The Madsen Top Ten Events of 2011

Last night as I was working on our Top Ten list for 2011, I wondered if I should send the email out that night or wait until the new year.  "What if something big happens in the next 24 hours and the list changes?"

Auspiscious.

That evening I took a rather bad tumble down the stairs.  While holding Tess. It hurt.  A lot.

Tess was ANGRY and seems to have slightly hurt her right leg.  I took the brunt of the fall and have been aching from top to bottom all day.  Why is it that Cole can fall down the stairs and not even flinch while it almost kills me?  I'm an old, old lady, that's why.

Okay, so falling down the stairs doesn't really qualify as one of our biggest events.  But it has prevented me from doing the blogging I wanted to get done about Spencer's baptism and the rest of Christmas (don't worry - I'll get it done!).  In the meantime, here's a copy of our top 10 list.  Many of my readers probably got an email copy, so this is for all of my lovely stalkers and the blog book I print up each year.

My new year's resolution for 2012?  Avoid falling down the stairs at all costs.  Oy.

Happy New Year!

Family Pictures

Whenever our whole family gets together we get family pictures taken.  This is definitely easier said than done. (Remember last year?  Oh boy.)

This year we decided to try Target's portrait studio.  This was a good choice, because the photographer there was GREAT with grouchy little toddlers, one of which we happened to have.  I think the pictures turned out pretty great!  Well, except my hair.  Of all days to have a bad hair day?  And why didn't I remember to comb it right before?  Oh well.

This stupid picture refuses to turn for me.  So yes, Lance and I were lying down for it.  What of it?

Christmas Morning

Because we had so many people in the house, Spencer got to sleep in Tess's room.  These two are like peas in a pod and would not behave or go to sleep that first night.  I actually had to go in and get after Tess for talking to Spencer.  (No, really!)  So it came as no surprise when they woke me up at 1:20am and decided it was time for Christmas presents.  Imagine their disappointment when I put them back to bed.

Christmas started at a much more reasonable 6:30am.  I could hear Josh and Spencer checking everything out in the living room; I loved their little exclamations of surprise and joy!  I had to go get a bewildered Cole out of bed.  I told him there were toys and presents in the living room and carried him out.  It took him 3.8 seconds to realize that this was no ordinary day!  To the kitchen he went and immediately began playing!  (I get great satisfaction in getting a gift for my child that they actually like.)

Spencer and Josh passed out the presents and we all took turns opening them.  Everyone was very generous in their gift giving this year - thank you so much!

Here's Grandpa ElRay helping Cole with one of the Angry Birds Santa put in his stocking.  Because every home needs a set of plush Angry Birds.

Tess even got in on the action.  She didn't open any presents, but she sure loved playing with the paper and ribbons.  She also loved the ball Santa put in her stocking.

Uncle Kevin in his SoCal capri flannel pajamas.  You're in luck ladies - he's single!  (hahaha - that's what you get for leaving the wedding plaque at my house, Kevin!!)

The kids in our family draw names for who they are giving a gift to.  Josh chose Tess and decided to buy her her first doll.   She was quite mesmerized with it at first - it was very cute!  Now she just likes to chew on the baby's hands.  Hmm...

Spencer showing off a book he received.   (That boy loves to read!)

Cutie pie Tess and her new book.

Grandpa ElRay and his new grandpa slippers.  (His name for them, not mine!)

Cole got a new computer from his grandparents.  For any of you who know Cole, you know he is currently obsessed with his 'carputer'.  Now he is obsessed with this 'laptop', and can often be seen playing with both toys at the same time.  It is grand and glorious.  And loud.  So very loud.

Miss Tess in her ladybug hat, playing with her favorite gift - wrapping paper.

Tess and Uncle Kyle.  Kyle is so good with kids!  Unless they're crying or poopy.  Then he heads straight to mom and is no help at all.

Uncle Kevin's turn to open a gift! 

Josh opens his Gigantic Paper Plane book.  Good fun in store!

The Christmas morning aftermath.

Christmas means carnage!  Christmas means carnage!  (Know the movie?)

We spent the rest of the day enjoying our gifts, laying around, and laughing at all the poor suckers who had to wait another 24 hours for their Christmas.  Ha!

What a cute little fat ladybug!

We also introduced Kyle and Kevin to Just Dance 3, which is most awesome and fun.  Especially fun is the fact that Kevin is so tall his hands kept hitting the ceiling. (There's a reason my kids call him The Giant.)

I think it was a great Hoosier Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

It's taken me a long time to get around to blogging, mainly because I've been so busy with my family here in town.  And by busy I mean lazing around, eating, talking, and generally not being productive in any way whatsoever.  Now that's my kind of Christmas!

This year we had an extra-special Hoosier Christmas because my family came all the way out from Utah and California to join us.  Dad, Susie, Kyle, and Kevin all showed up on Friday, bearing gifts, good cheer, and soda.  Lots and lots of soda.  Seriously, this Christmas was the Soda Christmas.  It was a very caffeinated holiday.

