Complete Madness

A few little Bits

2011-12-27T13:02:00.003-07:00

I will eventually do a year in review but today I am cleaning my desk while my kids are totally immersed in technology, so reviewing will have to wait- again. Anyway, I just found some little bits of paper on my desk I have been holding on to and now I want to throw them away, but I have to record them somewhere. They are just little conversations I have heard the boys have over the last 5 years and I want to remember them.

Tyse's Prayer at about age 3-

Mom, I love to help you wash dishes.
Dad, I love to help you water plants.
I love to read stories and I love to sing songs.
I love Emitt
I love Red (the dog) and Dad and I love You.
I like to find bats and drink water from waterfalls.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

He has since learned how to pray, but this little "conversation" with the Lord is one of my favorites.

Mom and Tyse, also at about age 3-
Mom- "What is a missionary?"
Tyse- "Someone who TRIES to eat dinner with us!"

A brotherly "one up-ing"
Emitt (to Tyse)- "You Princess!"
Tyse (responding)- "You Ballerina!"
and the ultimate insult a boy can dish?
Emitt- "You put MAKEUP on you!!!!"

Just in case you didn't get a card from the Madsen's...

2011-01-12T10:56:00.003-07:00

You are in the same boat with EVERYONE ELSE! My beautiful cards are complete- the pics are actually in the house- the envelopes are all addressed- so you may ask why they never made it from my bedroom?
Well, we are blaming it on the printer. I spent an evening writing a letter, and then Kent spent an evening re-writing our letter just to have our printer break and we never got it fixed to print. Thus- no cards.
The bright side?
Next year's cards are up and ready- and hopefully a new printer will be gracing our desk soon!
So for those of you that felt like something was missing in your celebration this year, here is our christmas letter- complete with post christmas commentary found in RED.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holidays have been filled with joy. We are grateful to have such great family and friends such as you. This year was memory-filled as our family continues to grow.
Ollie is 2 and going on 8 in his eyes! He loves to pretend to boss around his brothers, play with Hot Wheels and construction toys, and say whatever his brothers tell him to say. One of his recent favorite phrases to say whenever he is asked to do something is, “Kayh! whatEVah”- spoken phonetically. He has also mastered the art of plugging his hears when he doesn’t want to hear what we have to tell him. We think he aspires to be a sanitation engineer because he loves everything that has to do with garbage. He is happy as a clam as long as mom is in arms reach. He has taken to fixing things with dad when he or his brothers break something- he loves being a "worker guy." Santa brought him a big boy bed and he loves it- even that inch long gash from falling out of it!

Emitt turned 4 this year. He started preschool and is working hard on writing his name and rhyming. He loves riding his scooter (and not letting Ollie ride his), Halloween, and anything Cat in the Hat. He also believes he is a great impressionist and has started quoting movies. He has mastered the art of turning a knock-knock joke into a 2-part why did the chicken… type joke. (eg. "Knock Knock? Who's there? An elephant. Elephant who? Why did the elephant cross the road?...) If the two parts ever coincide, we might be tempted to pursue a stand-up-comic career.
He decided to add a new christmas eve tradition to our family- spending the day in the ER. More on that story later, but lets just say a lot of blood, a major course of sedatives and a healthy amount of stitches were involved.

Tyse just turned 7. He started first grade at a new school this year as part of the school district’s accelerated learning program. He really loves math and spelling and has also developed an affinity for drawing. He seems to have inherited an interesting Mortensen trait . . . he LOVES to watch the weather! He had yet another big year of sports- soccer 3 days a week, is about to earn his green belt in Karate (check) , played his first season of indoor soccer, has just started his 2nd season of Junior Jazz basketball, and can’t wait for nice weather so he can play golf and mountain bike (just got one for his birthday). With all these activities he has also really started to EAT!

Kent is in his 4th year of work at Okland Construction. He completed his first project as the manager on a chapel in Colorado Springs, CO before trying his hand at estimating and bidding. His first bid win came on a chapel in Austin, TX and hopefully there will be many more in the future. He found out after Christmas that he has been given the management position on that texas job! Hooray! He is also serving as the Young Men’s president in our ward and he really enjoys working with the boys. In his spare time he learned how to change transmission fluid on the cars AND on the washing machine (who knew?), he worked hard on our family and ward gardens this summer and finally finished our little side yard by laying a stone paver patio and building two more planter boxes in the side yard out of the un-HOA-approved one from our front yard (Yes, the HOA made us tear it out). He also took a long weekend trip and successfully climbed Mt. Whitney (the highest peak in lower 48). He is also an assistant coach on Tyse’s soccer team and continues to be reminded about how hard it is to be employed as a manual laborer for his wife!

I continue to try to control the chaos (as well as any women can with 4 active boys). My health has finally taken a turn for the better this fall after a rocky winter and spring. Spoke too soon! Med change to come and hopefully I will be back on track in a month or so. I serve as the Compassionate Service Leader in our ward which has welcomed 20 babies since I was called in mid-July. I have started crafting quite a bit and have sold my handmade crafts at a couple craft fairs with good success – much thanks to Kent for his grunt work! I also have recovered enough energy to play volleyball a couple days a week and in doing so quickly realized how much I have missed being in the gym. I continue to cook – well, mostly bake – as much as our bodies can tolerate and was able to take a lot of the produce from our garden and get it canned. Other than that, keeping everyone clean, dressed, and fed is a more than a full time job!
We sincerely hope this season finds everyone happy and healthy and that we can remember the blessings that come to us through the wonders of the Christmas season.
With Love,
The Madsen’s

June 2010

2010-10-10T17:06:00.011-06:00

The biggest event of june at our house was Kindergarten graduation. For their final project they had to dress up as two different animals from two different animal classes. Tyse chose to be a jelly whale (a jellyfish-whale) combo, despite Kent's desperate pleas for him to dress up as Octo-mom. That would have been a hit in Kindergarten. As usual, I put it off much too late and I had a grand vision- that didn't come to fruition. But he has his own ideas on how to do it so I let him say how he wanted to put it together. As you can see, he had a bunch of "jellyfish tentacles" tied around his waist from ribbons he thought would work best. He also wanted to be a breaching whale, so that necessitated some blue waves around his shoulders. and then he needed no hair, and I wasn't about to completely shave it (though kent did a pretty close job), and the head needed to be gray. Therefore, the swim cap with a round foam for a blowhole and water shooting out of it (pipe cleaners). This boy is very creative and doesn't want any help! This is him with his best buddy, GianLuca, who was a dragon-something? They sure loved kindergarten, but they were ready to move on to 1st grade!

We also did the annual ladybug release, although it wasn't nearly as cool as in years past, darn it! The boys had a great time until Tyse got a sliver about 2 inches in length and was pretty hysterical. That ended the evening very quickly. Of course Kent was out of town, so I was on my own to keep him calm AND perform the removal surgery. It took forever and there were a lot of tears shed, but we survived! I even had to keep the sliver for Kent to see when he got home. It may as well been a 2x4.

