I haven't exactly been feeling much like updating the blog lately, so two weekends have gone by without anything from me. Oops.

Mike and I spent a lovely weekend in downtown Minneapolis recently to see a concert of one of my favorite bands: The Swell Season. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova were in the movie Once, which won an Academy Award for Best Song in 2008. You may remember that Marketa was played off my the orchestra at the awards show and didn't get to give her thank you speech so the host, Jon Stewart, brought her back on later in the show so she could speak. Their music is just so beautiful and Glen Hansard is one of the best live performers I have ever seen. I got our tickets during a presale, so we were lucky enough to sit in the fifth row in center seats at the State Theatre for the concert. It was amazing.

Benjamin spent that weekend with my parents and they had many adventures, which you can read about here.

We had a snow day last week due to a blizzard that gave us about 12 inches overnight.

This past Friday I was able to spend the day holiday shopping with my Mom, which was a treat, since for so many years they lived too far away to just spend a day with her. We also hosted Mike's parents on Saturday and they brought along a few surprise guests: Andy, Jennifer, Dan and Katie. Mike made everyone some awesome Greek soup and we spent the evening hanging out and playing some games. It was very nice.

I am happy to report that my Christmas shopping is nearly done. I only have one more present to buy and wrap, it feels great. We are very much looking forward to our Christmas Eve traditions of holiday lights, church, a special meal and early bedtimes. Before we know it, the big day will be here!