Selfless

The definition of selfless is putting aside one's interest for the greater good.  I fear that in attempting to teach my children to be selfless, I have through example only shown them that my feelings come dead last. Or at least that is the only thing it seems that they have gleaned from my example. 

A Pondering of Motherhood

There is a saying,“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” As near as I can tell, this is a quote by Rudyard Kipling. At book club last night we discussed this quote a little and my good friend says she disagrees. She believes that God can be everywhere. I know this to be the truth also. For some reason today it has been on my mind and for my purpose, I revise the quote to be "God is everywhere, because mothers can't be". I will attempt to qualify this. I think that my reasoning holds true, even if your mother has passed on.

As a mother, I know that I constantly wish someone would clone me. Not only because I, like many others, have overbooked myself, but also because often my children need me and I am not able to be right there. Sometimes, my children don't need me, I just wish that I could be there to stand up for them, to comfort them, or to bring them a favorite treat to put that smile on their face. I know that they will be alright without me, I just wish I could do something more than I am able to at that moment. As often as possible, I am there. It is in the times when I am not able to be there, that I pray for them. I pray for Heavenly Father to watch over them, to guide them and to protect them. I pray for them to feel my love and comfort until I can be there. I know that those prayers are answered. I know that because I can't be everywhere, I can rely on my father in Heaven to be there for them. I hope that someday my children know this and that they too can learn to rely on the Lord. That they can forge that friendship with him, come to rely on him in times of hurt and need. He truly will bring the needed relief if you just trust in him.

A different book I read recently had this quote "Maybe we're all like that with our mothers. They seem ordinary until one day they're extraordinary." In the book, the main character realized her mother was capable of things she didn't know. I guess this sentence just stood out to me. I don't consider myself to be extraordinary. I just don't always feel appreciated for all the things that I do and all the sacrifices I make on behalf of my children. I know that is the circle of life. I probably was not grateful enough for my mother. Mothers are just supposed to take what we dish out, right? I have previously publicly thanked my mother for all she has done and am grateful for the kind of person she taught me to become. I firmly believe that I am who I am because of her example. My hope is also that one day my children realize that I was extraordinary in some way. I don't ever expect them to tell me or thank me, I just hope that they know. May they just continue my quiet legacy of helping others and standing up for what is right.

TKB

Wrestling Man & Basketball Girl

Wrestling season is well upon us. Zach LOVES wrestling. He often uses his sister as a test dummy when practicing. This does not work out for him very well because she just fishes and gives in right away (no pain tolerance). He has participated in several tournaments and received two medals so far. He wrestles in the 8 and under age bracket, 49 lbs.

Zoe recently started basketball. Last Saturday was her first game. She scored all 12 of her team's points!! It was really fun to watch her excitement.

Catching Up

I have known for awhile that my blog has been neglected, but it doesn't bother me too much. Today I decided to update everyone and find that many events have passed with no honorable mention. So I opened up my pictures to see what we have missed, there is alot!

Just to recap, since my last post we have: found our way out of the corn maze, picked pumpkins, carved pumpkins, dressed up for halloween, finished marching band season, ate turkey, one of us traveled to Hawaii, chopped down our family Christmas tree, one of us earned and was awarded the honor of Eagle Scout, Grandparents visited, one of us lost more teeth, ice skated, it snowed for exactly 11 minutes, annual bowling trip with Popes, baked some delicious cookies for the big guy in the red suit, ate some waffles, drempt of sugar plums, all night wrapping marathon, argued with a teenager, up very early to see the huge smiles, eaten our omlet tradition, vegged out all day, one of us tripped over own feet and fell down stairs, hello ER on Christmas evening, a couple people got their hair cut, marathon dr visits during school break, rang in the new year, one of us wrestled in his first tournament...BACK TO SCHOOL!!

Wow, I am exhausted just typing it and remembering it all :) Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the adventure.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Well, I may not be Picasso or even Linnea Hoyos (you just have to know this amazing woman to appreciate that comment), but I did manage to make one little girl's dream come true. As you may know we decided that we had to bite the bullet and let the twins pick out their own room colors. I still have to get to Zach, but Zoe choose pink. I had to have a hand in it and made her pick out two different shades so at least the room could have some design qualities. At first the pink was overwhelming and despite having a 16 year old girl ahead of her, we had never painted a room pink. But I do have to admit that it grows on you, and I actually kind of like it now.