Tyse finished his 2nd year of soccer and had another successful season. His team was sure cute but they didn't share the competitive edge Tyse did, so we moved on for this season to a group a little more his speed. The rest of the team was staying together for this year as well, and so the coach said, "We'll see everyone back next year except Tyse." He totally panicked and thought he was never going to play soccer again- it was a really sad moment for him! Not to worry- there was plenty of soccer to play!About a week later he played in a 3v3 soccer tournament with some boys that share his passion for soccer and they did pretty well. They played 4 games in one day- the first 95 degree day of the year- and they were the youngest team there. They ended up in 3rd place out of 5 teams after losing in a shootout to an 8 year old girls team.

The coach had Tyse kick one of the shootout goals and he missed. He was really sad! But- he didn't even know what a shootout was or what exactly he was suppposed to be doing. Now he knows really well and has vowed never to miss a shootout goal again...

On a sidenote, he LOVES those yellow socks from that jersey. He wants to wear them to every practice! It makes me laugh, but it also makes him easy to spot in the sea of 6 year olds!

This is the month Soccer began dominating our lives. He has been playing a developmental league all summer long and then joined with some of the boys from that league to form a team this fall. They chose to play a year up and have totally dominated some teams, but have also been beaten pretty badly as well. He is learning so much about ball control and teamwork and how to space and position himself on the field. He also got his first opportunity to play goalie yesterday. He thought it was great.

May 2010

2010-10-10T16:35:00.020-06:00

May brought a lot more fun to our house. We started with Mother's day. The boys did a great job making my day special. I got a flower pot, some new shampoo and conditioner, some shoes, a great little book that Tyse made at school, and a cute card that Emitt made at playgroup. After church we headed down to Grandma's for dinner. I made her a cute wreath...

and the kids enjoyed spending time with grandmas and things. I love this picture of Grandma Ruth and Ollie...This month we were also able to keep Mallory for a few days while her mom attended a conference. She and Ollie had a great time together.Our last snowstorm of the year came at the end of may and it was so awesome! The boys were ecstatic to build a snowman and I love that my boys were still totally happy for snow- even in may!The boys and our neighbor built a one armed snowman. It was very cool. Ha ha.

Our new neighbors invited us to the grand opening of a new kids amusement type place called "Incredible Pizza." Their parents are the owners so we got to go and have dinner and then we were each given a $10 card to use on the amusement activities- we did bumper cars, inflatables, race car driving, glow in the dark mini golf, mini bowling, laser tag, and a ton of arcade games. They also got their faces painted and looked very intimidating. Except sweet June.Check out those sweet buzz cuts!
We started (and eventually finished) our patio. Hooray to have it finished- minus the plants. The boys were great slave labor and had a great time being pushed around in the wheelbarrow. We were also able to go to Discovery Gateway with our good friends, The Keenan's and the Maggiora's. Unfortunately both families have since moved away. Miss you guys! I am just going to add a bunch of pics from that trip with no extra commentary from me.

Lastly, my favorite pics of the month.

I love the wrestling shot- that is what my boys seem to do most days.I loved walking into the room and seeing this- Ollie is buttoning dad's sunday shirt while dad buttons Ollie's. This is Ollie to a T- much older than his 2 years give him.

The Rest of April 2010

2010-10-10T16:15:00.005-06:00

The trip to AZ was our monthly highlight, but we did a few more fun things in the month.I turned 31! I had picked the cake I wanted about a month prior, so part of my present was being given the time to bake it! I discovered the cookbook section of the library one day and I have been wanting to learn to make artisan breads. Unfortunately I didn't find any cookbooks that only had breads in it- but I did find the Martha Stewart cookbook that I call "The Baking Bible." I borrowed it because it had a chapter on breads- but it also had a chapter on about every other pastry and bakery item. Somehow I never got around to making any bread, but I sure tried a lot of cookies, pies, tarts, and cakes....hmmm. Anyway, I made this mint chocolate ganache cake for my birthday. I ran out of time when making my ganache so it ended up a bit runny, but it sure tasted good! We also got to go to Zupa's for dinner (my family friendly fave) and spend the evening together.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the month. Tyse has started to like to read to Ollie. They have such a great time together! They are very similar to eachother and sometimes they struggle, but I think for the most part they are understanding kindred spirits. Not many would understand their drive and need for achievement. Certainly not Emitt.

Emitt entered an extra mischevious stage this month. There are many troublesome things he has discovered in the last 6 months, but this was one of the most problemesque-

he learned how to open nailpolish. It was unfortunate day- for his fingers, his clothes, the carpet, and the couch. Luckily it was just the underside.

Arizona Trip

2010-10-10T15:38:00.009-06:00

April was a lot of fun at our house! We went to visit Grandma Paula and Grandpa Ted in Arizona for Easter weekend. What do you do in Winslow, AZ? Well, I guess you ride a lot of these. The boys had a great time riding ATV's with the Powell cousins and hanging out with G&G.

Kent had spent the previous week in Houston so he flew into Phoenix to spend the weekend and then help me drive back to UT. It worked out great because then we could visit Grandma Great. Tyse is the only one of our kids that had ever met her- and I think he was not 2 yet the last time we saw her. We visited for a bit on friday evening and they were brave enough to invite us back on Saturday morning. We watched conference with she and Bert and she treated us to a spectacular breakfast that may go down in Kent's "Best Breakfast Ever" list- Biscuits and Gravy with prickly pear jam. Then we went out in their backyard and picked grapefruits from their tree. I never realized how beautiful grapefruit tree leaves are! I need one just for garnishing purposes. We brought a bunch home with us, but I never got around to making the grapefruit jelly I was hoping to get done. We ended up giving the grapefruit to Aunt Andrea.

We were afraid we would wear those two out, so we headed down to the Phoenix zoo with Uncle Ron and Aunt Ginny. That is such a cool zoo! We took a bus tour around to see the large picture, then got to wander around a bit and see some different exhibits. They had a really cool open air monkey exhibit where we could walk into the exhibit and the monkeys ran around and swung on all these ropes right next to us and over our heads and what not.

They also had this great carousel, a ray petting exhibit, and it was a gorgeous day so the boys had a great time playing in the water. We were able to also meet EK and Tammy and their family there for the afternoon. It is so great to let the kids hang out with their extended family! We love that we all know eachother and are so happy to continue the relationships through the generations. For dinner we went with Ron and Ginny to a really great BBQ place and met Brad and Hillary and their kids. We had a great day in Phoenix.

We spent easter morning back in Winslow with G&G. We watched conference and enjoyed the surprises brought by the easter bunny- all of Santa's forgotten leftovers. Tyse got a golf set and Emitt a scooter. Once we finished the morning session, we loaded up and headed back home. It takes a good 8-ish hours to get home, so we stopped a couple times to rest.

Our first stop was at Navajo Bridge. This place is so cool!

The boys had a great time running across the bridge and a couple California Condors came out and were flying just about 15 feet over our heads as we hung out. Those birds are HUGE-and UGLY! There were a couple hispanic grandmas on the bridge that kept begging me to carry Ollie because they thought the birds were going to come swoop him off the bridge and eat him. The boys also loved climbing on the rocks and figuring out what they looked like. This one they called Dino skull...

We stopped again in Cedar City for dinner. We hung out with the cousins for a while and had a nice break from the car before loading back up and finishing the drive home. We had a great time!

