Merry and Bright!

Long story short...


My computer is in the hospital, so I only have a couple of pics that I poached from facebook to post....
BUT.
I could NOT go another day without saying that my sweet brother and his girlfriend Jarah found out they are having a GIRL...and another GIRL- yes they are having TWINS!
I am so excited. We could not be happier for them!
Christmas of course was great...Jack is such a joy to us all!
My sister and my niece are here visting. We went to a place called Jumptoons today and Grace and Jack HAD A BLAST!
More soon:)

Here Comes Christmas

Ready or not...here it comes!
I am so excited to see family and spend time with my sweet little boy!
I hope to have some cool things to talk about next week as I play the role of stay at home mom.
I am semi- off work. My compnay shuts down and give us the week off in lieu of a cash bonus, but I have to work some anyway...I plan to make the most of the couple of days that I am getting! My awesome sister is going to come stay a few days and we will play stay at home mom together!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Jack loves the tree! He loves the music that our Jingle Bell House from our Snow Village plays. It is hard to find someone who gets as excited about the holiday season as I get, but I think I have a little Christmas buddy in the house, now. I mean, not that Dan is a grinch or anything, but he usually does not clap, squeal, and dance. His show of Christmas Spirit is watching Christmas Vacation and drinking eggnog while I put up the Christmas Tree. Though I will never tire of watching Christmas Vacation myself ( it is a holiday staple) I can say I look forward to some new holiday traditions with my new Christmas Buddy!


The reason that I am asking Jack to say cracker in the video is not because I think crackers are Christmas-sy and not because I like to randomly select words for him to attempt. It is becasue he just said cracker at his gourmet dinner or vegetable soup and crackers and I thought it might stick if I got him to say it again. It really has not...but he does say "Wooo Wooo" when he sees the tree. I think it is becasue of our repeated attempts to get him to say Ho-Ho!


Enjoy!

Untitled from Melanie Marsh on Vimeo.

Christmas Tour of Homes 2009

Welcome to Our Home!



Merry Christmas...Come on in!

I can take NO credit for the exterior illumination. That would be D's department! He does a

B-E-A-U-tiful job!

Step inside the foyer...we have a kissing ball hanging from the fixture- MMMWAHHH!

The first Place people ALWAYS go is the Kitchen. I ADORE the tree hanging to the right. It was a gift from my dear friend Rayna ( the world's best gift giver). I love it at Christmastime to display all of the Christmas cards that we receive. I leave the tree there all year round and it is sort of seaonal with cards and photos from birthdays and other occasions throughout the year.

The little tree on the table is the first tree I ever had on my own. My mom shipped me all of the things to put it together and it sat on the bar of the kitchen in my first tiny apartment in Atlanta. It is funny to think back on that. That little tree actually looked BIG in my apartment.

The sink...I love my sparkly berry wreath- it makes me happy. Our friends like to rearrange the letters on the window sill to say things like LEON and LONE instead of NOEL. I like that somewhere deep down I know me and all of my friends will always be six at heart!

I decided to do a double decker cookie display for the center of the island this year.

I have had the plate and mug on the top for years. The plate says " What? Cookies!?! For me?" The mug says " No kidding? Milk too?!?" I have been anxiously awaiting the opportunity to use them for a long time. You can bet they will have a special place in our house every Christmas Eve!

I set up my Snow Village for the first time in a while this year. Jack LOVES it! The house with all the colored lights actually plays Jingle Bells. SO FUN!

I actually have more pieces, but I just chose the few favorites that would fit. I am still crazy about all the details on all of the little houses and buildings! I finally opened up the original bag of snow that came with the first church that mom gave to me. It is funny the things that you will finally do just to get your child to smile and clap! YAY! Jingle Bells! Snow!

The dining room. This room didn't get much because it kind of looks Christmas-sy all year long with the red walls and all!

It is adjacent to the living room and the TREE!

Yes...okay I admit...I am one of THOSE PEOPLE who like to match their wrapping paper. I got that from my mom. I usually do a few different prints every year. I have been especially fond of the simple red satin ribbon for a couple of years now. It has served me well!

