Christmas Time is Here

Presents here
and presents there

fun for all that children call their favorite time of year

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Naughty

Nice

sick princess

happy princess

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth

or dinosaurs

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Happy Halloween

pumpkin carving by Jason.

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays. We LOVE candy and we LOVE dressing up. (when I say we I mean all of us---including Jason). We were happy to be able to spend halloween with family and friends. We spent the evening with Lynnae and her kids, Cory and his family, Da, and many of the Eyers family. It was lots of fun. And most importantly we got Tons and TONS of candy.

This year Cailyn was Ariel(at the end when she is getting married)

Jessica was Sleeping Beauty

And David was a box of cookies with Maycie(his oldest cousin) as the cookie monster. However last week at the church carnival he was mickey mouse--we will get a picture of that for you soon.

Keaton was a football player.

Becca was Tinker Bell.

Emma(Cory's little girl) was the cutest little lady bug out there.

Teagan(Amy's youngest) was Cinderella, Madelynn(Heather's oldest) was a cowgirl and Ethan(Heather's youngest) was a cowboy.

Our trick-or-treating group says: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

a little Holloway happenings

I just wanted to share some of the things that have happened in our family lately.

Since my last 'real' post:

*The anniversary of Mom's death and funeral.(difficult because it is now sinking in that it is a semi-permanent situation--I know, how slow can Mindi be)

*Beginning of August Jason received a promotion(including a transfer) at work.

*We put our house up for sale(which includes many little repairs and a few bigger ones)--I am tired

*Cailyn started school. Pre-K was fun for a week in Mineral Wells before we moved.

*Jason was starting work in Hillsboro August 31 so we moved to Waco until our house sells.

*Cailyn got her hair cut. She got a lot older in just about 30 minutes. Thank you Shelia for cutting it. We Love you!

*We decided to put Cailyn in school here in Waco and she is loving it.

*David started sitting up, then crawling. He received his first 2 teeth and the next 2 are on the way.

We are still getting used to living in 2 rooms which are detached from the house, but it is much better then being far away from Jason. We have not had much luck selling our house so your prayers are requested. In the mean time we are enjoying the chaos at Da's house with 5 adults and 4 young children in the house. I hope to do a better job keeping up with my blog. It does seem that lately there are not enough minutes in the day, or that I have turned into a chicken with her head cut off(who just so happens to have 3 little chicks teasing and torturing her).

I love you and miss you.

I miss my blog

Just a little shout out to say Hello and that I will be back soon. Sorry for being gone so long. I truly miss this blogging thing.

Fun with the Gillands

This past Saturday we went to Arlington to my cousin, Gary's son's baptism. We took some pictures before we left, just because I felt like it(and I had the time, which doesn't happen very often). After the baptism we headed over to my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Drew's house(Amee and Papi).

I love little feet!

David and Da chillin before the party got started. Although, look at David, he looks like he already had some punch. hehe

Cailyn had a great time swimming with her second cousins(the little boy next to her is Cameron, the one who was baptized). Jessica wasn't as interested in the water, but had a great time bossing the dog around. David was in (great)Aunt heaven.

Gary and Uncle Drew grilled some tasty hamburgers and hot dogs. There was watermelon and salads.

The birthday cake was awesome. Check out those icing balloons. YUM!

There are no elaborate words today, just "I miss my Mom."

Untitled

I have been thinking. I am trying to identify who I am and what I do. I know that I am a Child of God. I know I am a wife and mother however I feel that I could be better at fulfilling both of those roles. I know I have a teaching degree and have taught for several years, but don't feel completely secure in my teaching or musical abilities. I know my physical ailments and shortcomings, but also some of my strengths. I know I enjoy reading a good book, creating some unique cards, and playing the piano and singing. I know that I like to have my house clean, but the process is not always as enjoyed as the product. I know that I like to make hair bows to put in my girls' freshly done-up hair. I know that I enjoy spending time with people. Be it a lot of people of just one or two, however I am constantly unsure of myself and how I interact with them.
So here is the problem. When I find myself with the opportunity to spend some time without obligations, I don't know what to do. I always find something to do, but it doesn't leave me feeling emotionally refreshed. Does that make sense? I don't know what makes me happy. That leaves me wondering if I truly know Mindi. Not Cailyn, Jessica, and David's mom; not Jason's wife; not Sister or Mrs. Holloway, but Mindi. When I have time for Mindi, I feel lost.

San Antonio

The morning we left. They were excited. San Antonio here we come!!!!

This past week we went to New Braunfels(pretty close to San Antonio) for our family vacation. We had a great time. We used some of our vacation points to book this resort.

We went to church with Aunt Dinah and Uncle Steve on Sunday and then went back to SA on Tuesday to do the river walk/Alamo thing.

We stopped to eat.

We planned on going back to the resort to get ready for our date night, but time and traffic don't always work well together. So, we ran out of time and had to just go in the casual clothes we had been wearing all day. We took the kids to Aunt Dinah and the girls so Jason and I could go see the musical WICKED. I had a bottle pumped for David, but we were able to get it so we went to the store to purchase some formula and a bottle. I talked to Dinah during our date and she said that he would have nothing to do with the formula and just cried for about an hour until he just fell asleep from exhaustion of crying. I feel bad for David, but even more so for Dinah and the girls. We met my good friend Heather and her husband Ryan for dinner and went to the show together. Jason worded it like this(and I can't put it better), "It was a totally righteous show."

We got back really late and just hung around at the resort on Wednesday. You know, swimming and napping, but did enjoy some Chuckie Cheese's for dinner. Thursday we were ready to head out again to enjoy SEA WORLD.

We went to a bunch of great shows. I don't think we saw one we didn't like. While we were watching a 3D movie we found our good friends Carrie and Brad. I taught with Carrie in Mineral Wells and they live in Waco now. How random that we ran into them. It was great to see them and enjoy some of Sea World with them.

There was a spray park for the kids. This place was extremely family friendly. There was a unigender changing room. There was even a nursing room. How awesome is that!!! There were little roller coasters and water rides for the kids, and of course roller coasters for adults and an entire portion of the park is a water park with rides, wave pools, and a lazy river. This place has it all.
We went to the Shamu Believe show with Carrie and Brad. It was amazing. Truly, if you have an opportunity to go to Sea World, do it. You will be pleased.

We left New Braunfels just in time to make it back for me to help set up for our Branch Activity. I came home Saturday night late and hurting. I was too pooped to pop. It was a long, eventful, fun fun fun week. One of my favorite vacations so far.