Yesterday's Antics

2010-08-11T13:25:00.002-06:00

Our days are never boring! It just isn't meant to be...
Yesterday I got in on the excitement- we were headed down to Provo to pick up the new $5 cougar football tees, and I needed to stop by my mom's house to pick up something. I got there and left E&O in the car while I just ran in- my mom and grandma are both on vacation, so no need to drag them out. I ran it, thinking that my brother must have come and greased up the front lock because it unlocked so easily this time! I stepped in and saw a cute little pair of flip flops by the front door. The last people at my mom's house were my aunt and her grandkids who live in Canada, so it crossed my mind that maybe I should pick them up and mail them to her before winter comes. What a good gesture. I then start down the stairs, and when I get there, I can hear water running. The first thing I do is panic because my grandma has been out of town for 10 days by this time and if she left the bathroom water on, well, it wouldn't be good. So I run down the hallway towards the bathroom to be greeted by a topless woman! She totally scared me and I must have petrified her because she started screaming! Apparently the doorlock hadn't been fixed (it was unlocked), the shoes did indeed have an owner present, and grandma didn't leave the water on- the shower was in use! It happened that at that very moment, my cousins were headed through town and stopped to stay at the house for the night! Luckily I had met my cousin's wife once before (about 3 weeks ago), so I wasn't a complete stranger, and luckily she is pretty laid back. After calming down and figuring out who eachother was, she said, "ehhh, you have a set. Seen one set of boobs, seen 'em all." I'm just glad my male cousin wasn't out of the shower yet! That was a great start to the morning!
Next, we headed down to a friend's house for the day. We are driving there and get to a part where one road splits off from the main one and you go on a little overpass and then down a country(ish) road- you know, lined with only weeds and an occasional tractor and dairy farm. Well, at this moment, we see they are repaving the middle 2 lanes (one in each direction). We are driving down when Ollie starts panicking and saying, "shoe, window!!" Oh, it took a couple blocks for me to figure out that he was telling me he threw his shoe out the window, and then about 10 more before we got to a spot in the construction that I could actually turn around. I may have just kept driving if they weren't the only shoes the child will allow on his feet (and they were one of my few expensive kid buys), but I flipped around and drove back to try and find it. I think Heavenly Father knows I am running on max in every area of my life and that one little thing could be the breaking point because he made the find amazingly easy for me. We got back to the split in the road and turned back around to retrace. We got to the point in the road where the curb is about to be swallowed by weeds and tall grass and there the shoe is, just sitting in the gutter. And, as the moment comes, the construction crew had stopped the traffic going in our direction right next to the missing shoe. So I just had enough time to jump out of my car and grab the shoe before traffic started moving again. But you should have seen the look on the man's face in the truck behind me...
After that, Ollie needed a redeeming quality. I went to pick up the carpool from school. There is Tyse and then 2 other kids I pick up- one of whom is a 9 year old girl. She always likes to ask Ollie how old he is- because it always changes. This day she asked him and he answered, "six." Then he paused briefly and said, "no, seven," as if he had to briefly think about becoming another year older (and 5 years older than in real life). He is pretty sure he is the OLDEST brother, not the youngest. And at some point Emitt may just concede the older brother role- just so Ollie won't sit on him. You see, if Ollie sits on Emitt, Emitt can't get Ollie off. It is hysterical! We have been trying to teach Emitt how to escape, but he just can't seem to do it. One day we had Emitt try sitting on Ollie and Ollie was out from under him in just under 3 seconds. Poor little (and by that I mean LITTLE) Emitt. No almost 4 year old should have to hold his 18 mo. shorts up in the waist as he runs so he doesn't lose them!
What crazy and fun days boys bring. I am so happy to have boys!

Answers to prayers

2010-08-06T22:06:00.002-06:00

Emitt- "Mom, Heavenly Father doesn't answer my prayers."

Mom, thinking hmmm... he has had a lot of nightmares lately, and we always tell him to sing a primary song and say a prayer to go back to sleep... it must not be working. What am I going to tell him to try next?

Emitt- "Yeah, mom, he's not making my teeth get loose and fall out."

Apparently all you really need in answer to prayer is the tooth fairy.

A little bit of Ollie

2010-07-29T13:49:00.004-06:00

Ollie is joining the ranks of the noteworthy moments- to which we couldn't be more pleased. A couple weeks ago my sweet sister in law held a "boys camp" at her house for a week, during which all the Madsen boy cousins could come play. So we shipped all 3 boys off for an entire week! The point of this is that Ollie came back talking so much more often and more clearly than he had left a short 8 days earlier!

So on that note, we were driving the other day and drove past the temple. He always points them out, very excited about it. SO I ask who is on top, to which he replies "Moroni!" (before going to cousins camp he called him "mona"). I ask what Moroni is holding in his hand and he replies, "a french fry!" I have heard many kids interpret what Moroni holds- a gun, a lightsaber, a sword (clearly I only speak to boys), but french fry is new.

He has really enjoyed the fireworks this year. The first time we saw them this year was at our city celebration, and I don't think he remembered them at all from last summer. We went to the big concert they do in the evening and then afterward they start fireworks. He was SO excited when they started that he began fumbling around for the word for them and settled on "pokies." I absolutely LOVE hearing him call fireworks that. He has seen enough in the last month to where he has started to call them fireworks, but if they catch him by surprise or they are close by, he still gets overexcited and calls them "pokies." This is one I wish he would never stop using!

He has started using the bathroom! HOORAY for us! We are a LONG way away from being fully trained, but he has gone all day today with no accidents yet (it's only 2 pm) and yesterday he only had one. Maybe the end of diapers is in sight for the Madsen's!
He has now permanantly added the "rrr" sound to his pronunciation of truck. I am so relieved- given that "t" has been given the "f" sound. I can handle "fruck."
I know there is one more thing he has said I wanted to add... I may have to go back and add it later.
The last thing to add is a boy moment we had in our home about a month ago. Of course anything of epic proportions at our house includes Emitt, and this is no different.
I was on the phone taking care of some business one morning and the cordless phone began to die. I had to then resort to the corded phone in my bedroom upstairs, which I had done many times before. Keep in mind that as the phone rings for this particular call, I am currently mopping the kitchen floor. I quit mopping to go upstairs to finish the call. When I return downstairs about 10 minutes later, I walk into the kitchen to see Ollie licking the floor. My first feeling was, "at least it is freshly clean..." but I should have looked a little closer. There was this red liquid all over the freshly mopped kitchen floor. I stand there and try to put the puzzle together- where did this mysterious red goo come from? Then I see the pair of scissors. It is getting worse by the second. I see a piece of clear plastic, then another, than about 15 more. I realize this is an Otter Pop wrapper that has been cut into about 30 pieces. Ahhh! We really aren't out of otter pops like I thought! Apparently there was an unfrozen one somewhere that Ollie happened upon and decided to treat himself to. I curse my dead phone battery and grab a rag and go down on my hands and knees to clean it up, and then re-mop. This is when I notice Emitt sitting under the kitchen table, a smug smile on his face and bright blue all around his mouth. Right. Those adorable cinderella princess cupcakes the neighbor shared with us. Oh wait... is that one stuck to the bottom of the table? YUP. Emitt heard me coming and knew he would be in trouble, so the only thing he could do was reach up and STICK IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE KITCHEN TABLE! This cupcake is just dangling there! It is then I decide to more fully take stock in the status of my kitchen. I find blue frosting down the microwave door (this should be a clue for my future), on the stovetop, down the oven door, and along the countertop by the sink. Now that I am seemingly focused on Emitt, Ollie decides this is his chance to run. He stands up and then I notice the remainder of his scissor skills... 4 large holes in the legs of his shorts. At this point I am so beyond even knowing who to scold or what to clean up I just take a seat. Luckily no cupcakes fell from the table. After recovering from that light headed please-tell-me-this-is-a-dream moment, I got to work cleaning up. I thought the moment had passed... that is until I tried to thaw the meat for dinner. Apparently along with eating a cupcake, Emitt needed to know what would happen if he put one in the microwave. Well, in case you are interested, the light blue frosting turns to sticky impossible to clean goo and the cupcake explodes and then bakes itself onto the walls of the microwave.
You have to have these moments to appreciate the pokies, don't you?

