Happy kids

Three happy kids - we are so blessed!

Today was Stake Conference. Even though the one meeting was long it was nice to be finished with church early. For those that don't know, I got a new calling. I am now the 2nd counselor in the Primary. I am excited about it. I haven't been in primary since I attended myself so it is fun to be with the kids again. This also puts me over the cub scouting so last week I attended my first pack meeting as well. I think that I will enjoy the new calling.

All the kids are doing well. We took them to Heise Hot Springs on Friday afternoon just for fun. Miranda even got in for about 20 minutes. She loved it the whole time she was in and then gave us no warning when she started screaming! She didn't stop until I had her dried off, dressed, wrapped in a blanket and in her car seat rocking her to sleep! Thank goodness I wasn't by myself and Len could watch and play with the kids while I did all that! They swam for about 1 1/2 hours and had a great time. It was the perfect time to go as it was not crowded at all until we decided to get out. Then people started showing up in car fulls. We even had the whole pool to ourselves for about 20 minutes.

Yesterday Kaydra attended a birthday party for a girl in her class. They had the party at Tautphaus park (near Steve and Sharon's house). It was also the annual Earth Day Celebration so it was VERY crowded. I called Courtney and we walked around and saw all the activities with the other kids while Kaydra went to the party. After a little while, I got a call from the mom in charge of the party saying that Kaydra had fallen and she wanted me. I walked back to the playground where the party was and found her with ice on her lip. She was climbing up the toy and caught her sandal on one of the rungs of the ladder and fell. She landed on her chin and her two front teeth went into her bottom lip. She was bleeding pretty good and they hit hard enough that she is bruised on the OUTSIDE of her mouth from the injury that was INSIDE. Pretty sad. She now has a swollen lip and bruised chin for her efforts. The worst part is that because she was wearing capri pants to the park (yes, we finally had a pretty nice day) I talked her into wearing her sandals. I thought it looked cuter than the socks and tennis shoes she had come upstairs with that morning. Because of this decision, she tripped and got hurt. Way to go, MOM! :( All in the name of fashion. For the record, the outfit did look better with sandals! She is feeling a little better today although she says she can't chew with her mouth closed because she keeps biting her lip.

Matching Sisters (Miranda is smiling at Kanyon, of course!)
The girls wore nearly matching dresses to church today. Kaydra's dress is one she got for Easter and I got Miranda's dress for Easter as well but she hasn't been able to fit in it until today. They are growing so fast!

Miranda is getting SO big! (10 weeks old)

I love this picture of Kaydra on the couch with Miranda because if you look back at previous posts with nearly the same pose, you can really see how much Miranda has changed.

MIRANDA - One month with Kaydra

Miranda - newborn with Kaydra

Today starts my last full week at home before having to go back to work. The following week I only go to work on Wednesday and the kids will stay with Len -- but still! It is always hard to leave them. The big difference this time is that I am not really nervous about work - I know I will be fine. This is usually a major concern. This time, I am nervous for Leonard. 10+ hours with three kids (including a baby who does "okay" with a bottle) by himself ..... I am sure he will do just fine! :)

Miranda - Two months

Miranda is growing and growing. She is starting to get a "chubby" baby look but still has skinny legs! She was two months old on April 17. I took her to the doctor that day for her check up and he said she looks great. She weighed in at 11lbs 9oz and was 24 inches long. She is a tall baby for her age - just like my other kids. I look at her and I am really starting to see just her. She looks like my dad and my brother but I don't think she looks like any of my other kids. She is beautiful and I am still hoping for brown eyes but I think they are leaning toward dark green. We will see. My mom got this outfit for her and I just love it! She somehow manages to "come out" of her diaper every time she wears it though so I don't think it will last long. I am getting good at stain removal! She is really starting to smile very easily and she almost gave me a laugh the other day. She loves to be with people and notices quickly that she is alone in a room. She lets us know with a very good hollar! She is very vocal and she "talks" and coos a lot. The other kids are still enjoying her and every morning Kanyon says, "Oh, Miranda, you look soooo cuuuute!" She just smiles at him. She loves her brother and sister. We are so blessed to have her in our home! She just woke up so I will be done posting for now.

