Lights Carmera Action

Suzie relaxing on my bed

Bella playing in the snow at our house last week

What is all this white stuff

Catching snow on her tongue

Too bad it was not a snow day

Here are some video clips I shot last week.

Have a great week! Hugs! The Kennedy's

Not Invisible

Can you believe Mommy let me have a chocolate cookie?

Enjoying snack time at Barnes and Noble with Daddy, Zak, and Nik

I am so tired from all the playing at the gym!

I love it here Mommy!

Bella and her buddy Will.

Come on Sarah Jane lets get outta here.

I love this "jumpy thing".

The above photos recap the last week. Bella and I started going to a local gym to play on Fridays. This weekend was full of family time and it wore Bella out! She did her very best to keep up with the Boys all weekend. We hired a new sitter this weekend and it worked out great! The kids love her....all 3 of them! Larry and I were impressed with her too. This week we are starting Kindermusic on Tues, we have MOPS on Thurs, and CSI gym on Friday. No cabin fever this week!

If you read my last post you understand my title. I decided this past week, I am not invisible. In fact my boys see me all the time. They see me carrying in groceries and do not offer to help, they see my carrying their laundry upstairs, and say nothing, they even see me cleaning their bathroom and you guessed it they ask if I am about done because they need to use it. The thing is they also see me when they say thanks for the ride to the basketball game, thanks for looking over my homework, dinner was great tonight, and most importantly they see me walk by their rooms one last time at night and they whisper "good night mom I love you"! So, they do see me. Bella sees me too. She sees me first thing in the morning and I am the last person she sees at night. She sees me all day because I have decided that all I worked for in getting a Master's degree cannot pay me enough to not see her all day! I know Bella sees me because she kisses me now, she hugs me, and right before I put her in bed she will lay her head on my shoulder and pat my shoulder. So, my "cathedrals" are looking good as far as I am concerned.
It is tough however. This being a mom thing. I celebrate my 29th birthday today. I cannot believe how much I thought I would have accomplished by now. Looking back at being 18, I remember having college in front of me. At 21 excited to be almost done with school and exploring potential jobs. At 22 I was in love with Larry and by 23 I was going to be marrying him in 9 months. All I thought I wanted changed the day he asked me to marry him. I "gave" it all up. Sometimes, especially the last few days I question my decision. I do feel at times I cheated myself out of the "party". Like I missed something. I realize however, what I missed can never take the place of what I gained. Although it is tough at times having 3 kids at 29 it is more often then not a breeze! Something that I live for.
So as I stand at the edge of 30 I am excited to be where I am. Some days I am exhausted and wish I had a one bedroom apt in my favorite city(Chicago) but most days I thank God he choose this path for me!

Invisible Mother

Thank you Wendy for sharing so much of this past year with me.

Jana and Wendy....seperated by miles joined all day by our girls! Thought of you the entire time this was being read! Miss and Love you!!

The following was read today at my MOPS meeting. It touched me to my core, so I thought I would share.

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 me a question.
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 sum a cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going; she's going; she is 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.
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, after which 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, no cupcake 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 4 in 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 him to 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.Great Job, MOM!Share this with all the Invisible Mom s you know...I just did.Hope this encourages you when the going gets tough as it sometimes does.We never know what our finished products will turn out to be because of our perseverance.

Colorado Update # 2

Bella after a long day of sledding

Bella fell asleep on the way to the car

She is such a big girl

Daddy pushing her down the hill

Bella loved the snow

Bella looking cute in her snow gear

Where we going Magellan??

Zak "ridin'" the Mtn.

Mom and Zak stopping for a photo

Nik showing off his skills

Ok, so I lost my patients and did not get any photos uploaded....sorry! Hope you enjoyed them today:)
I am not feeling creative, so I will not bore you with mindless typing:) We had a great time on our trip and look forward to next year.
The boys are back at school, Larry at work and Bella and I are trying to surive her cutting her top two teeth.
Love to you all!

Colorado Update #1

We arrived in Durango Co late afternoon on Saturday. It was two long days of driving, but the kids did really well considering. Bella had a few little melt downs, but all in all she was fabulous.

Saturday night we had dinner at a little Mexican Cafe and went to bed early. Bella had slept in the car a lot on Saturday, so by 3am I was walking the halls with her. She was wide eyed and bushy tailed till about 6am. By then I was awake and could not go back to sleep. Needless to say I skipped skiing on Sunday.

Monday I made up for missing Sunday! I will never come to the Mountain this out of shape again! Despite my legs killing me I had a great time. The boys are really good little boarders, and I was finding it was me this year that had a hard time keeping up with them.

Tuesday was a repeat of Monday except Larry came to the Mountain and Mom stayed home with Bella. Bella loves all the special attention. Tuesday was a tough day because I was still sore from Monday. Thus, I took Wednesday off for a little shopping:)

Today we spent the day with the kids. We went sledding and just hung out. It was very relaxing. Enjoy the photos!

Happy New Year!