Unsure...

I have had several family members, whose names shall remain silent, :) who seem a little sad that I haven't blogged in awhile...so, I've been searching as to the answer.

Here's my internal struggle for the past year almost. I have been struggling with the reality that my blog is SO "available." Really, this has never been that big of a deal to me up until this past year, mainly because I am really good at being nieve and believing that only people who know and love our family will be reading this blog. This is probably mostly true, but I am now trying to figure out if I'm ok with the "world" being able to see pictures of my family and knowing what's going on with us. Its a weird struggle because I do love having this blog as a journal of thoughts, pictures, and stories to reflect on. I have always been a "journal-er" growing up, so its definitely a release to write, but, this is just so stinkin' "available".

I've had several friends take their blog "private" or to make things easier, some have just changed their blog name so that their name is not in the address. So smart.

Sooo...this leaves me in this struggle of what to do.

Know that I am still here, living life, a VERY BLESSED life indeed. I'm simply trying to decide what to do with this whole "blog" thing. So, I am going to make a decision soon, and will let you in on how I decide to do this.

Thanks for caring, even if my readers are just the ones who HAVE to care...family. :)

Stay tuned for a decision. :)

Our Beautiful Dancer...

This past fall we put Mia in a Worship Dance class at my parents' church. The girl teaching the class grew up with my brother, so I knew she was a phenomenal ballerina and loved the Lord. She taught the girls the fundamentals to ballet, but would also incorporate worship music and free dancing to the Lord. So great!

Mia loved dance, but I think there was too much "taking turns" time, and not enough activity for her because by the end of the semester she was asking to do gymnastics again. I would highly recommend this class to anyone, so let me know if you're interested and I'll get you the info. So, here are some shots of our little ballerina.

Stretching...

I just can't get enough of her in her ballerina outfit!

She got to take the class with her cousins Bailey and Addison. What beauties!

Poor Eisley just had to wait...

Doesn't she look thrilled? She'd rather be dancing with her sister!

He's in LOVE with his ballerina!

Yep, Classy Ballerina. :)

And for Fall...

I would like to say that Fall is most definitely my favorite season of all! I just LOVE it! I think I love it for all the colors, all the pumpkins, and "harvesty" look of everything. I also just LOVE the smell of fall! I can almost smell it now...(Oh, wait, there's still snow outside since I am posting this in February! oops!) Anyways, we didn't really take any pictures of Thanksgiving, but we did take some festive pictures in Childress with cousin Zoe! They turned out super cute if you ask me...

Cousins!

Sisters

Beautiful Cousin Zoe

We did have a GREAT Thanksgiving, though! This was our first year to spend Thanksgiving in Amarillo. Can you believe it? My FIRST year in 27 years! It was still hard though. I adore spending our usual Thanksgiving in Childress with Jody's family because they usually have some of Jody's extended family from Colorado join us, so that was definitely missed this year. (But we did spend a few days before Thanksgiving in Childress to see his family, even if for only a quick time.) I am SOOO thankful for such great in-laws who are so gracious to support us in our holiday "sharing." We had a wonderful dinner here in Amarillo with my family and both sets of my grandparents joined us as well! I'm a blessed woman!

The only "Thanksgiving-ish" picture of our girls with their cousins Bailey and Addison (at B & A's school Thanksgiving program.)

Halloween 2009

What a great time we had for Halloween this year!

Halloween was on a Saturday, so it seemed like the perfect year to go visit Jody's family for Halloween and make an entire weekend out of it. It was the first time we got dressed up for MaMaw and Papa and got to go trick or treating through Childress! I love small towns like Childress because they always seem to have such great city-wide holiday events. Halloween in Childress is no different. The downtown businesses open up to pass out candy to all the little trick or treaters. Everyone goes! It was a great time, and the girls seemed to have a blast!

This year, the girls went as a Butterfly Fairy Princess and a Lady Bug. I bought both girls costumes at the same time (and actually very early in the month for me!) but when I tried them on them, Eisley's looked super cute, but Mia's...not so much. So, I decided Mia could just wear her ballet outfit and we could make wings and the tu-tu. Easier said than done. I LOVED the way Mia's costume finally turned out (with the GREAT help of Jody with the wings! And the tu-tu was actually fairly easy to make, too.)

Also while in Childress, we got to celebrate Jody's grandmother's birthday with his entire extended family! She is a fabulous lady who loves the Lord, and I am honored to be a part of her family! So much fun!

Enjoy the pictures....

Mama Bea opening cards and presents (with Mia's help, of course.) :)

Always a joy to spend time with Uncle Zach, Aunt Amy, and cousin Zoe!

Sweet sisters!

Mia the Butterfly Fairy

MaMaw with the girls (they seem pretty interested in their candy. Imagine!)

Butterfly Fairy and Ladybug

Gotta appreciate those wings! No, really, YOU DO! :)

Downtown Childress

We ended the evening trick or treating at Mama Bea's house.

Sweet Cousins. They all had wings, and we didn't even plan it! Great minds think alike, huh Amy??? :)

Beautiful Zoe!!!

Family!

Eisleys 2nd Birthday Party...

I guess its about time I posted pictures from Eisley's birthday party. (Lets just forget that it was actually 3 months ago, oops!) :) We had such a great time with such great friends and family! We had Eisley's birthday at the play area at my parents church. Its a GREAT play area, perfect for this age, plus, you don't have to worry about the weather (which was great because it actually snowed for a little while that day in Amarillo.) We actually had Mia's 3rd birthday at this same place! We had a lot of fun and were so blessed with such great friends and family! Enjoy the pictures!

Yummy sandwiches, chips, and cupcakes!

My sister did an amazing job on these cupcakes! She very talented!

She's a little shocked as to why everyone's singing to her. She just wants the cupcake.

Can I just eat the cupcake now?

Now she dives in!

Sweet sisters!

Present time! (With Aunt Amy's help) :)

Sweet friend, Kayt Ingram. (Or as Eisley calls her, "My Tate") well, close. :)

Cousin Zoe was there too!

Fun times! (Plus a huge jungle gym upstairs)

Nana, Grandad (my parents) and cousins Bailey and Addison)

With MaMaw and Papa! So blessed with 2 GREAT sets of grandparents!

Family! So blessed! Happy 2nd Birthday to my baby girl!