Heart Stolen Today By Two Young Men

The heart of a mother was stolen today by two young men. The first, a dashing young fellow, age 6, treated her to a gourmet meal in the Rossville Elementary School cafeteria. They gazed in each other's eyes with love and appreciation over a dimly lit room (teacher turned the lights off for talking:P) while enjoying heart shaped cold chicken nuggets, green beans, frozen succulent strawberries, a glitter dusted sugar cookie and milk a la strawberry. The second gentleman to wisp her off her feet was a soft spoken little man, age 4, who sang to her a new and improved version of Mr. Golden Sun while enjoying an afternoon of games complete with ISpy, Guess Who and Connect Four. They shared a bowl of raspberry frozen yogurt over a piece of Valentine's Day Cake provided by the fabulous chefs at Target Bakery. It was an amazing afternoon for the young woman as she tried to appreciate every moment, knowing that next year will be much different and that these young men will grow up quickly and soon ask another to be their Valentine for the day. What an honor it was to share this special day with them. A day I will never but they may soon ..forget. Loads of love to the two youngest men in my life...Jalen and Jameson. Mommy loves you now and forever. Happy Valentine's Day.

Now We're Cookin

Do you ever look at the clock at 5:00 and think, ugh, its time once again to fix yet another meal? Well, that happened to me last week so I decided that I wasn't going to do it this time. Nope, it was someone else's turn to do dinner duty. Needless to say, Chef Jameson and Chef Jalen did an outstanding job filling in for me as they prepared a handtossed meatlovers pizza with a fabulous little minty number for dessert, also known as "Mud Pie" which is featured in this week's recipe section to the right. Here are the chefs at work along with their finished masterpieces. I think I'll take the night off more often.

Back in the game

Oh friends, yes I do realize that it has been since October since I last posted. I figure by now, you have all but given up on me, but wait! I'm back! Yes it's true that I did have a season where I just simply could not muster up the energy and motivation to post. Who knows why really? It could have been that the holidays hit, or that my munchkins were sick, I was feeling a little blah due to the pregnancy..I can give you excuses if you really want them but why don't we just let the past be the past and pick up where we left off? As I sit here this morning, I feel a bit like an oompa loompa straight out of wonka land with my short legs and oversized belly just waiting on my next piece of chocolate or the perfect time to explode, which ever comes first. Only 11 weeks left until our little girl gets here and I am beyond ready for the big moment to arrive. Really quickly to bring you all up to speed, we are now 29 weeks pregnant and expecting a little girl on or around April 26th. After much debate, we have decided on naming her Jacey Noel. We are currently enrolled in Bradley classes and plan on delivering at Clarian North in Carmel. Moving on...I decided to update the blog to make it a bit more fun and friendly. I will continue to post adorable pictures of the kiddos and stories to go along side but I wanted to do something more. In the left hand column, I've added a few new additions! Frugal and Free will be an area that I post upcoming deals and community freebies on. This is my new addiction. What can I get a really good deal on this week or better yet for free! I'll share each week's discoveries with you in Frugal and Free. As most of you know, I truly love to cook and have a deep respect for a new recipe that is warranted "a keeper" from my fellow Gilbert critics. Each week I'll post one or two new recipes that have been tested and approved. Beyond the above, I'll also add craft ideas for the kiddos, any good books that has my attention or links that I think a wife and/or mother cannot live without. Wow! I suddenly feel better and although I'm sure you all have your doubts about my upcoming plan to be more diligent, I feel like I've redeemed myself for being a slacking blogger for the past 3 months and that our online relationship can sky rocket to a whole new level! Having that said, I hope you'll give me one more chance to prove myself as your fellow blogger. Enjoy reading and catching up with the Gilberts via The Sweet and Salty Life - The New and Improved Edition:)

Gilberts on the Green

As most of you already know, my husband has quite the obsession with golf. He recently decided that it was time to share this passion with the boys. Early one evening, he loaded up his golf bag along with a set of plastic clubs and they headed out the door. After a brief practice session in the front yard, they were ready to hit the greens! What an amazing father my husband is. God has truly blessed him with a gift of patience and love. It brings me so much excitement to see him setting examples for the boys and raising them to be Godly men. Being a father is such an important role and James seems to do it effortlessly. Once the boys made it home, dinner was on the table. They were so excited to tell me how they did. James quizzed them on how many shots you have to make par and they were proud to know the difference between a birdie and a bogey. So cute. I thank God daily for blessing me with these three wonderful men.

Scrub a dub dub...a guinea pig in the tub!

Tonight was Tommy Rodger's first bubble bath! We dried him off with the blow dryer and put him in a nice clean cage with fresh bedding. I didn't think that I was going to like the little critter but he has quickly became part of the family.

Kindergarten..Here I Come!

Well the day finally arrived. My big boy started full day kindergarten yesterday. Our agreement was that Mommy and Daddy would take him to school the first day and then he could ride the bus home each day after. About 5 minutes before we were to leave, Jalen informed me that he wasn't a baby and that it was boring for Mommy to take him to school, he wanted to ride the bus. Poor guy. I felt bad so I told him what any good mom would say. "Jalen, you are going to be riding the school bus every day for the next 10 years, I'm taking you to school on your first morning of kindergarten. I'm going to completely embarrass you and cover you in kisses and cry as I leave the building." We finally compromised. Daddy and I took him to school and he rode the big boy bus home. Here are some pics of his big moment.

Mountain Madness

Feeling brave, we loaded up the car a few weeks ago and took a 8 hour car ride to the Smoky Mountains. The boys were so excited, they only slept for an hour the whole entire drive down.The first couple of days we just relaxed and made a splash at Dollywood's Splash Country. The boys had never been on a waterslide before and after they did it once....the rest of the afternoon was history. "Again, Dad, I wanna go again!".

Mid week we packed a picnic and headed to a site along the river where the boys were able to jump in and skip rocks.

Since we were in the mountains, the trip wouldn't have been complete without a hike. Friday we hiked up to Laurel Falls which was roughly 2 miles up and 2 miles down. Along the way we saw several black bear which was the best part of the trip according the James and the boys. The week went fast but we all had such a good time. Lots of wonderful memories made on this trip.