Kate saved the day by being able to drive Danny to his first home basketball game warm ups while I was at work and then driving Michelle to her babysitting gig and watching Natalie for us so that both Hubby and I could be at Danny's first home basketball game. I am glad we got there early enough to cheer on the C team because it is mostly freshmen boys that we know and it was so fun to watch them play and be in the stands with their parents. We got to see the rosters for the first time and there are 21 9th graders in the basketball program this year! That's almost half of all the players! With a varsity team full of seniors literally all of the juniors and sophomores could be on varsity next year and this year's freshman could make up all of JV and C team. Pretty amazing.
I’m not going to lie, it is pretty darn difficult to get our high schoolers out the door on time in the morning but when you can see a sunrise like this from Danny’s room, it makes the day start off better.
In between basketball games we got to celebrate Danny’s half birthday (14.5) with strawberry cheesecake Hubby brought home for him. I cannot say enough about my favorite son. I cannot imagine my life without him and am so grateful his birth mother chose us to raise him.
Our high schoolers decided to put their little sisters in charge of picking out this year’s Christmas tree while Kate binge watched Full House (which Natalie joined her for later) and Danny was at basketball practice. I think the timing was just right because it began to snow as we drove and it was just perfect to tree shop in the snow.
Maisie was very uncomfortable with us moving the furniture and adding a tree to her living room. I decided it probably feels like seven years have passed since the last time we did this for her so to have compassion. Know what helped her feel better? To drink the water we were giving to the tree. I would not have thought of that!
You didn’t think I was done talking about basketball before Christmas, did you? Our local team played the closest high school so there was plenty of passion seen on the court. I was proud when the coach placed Danny to defend the smack talking player on the other team. Danny would just shake his head and point at the score board because there was no doubt our high school was going to win.
After Danny’s game we made sure lunch was had and kids were settled and that Grandma had a ride to our house before heading down to Denver for Hubby’s work party. I had snagged free tickets through our library to Wings over the Rockies so we visited that museum for the first time since 2008 if I remember correctly. I always love it when a volunteer comes up and shows us something we aren’t allowed to see on our own.
After the museum we headed to the Sheraton and tried all sorts of food, said hello to many of Hubby’s coworkers, and I won big at Blackjack. Hubby says I should start playing with real money!
That night Natalie got to go to A’s birthday party with some of her closest friends. She had a great time!
On Sunday we finished decorating the tree, started wrapping presents, and Natalie and I drove around delivering neighbor gifts. I love having different wrapping paper for everyone in the family because I hate messing with gift tags. Monday night Kate had nothing else to do so hung out with us talking, eating dinner, playing games like Twister, Twangled, and Blank Space. We told her we wished she got grounded more often because she is so much fun! (Why were both of my high schoolers grounded for a week? Well, you’ll have to ask one of them because even though I wrote the entire story down I deleted it because I decided it was their story to tell, not mine.) We also decided that things like a hair cut appointment wouldn’t be breaking grounding and she took herself and Danny to the salon and they both got hair cuts. I can’t tell Danny got a hair cut but Kate’s looks so nice! Another day Danny and Michelle and I went thrifting tougher (since Danny’s basketball practice was canceled) and we found all sorts of great stuff between Goodwill and Arc. I found a Carhartt jacket for $30 and a Holden jacket for $20. Danny and Michelle both found jeans and Natalie liked Michelle’s so much she asked her to outgrow them as soon as possible so Natalie could have them. Lol. I also found Banana Republic slacks and a nice shirt and Danny found even more for him. We lucked out! The last time we went we came out empty handed! So yes, we like having Kate and Danny grounded because we get to hang out with them more.
Update: One negative of grounding both your high schoolers is that your daughter might help your son pierce his ears at home. Omg. They got so bored they also watched 3 Fast & Furious movies on Saturday together too. Natalie watched the first two with them and I watched the 4th one (since they opted to skip the 3rd) after Natalie got dropped off at her friend M’s birthday party. You know it’s going to be a good time when the first activity is ice skating! Michelle also got to go to Anne’s birthday party the day before but didn’t end up spending the night because she came down sick. Poor kid but at least she could rest all weekend. Final push to Christmas break here we come!
Oh, and one last note. Natalie got to eat lunch with the principal after getting the “Citizenship Award” at school. I am so glad she gets to enjoy elementary school for another semester! This school has been so good for her. And laughing pretty hard thanks to an instagram idea we recreated has been good for me. lol.
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