Emitt's Bits

2010-06-08T13:48:00.018-06:00

Ahhh, Emitt. Nothing I could say about him could explain the joy... and the pain... this child brings into our house. Luckily, it is much much more joy than pain. Anyway, he has something highlight worthy to record pretty much every day and of course I always say, "I should write that one down," but I don't. So here are some of the ones that actually made paper and I will try a little harder in the future.
One day we were eating lunch and after quiet for a couple minutes, he said, "Mom, did you know that food goes all the way down to your feet and toes? Yeah. That's what is gonna make me longer than Tyse." Sorry little dude, I don't think it is in your genes, but in his daily sing song words, "mom, I am getting big-gah!"
He has stopped allowing me to give him kisses. He told me one night at bedtime when I requested a kiss, "But mom, you are a girl!" So I said, "But Emitt, I am your mom!" to which he replied, "but mom, you're still a girl."We were preparing the other day to give the boys their annual summer haircuts. I had just asked Tyse if he wanted a buzz, to which he replied, "I will be ready for a haircut on friday, mom." Well, ok then. So then I asked Emitt if he wanted a buzz. He replied, "no, mom, I want a woody."
A couple weeks ago after church, I asked Emitt what he had learned in primary that day. He was so excited to share- he said, "let me show you! Put out your hand. Now, we high five, and then bump!" So glad stories about jesus are sneaking their way in there.

Also on the primary note, during singing time they played a game where you had to identify and sing songs that were chosen. I don't know if they were program songs or just your standard oldies but goodies, or what, but he knew and sang pretty much every song on the list- more than even the 6 year olds in the primary!
Emitt loves swimming and has absolutely no fear of the water. He has been fished out of swimming pool at least 5 or 6 times (more than once by the lifeguard) after just jumping right in off the side and not being able to swim. Unfortunately,he considers himself a proficient swimmer more than able to swim in the deep end with his brother. He now declares, "I am NOT a baby swimmer. I am a big boy swimmer and I won't go if I can't go in the deep end. Now he wears his lifejacket all the time, no matter how many adults are watching, and swims in the deep end all the time- kicking and paddling as much as his little body can. It takes him a good 10 minutes of all out kicking to get across the pool but he does it! Unfortunately, that same stamina does not carry over to emptying the dishwasher.On sunday we were walking to church. It was 10 am on the first mid-80's day of the year. We live 1/2 block from our church house, but poor Emitt couldn't make it. We made it 2 houses when he had to sit down and said, "Mom, it is just TOO HOT! Can't we go somewhere that it is freezing?"

Emitt is getting to be a better eater. He has started to actually eat some of whatever I make, of course after giving me the intial "ewwwww." His new favorite thing? Chip sauce. Not salsa. Chip sauce.

Find the common factor

2010-06-07T15:35:00.004-06:00

What do the following events all have in common?
A sliver 1/2 inch long
6 fillings
1 wisdom tooth removal
one bottom lip bitten completely through
3 days of vomit
1 dislocated elbow
2 VERY sunburned heads
one set of fingers slammed in a door
3 bloody toes
1 VERY sunburned back, shoulders, and arms
An eye infection causing an 8 DAY headache
Any ideas?

Unfortunately for the Madsen family, the common thread is that they all happened to our family in one week's time. SERIOUSLY!
The winners of listed events:
Kent- Kent visited the dentist for the first time in 5 years. I know, appalling- especially to our dental minded friends ( or maybe you are just jealous that you didn't get the payday!). Anyway, he went in for his cleaning and xrays and came out with 6 fillings and a wisdom tooth removal. He now believes he is a superior specimen because he had all that work done in one morning and then took one tylenol and spent the whole day in meetings at work. Then he came home demanding steak for dinner.
He also spent the weekend at youth conference and opted out of the sunscreen he packed- leaving his back, shoulders and arms fried! On the good side, we actually emptied the bottle of aloe that had been sitting in our fridge for the last 3 years. One more bottle out of my fridge!
Tyse-
Tyse was the one lucky enough to spend 3 days vomiting. There was a good side- it is the first time any of our kids have actually made it to the bathroom in time, so I didn't have to scrub any puke out of our carpet. The other good part is that no one else shared in the festivities.
He also had 2 of the 3 bloody toes- those genetic dry feet he gets from Kent. They look so painful when the crack open and bleed.
He got to claim one of the sunburned heads- Kent buzzed the boys bald last week and mom forgot sunscreen as well during the soccer game.
Lastly for Tyse, he had the giant sliver stuck in his hand. We were at the ladybug release party in our neighborhood and he got bumped by Ollie. He tried to catch himself on one of the garden boxes and slid his hand along it, leaving a GIANT sliver that had to be dug out. Dad was at youth conference, of course, so mom had no assisting surgeon and it took about a half hour to dig a ditch all the way around the sliver, then raise it up from underneath with the needle and removing ever so slowly with the tweezers. He was very brave.
Emitt-
Emitt got off easy for the week. He tried to pull a hanging toenail off and ended up with the other bloody toe, which really does hurt a lot. He also had the other sunburned head. I felt terrible because he kept saying to me over and over, "Mom, why did you forget my scun screen?" I do feel bad, but I am comforted by the fact he did have a hat and just flat refused to wear it. He also fell prey to his big brother on the sunburn. Sunday morning we were getting ready to walk out to church and I noticed 2 spots on his head that looked like they had literally peeled off the top of his skin. Luckily it didn't really bleed- just had the glossy weepy look to it, and apparently it didn't hurt because he didn't even notice they were there. The appearance was enough to make my stomach flip, though. Anyway, I asked him what happened and Tyse said that he was just trying to pick the dead skin off of Emitt's head (due to the sunburn.) Tyse was then informed that you have to wait for the skin to initiate the peeling itself- you don't just start scratching a sunburn until what you think may be dead skin finally scrapes off.At least his brother didn't notice.
Ollie-
Ollie had the roughest week of all. The same day as the filling/wisdom tooth event and puke day #2, Ollie fell on his carseat, hit his lip on the only hard plastic part on the front of it, and bit entirely through his bottom lip. Oh, the amount of blood. It looked like one of those Monte Python scenes where "blood" is being squirted through a watergun type thing for a great effect. I thought at first it had only cut the inside and that the blood from inside was just dripping underneath his lip because I couldn't get him to let me even come near his mouth. No such luck. Of course we weren't home- we were at Target- so I decided the better choice was to take him in the store to get some water and ice and then find a little bit of distraction. Unfortunately that didnt work either- and the wonderful Target employees brought us every item from their snack bar for free hoping that he would find something to cool or wash out the mouth. He wouldn't touch anything, but Tyse and Emitt loaded up on all the free everything. I think it was their favorite target trip ever. Anyway, the cut under his lip is almost all gone and not noticeable, but he still has a big white sore in his mouth from the inside cut.
A couple days later, we were at the children's museum and Ollie decided that he didn't want to stick with the group. I grabbed his hand and held it tight as we were walking back to the group. He decided to just pick up his feet so I would have to drag him, and POP! out went his elbow. Insert screaming. Luckily last time this happened I had the dr teach me how to set it myself, so after finally deciding it must be dislocated, I sat down with him and sure enough, POP! back in it went. I am still amazed how quickly he can recover from this- I am sure it stays sore for a couple days, but the crying stops almost instantly and he once again begins climbing and running and just being 2. Hopefully he grows out of this soon!
A couple days after that, he got his fingers stuck in a cabinet drawer. That was much less exicting.
Beka-
I had the "least" exciting week, with the most action. I got an eye infection, which is a side effect from my disease. These infections are placed way back behind the eye and cause MAJOR headaches that last as long as the infection lasts. Unfortunately, since it is caused by the autoimmune system, antibiotics nor any other medications really help. It lasted almost exactly 1 week- from a friday evening until a Saturday midday. That alone is miserable, but I had to deal with all the above items that same week.
I never thought I would wish for boring weeks, but may next week be much more boring.

