You know you want to see my homemade Christmas stockings, don't you?

And since that page, sadly, does not provide a link to the main page. And I know you're going to want to see my new fireplace gate, I'll just fill this post up with lots of links.

Enjoy!

Last night we went to get our Christmas tree. Joel really wanted to cut it down, but we got there too late and they wouldn’t let us do it (even though it was still light out!). Oh well, we still bought a freshly cut tree and Rosemary got to explore the petting zoo. They had cows, goats, bunnies, DUCKS!, llamas, reindeer, and an emu. Rosemary thought the emu was the coolest. And now we have a Christmas tree, yay!

P.S. I need some Christmas/winter icons - where are all of yours coming from??

Not much. It snowed and we didn’t even go play in it! I feel kind of bad about that, but I figure it’s not the last snow Rosemary will ever see in her life. We just kind of spent the week in recovery mode. Joel and Rosemary were still feeling a bit under the weather. Friday night we braved the mall. Joel and I each got a new outfit. I really needed something, I feel like such a slob everywhere I go.

Saturday I was going to head to the mall to get a little Christmas shopping done, to get myself a new pair of shoes (I’m still wearing shoes that I outgrew while pregnant with Rosemary!), and to get Rosemary a slip to wear underneath her Christmas dress. We were in the middle of quite the snowstorm, so I figured the malls wouldn’t be too busy. I went out, started the car, started brushing the snow off my car, turned my car off, and went back inside. It was too cold and windy out and I didn’t want to have to brush the snow off again when I left for the mall! So I sat next to Joel on the couch and read a book next to the fire. We also started watching White Christmas, which is a tradition for us.

Sunday we went to church, but left early. Rosemary was a little lot cranky and we had some errands to run, so we made an executive decision to leave. We went to the mall where we found a slip for Rosemary and I got to get 2 pairs of shoes because of a sale. Woohoo! Rosemary took a 3.5 hour nap and Joel took it easy as well. I went to the grocery store and then went home and cleaned up a little. I got to do some reading, took Owen for a walk, and then took Rosemary with me to cell group. Joel stayed home because he wasn’t feeling well.

I know this probably sounds boring to you, but I love these kinds of weekends. Oh yeah, and I got some Christmas decorations up as well. We are hopefully going to go cut down a tree sometime this week, either Wednesday or Saturday.

So glad that Tuesday night was a fluke. Rosemary had a great day yesterday and a great night last night. Hopefully she’s having a great day with Sarah as we speak.

I felt a need to just get out last night. So we decided to go to the mall to look for a Christmas dress for Rosemary. We got the cutest dress I’ve ever seen. It’s from Macy’s and was, of course, on sale. (sidebar: I love Macy’s, I always find the best deals and they practically give things away.) We also bought her a couple of plain colored long sleeve shirts from Kohls and from the Gap clearance rack.

She really wanted to ride the carousel and we were feeling generous, so I rode on it with her. That thing made me feel REALLY dizzy. I had to just look straight ahead, but Rosemary loved it. We also spent a little time letting her run around the kids play area. I had never paid attention to it before and it is a really nice area! It would be a good place to go on a cold winter day when you just need to get out of the house.

I had a coupon for free subway subs, so we each got one and we brought them home to eat.

I feel that Joel and I need to get something nice to wear this Christmas. I’m so sick of walking around in the same old shaggy clothes. And especially since we got Rosemary such a nice dress – wouldn’t it be nice if her parents looked 1/2way decent too?

I have been really, really wanting to get Rosemary a play kitchen for Christmas. She’s just starting to get into that kind of play and I don’t know how deeply, quickly that is going to develop. Is she too young? I had been thinking that we don’t have room for one, but then my mom pointed out that we have plenty of room ... in our kitchen. Now I’m just all excited about the idea. One problem, of course, is expense. I don’t want to buy a crummy plastic one. I want to get one that will last and last for my kids, and if it’s going to really last, I’d definitely keep it for grandkids. In my opinion, a play kitchen is something that is essential to childhood.

So, the first thing I want to know: should I wait until she’s older?

And the second thing I want to know ... What kind should I get? I’ve been looking at wooden ones like this. With the price, we would definitely not be able to buy a stove and a refrigerator. But we could buy one now and perhaps another one next Christmas? Or, we could go with something like this red retro kitchen. It’s expensive, but cheaper than a wood stove/fridge combo. I absolutely love it to death, but it looks like it’s metal. Would I regret that? Also, it’s going in my kitchen, which we are planning to remodel soon. At the moment, I am planning to paint the cupboards and trim cream, and the walls a medium chocolatey brown. So, would I regret that? Plus, someday we’re going to move ... how much do I have to worry about a toy like that matching the rest of the room?

If you don’t think she’s too young for a play kitchen (and I really want honest opinions), please spam me with links and ideas.

Thanks!

edit: look at this awesome, fairly low-priced kitchen. It would look great in a brown kitchen! I haven't even begun to check if any of these are made in China. :-(