SGI- We Love You So!

We had an amazing beach get away a couple of weeks ago.

I closed the shop for a week, but I am still terribly behind. I am so grateful that I am so busy, but my goodness...I am so busy!

So anyway, it is totally worth it to have had this time with my family.

These little boys have stolen my heart and I do not think I will ever be the same.

 

I had so much fun building castles in the sand with Blu.....

 



 

And Blu....well Blu had his fun knocking them down!

 

We were up past our bedtimes, up waaay too early each morning and did not get naps.

So we had a few frowny faces and pouts.

 



 

This was an especially tricky evening!

 

 

He did get his second wind later!

 

 

Shepherd was a perfect little doll baby as usual. He is such a laid back baby!

 



 

 

I guess he doesn't have much choice with the way that we drag him around!

He spent most of his beach time in his carrier...with a fan to keep him cool of course. We tried laying him on the towel, but that blasted sand is everywhere and he kept getting it in his sweet eyes and mouth.

 

 

This was Blu's pose at the end of every day. OUT COLD!

 

 

Do you get carried away with sunrise and sunset pictures at the beach? I am always in such awe of the beauty that I take the same sunrise picture over and over!

 

 

This baby is so adorable. I dressed him for the pool two days in a row, but the poor little fella was just so tuckered out, he slept right through pool time!

No hurry...there will be plenty of time for swimming next year!

 



 

Sunrise off our patio...so pretty!

 



 

I love this kid!

 



 

We had so much fun searching for treasures on the beach on our last day.

We found the most GIANT shell and I thought we were both going to lose our minds we were so excited!

 



Goodbye Saint George Island. We will miss you until next year ( hopefully!)

Almost three months already!

Well, Shepherd is almost three months old and I realized that I never posted any two month pictures!

He came home with this crazy grunting habit. He must have picked it up at the hospital!

HA!

No seriously...I actually talked to the Dr. about it. I was worried. the kid grunted ALL NIGHT LONG in his sleep. I was so worried that he as in some type of pain or something. The Dr. was not concerned, so I just learned to tune it out.

I guess I was so good at ignoring it, that I just realized it has stopped. It could have happened anytime in the last few weeks...not sure. All I know id that it is gone and I am PROUD!

He is sleeping from about 8pm till about 4am. He takes a quick bottle and then goes back to sleep until about 6:30 or 7. It is pretty awesome!

He is smiling now and Big D and I just eat it up. He "talks" more than any baby I have ever heard. His little coos and ahhs are the sweetest sounds.

He is such a good baby. My only complaint right now is that is will not take a good nap during the day. Just a bunch of cat naps. Nothing more than about 30 minutes. I am worried that he is not getting enough rest. But hey, if that is all that I have to complain about, then I am doing pretty good, right?

I keep forgetting to say that we found what we are having!!!!!!!!

It's a BOY!

Blu is getting a baby brother!

We are so excited!

Jack had it in his head that it was a girl, and he still gets hung up on that a little bit.

When I say something to him about his little brother, he says..."why do you say brother? It is a girl?"

He is starting to come around, though. He told Big D the other day that the Dr. TOLD us it was a boy. That is what we say when he insists it is a girl. "No Jack, the doctor said that it is a boy".

So I think he starting to get it!

I have already made Jack a Big Brother shirt. I am excited now to make a matching one for the new little munchkin.

Now....the name game begins!

MONSTER JAM 2012

Well, we have quite possibly started a new family tradition. We went to our first Monster Jam truck show downtown and we all had a ball.  It was a TOTAL monster truck weekend!  We kicked off the weekend on Saturday night with a trip out to Dallas GA to the Little Ceasars to see Gravedigger Legend. They had a lot of different trucks around town for people to come and see, but since Gravedigger is Blu's favorite, we decided to make the trek!

It was SUPER cold! But it was SOOO worth it! Blu had been pretty close to a monster truck before when we went to the little show at Dixie Speedway, but to actually sit on the tire blew his little mind! Gravedigger Legend is driven by Adam Anderson. Adam is the son of Dennis Anderson. Dennis Anderson is the creator and driver of the original Gravedigger Monster Truck. Got all that???

