Yeah...sooo.....I told you....

....look, I know it's been awhile...i know I've slacked off, I've been a disappointment to you. You probably feel alone and abandoned. It may be that you have forgotten that I was ever a part of the blog-world. Guess what?! So did I, well...forgot I had a blog that is! So, here's my commitment....I commit to continuing to disappoint when it comes to blogging...however, I will try to put up some Christmas pics...but.....I'm not committing! :) Happy New Year blog-o-sphere!

Our baby is almost 2~

Some of Marleigh's birthday party supplies came in today and they are CUTE! I can't believe that she is almost two! Our party is on April 4th but her birthday is on the 5th. So tonight we (Marleigh and I) started "talking" about her birthday party and her turning 2. You can see what she is MOST excited about when we started talking about it. As you will see, our "talk" was interrupted....

We are a little late on the notification still but we are getting much closer to potty training!

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!!

The Mardi Gras holiday is upon us! Even us Northerners in the state get into the Mardi Gras spirit. Okay...so it isn't quite the fiesta of the south but....I GET 2 DAYS OFF NEXT WEEK! The kids, however, do not. What? Oh what shall I do with my time you ask.....I'm painting...doesn't that sound like a blast?
We've been in our house a little over a year and we still haven't gotten a lot of the work done that we've wanted to. Last Monday, Presidents' Day, Matt and I got busy putting up some moulding in Marleigh's room. We have it almost finished and hope to finish this weekend...her a couple of pics of our baby's big girl room. No more crib for this big girl!
Waaaa....(yes, I cried) Here's a pic of some of the work....hopefully it will be finished this weekend.

Isn't she a big girl? She LOVES her new bed! And she hasn't offered to climb down. When I put her down at night she doesn't climb down. Who knows how long this will last but I sure am thankful for right now!

We had a great weekend last weekend at MeMe and PawPaw's! We miss them so much and wish they lived closer. You can see in the next pic that Mason was already getting upset that we were leaving!

Miss Marleigh also got a new tutu. I had a ball making it for her and want to do a few more! She thought it was pretty cool too! She is my girlie girl for sure. All this week....every morning as we are getting ready to walk out the door she starts asking for her purse. She is the cutest thing...saying "Uh puss?" With her palms up and cocking her head to the side! Too cute! What am I gonna do with this girlie-girl?

Christmas is over....back to life as we know it!

And I am not one bit sad about it! Now, don't get me wrong...I LOVE Christmas. I love everything about it, ESPECIALLY my two weeks off of work! I love spending time with my children and our families. I love seeing our babies enjoy the magic of Santa. I love teaching my son (and soon my daughter) about the true meaning of the holiday. I enjoyed Christmas Eve Candlight service at Matt's parents' church. I love staying in my jammies all day long! I Love Christmas.

I also love getting back to a routine. I love feeling productive and yes, I love my job. I love hearing stories from Mason about school. Okay, so I don't love the homework time but I do love seeing my son learn. He's reading. My baby boy can READ! I don't just mean, "cat, hat and bat"...I mean "always" and "change!" My baby girl is saying "because!" What?! Oh and did I mention that she is sleeping in a big girl bed? She took a nap in her big girl bed last weekend. Last night she asked to sleep in her big girl bed so I let her go to sleep and then (chickened out) and moved her to her crib. As I type, she is asleep in her big girl bed. I am trying to leave her there but I'm not promising anything! I catch myself wanting to baby her. I don't want her to grow up. I'm not ready for the baby stuff to be over! Sure, it will be nice when she's potty trained and there's a lot to be said about all of the other self help skills but this is the last one. I won't get this again until I have (hopefully) grandbabies which I hope is at least 20 years down the road. Here's my baby girl in her big girl bed!

The newest member is officially here....

"GUNNER" made his appearance Christmas morning! I hope to have the video of it soon. It was too cute. The Christmas surprise did come with some drama. I mean, how could it not in the Gilbert house, right?

