And We Begin Again (It's a LONG one!)

I have sat down at my computer approx. 273,691 times this year.  I've looked at this blog at least that many times and thought "Gosh, I really need to start blogging again."  Jay has hounded reminded me about my lack of posting and that a lot of our family enjoyed keeping up with us through this little old blog.  I've watched our children do so much and our family has experienced lots of changes and each time, I've thought to myself  "I need to blog, this will be the event that I start off with again!"  Well, each time I would sit down and try to start again, I became very overwhelmed.  No matter how badly I wanted to write and document, I would be frozen with all that I wanted to say that nothing would come out.  Even now I have written and erased at least 5 sentences in this short paragraph! So, instead of focusing on trying to record every little detail of the last year, I will do a bullet point synapsis of sorts.  This way, I can fill all y'all in and get caught up in the online scrapbook!

So starting with fall 2011:

*Boys were in 6th & 8th grades.  Garret played football while Galen took the season off.  The girls started their first extra cirricular activity and took ballet.  Fun to watch all of them we were busy busy of course with all the activity.

* I took the girls to the Dall Arboretum for the fall fest and it was fun as usual. It was right up the girls alley too because it was fairytale themed and you know they loved that! It also marked the first time I let them get their faces painted and they were beyond excited about that.

* We took the girls to Disney on Ice and it was great.  They sure now how to put on a good show that is entertaining even for adults.  The girls loved it of course and it was fun to watch their faces and reactions.

* We started attending a church that we love.  It was very different for me at first.  Being raised Catholic, I was very used to the "same old, same old."  I knew what to expect at church and that there would always be a quiet atmosphere with people seeming to just be ready to get the service over with.  Well at our new church, it is exactly the opposite.  It is a HUGE church and they put on a full on concert every week.  Living in the "bible belt," I have encountered many people that seem to be ultra religious and love God because it is the cool thing to do.  They say one thing and live their lives in a different way.  We have found that this church and it's people are not like that.  There are people from all walks of life and we leave there feeling uplifted and blessed to just be alive.  We also love the children's programs that they have.  The girls love to be there and they do a great job of relating the teachings of the bible to different ages.

* The girls and I hosted a Christmas playdate with our little friends.  We shared sweets and made some more ornaments and just enjoyed our company.  I put a lot into decorating every year, so it was nice to share some of my hard work with friends :)

* I know in my last post from last year I shared a picture of the girls on Santa's lap, but I wanted to include more pics from our visit for memories.  We love, love, love visiting Santa and def all the magic that comes along with it :)

* We decorated Christmas cookies and it was so much more fun with the girls this year.  They actually got into it and were able to partake instead of impede! haha

* Christmas was wonderful as always.  The only thing missing was the boys as it was their year to be at their Mom's.  As a child, I no one could have told me that Christmas would be any more fun than it was then.  Well, I am here to say that I was wrong.  Their is no greater joy I have in life than to make others happy and especially no people I would rather see happy than my family.  The greatest gift I get on Christmas and all year for that matter is the excitement on our kids faces when they are happy and excited! If you have children, you totally get it!

Alright, so that about brings us up to where I left off last year! This post is wayyyy long, so I will start up with 2012 next! Glad to be back and hopefully y'all will be able to keep up with our adventures once again!