Tyse's Bits of paper

2010-04-25T21:30:00.006-06:00

I have all these little bits of paper that have been lying around my desk. On them I have written a load of cute and adorable things about my kids that I keep meaning to post about so they are written somewhere (other than on my many little bits of paper). Here are the ones that have to do with Tyse.

Tyse is getting older and more ...something... not sure the right word... every day. He is serious about every thing he does- school, sports, games, you name it- it is a BIG deal. A couple months ago he came home from school visibly upset. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Mom, I've really GOT to have a haircut." Upon asking why, he informed me that the kids in his class had been teasing him about his hair. I must have given him the "huh?" look, because then he said, "well mom, not ALL the kids. Just the girls." Again, he got the "huh?" And then almost in tears with his voice quivering, "mom, they just say how CUTE it is. Over and over. And ask if they can touch it!" Well, that was the day we went for the almost buzz in the wintertime.

He is also completely obsessed with Chess. He wants to play all day, every day. I, myself, don't even know HOW to play chess. He keeps volunteering to teach me, sweet boy. I keep trying to find good excuses to NOT learn. Luckily, Kent enjoys playing with him, and just a couple weeks ago, he got his first victory over his dad! He was so excited- and Kent didn't even see it coming. He brings it up every time they get the chess board out. It is the only game I have ever seen him continue to play even though he loses almost every time.

Sports continue to be his first love. Soccer season is in full swing and his team is 3-0, and his goal count stands at 17. We have really been working on getting him to pass to his teammates instead of just dribbling it down and scoring himself, and this past week he showed it is finally sinking in! This past week at lunch he had been quiet for a while and finally said, "mom? I have been thinking about my game this week. Sometimes when I am getting ready to score I have 2 or 3 guys guarding me and I have to be pretty fancy to get it past them. But... what if I just passed it to the middle? Tate is always standing there, and then HE could bury it! I think it would work!" I was very proud to hear his brain starting to work in a bit of a team fashion- and then to actually see him tell Tate the plan and then try to execute it was even sweeter! I was so proud of him!

His last great moment of the past few weeks came one morning when I was downstairs getting Kent off to work. Tyse stumbled into the kitchen straight out of bed and instead of saying his usual- "can I have breakfast now?", he uttered 4 words that I didn't expect to hear at the age of 6- but now plan on hearing every morning for the next 12 years. They were, "Where's the sports section?" My boy is getting big!

Rah Rah Rahrahrah

2010-04-06T15:01:00.008-06:00

A couple weekends ago Kent actually worked from home for a few hours so we decided to head to Provo and take in a Men's Volleyball game- our first of the season and ONE of the best things about march! I started to make dinner before we left, but we then decided that if we were going all the way to provo....

why not visit Los 3? (Note to those with UC: NOT a good choice, unless you are willing to have a rough couple days... which I guess I was!) This is our favorite mexican restaraunt EVER! The boys have been a handfull of times, and the thing they remember the most is the jukebox, which is no longer there. But never fear... they have a new "balloon distractionist!" did you know these people have a title? She was probably the best we had ever seen- she made a helicopter for Tyse, an adorable little monkey for Ollie, and Emitt requested the coolest...

MOTORCYCLE! I had never seen one done by a balloon artist before-but it was ultra cool!

After dinner, we headed to the volleyball game where Tyse and Emitt hung out with Cosmo.

Ollie, of course, would have nothing to do with him when he was close, but his finger followed him around the field house anywhere else he went. He is just like Tyse was at this age- petrified of anything in costume. (Side note- He can't stand Chick Fil A's cow, but Harmons has an adorable purple hippopotamus that he actually accepted a sucker from- I think it is the "anything for the sugar" mentality!)

Anyway, at the game we asked the boys where they wanted to sit- it was a pretty low key crowd- and of course they couldn't agree, so we let them sit apart. Tyse chose...

I know, shocker- he had to be in the front row. Emitt, on the other hand, chose...
He wanted lots of his own space!
Anyway, the game was a lot of fun and the boys had a blast! Of course we won, so here is a (sideways) video of Emitt finishing the evening with the cougar fight song!

GO COUGARS!

Ollie at 2

2010-03-21T20:54:00.014-06:00

Ollie at 1 yr and at 2 yrs.

My sweet Ollie is two! You may say, "Beka, he turned two almost a month ago," and you would be right, but I am just getting to writing a little about our baby.
I have posted before about how he is a bit of a neat freak and likes things to go in patterns. Everything has its place- and it can't wait until I am ready to get it there, even if the item is currently in use. Things run on HIS time frame- or he will scream and scream until it does. He is super picky about which bins his toys go in, where his books lay, and most pointedly, how his blankets are folded and hung over the side of his crib in the correct order and then his taggie and stuffed animals placed on top. Then it is time to get dressed. It can't wait for later- it happens immediately. I think maybe there is a bit of Grandpa Kirt in him!

Ollie loves to play in my makeup. Unfortunately, he also knows how to unscrew things. He also really likes to suck on my makeup brushes and stick his fingers in my chapstick and deodorant. One morning I got out of the shower to find that he had unscrewed my mascara and brushed it up and down the sides of his face from hairline to chinline- vertically over his eyes. I now wake up an hour and a half earlier so that I can make sure all grooming on my part is finished before he even thinks about waking up. I know you are thinking- "an hour and a half? Yeah right, I see you often enough. There is NO way you spend that much time in the bathroom." Which is true. I don't think I have ever purposefully spent that much time in the bathroom. But I have found it nice to get some of the other things done that Ollie is not so helpful with... that list is neverending!

