say the very least.

Time to catch up on all the haps from our little corner of the world...

Let's see, there was Rowan's school program. Super cute, of course, but also slightly disturbing. Rowan loved having her dad and I there plus little sis. Since Cody is in the same class, Kelly brought all the daycare kids. As for the disturbing part, I'll just say that some little ones really get the shaft when it comes to parents. My reason for the season #1: The wonderful teachers that went above and beyond and did everything they could to ease the pain of one little girl who clearly deserves better; like a mom who will show up. Grrrrr.

The next day was the shop party at Scott's work. Rowan was psyched to go with him in the morning and Tressin and I joined around 1pm. By that time Rowan was super pooped out from running around the shop with the other littles that came in early with their parents. Santa made his appearance at 2pm and I just love the picture of Rowan staring up at him as he began passing out the 50 some gifts picked out and wrapped by Kelley, Scott's office manager (she's so nice; crazy, but nice.) My reason for the season #2: Neil sporting the tree skirt in a very successful attempt to mimic an elf and the many, many belly laughs that ensued.

Then Starman's company Christmas party (for the adults), which I have no pictures of for some reason. We didn't even get that crazy. Curious. Anyway, it is always nice to get dressed up, have a good dinner, a couple drinks and enjoy the company of nice people. The highlight for me was that the next day he and I got to go grocery shopping together with no kids since they were at Grandma and the Bobcat's. Pretty sure it was not his highlight, but he's not the one writing the blog. So there. My reason for the season #3: The people who acknowledge and appreciate how unbelievably hard my husband works. He deserves it!

Then we started to really rev it up. After all day of cleaning in preparation, checking their flight status on line (they were delayed about 4 hours due to weather) and about 15 laps around DIA (it is a beautiful airport), I finally connected with Megan, Ryan and Mathisen. Yay! We had a little Holiday Open House on Christmas Eve with three kinds of soup and bevy's galore. It was so fun. We will do it again next year just in case you missed it! :) My reason for the season #4: We have great friends. And our neighbors make living in the ghetto totally bearable.

Mathisen David (he's so damn cute)

Tress getting the cookies ready for you -know-who!

Alas, the big day. Santa should make coffee on his way out. I think the girls awoke at about 5:20am. We were done long before the sun came up. I don't know if we, or Santa, hit the mark on the gifts. We toned it down quite a bit in reverence to GW's legacy. But they didn't go without either. Rowan was probably most excited about her "hip scotch rug" (hop scotch) or her notebook of lined paper (perfect gift for the little OCD'r). Tress didn't seem overly into anything in particular. Her biggest joy comes from stealing toys and being an all around annoyance to her big sister. Let me just say, she was full of joy! My reason for the season #5: I really wanted that ball retriever. Who needs an A-wedge? (Note: Scott got a rather large gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods from one of his work co-horts. And what did that stud do with it but buy me a new wedge! Sorry girls, he's mine.)

Tressin, Mathisen and Rowan (mid hip scotch).

My mom and the Bobcat joined us a for an awesome Christmas dinner- prime rib, twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, a green salad. And pie. Yum. Then we rested up a little for the trip south. We probably would have rested a little more had we known what was in store for us. And that will be the next blog. Tune in.

My real reason for the season: A year or so ago, this guy started working at Pinnacle. He was and is a real estate broker. At first, I have to say, I was kinda put off by the guy. I'm no wallflower but this guy was over the top, in an almost used car salesman kinda way. Every morning when I would say Good Morning and Howya doin? his response was, "Livin' the dream" most often followed by a "Baby". Blech. I mean come on. But as I have gotten to know Dom, I have learned a lot about him and myself. We all have our quirks, our bad habits and our downright struggles. We all just want to do what's right by our families, our friends, and ourselves. We all wake up every morning and make a choice on how we are going to approach our day, our life. This Christmas and from here on out, I have made my choice. I'm livin' the dream baby.

I hope you are too.