This year marks the 30 year celebration of Gravedigger, so he was a pretty big deal at the show. Father and son even raced at one point. SOOOO cool!



If it was not for the fact that it was about 30 degrees outside, I am pretty sure that Blu would never have left that truck. He was in HEAVEN!

Before the show on Saturday night, we had to make a quick stop at his classmates birthday party. It was a catch air in Marietta. You know, one of those in door bounce house play places? It was really fun. Jack had a ball. He had not had a nap that day and I was hoping that he would sack out on the way downtown.

He did not.

Oh well. Thank goodness he slept late that day. We have been seeing the beginning s of a no nap life. If he sleeps in on the weekends, (something he NEVER used to do), then he can survive without a nap. Makes birthday parties a little easier. Not so sure if it is going to amke my life easier! HA!

Anyway, we rode MARTA ( blu was in heaven because it was a train) downtown to the show and it was so cool. It was really loud and smelled of fumes and there was popcorn and dipping dots, italian shaved ice, and really expensive souveniers to be had. We all had a ball. We actually left at intermission because Blu said that he was ready to go home. Poor little guy barely made it through the train ride back to the car!

We had a great time! I think tickets for next January are in order!



anyone still out there??? The Grinch

I have been on a bit of an unintentional "break".

Busy at work, busy at home, and yes...even though I have been closed since November 30th, still super busy at the Pickle Tree.

I usually have no time to figure out and execute all the wonderful ways to take advantage of living near a large city like Atlanta. Lucklily for me, I have a few girlfriends with kids Blu's age who are experts at it! Last weekend, we took the kids to see the Grinch at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta.

I discovered that plays, to my dismay, are not really Jack's bag. We had a great time, but sitting still in the dark watching a not so up close and personal live production proved to be a bit too much for his attention span! He was pretty much over it as soon as the "sparkly" man playing the organ was through and the lights went down.

He sure loved getting to hang out with one of his best good buddies, though. I got hang out with some of mine, too! How can you lose on a day like that!

This is me figuring out that you cannot photograph children in the dark without a flash.

Still learning...

I finally asked them to be really really still.



All in all, it was a great day. I have practically recovered fully from all of the backwards headbutts I received from little Blu sitting in my lap for most of the performance.

I have even forgotten most of the painfullness of  trying to keep him quiet for an hour and a half, that I might even try it again someday!



Jaunty and Dunnants

This is a picture of Jack at this time last year. WOW! He has grown so much. People still comment on his chubby cheeks, but they have really slimmed down so much in comparison.

Anyway, this is just a quick post, really more for records sake for me and Big D.

So Jack is really getting into imaginary play lately. I hear him talking to his toys ALL of the time now. He and Big D have been palying tractors before bed almost every night lately. They each have a tractor and Jack has named the "farmers" that drive them. It is sooooo funny. They are called "Jaunty" ( that is always his), and "Mr. Dunnants". That is usually played my me or daddy. It just cracks us up. I mean...I get coming up with nonsense names and words and such, but the funniest part to me, is how NO NONSENSE they are to him. He is totally straight faced and serious and calls the same names each time.

Jaunty and Dunnants.

Man, I hope I am spelling them right?? Maybe I should ask Jack how he spells those names?

Other things he is doing now:

counting to 10 in spanish

calling his colors the spanish names for them

( and to think, I was afraid he was color blind because he was slow to learn his colors in English...he has blown right past that now!!!!)

counting to 20 in english

He can look at his name and point and call out each letter

He is starting to enjoy washing his hands

He likes to straighten up his "crazy" hair in the mornings with a wet brush

He loves to snuggle with me

thank goodness

What will I do when if he ever stops wanting to snuggle with me????

Will there be a day when he ceases saying, "OK mommy, let's snuggle"?

That's all!!!

So proud of my big growing boy

Next stop- Halloween pictures and maybe even a video.

They are "bad to the bone"

Timely...Heros and Preschool

Last night, I told Dan that I loved him because he was my hero.  I further demonstrated my point by singing out very loudly you are the wind beneath my wings. I need to learn when to stop sharing. Just because I blog doesn't mean I have to let all of my crazy out. It is just so much more fun to let you see the REAL me.

