New Year's Eve Wedding

We were blessed to be a part of an amazing wedding on New Year's Eve. Gabe was the ring bear for Chelsey Downs & Hector Sanchez wedding. Chelsey is the middle daughter of Dave & Kelly Downs and this was the second time that he has been a ring bear. He was also in Chelsey's older sister Ashley's wedding. Gabe has become a know fixture in the Downs house and isn't just a little kid from the Church he is family if you ask them. The love they have for our son is unlike no other. He is a little brother that the girls never had and they make sure that he know how special he is every chance they get.

This is my little man all dressed and ready to do his part.

Gabe giving the flowers that he bought for Chelsey with his own money to her. He was so proud. I love that even though you can't see his face you can tell that he is smiling from ear to ear. This was totally his idea.

Gabe with his Princess Chelsey. The bond that he has with all three of these girls is so amazing. He loves all of them so much and I think that this picture shows it all. He just stood there for the longest time looking at her in the mirror.

This is Juliana he hopes to marry her some day if you ask him this is the second time they have been in a wedding together. She is Kelly's niece and it's kind of funny to think that if he did marry her someday that he would finally legally be apart of the Downs/Murphy family :)

The bride and groom

Getting ready for the bride and groom to leave for the night. This was so fun.

Christmas 2011

A Christmas post better late than never! Christmas Eve wouldn't be Christmas Eve without some cookies and a little milk for Santa. My friend Carol does a "Your gonna miss this moment" on her blog sometimes and this is one of those moments that I'm going to miss someday. The pure joy and excitement of getting the milk and cookies out for Santa.

Christmas Morning we had a little rodent problem with our tree! :) Gabe LOVES Alvin and the Chipmunks and thought it was great that Santa left them for him in his tree.

It's funny & some what sad to watch your kids go from the above picture of being happy with stuffed animals and toys to this picture of Tony with his Tire Iron that he asked for. Hard to believe that he is now an adult.

Jordon with his Lions Jersey & Movie Series that he asked for.

Dustin opening a "special" present from Gabe. This year Gabe spent much time going around the house to wrap "gifts" for people. He pretty much wrapped just about anything and I had to watch him like a hawk because I had no idea what the child was giving away! This one to Dustin was bullets to a Nerf gun.

Shenira and I saw a flip flop scrapbook kit at a scrapbook store that we were cropping at and she loved it. So I decided to make my own. This was such a fun and easy project. I bought the flip flops for 98 cents and then added the flowers and other items from the stuff that I had at home! The book was full of pictures all about her and she loved it.

After Church my family came over for Christmas dinner. It was so nice to have everyone with us but it was REALLY nice that we didn't have to go anywhere and drive all over the country side this year to see everyone for Christmas! :)

What a great Christmas!

A Visit with Santa

This is a very special Santa not only because he is Santa but because this Santa attends our Church. Gabe loves the fact that Santa goes to our church. Our church has Wednesday night dinners and Gabe enjoys very much eating dinner with Santa on most Wednesday nights. Here he is letting Santa know what he would like for Christmas this year. Time to move on so other children can have there turn but he had to get a hug before he could leave. What a great memory this will be for Gabe for many years to come.

Semi Formal 2011

This year was Jordon's Last Semi Formal. He met some friends at the dance and had a great time. Aunt Myra helped him out with his hair and looked great. Dad and Jordon

Dustin went to Semi this year with a big group of friends. They all looked great. Dustin and friends went to the Beacon Club for dinner and headed to the dance.

Dustin with his best friend Luke.

Let the Christmas Season Begin!

Oh how I love the Christmas season. My mom and aunts blessed me with the joy of Christmas when I was a little girl and this time of year is still my favorite. I love my home the most during this time of year when all of my wonderful decorations are out that I've gotten from so many loved ones. I love pulling each one out and remembering who got it for me or where it came from. This year we got our tree from a fundraiser that the Vicksburg Baseball team was having. This is probably one of my favorite tress that I've ever had. So many memories hang on that tree and it will be a little sad when it comes down right after Christmas since we put it up so early.This is my little cookie making helper. John's grandma left of with a wonderful Christmas Cookie recipe. Last year when she passed Shenira and I were both given one of her aprons. I picked a Christmas one so now when I make her cookies I have her apron to wear along with it which makes the event just that much more special. We all miss her so much and have decided that having her great grandkids decorate cookies during our Christmas get together is a great way to keep her memory alive. So Gabe and I spend one night making the cookies so that the kids could decorate them. The Christmas Season also brings another favorite thing from my childhood, The Marshall Christmas Parade. I've been attending this parade for as long as I can remember and was also able to march in that same parade during my Jr High and High School years. Even though we live a good 45 minutes from Marshall my husband knows how special this parade is to me and has always made it a priority to make sure that we are there every year. I love sharing this tradition with our son. This year Aunt Jen, Hayden, Harrison and Haley joined up to watch the parade, Nana couldn't make it so the kids smiled pretty for me so we could show Nana how much fun we were having. Our good friends the Moody's have also started coming to this parade with us as well so it was great to hang out with them and of course I had to get a picture of Gabe with his buddies Jayce and Ty!This year was the first time that we've been able to watch the Vicksburg Christmas Parade. It was just Gabe and I but we enjoyed the home town parade as well. I like the night time parades better than day time one because the magic of the lights just seem to make a parade. I was able however to get this picture of Gabe which might be a new favorite for now. John's parents bought a home in Florida last year and are now spending the winters there so this year we had Christmas with them on December 3rd as they headed out for Florida on December 15th. Gabe and Karis couldn't wait to get started with the gift and were sitting here waiting while lunch clean up was happening. We also did the Fuller Family Christmas early this year on the next day December 4th. Uncle Doak was a great sport and was our Santa this year. The kids LOVE it that Santa comes and makes a special visit to just them! He brings each kid a special toy they all get to have there picture taken with him and then he is off to see other children. So we've already had a lot of Christmas fun and we still have much more to go. Coming up is the Semi Formal, Childrens Christmas Play at Church, The Copas Christmas, Kempton/Smith Christmas, The Kempton Christmas, Christmas, and a Wedding that Gabe will be in on New Year's Eve!

Thanksgiving 2011

Once again it was a nicer than normal day this year for Thanksgiving. The kids were able to play kick ball outside and burn off some energy while the adults hung out inside. What a great day. I love it when our family is all together. This year was probably the smallest our Kempton Thanksgiving has ever been but we enjoyed being with everyone that was able to be there. Gabe and I started our Thanksgiving day out at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Carl's place while John was working. After John got out of work Gabe & I met him at his mom and dad's house.

Ahh the beloved kids table. Nana's Fab Five!

Dad Fuller carving the bird for dinner number two for Gabe & I.

Gabe & Grandpa GG enjoying some pie together.

Halloween 2011

Better late than never! Oh do I ever have a lot of catching up to do. Gabe was a skunk this year for Halloween and a darn cute one if I say so myself! We have been so lucky the past few years with Halloween and have had great weather. Not at all like it use to be when I was little. I remember always having to wear our winter coats and you could never see our costumes because of all of the clothing we had to wear to stay warm. Not the case these last few years.

Our little skunk searching through his goodies bag!
I love this picture of the back side of his costume. My mom found it for him at Goodwill and he LOVED it.

After doing our trick or treating we always come home to hand out candy to the other kids. I think that Gabe likes doing this more than he likes going out to get his own candy. This picture is him with his pumpkin that he carved almost totally by himself this year. Can't believe how fast he is growing up. In a few more years he won't want to do this with me anymore. So I'm going to enjoy every minute of it right now!

Happy Halloween! Almost 2 months late :)