Weekend Update

How is it possible that it is already Sunday evening, and that I haven't blogged since Thursday?  Sorry, friends.  We have been busy bees!  The weekend was a good, but very busy (as usual) one.  We keep saying that at some point we are going to slow down and stop making our weekends jam packed with activities, but so far that hasn't happened.  Some day! 

On Friday night, we had double date night with our friends Josie & Charlie and it involved two of my favorite things:  pizza and Twilight.  I had been looking forward to this date and was not disappointed.  I will not spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it (let's face it, I know you all want to), but it did not disappoint.  I can't wait for the next (and final - sad face) movie to come out (which isn't until next November?!?!?!).  In the mean time, I will try to contain my excitement for the first movie installment of the Hunger Games in March.  Dorky?  Maybe.  Whatevs.

Saturday was jam packed with fun.  We started the day off by taking Layla downtown for the Christmas parade.  We haven't been in town to attend the parade in a few years, and I looked forward to it all week.  Layla did SO good and was SO well-behaved.  She also got lots of attention (and practice!) with young children - everyone wanted to pet her.  Here she is, being a good girl:

She seriously sat like that the whole time, I was so proud.  She did not love it when the drum lines of the high school marching bands came by, but other than that she did great.  We stayed at the parade for around an hour and then decided to head out and beat the traffic.  I hated that I missed seeing Scotty Mcreery, mainly because I wanted to see how the crowd reacted to him - there were these cute little girls sitting beside us with "I love you Scotty" signs.  Reminded me of my boy band phase.  Don't act like you didn't go through that phase, too.  Anyway, beating the traffic seemed like a better idea.

When we left the parade, we decided to go check out the grand re-opening of Pullen Park.  Regardless of whether or not you have children,  you HAVE to check this place out.  I remember it from before the renovations, and I'm telling you it's like a different park.  They did a beautiful job of restoring everything, and somehow managed to still keep prices for rides the same.  There are playgrounds, paddle boats, a kiddie boat ride, a carousel, and even a mini train that goes around the whole park (And is so fun!  and I just saw that they are turning it into a Christmas train in December.  We will be going back for that.).  Additionally, the food is delicious.  Pullen Place Cafe is co-owned by the owner and chef of Zely & Ritz and uses, fresh, seasonal and local ingredients in their menu while still keeping the food healthy and affordable.  For example, one of the snacks they offer are veggies & hummus (kids will love and Mom will be happy as well!).  There are even gluten-free options - and they cater, too!  I could rave about the re-opening for the rest of the blog post, but you should check it out for yourself - it looked like the entire city of Raleigh was doing so today when we drove past.

Saturday afternoon we came back home for a short bit so that I could grab a quick nap and then we hit the road again to go check out a fabric store to see if there was anything we liked for baby's bed.  There were a few things that we liked okay, but nothing that we fell in love with - and so the search continues!  Last night we went to a surprise party for a friend at Solas but didn't stay long because I was tired, so we came home and watched a movie in bed (Crazy Stupid Love - I would highly recommend it - we both enjoyed!  Not to mention Ryan Gosling is totally dreamy.).  Perfect day if you ask me!

Today, we slept in and went to the 11:00 church service.  We then headed to Greensboro and had the pleasure of working with Mark and Allison Potter of Mark Potter Photography for our Christmas photos!  My family met us there, because Mom wanted some photos of all of us together for her Christmas cards as well.  Dan and I haven't had pictures taken since our engagement session three years ago, and since Mom mentioned she wouldn't mind having photos of the family done, we just combined the sessions.  We had an absolute blast - Mark and Allison are so laid-back and fun, and I am looking so forward to seeing what we came up with.  Oh, and would you PLEASE drool over the cuteness of the shoes that  Allison gave us for Baby Geronimina:

These little bunnies will be perfect at Easter!  They are adorable, and so soft - thank you Allison, we can't wait to wear them!

To cap off the perfection, on the way home, we got some excellent news: our furniture is in!  We were not expecting it until right before the baby is born, but it is being delivered next Monday and I am so beyond stoked - I can't wait for this room to come together.  We decided not to put all of the furniture together (well I'm assuming glider and ottoman are assembled already, but I guess we'll see next week) until we've made some decisions and painted, etc. in the nursery, but it is a huge weight off of our shoulders to actually have it in our house and ready for assembly.

Just wanted to update you all on what's kept us so busy for the past few days!  It's early bed time tonight for me because I'm exhausted,  but I am so looking forward to the short work week, Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping and lots of family time.

Hope your weekend was as wonderful as mine was!

Sarah