Worth the Wait

Last weekend we decided to venture to the mall and see Santa. The past two years when we have gone we have really lucked out. There was hardly anyone in line and we got to see Santa really quick. We knew it was too good to be true and to happen a third year in a row, and we were right!! When we got to the mall the line didn't look horribly long but it moved so slow. We debated whether or not to stick it out, but are glad we chose to bear the 90 minute wait! We thought for sure Ethan would not be happy to see Santa and would probably cry for him. We were totally wrong. He sat on Cassidy's lap and did great! He kept staring at Santa, couldn't quite figure him out. The promise of a candy cane may have helped a little! Watching the excitement on the kids faces made it really worth the wait!!

Christmas Concerts

With this time of year comes lots of performances, concerts, recitals, etc. Cassidy had two performances this past week, both of which really added to our Christmas spirit.
Her first performance was the school choir concert. Cassidy was so excited to be able to join the choir this year. It is only for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. She has always loved to sing so it was a great opportunity for her. She has been very dedicated, getting up early twice a week, so that she can make it to choir on time--they meet an hour before school starts. They sang seven songs, and they all sounded great! One of the songs was in Latin and one in Hebrew--I was impressed!!

The fam before we left for the concert

For some reason Ethan kept smiling AFTER I would take the picture. So I hurried and took this one right after while he was smiling so big!

Andy's parents drove over an hour just for the concert! I love having such supportive grandparents!

Cassidy is on the front row right in the middle

Cassidy and her friend Tatumn after their concert!


The second performance we were able to attend was really really neat. Cassidy's piano teacher chose only 8 of her students(out of almost 60), to have a small, spiritual, Christmas recital. I have to admit that I was not too excited to have to go. Her piano recitals tend to drag on and on and you really only want to hear your child(rude, but true). I was pleasantly surprised by this particular recital. Her teacher had all the students pick some beautiful Christmas music, it was such a special night. Cassidy has started playing out of the LDS hymn book and the LDS primary hymn book, so she chose to play "Picture a Christmas", and "He Sent His Son". If you aren't familiar with those songs, "He Sent His Son" is a very very difficult piece. To make things even harder her teacher wanted her to accompany someone singing. Cassidy asked her friend Madison to do that. They practiced so hard and it really paid off. They did a wonderful job--it brought tears to my eyes!

They both looked so beautiful in their Christmas dresses!


Cassidy's teacher had her and Madison close the evening by singing a duet of Silent Night, then the audience joined in on the last verse. She definitely doesn't have stage fright like her mom!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Trish who watched all my boys plus her kids(6 kids total)so we could enjoy this great evening with Cassidy.

Tis the Season!

I absolutely love the Christmas season! One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the extra time we get to spend with family! We kicked off the holiday season on Saturday with a family party. Most of my family will not be in town this year for Christmas so we decided to celebrate a little early. We have actually had this family party for a couple years now. It is always fun to be with everyone and this year was no exception! A big thank you to my brother Chris and his wife Julie for hosting, they always do a great job. We had a great dinner, a fun talent show, and even more fun doing a white elephant gift exchange. Laura started the talent show idea a couple years ago and it is such a success! I always pawn the talent portion off onto my kids. This year Cassidy played the piano. She always does a great job and amazes everyone at how well she can play! Kaden decided to read a Christmas story to everyone and did a wonderful job. His nerves got to him right before it was his turn so I promised to sit with him and luckily that helped. Since Spencer is our resident comedian we though it would be appropriate for him to tell Christmas jokes. He did a great job up there, no nerves at all, and even stumped us on most of the answers! It is such a fun tradition that we have started. Here are some pics from our fun-filled night:
Sorry to those of you(Dad, Laura & Jon, Kevin's fam) whose pictures aren't shown. My camera was being weird and some of them came out so dark you couldn't see anything.

Our wonderful holiday meal!

All the kids were putting this tinsel on their heads, so of course Ethan had to be in on the action too!

Cassidy playing fabulously!

My niece Elly narrating the hilarious skit that my brother wrote!

Julie playing, she did an outstanding job!

My cute little nieces, Sophie and Liza, singing Away in a Manger!

My little comedian, he will do anything for a laugh!

The white elephant gift exchange, my favorite!

My brother Chris modeling the awesome 1970's sweater he got!!


We did miss Katie's family and David's family(who live out of state), and of course we missed Mom! It was weird not to have her there but we were definitely thinking of her!

Birthday Bash!

The boys really had a full week of celebrations for their birthday. It started off last Friday night when their cousin Sophie came to spend the weekend with them. Since it is their off year for a party they got to choose a restaurant to go to for dinner and an activity to do as a family. This year they chose Red Robin and ice skating. We had a great dinner and were joined by Laura and Jon. After dinner we all went ice skating. The kids did great. They started out a little nervous and were holding on to the side for help, but by the end of the night they were all skating by themselves. Spencer is the only one who hadn't been skating before so it was a little more difficult for him. He took a really bad fall on the ice and that was it for him. Hopefully he will try again another time.



