Lily at Ballet

Lily was eager to do ballet and gymnastics this year, but we have decided that she can only pick one.... SO... when I heard about this combo class through a friend- I didn't hesitate, even though it's on the opposite side of town!!

Half ballet, half gymnastics.... And this year we will not move prior to the recital, so we have that to look forward to, also! Lily misses her friend Elia at gymnastics, especially, but when she has been shy, her new friend Raegan has been very sweet to hold her hand. It was fun to see that she could pick right up with the other 4 year olds in this class- and her teacher asked if she had done ballet/gym before - I think it was so fun for her to be in a new situation but still feel competent, and like what she was being asked to do was familiar, even amid the new setting!

Here are some pictures:

Lily at Ballet

Albuquerque!

We girls were so excited so go with Archer to his conference in Albuquerque this year. Last year he had raved about the hotel, and about getting to spend some time with our dear friends there, so when he asked if I wanted to go with the girls instead of staying home by myself with the girls, I said "YES!"

I had many high hopes of great descriptions of everything, but mostly we hung out with Erin & Erik, saw some Albuquerque sights, and in general relaxed. We also got to spend a few minutes with my great aunt Libby on our way through Santa Fe, so that was fun, too! (No pictures of that, sadly.)

The resort we stayed at was AMAZING, and we had such a refreshing time with dear old friends, we are hoping Archer will be needed at this conference again next year!

Our pictures (with descriptions):

Albuquerque Visit

  

 Erik's pictures, vastly better than mine: Five Little Monkeys!

Our First Halloween

If you know us very well, you know that we have not previously participated in Halloween, feeling like the evil origins and on-going events associated with the holiday were not innocent, and therefore we did not want to support or popularize that in any way.

This year after some discussion and prayer, we decided at the last minute (this morning!) to dress the girls up and go trick or treating.

Here is what happened.

We went to Wal-mart and bought costumes (and way too much candy for our little block, apparently):

We carved a pumpkin.

We strung our sidewalk with orange lights, lit our pun'kin, and went to visit our neighbors!

Then we drove down the street to a friends' church and joined in their Harvest Fest. An event during which I left the camera in the car. But then we came home, enjoyed some goodies, attempted to wash off the marker and spray glitter, and went to bed!

Lily wanted to know why we were doing Halloween when we didn't before, and I told her: "We used to not do it because we were afraid of all the evil things that people do on Halloween, but we realized that we don't need to be afraid on Halloween, because Jesus is more powerful than those people or evil spirits!". I think that about covers it on a 4 year old level.

I forgot how many fond memories I have of Halloween traditions, costumes, and oh it was SO fun to see my little Bride and Kitty Cat all dressed up (not to mention the chunka teddy and her glow band !) ! They LOVED it. You'd think they didn't usually play dress up every day.