So here's the story...

On Christmas Eve Eve (Tuesday), Matt was to go to West Monroe to get the dog right after work. So on Monday night, I asked him to go get the dog crate out of the storage building. He went to the Greenhouse (where all of the Santa stuff is locked up with a padlock....I know my son, he's too much like his momma.) first and couldn't find it. He came in to ask me and I told him it was in the storage building. Tuesday during the day Mason's little friends from next door , two precious little girls, came over to play. I saw them playing in the storage building so I asked them to not play in there...never went outside just saw them from the back porch.

Matt had a little time to spare Tuesday evening before he had to go get the dog so he came home. I told him that I wanted to go out and get the leash and collar so that he could take it to Bruce and Cindy's (our wonderful neighbors who were keeping the dog until Christmas morning). Mason had gone to the neighbor's house for a couple of minutes and it was perfect timing so that he didn't see it. I ran out to the greenhouse...it was pouring down rain by the way....and when I got out there the door was not only unlocked, it was standing WIDE OPEN!! I FROZE! My first thought was that someone had broken in. Then I saw the stuff and one of the boxes (Marleigh's trike) that was in a trashbag had been opened. Then I was MAD...I KNEW what had happend and WHO had done it! I was thinking "how can we afford to go buy all new Santa stuff?" I took off running back to the house...did I mention it was raining....oh and did I also mention that I was wearing Crocs? Rain, Mud, crocs and BEING LIVID.....not a great combination. I rounded the fence post at a dead run and WHOOP...my feet (yes both of them) went right out from under me. I fell on my left shoulder and I guess my left knee. I walked into the house squalling....Matt looked at me like I had two heads and then saw my left side covered in mud. He ran over to me and asked if I was hurt and I said "That's NOT what I'm crying about! Did you leave the Greenhouse unlocked?" You know that look that kids get when they've been caught with a cigarette, or a porn magazine? I mean the top of the line "HOLY ....." and the adam's apple bobs up and down with the swallowing of those "Holy....." words? Yeah, you get the picture. He didn't admit it then.....I don't blame him...it was TOTAL self defense and he was smart. It's funny now and I can laugh about it b/c I found out from the girls next door's mom that they only saw the tricycle. We'd decided already that we were going to save it for her birthday in April anyway. Oh and since I can laugh about it now...imagine Matt's thoughts knowing that I was running b/c of what happened and this is what my knee looked like...

It's kinda hard to tell but this is my left knee and the scrape and knot are on the outside of the knee. The knot was literally the size of a small orange! It's gone down a lot and I can also raise my left arm over my head now.... :-)

So you can see....we had the typical Christmas drama but all is well. The puppy is a huge hit! Marleigh got a motorized four wheeler (small) and loves terrorizing the puppy. I think she considers it payback...the puppy likes to chase her and bite her hiney! He's taken lessons from the Coppertone dog I guess!

We had a wonderful time with our families. We are so fortunate to have such great families and treasure them beyond words. From our family to yours....Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Nine Years Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is mine and Matt's 9th anniversary! I can't believe it! It seems like yesterday!

I remember when the doors opened at the church and I started down the aisle toward Matt, the look on his face was what I'd always hoped for. Ever girl should feel so loved at that moment. Fortunately for me, I see that look often.

I've told many people that I thought I was marrying a really great guy. I mean I KNOW I have great taste! (hee hee) But the Matt I married is not a drop in the bucket to the Matt that I'm married to now. I know this is becoming a broken record but I don't feel like I can say it enough. I have a wonderful husband. He could not be a better daddy to our children. The Lord has blessed me beyond belief. My soulmate, my love and my best friend....Happy Anniversary!

Update of the Fox...

The fox is now named Rocky and is getting a nice new cage at the zoo. He's a bit fiesty having only bonded to one handler! We had a great time seeing him! He has changed so much!