Curtains, and a stocking, and time with friends!! (updates from the last few weeks)

Well, this last week has been wonderful!! Just wonderful!! My amazing mother came to visit us last Thursday, and we got crafty!! We spent all day Friday looking for the perfect fabric for curtains, which we finally came upon at a cute fabric store on Grand Ave. (Treadle Yard Goods) We had the hardest time finding red corduroy, (shouldn't this be easy??, it's Christmastime!!) though, and looked at several stores where we couldn't seem to follow directions...were we crazy or were the workers??...my mom would ask where the corduroy was and the lady said "Oh it's over there"...no...then another lady said "Oh it's just around the corner"...no...This went on until I finally said, "Ummm, I think we need to have you SHOW us where it is...walk us there, because we are having problems!!" Anyway, we decided on red velvet, and some Scandinavian ribbon, and wallah!! It is prefect! (the one on the right in the picture) The curtains, too, turned out lovely, adding some much needed life and color to my kitchen...when the sun hits them just right, it simply glows with warmth in there! Thanks, Mom, for all of your help, for the use of your sowing machine, and the wonderful night of sowing together, laughing together, and learning together!! We also ate at a yummy Irish restaurant with David on Thursday to celebrate our Irish heritage; my mom looked right at home with her glowing red locks!










Jonas loves looking out at the lake and trees, and just recently, has been as interested in watching the birds as Selina:) We have all kinds...cardinals, chickadees, finches,and many others...
one of the benefits of living on the second floor with the woods in our backyard! Our dear friend Derek also made the trek up on a snowy Hwy 35 towards the Great White North:)


We had a blast playing games, and more games, and more games, I don't think I've stayed up until 2:30 am in a long time! Settlers was a blast, and then we had a game of some Ruckus (long after we should have stopped playing any games:) which got quite competitive, to say the least!...Michael, David and Bailey all came to join in the fun...:) I love having friends and family around...I love feeding them and just being together...Jonas is such a buddy...he loves meeting new people, which has been a great joy for Jason and I!!...I think I am addicted to having guests, it's like I don't know what to do when people leave...except clean up and look forward to the next group (although, now I am on a role, and have read 4 books in 3 weeks!!)-also causing me to stay up much too late! I also just attended the Christmas party for our condo association, and boy was Jonas a hit...this lady kept taking pictures of him because he is the youngest resident (no joke, the youngest by about 60 years:) It was a room full of grandmas and grandpas...they adored him, and had much advice for me...oh how I love advice, but it was sweet to fellowship with them and get to know our neighbors and eat yummy food...they had quite the spread...and they even liked my Monster cookies, although, maybe it was just because I was the new girl, and I felt like their granddaughter...:) They also have a picnic in the summer and a community-wide garage sale in the spring, so everyone is expecting to see Jonas again then...walking and talking, as all the women assured me he would be:) What a blessing this new place has been to us already...we have a quiet, safe, wonderful place to live where the residents are community-minded...and care about one another!! A dream come true!
Steph and Justin came and visited us the weekend before Thanksgiving, and we had fun baking, shopping, eating, talking, and getting our nails done (Steph and I did, the boys watched Jonas (I think) and played some Epic Duels:)...some good quality time with dear friends:) We miss you guys! Glad you made it home...a trip to remember, for sure!!
I also wanted to add that our Thanksgiving break was also wonderful...time with friends and family! We ate good food, played games, and even went to a cute little tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree...Dennis and I did the cutting, as the boys stood by...:) It was a gorgeous day, perfect winter weather for Jonas to enjoy...45 degrees and sunny! Jonas even got to try on some of Daddy's old baby clothes...here he is in my favorite one...sadly, he was a little wider in the middle than Jason must have been because we couldn't button the vest, but the hat is adorable!!