My mom got me this last year and I believe it is my new favorite!

It is Santa's Magic watch. I take Christmas Eve and all of the magical things that go along with it VERY seriously. No one knows that better than my mom, sister, and brother. I have not grown out of it. Christmas magic is a very big deal to me. It is about to be an even BIGGER deal since I get to share it with Jack and I cannot wait!

I picked up two of these the day after Thanksgiving. One for each of my "good boys".

I had to have something special because I knew I had some very special new stockings on the way. I have drooled over these for two years now! I finally bit the bullet and bought them with my birthday money from the Marsh's. I would have never treated myself to them otherwise. I am so grateful for such awesome in-laws!

And the tree...I finally found a place for it that I love! I had to give up on having it in front of the window. But I am over that now.

I love how it is right in the middle of it all. Right next to the fireplace...the focal point of the room!

Jack runs around it and laughs. He loves it.

Knock on wood, he doesn't really bother it.

Of course, I did not put any of the glass ornaments on it just in case.

I am pretty particular about what goes on my tree, but I love pulling out ornamants that I received from others and looking back on old times.

BUT...if I am keeping it real...I MUST include pictures of the den where we do our REAL living!

The only Christmas decoration in there is this singing clapping Santa that the dogs got a hold of the lip!

It does sort of look like Santa's work shop with all of the toys though, ya think?

*** No dust bunnies were harmed in the making of this post. They will all be safe and sound and in tact waiting for me when I wake up on a Saturday morning and get to actually be home when the sun is out so that I can SEE them! BOOOOOO!

Merry Christmas From the Marsh's!

Merry Birthday!

Dan and I would like to extend our gratitude to our neighbors Nick and Ashley for once again keeping our adorable, happy, easy going son while we stepped out for a little grown up time!
* This is NOTa picture of him crying when we left- he never even shed one little tear! He loves Nick and Ashley. I just wanted to demonstrate how very grateful we were to get out of the house!



As much as we miss him when we are away, it is always fun to hang out with these guys! We had a little holiday get together last year at Vanessa and Jim's house and they were kind enough to invite us all again!

They even treated us to something that this group doesn't see much of anymore!

How could anyone resist a platter of delicious meat such as this?

YUM! Cooked to perfection.

Good food, good drinks, good LAUGHS! I had to get up from the table at one point my back was hurting so bad from laughing! I had to stretch my body out to recover from that one. What was the joke? Who knows? We all laugh the whole time that we are together at pretty much everything!

I brought everyone a little favor. Wish I could give 'em all the world, but they settled for hand painted ornaments!

Someone at the party received more than just a little Christmas favor...you see, the party fell on the exact date of our dear friend Rayna's birthday!

Do you think she likes her new "flippers" ( flip-flop slippers)? She pulled off her knee high boots and socks on a night that was a balmy 25 degrees and wore the slippers for the rest of the evening. I would say that she thinks they are OK.

Muah- hahahaha!

My evil plot to get her to cook for me. I treated her to a new crock pot. I owed her double because I was still in panic from the "man-cession '08" last year and all she got was a melon baller ( she loved me anyway- that's a sign of a true friend:)

Eileen played along and outfitted her with a jazzy spoon rest and spoon, too, so NO EXCUSES RAYNA! When is dinner?

Notice the balloons- courtesy of our gracious hostess who also treated Rayna to the best smelling soap EVER!

Such a festive Merry Birthday!

Her husband Randy tipped me off to a cake with fruit on top.... I ran with it and went all tropical.

We made her blow her candles out twice...does that mean she got two seperate wishes?

What an awesome night! Vanessa and Jim did a great job hosting AGAIN.

I wish I could see you guys more often!

MERRY BIRTHDAY TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

* For documentation sake, Eileen and I were actually there...no pictures of us. Not sure why!

Turkey, Surprise, and Sailing

THURSDAY ( Thanksgiving Day 2009):



This was our first turkey of the day...It was Goooo-oood. Nice and juicy. That is my mom carving her masterpiece and trying to convince my precious finicky niece that turkey is just like chicken..only bigger.
It didn't work. Oh well. Too bad for you little Grace, that just leaves more for us!


