Where have 12 years gone??

 

I am so proud of how much Samantha and Madison have grown over the past few years.  This birthday for me was a scary one, I couldn't believe that my oldest were entering into Young Women, starting to babysit and turning into teenagers, in more ways than one :)

The favorite part of a birthday in our house is planning the meal menu for the day.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Things are decided months in advance!  As we got closer to the date I noticed that their birthday was falling on the first Sunday of the month, fast Sunday.  We compromised and extended the birthday meals into two days.  Breakfast (French toast, eggs, bacon, juice) and lunch on Saturday and then their birthday dinner (homemade tamales, rice, black beans, chips) on Sunday.  Topped off the meal with a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

 

I was reading a blog a few months back that mentioned a temple trip for your child when they turn 12.  What an awesome idea!  Unfortunately the D.C. temple closed for cleaning the day after their birthday and opened back up the week we were going to be in Florida.  My hubby suggested driving up to NYC for the day.  I looked at him with a blank stare and my jaw dropped to the ground, I am the one usually suggesting trips to NYC.

 

We left bright and early on Friday, January 10th.  Dropped the younger two off at our friends home and braved the icy, snowy roads that had closed schools for the morning.  As we made it slowly through NJ I knew we would not make our 11 a.m. scheduled time, called the temple and they fortunately had a 2 p.m. slot.  Perfect, now we would have time to grab a NY pizza pie before heading to the temple.  Walked to our favorite pizza shop to find it closed :(  Thankfully found a yummy alternative around the corner and filled our bellies with yummy food.

 

 

The temple was awesome!  Rob was able to do confirmations and baptisms for both the girls.  A member of the temple presidency spoke to our little family for a few minutes .  It was a wonderful, peaceful experience that hopefully Madison and Samantha will always remember.  After we left Samantha said, "that was so neat, I want to go back again!"

 

We spent a few more hours walking the city, darting into stores to warm up and enjoying middle eastern food in the theater district before grabbing a slice of cheesecake for the road.

 

Happy Birthday to my favorite twins!