Ollie has NO volume control. It reminds me of that part in Austin Powers when he says, "I am having trouble controlling THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE!" Almost every word he speaks comes out a yell- and if you don't acknowledge that he spoke, he will keep yelling louder and louder until you do. It was really pleasant just today in the middle of the sacrament prayers when he noticed daddy helping pass the sacrament. The congregation loved the repeated scream of "DADDY!"

Ollie CANNOT be distracted from what he wants. The whole parenting technique of trying to channel the child into a different distraction is pointless on this boy. Yesterday he began a screaming fit in TOYS R US- and we weren't even making him leave! Anyway, he was screaming so we finally gave up and headed out of the store. He also hates the car, so buckling him for the 20 minute ride home was fuel for his fire. I tried EVERYTHING- toys, suckers, candy, songs, windows, pointing out all the construction vehicles- he finally stopped screaming after he had laid in his crib for about 20 minutes. As far as I can estimate, that was about 50-ish minutes straight of screaming, shaking, flailing, red-faced madness.

Ollie is really finally trying to talk. He has been a terribly persistant grunter, which has driven me mad. Some of my favorite things that he says are "kepup"- ya know, for "ries", "cake and ciky (cookie)"at snack time, "hep" when things are a little too difficult, and I know there is trouble when I hear "Oh, boy, mom." He also loves to "-mell" the "wowies"(flowers)and point to the TV and say, "GAME?" His speech often reminds me of my nephew Bryce, when he started to talk. Ollie leaves many of the beginning sounds off his words, so we play "leap -rog" and drive behind "-rucks" as we pass the "-ple" (temple). He has mastered his first knock knock joke- "knock knock," "who's there?" "Banana." "Banana who?" "Banana. Haa Haa Haa!" There are also times when he says things that melt my heart- he is so quick to say "thank you" and loves to say love you on the phone.

Ollie is a terrible eater- unless we are talking about inedible items. Why he can't eat potatoes or corn or apples like he eats mud, sticks, and rocks, I will never know. He does eat suckers, licorice, mnms and pez like they are going out of style!

Ollie is a total adrenaline junkie. Just this week he has gone over the handlebars of his big wheel twice. He has quite the fat lip to show for it. But he gets really angry at me if I take him off the bike, so I guess that bodes well for his mountain biking future? He loves things fast, bumpy, and if there is a chance of getting that little funny feeling in your tummy, he is all laughs!

Ollie is the grunt work in our family. He is the strongest 2 year old I know! I mentioned above about how he unscrews jars and bottles and what not. If he wants into a bottle bad enough, there isn't much I can do about it! He can get into anything! He also is very smart when it comes to getting to whatever it is he can't have. He has taken a chair from his room all the way downstairs to climb onto the countertop after various whatnots. This is when we finally stopped tying the chairs to the table. There was no point to it anymore!

Ollie loves music! He was my first to actually enjoy and ask for more opera to be played in the house and often asks for songs to be played "adain". I think his favorite songs are pretty standard for his age- Old McDonald (yah-yo), Popcorn Popping and A You're Adorable. He also loves the Cougar Fight Song and can clap along, knows when to stand up, and can do the Rah Rah part all on his own. On a not so great side note, I have been singing "I Am A Child Of God" to him every time he goes down for a nap since the day he was born. Now every time he hears this song he bursts out in tears. I think I have scarred his primary years to come!

Ollie has finally discovered toys! HOORAY! He has never really paid much attention to toys in the past- but now he can't get enough! He wants his trains and trucks and "guys" and blocks and stuffies and on and on... all the time. What a great milestone!

Best of all, Ollie is my only cuddler. When he gets out of bed, he just wants me to rock him for a couple minutes while he lays on my shoulder and then wants me to read him a couple books before he braves his brothers. His smile melts our hearts and his peekaboo and eyebrown games at the dinner table keep us laughing over and over. He is a little piece of happiness in our family and will keep us on our toes for years to come!

Other random facts-

Favorite food- cheese, bread

Favorite color- Red. Unfortunate.

Favorite book- NFL opposites or A You're Adorable

Favorite animal- Cow

Favorite thing with a motor- tractor (tihtoh)

Favorite things to do- playdough, Play Don't Break The Ice, trains, paint, bubbles, stack plastic cups, swing on monkeybars, play catch

Favorite things to wear- hat, snowboots

Fears- the dark, being alone, charlie biting him

Favorite playmate- DAD!

We love you Ollie!

Old McMadsen walks the plank

2010-03-14T17:35:00.017-06:00

Ollie loves everything about farms and farm animals, so we had decided on a farm party for his birthday. The first go around got canceled, so we ended up with a million different plans for the next week. Origionally we were going to have a traditional madsen birthday party at our house with all sorts of farm games and what not. But... after the duration of illness, I wasn't up for such an event. So we decided to haul the party down to the farm and Thanksgiving Point instead. Enter the 6 inches of snow we received the day before the party. Although we love winter, our guests don't, so we showed pity and planned for a sledding party instead (Here is where the theme becomes nonexistent). Apparently we were getting a little more Colorado weather, because by the time I returned home that evening, all 6 inches were gone! So we were out of luck again. I still didn't want to try the farm because of the mud, there was no snow for sledding, so....

we decided to give it a go at Pirate Island instead. We had never been here before, but it ended up being great! It's pretty much a combination of Chuck E Cheese and Casa Bonita. Despite the fact that Ollie was PETRIFIED of the skeletons they had all over the place, the boys and the few friends that were able to make it had a great time!

The boys loved the balloon swords that the balloon guy made.

I think we had all the little pirates in the joint up on this stage having the grand master fencing battle of all time! Ollie also found a worthy foe in the balloon bouquet grandma brought.

Of course, there were more candles to blow out- and Ollie shared this one with his best buddy, Great Grandma Ruth. He also had a great time in the arcade! He got to...

But his favorite of all was the basketball shooting game. This is Luke, Emitt, and Ollie all doing it at the same time. They found this a great way to stretch their tokens!

Thanks to all who joined us for a great celebration!

Happy 2nd birthday, Ollie!

2010-03-14T17:17:00.009-06:00

We celebrated Ollie's 2nd birthday at the end of last month. I can't believe my baby is 2! Because we had spend the previous 3 weeks puking, with the last of the puke coming just a day before, we decided to postpone the festivities a week and hopefully not share our joy with the world. I think he scored on this because he ended up with 3 birthday parties!

We had to do a little something for him on the actual day, puke or no puke. Usually Kent and I decorate the boys' rooms on their big day. But I found out this year- Ollie is still too light of a sleeper! I woke him up 3 times before I finally decided to decorate the front room instead- which never happened, by the way. Anyway, I walked in to get him out of bed on the big day and this is what I saw...We had gone to burger king a couple days earlier and I had forgotten that I had left his crown on his dresser, which he can reach from his crib. It was as if he knew it was HIS big day or something!

Ollie's favorite food is muffins, so we indulged him in a few (more than half of the batch) on his big day.I love that cute little smile!

