Happy Day... Meggie!

My Baby is 8!

Where has the time gone?

It seems like just barely she was so little she fit in a regular Christmas stocking.

Meggie turned 8 yesterday... What a fun day... I mean weekend!

I worry that having a birthday in December it just gets lost in the jumble...
so... we partied hearty!

Any good birthday starts with breakfast in bed...

Her order? Ham sandwich, orange slices, and apple juice.

At school it was her VIP day... I took a poster ( shown below) and we had cupcakes. She looked so cute... she even wore a tiara in her hair. The school kids were amazed at that.

(oh... opps no picture of the school thing... crazy day)

I try to decorate the table area special for birthdays

Meg's balloon bouquet had cheetah (duh), turquoise, and pink balloons & a great big #8.

We had Mitch's football banquet so...

we had Chloe and Paige Beus come over and hang out.

We got pizza and the "older" girls entertained Meg.

She was thrilled... they had a spa birthday just for her. Complete with a facial, pedicure, manicure, and body glitter.

Meg was in HEAVEN.

( yeah... totally forgot to get a picture of the three of them)

After the banquet we all came back to our house for cake and ice cream.

Last weekend Meg, Kai, Kelli and I went to The Princess and the Frog. We all went to the Gateway for a little dinner, shopping movie birthday celebration.

It was so much fun!

Like I said... It seems like just a moment ago she was 4 lbs. 11 oz. and snuggled in a Christmas stocking. She knows she's the best stocking stuffer ever!

I am so glad to have a daughter. She is a little sassafrass that keeps us all on our toes.

Our family wasn't complete without her.

Happy Birthday...Meg

2009 Christmas Decorations...

Here are my decorations for the season....

I am a little sad that they are only up for 4-5 weeks. I love when my house is all decorated for Christmas... the lights, and garlands, and GLITTER!This is my new wreath... I try to get one thing new each year... this year I splurged on a fab wreath from Modern Display. It doesn't really have anything Christmas in it... maybe I will leave it up all year.

This is a close up of my tree showing a few of my favorite things... Reindeer and trees.
I love my tree this year! I only have 3-5 of any one great ornaments. It is like an I SPY... I just see new things everytime I sit and look at it.

This is my mantle... all lit up!

This year I decorated the top of my armoire... and I really liked the way it turned out!

Really and truly... Christmas Decorations are such a huge part of my holiday season... I don't even need to Christmas morning haul to have a Merry Christmas... I wish my kids were on board with this. Mitch doesn't get as jazzed over garland as I do.....

December 3 & 4... Holidays in Hand!

So...I know I am a slacker and it is past the 3 & 4th, but oh well...

It was so fun to do December 3rd... it was all about what brings me joy.

I love Christmas Decorations...

I love the way they look and although they take forever to put up... I LOVE THEM!
December 4th was all about a significant piece of Christmas decor... how fitting, because the day before talked about how much I love Christmas decorations.
I love to get Christmas Decorations... it is fun to have something new, but then it is really fun the next year to get it out and remember the person and the occasion in which you got it.
It is very much like the Jelly-of-the-month club... It is the gift that keeps on giving.

Holidays in Hand... December 2nd

Here is my 2nd day of December...

I LOVED this prompt... what it made me think of, remember & strive to do.

I took away the idea of having a welcoming, warm home...

This is what I did...

I remembered how my home growing up was always the place to be...

My mom made it very comfortable for everyone.

There was always fun going on and treats to be had!

The best part of this prompt was the article Welcome Home...For the Holidays

It was such an amazing article that really put a few things into perspective for me.

I am one that likes beautiful Christmas decorations and my house to be totally trigged, but this article showed that you don't have to have everything perfect to have a warm and welcoming home... in fact, it is just the opposite... If it is a welcoming place to be...everything seems to be perfect.

For my project or what I "did"... I focused on a project that I had been wanting to do-

A garland for my front door.

I figured something beautiful would make my home seem more welcoming.
( and I just wanted to get it done and checked off the list...whatever- it worked out)

I changed things up a little... my photo isn't of something necessarily warm...but hopefully something inviting and welcoming.

I have loved that this little project has given new perspective on the Holidays.

Holidays in Hand... December 1st!

As I was searching for something to help me jump start the holidays and focus more on the Christmas Season and less on Christmas morning, I found a Jessica Sprague free class- Holidays in Hand.
Each day there is a place to do something, make something, write a memory and take a picture.
I am going to do this for my December portion of my project 365...
Caylor won't be home tonight so we cheated a bit and did our December 1st party last night...
Here is my Holiday in Hand page for December 1st.

My good friend, Tonia, introduced me to the idea of celebrating the beginning of the December by giving everyone in the family something they can use throughout the month,

I gave Mitch and Jacks some cute beanies for when we go outside... to see the lights, ice skating, etc... Meggie got the new Fancy Nancy Christmas book... I am sure we will read it many many times this month. Caylor got some Starbucks bucks so he can get a hot chocolate on his way to work.

I even took an invitation to their schools and left it at the office.

Mitch was totally embarrassed... Jacks and Meg thought it was cool.

We had a nice sit-down dinner (at the table- NOT the bar) and even played a game as a family.

I will post one of my HiH pages every few days...

1 down and 30 to go... so far so good!