This is my memaw with me in her first ever bedroom in a new home since she sold her home on 4th avenue of 40 plus years. She loves purple. She repainted her previously green with gold accents bedroom suit white all by her self just to suit her purple decor. She is quite the whipper snapper!

Here is a picture of me with my mom and sister. We did not intend on the color coordination, but it worked out nicely.

Here is the token picture of the siblings, but this year our little Grace snuck in and I am so glad she did! Such a cutie!

Here is a new picture grouping that I hope to see much more of in the future. Me and my sista cheesing with our brothers girlfriend, Jarah. She and my brother are expecting their first baby in May and we couldn't be happier! We really like her a lot and look forward to spending many more holidays with her. Hopefully she feels better soon! I am sure it was no fun at all to have morning sickness over the Thanksgiving holiday:(

The proud parents to be! They find out if it is a boy or a girl on December 28th.

I. CAN. NOT. WAIT!

Dan is such a good daddy. He entertained the little man in the tree out front while we satisfied our photo cravings. The tree is AWESOME for climbing. It has really low big branches. I am sure Jack will have lots of fun on it over the years!

Turkey number two. YUMMY! This was the first bird that my mother-in-law cooked in her new covection oven. I heard their was a learning curve when you go from a conventional oven to convection. She already has that mastered! The turkey was great- very moist.

Jack got to join us at the table for the first time in the high chair that my mother-in-law used as a little girl. It is a Marsh tradition. Along with the fancy divided plate. He was getting super tired after all the days activities plus he really has not been sleeping that great. Of course he was a trooper, though. Eating is just about his favorite thing!

Jack with his Aunt Sally. See. See the eye rubbing- tired little man.

Jack trying out the rocking horse with the help of his Uncle John and Cousin, Emily.
We had a great day. A very long day, but great, still!

FRIDAY:

This is a picture of my niece, Grace as she is seeing her room for the first time. We gave her a little makeover.

Notice her new Hannah Montana pillowcase. That was as "theme-y" as I was willing to go. The bed has since changed to a toddler bed. With all the sewing, and hot gluing I had to do, I had to let Papa come in at a later date to put the bed together. As with every trip home, there is just so much to do and SO LITTLE TIME!

The piece above the bed is just foam core covered in the same fabric that I used on the curtains shaped and nailed to the wall. It covers an intricate system of pulleys and hooks that hold the black curtains and chandelier above the bed that I found at Good Will for $7.00. Score! The black curtains were another score. Good Will for I think about $5.00. All the deals are starting to run together!

The curtains are made from same fabric I picked up combined with a hot pink twin sheet set that I found at Good Will for $5.00. We spray painted an old oak end table chrome and...

WA-LAH! A vanity table set for a princess! Kelly and Grace later bedazzled the mirror with sparkly rinestones. I painted the closet door with a chalkboard paint. I have no pictures of it yet. But I think all together it tunerd out cute as a button and we achieved out goal of making her decor a little more grown up!


SATURDAY:

Sailing!

It was such a beautiful day on Satuday. It was a little cool, but definitely still warm enough to take the little man for a little sail!

This is him checking things out with Grandma.

He was not really crazy about the life vest we started him out in. Uncle John came to the rescue with an adorable early Christmas present! Good job guys- he LOVES this one and it is too cute!
Jack eventually got tired. I went down below to get him to sleep. I knew that someone would have to stay with him, so I just laid down with him. He slept on my chest for about an hour. With the movement of the boat, I was right behind him! MY GOODNESS. That has to rank up there as one of the best naps I have ever had!

Uncle John and cousin Emily on their boat. It was nice to get to visit with them for a while. They had an adorable little toy boat that we tied up and pulled behind that Jack had fun with. We all went out for dinner later and it was REALLY good. It was a little Cajun place in Guntersville- yum!

It was the perfect end to a hectic, full, long weekend. Sunday morning we hit the road right after breakfast.
Next on the travel forecast- Christmas in Alabama. I hope Santa got our note to bring our stuff there this year!