That evening, Grandma and Grandpa Cox braved the bodily fluids and came up to celebrate. I don't think that Ollie even really likes cake that much, and I was feeling pretty badly that day, so I passed on the cake and we had birthday sopapillas instead!

One of my favorite things about Ollie is his neat freak side. It isn't that he doesn't ever make a mess- because he is a champ at it- but it better be cleaned up precisely how and when he wants it to be when the time comes. This rolls over into birthday present opening. He meticulously pulls each little strip of paper off the gift- including tiny little pieces of tape- and it all has to be off before he can even start to really see what the present is. Then, after he has figured out what the toy is, the rest of the opening is on hold while the last batch of paper goes in the garbage (or his garbage truck toy). It was extreme enough that the cousins have made "no wrapping paper" stipulations on all Ollie's gifts from now on.He recieved some very nice gifts- but I think his favorite was the bag of goldfish that Tyse picked out for him, or the watercolor paints that Emitt picked. In fact, when bedtime came that night, all 3 boys were wailing about putting the paint away. I guess that means they liked it.

I must say that for a sick birthday, it was pretty fun! Happy Birthday, baby boy!

Getting around to valentines

2010-03-03T14:35:00.007-07:00

Sorry, a few weeks late. But the bright side? REALLY only a few weeks late! hooray!

Anyway, being the ridiculously overambitious mom I am, I let Tyse look through some magazines and things to choose which kinds of valentines to make for his class. His pick?...

Why I let him choose, I am not sure... they looked so simple in the magazine. So unfortunately for Emitt's friends (or maybe fortunately), I made him take Little Debbie snack cakes instead. That was the only thing we found in the store that would be "cooler" in his 3 year old eyes than the robots I was NOT going to finish.

After their valentines, I made grown up ones...some chocolate truffles and a little card. I thought they turned out OK- we put mint in the truffles for the first time and they were my favorite! Next time maybe we will try another flavor.

With valentines day being on sunday, we didn't go out- instead I talked some friends into getting together- what better babysitters than their friends to keep eachother busy so we could be grown ups for an evening. The menu was fondue and we had a great time! We made a broth fondue and had all the best dippers- steak, chicken, salmon, shrimp, mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower, and on and on! Here are the girls getting it all set up...

thanks, Sid, for showing us what we SHOULD have been doing! (even if it was pretend!) WE also had a chocolate fountain and tons of dippers for that as well! The kids LOVED this...Even though Kent isn't much of a Valentinian, we managed to go out together the next weekend. We finally saw "The Blindside" and had an amazing dinner at Tiburon. I got Kent a back massager thing- but bought the wrong one. Dang it! He told me that I could take it back and get myself my present. Maybe one year he will plan ahead. It was a great night! Thanks for the trade, Sid!

Tyse's Notes

2010-03-01T14:34:00.005-07:00

Tyse has gotten so good at writing lately and he is starting to really like to write and leave notes for people. Here are some of my favorite things he has written as of late, remembering that in Kindergarten they are told to spell phonetically. Tyse takes this very seriously, as you will see!

Here is his short story about the groundhog...

In case you can't read it, it says "The grawndog cums awt win it is spreen." Apparently I don't enunciate very clearly when I speak to him.

Next is his 100 days of school bookmark...It says..

"I wish I had 100... aleen toys (alien toys)

I wish I could eat 100... hot dogs

I wish I could see 100... aleen ships (alien ships)

I wish I had 100... frode cheero's (fruity cheerios)

But I'd never want 100... dog poops"

So proud he can spell poop, of all words.

And lastly, my personal favorite, a note he wrote me at centers one day...

"Dere Mom

I hop yow fel ber." (Dear Mom, I hope you feel better."

Priceless. Even after poop.

Happy 87th, Grandma Ruth!

2010-02-25T17:38:00.002-07:00

We celebrated a great birthday with Grandma Ruth mid january. We got together with cousins to celebrate her and her fabulous style!

I am so glad my boys are able to know my grandma. They love her and just adore how she dotes over them in ways only a great grandma can do... just ask Ollie! They have a great bond- mostly driven by outrageous amounts of sugar and "no" being a word that means, "ok, a couple more times is fine". I learn more from her everyday and am so grateful that I get to live so close to her and see her so often!

We love you, Grandma Ruth!

GNO Skiing

2010-02-25T17:21:00.008-07:00

Some neighborhood friends took an afternoon to go girls night skiing at Alta. They let me come along even though all I could do was sit in the lodge. Thanks for driving away with me in the car during my indecision! Here's my cute friends in their natural element...
Krissy and Kjersten lookin' like true snowbunnies!

Cute Heather

Jane teaching Lally the finer points of skiing

My dear sweet Kjersten said her boots were hurting her legs... but I think she was just being a FAB friend and took pity on me sitting in the lodge alone (although I was more than content... it was quiet (meaning no one nagging me or yelling at me or demanding things from me) and beautiful!) She came in and shared some hot cocoa and laughs together! The pic of me is terrible, so you get to just see her instead! (You love it, KJ!)

Thanks for a great afternoon, ladies! And you will be proud to know, I have expanded my online TV watching capabilities!

Denver Finale

2010-02-18T22:03:00.010-07:00

Before we left the motherland, we had 2 more good events...

we were able to visit Grandpa Bart a couple times! They fed us a great dinner I haven't had in years! I had forgotten about how great ham and pea soup with potatoes is, and topped off with chocolate pudding. I couldn't ask for more! We don't get to see Grandpa Bart very often, so it was really nice for the boys to spend some time there and play with blocks, crawl around and play bears, watch some football, eat some food, have a HUGE pillowfight (I hope the truck has been repaired, dad!) Thanks for the great time!

We were also able to celebrate Kent's 31st birthday! HOORAY! Over the weekend, Grandpa and Grandma Madsen took us out for a nice birthday dinner to celebrate a little early! The big day came on Monday. He actually worked an extra long day- he left at 6 am and didn't get back home until 7:30.

After a yummy dinner, we treated him to his gifts. The boys went all out for dad this year...

A set of car cup holders and a carton of Egg Nog!

Grandma and Grandpa Cox, Grandma Ruth, and Mom pooled resources to get something fun...

a new camera lens! I love the look on his face when he saw my wrap job (pictured left)

We have yet to actually get the lens, but we are excited to get it- or whatever he decides to trade it for!

Kent has taken a liking to Boston Cream Pie, so we fancied one up just for him!

Happy Birthday Kent!

Denver part 3

2010-02-18T21:32:00.015-07:00

While in Denver, we had to take advantage and do a few more things! No trip to Denver is complete without paying proper respects...

We took the boys to Investco to visit the Broncos store and wander around. And, of course, this is one for the scrapbook...Yup, changing Ollie in the middle of the grass outside the gate. He is now a Bronco fan for life!Luckily they think that place is as cool as we do! We were lucky that the workers and other shoppers were pretty tolerant of the boys running through the store, kicking balls, tackling the pads at the bottom of the upright mounted inside, and screaming at the TV as they played a bronco game. It was quite a memory maker!

