Princess in training

Her Royal Heiness received new digs for Christmas and she loves them.

She is so darn cute!!


However, we are still learning how to walk in our Princess shoes!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning the boys woke up at 6:00am. Luckily they didn't come to our bed, they went to Papa and Grandma's bed. Somehow they persuaded them to climb in and go back to sleep until 7:30. We all drug ourselves out of bed, fired up the coffee pot and claimed a seat for the upcoming showing of flying paper. They all had a blast opening presents and Abigail was a sport. Each present she would ooh and aah over. Her favorite were her boots, Hayden's was his Brawl transformer, and Ethan's was the Ultimate Bumblebee. The kids dug into their stocking after they opened presents. Mom and Dad made a huge breakfast with french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, fruit, and who knows what else. It was so SCRUMPTIOUS. She makes the best french toast ever. We had a great day and stayed in our pj's all day.

I saw Abigail kissing Santa Claus

Abigail found her size of Santa Claus. This one of my mom's many Christmas decorations and she would not leave him alone. She loved to hug, kiss, and carry him around.

What a sweet kiss!

He's my size

Christmas Eve with the Gilberts!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. For the first time in a VERY long time my brother and his wife and kids along with my whole family were together at my mom's for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

In keeping with tradition, we again constructed our yearly gingerbread house. However, this year our foundation contractors did some shotty work. The sides collapsed within about 10 minutes. The kids really didn't mind though, it just meant they got to eat it quicker!

John and Bryan stayed busy all day changing out the felt and putting new bumpers on the pool table for my parents.
Can you believe my mom didn't have candy canes on the tree yet? So of course all the grand kids had to adorn the tree with them.

Papa and Grandma both have birthdays in Dec. Moms is on the 5th and Dads is on the 16th. So we had a cake for them both, decorated by the boys with Hot Wheels cars and sprinkles. We lit the candles twice so each had an opportunity to blow them out. It is kind of a neat year, my niece Jordan turned 15 in July and mom and dad are 51 this year. So it will be the only time they both have the 1 and 5.

Blow Papa Blow!
Grandma has a lot of hot air
How sweet!
The one fivers!

As evening came upon us, we decided to go leave out food for Santa's reindeer. Why should the big man in red be the only one to get treats?

The only problem was Bryan's dog kept eating all the reindeer food. How rude! :)


I think there was a little left for them

Wedding Bells

John's nephew Nathan was married on December 15th. Hayden was asked to be the ring bearer. He was so adorable in his tuxedo. He did a great job. I tried to take pictures of him walking down the aisle, but I couldn't use my flash and they didn't turn out well. He was so in love with the flower girl Kellie. He says he is going to marry her, I think Madison might have something to say about that. We had a great time and the wedding was GORGEOUS. Believe it or not I have no pictures of the bride.

Kellie and Hayden
Ethan's suit was constantly in disarray. He did however catch a nap through the nuptials.
Miss Beautiful! She had a ball and was soooo pretty.

My three guys

Darryl, Val and Ashley
Lauren and John Dayton

Me and my bug

Daddy's little girl

Nathan (aka the Groom) and the HANDSOME Ring Bearer
We tried a family pic and of course not everyone wants to participate.....
so, we'll just lay on the floor.


John's parents and his sisters, not pictured is his brother Jeff, we missed ya! :(
From Left to right....Howard, John, Val, Cindy (mommy of the groom), Cheryl, and Sue
All the Gilbert grandyoungins minus Brian, he was trying to find his girlfriends keys
Aren't they purty?

Where it all started!

Ten years ago, I met the man of my dreams!

While we were in Macon for our nephews wedding last weekend, we happened to have the rehearsal dinner two blocks away from the very spot John and I met. A mutual friend introduced us at Liz Reed's. It was on a Wednesday, 70's night, and I met him within the first 10 minutes I entered the club. We have been together ever since. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful man as my husband and a loving father for my children. I thank God everyday that he has given me so much wonderfulness in my life.

P.S. We still look Good!!!! :}

These boots are made for Abigail

Oh how she loves her boots! She totally has a shoe fetish anyway, but the boots are by far her favorite. Every morning after she is dressed she goes right for them. If I put other shoes on, she takes them off and puts on her boots. So why try? They are the cutest black suede with pink flowers on the sides made by Jumping Jacks

We like Daddy's boots too!!