Lagoon - Let's take a vote!

I haven't posted for awhile but I have been taking pictures and now I have a lot of catching up to do. On the 12th of April we took our kids to Lagoon. They have a discount offered in April and we have gone then for the past few years. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was "jacket" weather but was SO nice! I think it was low 60's for the high. We didn't wait in any lines for longer than 10 minutes (and that was for "Wicked" and "The Spider"). For those that went last year at the reunion in June we waited in line for nearly 2 hours to ride "Wicked".


This is Wicked - my new favorite roller coaster ride







It was so fun and we got to go on every ride we wanted and the kids had a great time running from ride to ride. We weren't brave enough to let ourselves get wet on the water rides so we put ponchos on even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky! We were dry afterward though -- Who's laughing now?!

We had a great time and I am recommending that we change the reunion to April instead. We would actually have time to see each other and we could go on rides together and switch off kids easily. I know that poses a problem for those that don't live close but we never see each other at Lagoon anyway. So I am taking a vote -- Who wants to switch Lagoon to April? I will keep a tally and we will talk about it at Lagoon in June THIS year! I know that some people in Idaho Falls are in agreement but we will vote to see what people think! Let your voice be heard or we may decide without you!

Clockwise from Courtney in the bright blue poncho: Courtney,
Terek, Mom, Kalli, Kaydra, Kanyon, Dad, Paul -- I was taking the pic

I won't go back!

Today I took Kanyon to the dentist. The pediatric dentist in our area has a great office. He has a train theme going on complete with a train car built inside the office that kids can play on (a pretend, built out of wood, train car). It has a slide and everything. He also has a train that drives around the office on a track above your head. I took Kanyon there about two weeks ago for a cleaning. He loved it. He was so proud of his new shiny teeth. Today we went back because he has several cavities. Len's mom is a dental assistant and she would be so disappointed. They told me today that they were working on FOUR teeth and that he would still have to come back. :( Kaydra has had one cavity in her life so I am not sure where we went wrong with Kanyon. Anyway, Kanyon did not like the dentist this time. They were able to fix a couple of teeth and then were unable to finish because - as the dentist so nicely put it - of cooperation! The dentist said he would like to try one more time and see if Kanyon will cooperate. I am not sure what we will do if he won't cooperate. I tried to talk to Kanyon about it and he said he didn't like the "hurt" things (shots). They did give him gas first and he said that was okay because it was strawberry. I tried to talk to him about how important it is that we fix his cavities and all he would say through tears was, "I am NOT going back to THAT DENTIST!" I guess, for now, we'll wait and see. His next appointment isn't until May 28 so maybe he will forget by then -- but probably not :(

Listen to us!

So this weekend was General Conference. I love that we can stay home in our p.j.'s and listen to the Prophet speak. It was great to listen to our new Prophet, President Monson. He has the best stories! One of the first speakers on Saturday was Elder Russel M. Nelson. In his talk he was speaking about families and said something like, "Do not control your children, listen to them." I remember thinking that was good advice and I would have to try harder. My kids were coloring on the floor in front of the television and talking to each other. I didn't think they were listening. About two speakers later, I was telling Kanyon (for about the 15th time) to please be quiet so I could hear the speaker - I probably wasn't that polite about it though. He got this disgusted look on his face and said, muttering under his breath, "They said you're supposed to listen to us." Wow. who knew something would backfire at me so quickly! I also learned that he hears way more than he lets on. That's my Kanyon!

I am invisible

I got this story from a message board. It was something that I needed to be reminded of. I don't usually feel invisible but the point of the story really hit home so I thought I would share it with you.

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 around5:30, 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's 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 as I looked down at my out-of-style dress; it was the only thing I could find that was clean. My unwashed hair was pulled up in a hair clip and I was afraid I could actually smell peanut butter in it. 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, afterwhich 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 piece 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, nocupcake 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 4in 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 himto 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.