Growing up too fast

This is the girls at their preschool Christmas concert. They did so well!

These 2 quotes are a good reminder of what's important in life.

“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”
-Anna Quindlen

(I learned recently that when you are not getting sleep your brain doesn't make memories as well. That explains why I don't remember most of my twins infancy. It made me feel better I just thought I had lost my mind.)

"You have nothing in this world more precious than your children. When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, nothing will be so important as the question of how your children have turned out . . . Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value . . . The baby you hold in your arms will grow quickly as the sunrise and the sunset of the rushing days." -President Gordon B. Hinckley

Frosty The Snowman

I spent an hour shoveling the wet heavy snow off the driveway. Then I went in to bundle up the girls to go play in the snow. I was exhausted but once I got out there I felt like a little kid again. The quiet snow fall and even the smell of snow reminds me of playing in the snow as a child. I just wish I had the energy to do it all day long like I did back then. Here's the end result of our playtime.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Here is a recap of our adventures this past year.

Steve and I started out with a surprise calling to nursery! We were given a 1 year sentence. Steve was released early for good behavior in June and called as 1st counselor in the Young Mens presidency. I am still serving my sentence, but trying to do it with a better attitude. Obviously I have a ways to go.

The girls started primary this year. They struggled making the transition a little, but now love it. Their favorite part is singing in sharing time. They also started preschool in September and absolutely love every minute of it! They are learning so much and want to go everyday. I was a little traumatized by them starting preschool and spent most of their first day crying. Our house felt so empty while they were gone. My little girls are growing up so fast, and I'm not ready for it.

Kaitlin is our active outdoors girl. She loves to play outside, swing, and ride her scooter and princess car. She loves to play princess, but tries to broaden their play time with other games as well. One of her favorites is "meowies" a game shere she is the kitty and Cadence tends her. She loves books and every night she prays that "mom will ready stories to us". She is a little snuggler and still fits nicely in our laps.

Cadence is our social butterfly and makes friends with everyone. She is quite the little mother to all our younger neighbors. She is very easy going and goofy. She loves everything princess and spends most of her days dressed as one. She is always ready with a hug and a kiss for me, Steve and pretty much anyone else.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Between Lori and I we've been asking the girls for weeks if they wanted to sit on Santa's lap. They kept telling us no, then they told Lori they wanted me to take them; but every time I asked the answer was still no. I got a yes from Kaitlin occasionally but Cadence wanted nothing to do with him. The other day we were on the freeway about to pass the mall, so I asked again. Kaitlin said she wanted to and Cadence said she would do it if Kailtin would sit on his lap with her (so cute how they can tackle their fears together). So we stopped, luckily I had dressed them cute and done their hair. I thought the green vests were kinda festive too. So they both sat on his lap, got pictures taken and even told him what they wanted for Christmas. It may not seem like a big deal to most people, but these are the girls who screamed bloody murder on Christmas Eve when they were 2 because they were so scared about a strange man coming in their house while they were sleeping. We had to call Santa and ask him to leave the presents by the mailbox then we had to lay in their rooms until they went to sleep. And last year as soon as Santa came into the room at our family party Cadence made a mad dash to Grandpa who promised to save her if she was afraid. Since this was the first year that we had both of them willing and happy I had to buy the picture. It was a pricy memory though at $25! When did Santa get so expensive?

In My Room, In my Room

Anyone remember that Beach Boys song? The girls now officially have their own bedrooms. I let them pick out their own bedding and we added bead board and a stencil border at the ceiling. I love the way they turned out. The girls love them also. They even made their bed the first day.

We are just happy Cadence isn't sleeping in the piano room on a too small toddler bed anymore. I'm so happy that they each have their own dresser too. It was getting hard to fit their clothes into 1 room.

Halloween

The girls had 2 Halloween costumes this year. It wasn't planned that way, it just kinda happened. So they wore 1 to preschool, and 1 on Halloween night. I actually dressed up too. We went to Steve's work, and he didn't even know who I was. He totally ignored me until I spoke to him. I thought it was funny.

First Day of Preschool

Oh, my girls are growing up! I can't believe they started preschool. It wasn't a big deal to them, they were excited to go learn and play. They walked right it in, sat right down and played with playdoh. I decided I better leave before I lost it. I then realized that walking was a mistake as I cried most of they way home passing all my neighbors coming back from the bus stop. The crying got worse once I got inside my eerily quiet home; so I cried for another half hour as I cleaned my house. I did get quite a lot accomplished in a very short amount of time though. It's amazing how quickly things get done when there's nobody to undo it. Here's some pictures of our cute, grown-up preschoolers.