2011: What an amazing year!

Hello friends and family,
What an amazing year 2011 was!  I was definitely MIA from my blog this year!  My bow business BOOMED and I had no time for anything but creating bows for 8 stores (wow!!!) and many custom orders.  As I reflect back on 2011, all I can say is that God has blessed me above and beyond what I could have ever asked or imagined, just as Ephesians 3:20 says.  Here's a recap of our year...

January brought some very welcomed SNOW!!!

Jack was a little unsure... but quickly learned to LOVE it!

We also sold our home on Elmridge and God blessed our socks off with our new house just 3 doors down from my parents!!!!  An answer to a year and a half of prayers from Mallory!!! (and me!)

LOTS of boxes and lots of packing led to fun cardboard box houses...

February brought another SNOW!!!

Mallory lost her 1st tooth the day we moved into our new house!  It was definitely a monumental day!!!

In March we took our annual trip to Austin for the State Basketball Tournament... our weekend of shopping and FUN!!!

We also made several trips to the local plant farm to get our new house ready for spring!

April was an especially busy month.  We visited the Tyler Azalea Trails... beautiful as always!

Mallory lost her 2nd tooth!!!!

Mallory sang with her choir in the spring program. I worked with these 2 sweet ladies in her class.

Jack and I accompanied Mallory's class on a field trip to the zoo...

The Easter Bunny came!!!

We had Easter lunch at Nana and Papa's with all our cousins!!

Nana and Papa hosted an awesome Easter egg hunt!

And we got to plant and water our very own flowers while wearing special aprons made by Nana!

We colored Easter eggs!

In May, Mallory dressed up as a Mommy for career day...

We took a trip to Six Flags!

We had a blast with Nana, Papa, and all our aunts, uncles, and cousins in Dallas...

We went to the Aquarium...

Went to Legoland!!!

And we ate at our favorite restaurant!!!

Mallory had Splash Day at school...

And June brought the end to Mallory's 1st year of school.  We said goodbye to Mrs. Frazier and our Kindergarten friends.  :-(

Jack got a fun summer haircut!

We had lots of fun in our little blow-up backyard pool...

Mallory and Jack went to Vacation Bible School at our church for the first time.

Nana took us to the Tyler Public Library...

Mallory took swimming lessons at the ETMC Olympic Center...

Brad painted the family room...

We celebrated Father's Day with my amazing Daddy at Double Dave's...  

 

And the very next day we waited for our newest cousin, Eden, to be born to my brother and sister-in-law (Josh & Amy)...

Jack got a BIG BOY BED!!!!

And his room was transformed from baby Noah's Ark into a transportation theme...

We went to the movies TWICE!!!  (Mr. Popper's Penguins and Winnie the Pooh)

July was a special month... our baby boy turned 3!!!

And in August, our baby girl started 1st grade!  Unbelievable!!

In September, we went to the REL/JT football game...

And my bow business exploded!!!!

The most exciting moment for me was seeing my bows showcased in a store window!

Mallory lost her 3rd tooth (the 1st upper, front tooth) at school!

In October, we welcomed yet another cousin to our family.  This time it was Chad and Tennille's baby boy, Garrett.

We celebrated as Mallory turned 7 years old on October 17th!!!

And this was the year she got her 1st bicycle!!!

We also celebrated Daddy's birthday...

For Halloween our little Cinderella and our little Golfer had fun trick-or-treating with their cousins.

In November, I ended my 1st semester as a director of the 3 year old choir as Jack's 3 year old Kidz Praise choir presented their program called "The Praise Parade"...

He was absolutely PRECIOUS!  And, he LOVED playing those cymbals!

We celebrated Jack's 1st performance with dinner at our favorite local restaurant... Whataburger!  :-)

And Mallory lost ANOTHER tooth!!!  This time on the bottom!

And finally in December, we made lots of wonderful memories...

My precious family... all 19 of us!

All 9 cousins...

(Gavin, Macy, Eden, Scarlett, Grant, Jack, Mallory, Garrett, Micah)

Mallory begged to get her ears pierced for Christmas!!!

My parents and I took the kids to Dallas for a shopping getaway and ventured over to the Gaylord Texan... stunningly beautiful this time of year...

And of course, we had a visit with Santa!!!!

We had a cookie making party at Uncle Chad & Aunt Tennille's house...

We ended the year with family at Chad & Tennille's house with pizza, Nana's yummy desserts, and Pictionary!  FUN!  FUN!!  FUN!!!

It was truly a blessed year!  Thank you, Lord, for all your many blessings... As my favorite song says,

"things so undeserved, yet You give to prove your love for me. The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude.  All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee...

To God Be The Glory".