More pics from NYC

Thanksgiving in NYC 2010

We surprised Mimi in NYC to help celebrate her birthday. Jenn, Zac, Kenz and Ty also joined us and we had a wonderful time. The kids absolutely loved the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and going to FAO Scwartz. Kendall played the big piano with Aunt Jenn....talk about neat! What a store! We also went to Ground Zero, Rockefeller Center, Soho, Chinatown, and hung out in Times Square. For Mimi's birthday and Thanksgiving dinner, we ate Uncle Jack's steakhouse. I opted for a steak over turkey and am so glad I did....it seriously was the best steak I have ever eaten.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!

More Fall/ Halloween Pics

Getting ready for Halloween

Jace's Artwork

So cute!!!
I'm so impressed w/ his teachers and how much hard work that put into each day w/ Jace's class of ten 2 year olds. He is so happy to go to school now. When we turned down his hallway at school yesterday, he ran down the hall right into his classroom. I keep praying for a great school and teachers when we move b/c this will be hard to beat!

The Blessing of Friends

My Mom's Group girlfriends planned a going away dinner for me. While I was excited to go to dinner, the "going away" part just didn't sit right w/ me. For me, these amazing women and moms are my lifelong friends. I joined my mom's group 2 years ago when we moved to Texas and it has brought about some of the best friendships for myself and Kendall & Jace. (And Jimmy, too!)

I know that our move holds a new set of friends for our family, but it doesn't go without feelings of sadness for leaving the quality, quality people that we've met here in Texas. People who have become family to us. I'm very grateful for that!

Lots of good news around here!

We found a buyer!!! Yes, we have sold our home. (pending inspections, of course) After 3 days of negotiations, we've finally came to an agreement that we are happy with. We are definitely excited as this means our family is able to come back together again. It has not been easy answering the question "When is Daddy coming home?" on a daily basis. However, this move closes a chapter in our lives that we have thoroughly enjoyed. It means leaving a neighborhood/city that we've fallen in love with and leaving friends who've became family to us. Maybe one day our Enterprise adventures will bring us back this way, but in the meantime we are on to new beginnings in "The Lou" as Jimmy calls it.

Also, and much more importantly, I received great news from my dermatologist. Last week, he biopsied a darkened area from the scar on my arm where he found melanoma last year. I honestly have been stressing all week waiting for his call. I really didn't want to go through the skin removal like last time. However, GREAT NEWS... The biopsy revealed it was nothing more than a hyperpigmentation of that section of skin. So, I'll deal w/ a little "more" scar on my arm from this latest biopsy over melanoma anyday.

Wear your sunscreen my friends and stay out of the tanning bed!! And one more thing....take an hour and a half out of your day and go see a dermatologist to get your skin checked. I'm very lucky I didn't let that small brown mole on my arm keep taking it nasty little toll on my health. Some people aren't so lucky.

Happy Birthday Kendall and Jace!

We had a birthday celebration for the kids while Daddy was home this weekend. I still can't believe my baby girl is now 4 and my little man is 2! Happy Birthday Kendall and Jace! You've brought immeasurable happiness to our lives! And, did I mention entertainment?! We love you to the moon and back....as Daddy would say. ;)

Hope you enjoy the birthday pics! Thank you to Gammy, Papa, Mimi, Pap Pap, Aunt Jenn, Zac, Kenzie, Ty, Aunt Kim, Uncle Brad, Nate and Wes for the awesome gifts that made the kids day extra special!

For you Moms...

(from my sweet friend Ashley....just the perspective I needed on a day like today. Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. I also think my teacher friends can relate.)

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.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my
phone?, What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the
eyes that studied history, music and literature -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 . She 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 she 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:
'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: 1) No one can say who built the great
cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave
their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They
made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their
building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend 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. 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, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand 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.

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 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That
would mean I'd built 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,
he'd say, '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 mothers.


Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know... I just did.