It's Been Awhile...

Well hello :)  Do you all remember me or shall I reintroduce myself?  It has been over 5 months since I made the much needed decision to stop stressing out over blog posting.  While I had not been posting much, I was constantly worried about not writing enough, not posting stories and pictures and disappointing myself about letting memories slip away and letting readers down.  I have had an extremely exciting and successful year with B's Bows and by last March I had to let something give.

 For the past few months I have really missed taking time to write.  Not only do I value keeping memories and details about events both big and small written down, but writing is a small form of therapy for me.  I love sitting down and pouring out thoughts, then saving and re-reading later.  It helps me to sort through my feelings by writing.  Many times when I look back I laugh at myself for what I write down, or end up embarrassed that I chose to save or share certain things, but I know in the long run that what I've written is a reflection of where I was in that moment.  And I love to see where we've been and how far (or not so far) we have come.

I've thought a lot over the past 6 weeks or so about whether I should start blogging again, or just journal for my own personal records.  I decided that ultimately I have loved the sense of community the blog world offers and that since I value the friendships I have made over the years of sharing in this community that I would like to start back up again in this form.  If you have never blogged or read many blogs you wouldn't understand the blogging community, but it is an amazing network.  I have always been very much on the outskirts, but I have enjoyed being a part none the less.  So here goes...a new beginning of sorts!

So what has been missed over the past 5 1/2 months of not posting??

We celebrated a joyous Easter holiday as a family...

Bristol turned TWO!

We celebrated spring with some cute new dresses and skirts and I began to realize our days of matching outfits are numbered...boo!!

Sienna graduated from Preschool!

All three girls earned medals at The Little Gym for completing another year in each of their classes...

Jaden concluded first grade, her second year with a teacher we both adore.  We will truly miss this beautiful woman inside and out this year as Jaden enters second grade and has a new teacher!

Jaden performed in her third dance recital and shined in both her tap and ballet numbers!

My younger sister Kim got married!  My three girls and I were all honored to be in her wedding party and had a lovely time at her beautiful celebration.

I ran my farthest distance ever...6 miles!  And then battled {am still battling?!?} a sensitive knee, serious road rash and a sprained ankle all summer long!

Scott and I celebrated 8 years {EIGHT!} of marriage...

We spent a month at the lake house and soaked in one another as much as we soaked in the sun :)

We celebrated a fun and fanciful Fourth at the lake with the entire extended family, complete with yummy eats, lots of treats and the annual bike parade!

We had family pictures taken on the water of all of Scott's family and the portraits turned out beautifully!

We hosted many friends and family at the lake including our annual week with the cousins!

We took our annual summer trip to Put In Bay!

We celebrated my 31st birthday with a night out to dinner and bowling...

We changed up how we take family bike rides by adding a trail-behind bike for Jaden and letting Bristol enjoy the trailer with Sienna...

Scott and I took a {SECRET} trip to Disney World for 4 days without the kiddos!

I got to visit college friends for a long weekend in Atlanta...

And really, while this touches on the main events, this hardly scrapes the surface of what life has been like since I last wrote.  It has been crazy, fun, beautiful, loving, stressful, busy, happy, and so much more.  We are going non-stop, but I know this is a phase of life that will one day slow down.  And then, I will miss the hectic pace and the meaningful moments along the way.  So truly, this is why I need to get back to blogging--because one day when I miss these days, I want to be able to look back and relive them through my writing.  I want to be able to step back into the tough moments and the exciting days and into everything in between.

Hello again my friends.  It's wonderful to be back :)