A Cozy Weekend spent Indoors

With Brandon on the mend, running around and bugging his sister again...the tell tale sign of a child feeling better...we decided to go to the city yesterday for groceries. Mike and I have been watching for sales for over a year on the fireplace we wanted, and with the temperatures outside getting colder he really kept an eye on the fliers for the last two weeks. Finally, on Friday, he saw "the one", saw it on sale, and so we made the plunge and brought it home. It is a corner unit and fits in perfectly with our decor, is the right height, and really pumps out the heat. At nights we used to need to be under a blanket, and our noses were always chilly. Not anymore.

Jacey warmed up this morning.

Of course getting the fireplace also meant decluttering, which is something I LOVE to do...no really, I love it! So I tidied and cleaned, tossed out old VHS movies as we got a Blu Ray player and got rid of our VHS/DVD combo, and put an ottoman downstairs full of the Wii things as that also went downstairs. Brandon was delighted with this concept, and so am I in all honesty. We always kept it upstairs to limit the amount of gaming time the kids had to a few hours a week. They didn't even play it that long, going weeks sometimes without touching it at all. However, we have Netflix on the Wii, which keeps our satellite bill to a minimum as we watch movies on Netflix now, and I refuse to hook it up downstairs so that Brandon can't "accidentally" watch adult-content movies.
The Blu Ray we have has Netflix on it, so we still will have it up here. Down went the Wii, the movies, the TV stand... and  I found I needed a stand for our stereo. So I went to Winners.

I'm still trying to sell Mike on it, but I fell in love with it, and the price tag too as it was cheap and sturdy.
We had a nice little skiff of snow fall on Friday night, making the world all white and crisp. The girls couldn't wait to get out in it, although I managed to keep Charlie in while Jacey helped Mike shovel. I love how kids' brains work, in the way that they think if it snows, it must be winter and therefore Christmas. I suppose it doesn't help when mommy starts looking through Christmas things and confuses them. It will be hard to make them wait until the last week of November or so to get things set out, especially with the famous Lloydminster Christmas Craft Show in a few weeks, an event I always set the weekend aside for as I love to  saunter around the entire thing. If any of you have never been, I highly recommend it, if not for the booths, and there are hundreds, then for the yummy food in the food court. Oh the Ukrainian booth with the homemade sausage on a bun and perogies is amazing!

Another thing I wanted to note before I sign off is to say congratulations to my cousin Nicole and Calvin and their boy Kaysen on the birth of their new baby girl Jaela Grace, who was born Thursday November 3rd at 9:50 pm. She came into this world at 7lbs 10oz, and mommy was more than ready to have her in her arms rather than her belly as there didn't seem to be any more room for that little girl in there! I can't wait to see her, and sent gifts with grandma and grandpa for Jaela to take to Taber when they go. The name Jaela Grace is very special to Nicole and Calvin too...it is pronounced Jay-la, and it means "Ja" for James, her dad who passed away last year, and "ela" for Pamela, her mom(my mom's sister) who passed away 8 years ago. Her middle name is her dad's grandma's name, who also passed away recently. Welcome, baby girl.