Jack was in the room with us and he looked at me and said, "mommy, you can't call daddy hero. That is for Mr. Incredible". Funny. At his age he is SOOO literal! As he grows, he will learn more about words and how they can take on different meanings. This morning I saw this video and it was so precious it moved me to tears. It is from the perspective of a mom. It is about her little boys' and some thoughts about heros. If you can possibly find the time, you should jump over and check it out!

To My Little Super Heros at I Am Momma Hear Me Roar.

Jack is my little hero this week. He has started preschool. He has been going to Mrs. Kim's, an in home day care, since he was 8 weeks old.

It has been quite a tearful transition for him and for me, but he is trying so hard to be big. I am so proud of him!

The Boy Likes Tractors

 OK- so maybe this is not considered a tractor to some...more like equipment....

 But to a 2 year old boy- it is darn tootin close enough!

If you are not familiar with my boy, you might not be able to see it, but there is a certain smirk on his face in the above picture that I don't see very often. I am learning that it is the face that he makes when he is uncontrollably giddy about something so he gets almost bashful and then tries to look non chalant

 Here he is driving a tractor for the first time. Yep...it is moving!

 He got to scoop dirt and everything!

 And as if that was not enough, he not only got to ride one tractor, BUT TWO!

 He is feeling pretty confident at this point!

Daddy even let him hold the key after they parked them!

Watch these cute boys in action!

You can see the "smirk" as he twists his lips around- too cute!

trator riding! from Melanie Marsh on Vimeo.

Gone Fishin'

 The Easter Bunny Brought Jack his first fishing pole and a new life jacket.

 We decided to take him out to Cushing Park to try it out on Sunday afternoon!

(He looks just like his dad in this picture)

 Dan put one of those rubbery worm bait thingies on the end of the pole ( I am not a fisherman) and Jack started calling it the "snake-y snake".

 Where DO they come up with these things?

Where it comese from I am not sure, but I do know this...

it sure it cute!

Random Phone Pics and the Stories that Inspired Them!

Just when I thought I did not have pictures to share...boomama had to go and inspire me!
Of course I have pictures! These days, there are always those random pictures that you take on your phone and then what???
Why not email them to yourself and recall why you took them in the first place?
Like the picture above. It shows one of my favorite things of late.
Justin, our neighbor is 5 and can fit into Jack's Jeep unlike Dan or myself.
Unlike Jack, Justin can drive the Jeep! So, when Justin comes to play, I get to watch them ride in the Jeep instead of hunching over trying to steer while Jack puts it in high gear down our steep driveway!
And BONUS! Justin is SOOO good with Jack! He totally lets him drive most of the time and he tries to teach him to steer! Such a good egg!



Random phone picture of Jack eating noodles at his first hibachi Japanese dinner. It was pretty much a disaster and since I picked the place, Dan had fun railing me all night about it. I am still hearing about it actually. Jack was not in the best mood. We get in there, and they do not have milk. Okay, we will give him water. They have no cups with lids. Okay, I will hold the giant glass while he drinks. Jack was not cooperating. Okay, I will take him in the bathroom and spank him. But in the end, he was pretty impressed with the fire!



Too cute! I finally caved and bought a "blow up doll" for the yard!
It was such a hit with Jack, I had an easier time then I thought over-looking the deflated Santa in the yard during the daytime.



THIS...
THIS is a surprise!
At the Frye's Superbowl party, Jack discovered Tucker's big car with doors and a hood that open.
When I saw this a Target the other day, I could not resist! This little 1967 Ford Shelby GT-500 came home with ME and it is gonna make a SUH-WEET Valentine's Day gift for my boy!
(I took the picture to send to Dan because I was so excited about my find)!


And this little picture....
well I think the picture says it all.
Melt.
My.
Heart.


I love my boys!

Jack's First Gingerbread House

So this is Jack's first gingerbread house. I did the icing and Dan and Jack did the candies. I think they did an excellent job.


Jack wanted to eat the candy the whole time. I am pretty pleased with the amount of candy that actually made it on the house. I have it on display on the kitchen table. He kept getting a fork and trying to eat off of it for the first three or four days after we finished it, but I think he gets is now. We just enjoy looking at it!
It is getting so close to Christmas..I can taste it!