Happy? Halloween

I love holidays. But I must admit that Halloween is a bit scary. Take it from a mother’s point of view: nine children = nine costumes. Crazy! How creative and artistic can one parent be? Not to mention the dreams of my over-zealous 4th grader. “Let’s all be Harry Potter figures this year!” she plans. “Daddy can be Dumbledore, you can be Professor MacGonagal …” I can’t even fathom adding two more people to the dress-up list. However, there are a lot of possibilities with a big family.

CHITTY CHITTY CHILDREN

A friend gave us two tickets to the Hale Center Theatre in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Scanning through the online list of 2013 shows, I quickly chose "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as the play I wanted to attend and made reservations.  A few weeks later, my husband and I drove to the theatre and took our seats in the top row.  The stage looked small and round below us.  A simple curtain covered it and as I watched the theatre fill up, I couldn’t help but feel skeptical that one of my favorite movies could be effectively produced in such a small arena.  

Twice Blessed

Note: I originally wrote this article the week after we blessed our twins, in 2009. I'm reposting now in celebration of the twins' 5th birthday, and dedicate this experience to all the great twin moms I know. I've survived the first five years! And you can, too.

I am the mother of twins. Hooray! Hooray! Friends warned me that there would be twice as many diapers, twice as many feedings, and twice as much crying. 


“Never mind,” I thought. “By now I’m twice as good at being a mother.” Besides, one mother told me that the first six children are the hardest, after that it “just gets easier.”  Unfortunately, all I’ve experienced so far has been total chaos.