Talese aka Kaitlin

One day Kaitlin asked me what "t l e s e" spelled, so I said "Talese I guess." She then said I don't want to be Kaitlin anymore I wanna be Talese. So for the next few weeks she insisted on being called Talese. It made Cadence pretty upset that Kaitlin wanted to change her name. One day Kaitlin asked Cadence if she wanted to change her name. Cadence responded "no, I just wanna be plain old Cadence." The whole situation made us laugh. Thankfully she got over her Talese stage and is back to being our sweet little Kaitlin.

Tubes Again

Little Miss Kaitlin got her second set of tubes in her ears on Feb. 25. When I woke her up that morning she asked where we were going. I told her we were just going for a ride. "Are we going to Disneyland?" she asked. Instantly I felt horrible and told her no. She then said this is what we do when we go to Disneyland. She kept wondering why Cadence wasn't coming and said "Mom, just tell me where we are going!" I kept it a secret, but as soon as we pulled into the parking lot she started crying and saying "this is the doctors office, I don't want to go to the doctor!" She calmed down until I had to put the hospital jammies on her. She thought they were silly looking and didn't wan't anyone to see her in them. Then the nurse told her she could watch a Barbie movie and she was okay. Next came the Versed. It's a drug that makes them loopy so they aren't scared when they go back. She was hilarious! They also gave her a doll to color, so here's my 4 year old acting drunk and trying to color a doll. It was so funny. We had it done at Primary Childrens in Riverton. They were so great to her. Her laughing gas was cotton candy scented and she got root beer slushies afterwards. When she woke up she was really mad and wanted to watch the Barbie movie.(that was the last thing she remembered) Our awesome nurse had a tv rolled into her post-op room so she could watch Barbie and calm down. It helped right away. As we were getting her ready to leave she kept saying "I like this doctor, I always want to come to this doctor" Needless to say they won her over too. They let her take her oxygen mask home and she told me that whenever she wants to go to sleep she just needs to put her mask on. When it didn't work she got angry at me for not asking the doctors for some sleeping medicine to take home. She had a couple rough moments once we got home and threw up twice. She made it all the way to our garage before she threw up in my hands, but that's better than on the car! Hopefully this will take care of her ear infections once and for all.

Cadence got to stay home with Grandma Judy who took her to preschool. She told Kaitlin that everyone missed her, and she even asked Miss Tanya if she could take a snack home for Kaitlin. While Kaitlin was in bed that night Cadence came in and gave her a big hug and kiss and told her she was sorry she had to go to the hospital and that "I love you with ever my heart". She is such a sweet compassionate girl. It was pretty obvious that Kaitlin felt so special that her sister cared about her so much. She didn't want to let Cadence go from their hug.

Swimming lessons

We enrolled the girls in swimming lessons and they are having so much fun! They are learning to blow bubbles, kick, front and back float, open their eyes under water, and they even jump in the deep end (with assistance of course) They loved their first teacher Diane. She was so great with the kids. Their current teacher is a man I don't think they are as comfortable with him.

Kaitlin is a little fish and loves going under water and never wants to leave the pool. She goes down this little slide and never gets tired of it.

Cadence is usually too cold to go down the slide, but I talked her into going down once so I could get a picture. she has learned a lot and is getting more comfortable in the water. I think she would do better if it was a little warmer.

This is the class taking an airplane ride on the teacher. This is how she transports them from the deep end to the shallow water. They even go under water. The girls think it is a blast!

Everytime we take a bath now they want to use their goggles, float on their back and blow bubbles under water.

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?