Sunday was the boys actual birthday and we thought we would celebrate by having our extended family over for cake and ice cream. The only problem: none of them could come--except for Andy's parents!! We ended up just having a bunch of our good friends from the neighborhood over instead. We had a great time just visiting, eating, and letting the kids play!

Look at this great Jazz cake I made--NOT! My MIL actually thought I made this, which I will take as a compliment that she thinks I am capable of even making something this nice! I need to say a HUGE thank you to our friends Jerry and Vickie for the AWESOME(as the boys would say)cake!

The boys showing off their favorite gift--IPOD Shuffles

Such handsome boys!

Fun with friends!

Here is the perfect example of how helpful Kaden is. After everyone left on Sunday I was busy cleaning up the kitchen. He came down and got out the vacuum and set it up and starting vacuuming the kitchen without even being asked to!

On Monday Ethan and I got to go to the school and take birthday treats in to Kaden and Spencer's classes. Ethan loved seeing his brothers at school and even got to be a "big kid" and sit with Spencer at his desk while we were in his class.


The boys finished up their birthday celebrations Friday night. My dad flew in to town on Thursday to take the boys to a hockey game on Friday night. The boys LOVED every minutes of it!


What a couple of spoiled 7 year olds!!

Where have the last SEVEN years gone??

I am really having a hard time believing that my twins are 7 years old. The time has gone way too fast. We have a tradition that on our kids birthdays we watch their videos from after they were born. They love seeing themselves as little babies. It was kind of emotional to watch the video tonight. It brought back a lot of memories. Here is just a quick story of what happened seven years ago today.
I was 38 1/2 weeks along and set to be induced on Nov. 16th. I was supposed to go in to the hospital fairly early in the morning. My mom had stayed at our house the night before so she could take care of Cassidy. The hospital called that morning and told us that they were really full and they would call us when there was room. The day dragged on and on with no call from the hospital. We finally got the call around 4pm that afternoon that we could come in. We left immediately for the hospital. When we got there they told us that they had tried to call us back and tell us not to come because they had gotten really busy again, but since we were already there we could stay--THANK GOODNESS! I was put on pitocin around 5pm, and Kaden was born at 9:01pm, and Spencer was born at 9:08pm. The thing that stands out the most in my mind is that my epidural didn't work at all!!!! It was the most painful thing ever, but worth it! We were so lucky to have two healthy baby boys. Kaden weighed in at 6lbs 12oz, and Spencer was 7lbs 2oz.
The first year was a complete blur. I really don't remember a lot because I think I blocked a lot of it out. It was extremely HARD. Before I had them I knew it would be hard, I mean double everything of a baby sounds difficult. But until you actually have to do it you don't realize how exhausting it really is. But I am happy to say we all survived!! I am so blessed to have these two sweet boys in my life. They have brought so much joy(and noise) into our home. Kaden is my sweet protective one. He loves to help me and is so caring. Spencer is our little comedian. He loves to get a good laugh out of people. He has a great imagination, his little mind is always working.
Happy Birthday Kaden and Spencer!! I love more than you can imagine!!!!!!

Here are some pictures of the twins!
THEN:













NOW:

Tagged!

I was tagged by my friend Cristina. Here goes:
EIGHT

8 TV shows I like to watch:
1- American Idol
2- Dancing with the Stars
3- ER
4- My Own Worst Enemy
5- Bachelor(don't judge me!!)
6- The Amazing Race
7- The Today Show
8- The View

8 Restaurants I like to eat at:
1-Cafe Rio
2-Olive Garden
3-Brick Oven
4-Spaghetti Factory
5-Chilis
6-Subway
7-Taco Amigo
8-Gandolfos

8 things that happened today:
1- Went wedding shopping with my sister
2- Met with caterer for my sisters wedding
3- Primary Presidency Meeting
4- Email, email, and some more email!
5- Did homework with the kids
6- Did NOT clean my house--it really needs it!!!
7- Fixed dinner
8- Enjoyed quiet time during naps and bedtime!

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1-Thanksgiving
2-Christmas
3-Seeing my mom
4-Being done with Christmas shopping
5-Spring-I am already sick of the cold!
6-My sister's wedding
7-Having all of us healthy again
8-Twins upcoming birthday

8 Things on my wish list:
1-Finishing our basement
2-Good health for me and my family
3-Having a maid to clean my house everyday!
4-To be a better mom and wife!
5-A tropical vacation
6-Shopping Spree
7-Family out of state could live closer
8-Kids would clean up after themselves!!!!

8 people I'm tagging:
1-Kim
2-Amy
3-Lisa
4-Heidi
5-Kylie
6-Sherylen
7-Shannon
8-Michelle

The Invisible Mother

I just received an email from my mom with this great story. It really touched me as a mother, and also made me think of my own mom. My mom put up with ALOT from me--especially during my teenage years. She never gave up on me and now we have a great relationship. She is a great example to me as I am trying to find my way through this world of mothering. I just had to share this story with all of you and hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Thanks for the inspiring story mom. We LOVE and MISS you!!

The Invisible Mother........

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously, not.

No one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England ... Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.

They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing pieces fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'

At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'you're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.