At this point in the story I should tell you that several months ago Zoe saw what she claimed to be her first ever rainbow to see in real life. She is absolutely obsessed with them, she draws them all the time and has memorized the colors and everything is all about rainbows. I asked her if she would like a rainbow on her wall and she readily agreed. Next I set about accomplishing this task. I mulled it all over in my mind and ended up procrastinating it. We painted her room about a month ago and most of her things were still in the loft waiting to move back in.

I had purchased samples of the necessary colors when I purchased the pink, so on Sunday I just decided to give it a try. I have to say that freehand and in about 3 hours from start to finish I made the most amazing rainbow on her wall! The whole time I was painting I was so worried about lines and of course I know where all the imperfections are, but I just want to say that for someone who is not trained to paint, this wall art is pretty cool! And in the end, the only person I really have to please is the seven year old, right?

Confession: during the making of the product below, I did have a serious palsy moment and spilled about a cup of green paint on the carpet...oh well? Good thing we know someone who does carpet? :)

The mission was accomplished and Zoe was appropriately grateful for my artwork. Poor sheltered child thinks that I am actually talented! It was nice to have her huge hug and receive all her compliments. It is the small moments that make long days go much better.

Brother insisted that they should both sit under the rainbow for a picture. My hope that they can experience many more rainbows during their lifetime and remember the smile it brings whenever you see one.

Eagle Project

It is no secret that I am a little ambitious when it comes to my son and scouting. When he was a cub, I constantly had him doing some kind of badge work. When he turned 11 and graduated into Boy Scouts, I received all the information well. I thought to myself, wow 121 merit badges, we are SO getting all those. Right about now all you more experienced scout mom's can just go ahead a take a good hard laugh.

I gave it a good try, let us not be confused. I pushed really hard and put my expectations very high. Whenever my son was not doing something, I would say "let's look at your merit badges, pick one to do, we are doing it". He advanced quickly and I was pleased that it appeared he could earn his Eagle Scout by the time he was 13, or at the very latest 14.

Then puberty hit and he became the tallest person in our house and pretty much tested me on a regular basis, letting me know what he was and was not going to do. The earning of merit badges has slowed considerably. He has been a Life scout since last September, meaning that anytime during the last year he could have planned and completed his large project necessary to earn Eagle Scout rank. He was not motivated, at all. Nothing I did was going to change this, so I just stopped doing anything. It was up to him. I did interpret the guidelines of earning Eagle rank to my own advantage and let him know that the requirement states "earn 21 merit badges, or 10 more than you already have". I think the Boy Scouts assume to that point you have only earned 11 merit badges...but Justin had already earned 24, so I said he had to earn 10 more than he already had. He argued with me long and hard, but I was not budging.

I am proud to say that on September 24th, he completed his long awaited Eagle project and is in the process of finishing his paperwork and application to earn the award. I am very proud of the innovative project he chose and all the ways that he had to grow in order to complete the project. He is a shy kid to strangers and had to call and meet with many strangers to accomplish this. He even did a live radio interview to promote his project!

He seems to be very happy as well, happy to be done, but also happy he did it. He is also grateful for my merit badge Nazism, because he has earned enough to receive two Eagle palms with his rank. I overheard him telling someone that he plans to earn two silver palms and end his career with 51 merit badges.

So, for all you over zealous scout mom's to come...there is hope!

Here are a few pics of my Justin, doing his project.

He collected 715 lbs of food.

Twins Turn Seven

We have a tradition since all our birthdays are during the school year. We leave a few presents on the kitchen table to open before school. When kids come down for breakfast we take a picture of their year older self! Here is handsome Zach.

and Zoe going right for the gifts.
This definately made the hit list of gifts. Zach got a rip stick (some kind of really cool skateboard thing) and of course protective equipment for every inch of his body. He really loves to ride this. and Zoe got a hair straightener. You might be able to tell that she is kissing the box. She thinks her straightener is super cute and she loves being independent with it. I also love this gift because it helps her hair not look as though she has just crawled out from under the bridge :)

The twins were excited because this year they got to have their FIRST friend party. We decided that separate parties were in order. Zoe's was held on Friday night and the theme was ROCK STAR (of the female Hannah Montana type). We sent the boys packing and had us some real girl fun, make up station (thanks Lyndsey), hair station (thanks Becca), nail station and then the VIP lounge. Everyone gave lip syncing a try!

Zach's party was on Saturday morning. He chose a footbal training camp theme. Clint had a great time making different obstacles for the boys to practice. I think that eveyone enjoyed it! I do have to admit that it made for a very long 48 hours, but it was worth it.