After this, we headed over to the Denver Children's Museum. The boys had a great time! They loved the construction area- Emitt the builder, Ollie the wheelbarrow operator, and Tyse the electrician!

So after we did this, the boys had a great time at the grocery store, the fire truck, the little backyard playland thing, and so on!
They had these TERRIBLE costumes that the kids just loved! Emitt was an adorable little ant and Tyse was....um...? maybe a mole type thing? They had a grea time running around with stuffed nuts to save for winter- they loved taking them from girls and stashing them, then protecting them from being stolen back. It reminded me almost completely of capture the flag back in mutual. I thought I would have a few more years!

We had such a great time! I love these kinds of places! Thanks for the great day, boys!

Colorado Trip- Olympic Training Center

2010-02-18T14:42:00.010-07:00

One day we went down to Kent's work site in CO Springs. After he was done, we headed over to the Olympic Training Center. I had never been to this specific site before- I went to one of the centers when I was little, but it was a lot different than this one- this was much cooler!

Some of our highlights:

We formed our own bobsled team. We are ready to compete! This is an actual US team bobsleigh used at the Salt Lake games. The boys loved the fact that it wasn't screwed into the floor...Ollie does all the grunt work for our family!

I also learned that Muhammad Ali wasn't his real name... in the hall of champions, his real name is listed- Cassius Clay, JR. It was very cool to see all the art dedicated to these athletes and their sports!

We went on a tour after watching a video that got us all psyched up for the olympics! We were so glad we were able to go on an Olympic year so our spirit wasn't wasted- it just increased!

Our tour guide was a little (big) african american olympic weightlifter. I call her little because she was shorter than I am, and looked totally skinny, but she's a weightlifter, so... not so little, I guess.

The grounds were really cool! They had all these statues of athletes playing all the olympic sports with life size tracks,. goals, etc. The boys had a go at the 100 meter dash...They only made it about 25 meters before they were too tired to keep going. I didn't break it to them that they only made it a quarter of the way.The boys loved looking through the rings at me!

And of course we had to give the podium a go...

As we were leaving, we saw the countdown clock that really got us excited!
I can't believe the olympics are finally happening! Hooray!

Colorado Sledding

2010-02-18T14:29:00.010-07:00

While we were in CO we were able to do some really fun things! The day after Christmas, Grandpa took us all sledding at the park by his house.

Grandpa had a sled big enough for all 3 boys to go together. I love their faces!

Ollie and Emitt had the life... they got a tow rope all the way to the park AND back up the hill after sledding!

Tyse's 2 favorite parts of the day were: eating snowand crashing!Even Grandpa got in on the action!

After about 2 hours, everyone was ready to relax- they just weren't ready to warm up!

Thanks for the great morning, Grandpa!

2010-02-08T13:46:00.003-07:00

REMINDER: The purpose of this blog is to actually document the goings on of the Madsen household for posterity's sake- and for the purpose of keeping grandparents and great grandparents in the Madsen loop! Please remember that as you read (or don't read- up to you! ;)

I have been inspired by Krista's weekly email, so I am going to try to be more diligent in getting news out from around here! Here is what has been going on here the first week of February:

Our ward split yesterday. They took 2 wards (our current one and the one we were split from a year and a half ago) and made 3- we are in the new ward. Kent sighed relief when he didn't get a call from the stake president after going through the regular "the ward is splitting- get to know you" interviews. As it turns out, our new bishop is in his 20's, as is the first counselor. I never thought I would see the day when I was actually OLDER than the bishop of my ward- at least not for another 20 years! We have been realigned with about half of our old ward (2 splits ago), so it is nice to be back with some friends from the old days (2 years ago). This is our 3rd split in the 2 years 11 months that we have lived here- and they are hoping this to be more permanent. We will see! We can only think of one young man in our entire new ward, and he is already an eagle scout, so I think Kent will be relieved of his scouting call for a while. I was released from being the primary music director last week.

We are planning a big olympic opening ceremony party this weekend. We are doing all things Canadian- which is a little more fun than normal for me given our heritage. We are going to have a lot of maple syrup, some french-canadian toast, some ice cream snowballs, Kent's favorite canadian koolaid (lipton peach), a salad with my favorite canadian salad dressing, some canadian caramels and coffe crips candy bars. Then I think most of my canadian food stash that I bought when we were there a year and a half ago will be depleted. The boys can't wait for the olympics to start. Tyse is addicted to the ski jumping. He keeps asking when he can start trying it!

I had a "walking report card" with Tyse on friday- I went in to the classroom and they gave me a test to administer to him just so I knew how he was doing in school. He is top of his class in every category and his teacher sings nothing but praise! If only he could act as well at home! He is reading on a 2nd grade level, knows all his addition facts to 20, and is much more interested in multiplication, fractions, and percentages than in subtraction. His teacher asked me what in the world we were going to do with him next year, and I told her that we hadn't decided yet. She suggested letting him teach first grade. Speaking of his teacher, he drew her a picture yesterday at church and called he by her first name instead of Mrs..... I thought it most interesting. He can't grow up fast enough in his mind!
He has been playing basketball this winter and loves it. Most mornings I wake up to the pounding of the basketball on the kitchen floor. He says he is just practicing his "moves" for the upcomming game. He dribbles through his legs and around his back. Very tricky! His moves, unfortunately, were ineffective this past saturday against a little african american girl on the other team. She had about 10 steals and 10 points over him. I think he was somewhat humbled. He has one more basketball game left in his season this saturday, and then soccer will start up again next month.

Emitt has had a bad round of some stomach bug this week. He has been throwing up since last thursday, and we can't quite kick it. Poor little guy is pretty miserable! He is desperate for a glass of milk, a carton of yogurt, and a friend to play with. Yet all he mostly wants to do is lay on the couch. All TV watching rules have been waived for the poor boy! He was extremely disappointed that he didn't get to go to primary yesterday, so we stayed home together and built a pretty grand looking "candy store" out of wood blocks, complete with slides, tents, and of course, ninjas to protect it from the bad guys.

Ollie is as stubborn as ever. He is inching even closer to that 2 year old madness and is giving himself a good showing for it! He constantly makes us laugh at his extremely diligent, neat, tidy ways. This morning he was diligently scrubbing the walls with baby wipes wherever he could see a scuff. He is really starting to try to talk- I head him attempt his first "sorry" today. I get the feeling he will get lots of practice on this word! Last week while Kent was in Denver I called on Ollie to say our family prayer. He did a pretty good job at copying me, but Emitt's prayers have definitely left an impression on him. Instead of calmly ending the prayer, Emitt always gets a LOUD gruff grumbly voice to say "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen". Ollie attempted the ending this same way, but of course he can't say all those words yet, so he just mumbled whatever sounds came out in his gruffest, grumbliest voice. It was HYSTERICAL! He repeated the performance for Kent at dinner a couple days later. Another funny Ollie moment this week came when he was playing by himself and I noticed him humming. I went a little closer to see if I could decipher it, and sure enough, he was humming the Star Wars theme all by himself. I am so proud. He was also assigned a "ninja turtle" by his brothers last week while they were playing. It was his first time being big enough to actually be invited to play superheroes. We sure love this little boy, but we wish he would eat more than bread, cheese and whipped cream!

That's it for last week-