Anywho, Spencer's school district apparently has a bit of a problem in their calendaring, in that they don't know how to calendar.  He had school through the 23rd of December. Can you believe it?!  So when he finally got home from school around quarter to four we were ready to start our Christmas Eve activities.  Wait - that's not Christmas Eve?  Wrong.  In our house we specifically asked Santa to come a day early so we wouldn't have to rush Christmas morning in order to get to church in time.  And because we're extra cool, he agreed and we got to have Christmas a day early.  Be jealous.

We started with our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner.  This year, because we had so many people, we had a kid's table in the kitchen for Josh and Cole.  They quite enjoyed sitting there for the entire 4.7 seconds they sat for dinner.  Punks. 

The adults (and Spencer) behaved a bit better at their table.  We even used our fancy wedding china, because when else are you going to use it if not at Christmas time?  (Okay, besides Thanksgiving.  And Easter.)

Then is it was time for opening our first gifts of the season - new jammies for all Madsens, of course! 

 

 

We also get a new Christmas book on Christmas Eve.  We change into our jammies and then read the book.  I try to get a book that helps teach/remind the kids about the true meaning of Christmas.  This year's book was Humphrey's First Christmas, which I thought was really cute.

As per usual, the kids could barely contain themselves for the book, but I like to tell myself that they got a little something out of it.  (I also tell myself that Christmas cookies don't have any calories during the holidays, so there you go.)

Then we posed for our annual pajamas on Christmas Eve picture.  Since we didn't have to do the self-timer this year one would think that it would have been easier to take.  One would be wrong.  You saw the best one in the previous post.  Here's one that shows what the rest all pretty much looked like: Josh misbehaving, Tess crying about who knows what, and Cole freaking out.  Love at home, people, love at home.

Rotgut toddler.

We then played a rousing game of Christmas Eve bingo, which Spencer and Josh look forward to every year.  The competition was pretty intense, which is why I apparently didn't take any pictures.  But with fabulous prizes like SpongeBob toothpaste and Whoopee cushions, who can blame me for getting caught up in the moment?  (Note to Kyle and Kevin: no way did I ever cheat.  It just so happened that I could see what card needed to be drawn for someone who hadn't won yet needed to be won.  And then it just so happened that I could quickly find said card.  Just call me the Santa of Christmas Bingo.)

We eventually got all kiddos into bed, including Kevin, who apparently needs 18 hours of sleep a day because that's all he did while he was here.  Just sayin'.

We got to work getting all the gifts out and putting everything together, including this most excellent 2,567 piece kitchen set for Cole and Tess.  Lance did most of the work, with the rest of us helping here and there and losing only one piece.  Or two.  Nothing brings family together like combing through the garbage for a small piece of plastic you accidentally threw away, especially at Christmas time.

Everything was finally set up.  The stockings were filled (Thanks, in part, to the stuff I rummaged from around the house to put in mine. I'm just sayin', Lance, that after 11 years of marriage you should know that you need to fill my stocking.  Sheesh.  Perhaps this public forum will help you remember?  Yes, this is a call to repentance.)

I love the living room on Christmas Eve, with all the gifts out and only the Christmas lights on.  It's still magical, even as an adult.

A very merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas from the Madsens!

Hoping your day is merry and bright!

Cole Talks... and Talks and Talks and Talks...

Cole has taken his sweet time in learning how to talk.  Actually, that's incorrect.  He has taken his sweet time in choosing to talk.  He totally knows how to talk - he just rarely chooses to do so.  But lately he's really started to speak in short sentences and to use words (rather than whining) when he's trying to tell us what he wants.

He still likes to babble, though.  A lot.  That kid loves to babble.  He'll say something totally coherent and then break off in a random streak of babbling that'll leave the listener speechless.  He'll throw a real word or two in there just to throw you off and make you wonder if it's your fault you don't understand him.  It's pretty awesome.

The other night at dinner Cole was on a role.  He could Not. Stop. Talking.  And by talking I mean babbling on and on.  And throwing in real, random words here and there.  And he was so earnest about it.  Seriously, he seems to think he's really saying something important.  He'd barely pause to take a breath.  It was great.

I finally stopped laughing long enough to get the camera and film some of it.  I didn't get to catch one of his long soliloquies, but you'll get the picture.  Things to look for in this movie: 1) Spencer cracking up.  2) How Cole says "Yes?" every time we say his name. 3) My most awesome video editing skills at work.

Have You Ever Been So Tired...

... of your mom taking pictures of you falling asleep in ridiculous places and posting them online that you decided to sneak off in the afternoon and snuggle into Daddy's side of the bed and take a nice, long snooze while Mommy thought you were downstairs playing, thus ensuring that you will be up all night giving her and Daddy nothing but grief?

Cole has.

Spencer's 8th Birthday Party!

This year Spencer has started reading the Harry Potter series.

A new fan has been born.  The boy LOVES these books.  Due to lots of schoolwork and activities he's been working on the 4th book for quite a while now, but that's okay by me because things get pretty dark at the end of book 4, and Spencer's only 8.  Anyway, he now knows enough about Harry and Potterland that I knew I needed to bring my A game when he requested a Harry Potter party.  (Because no mom wants to hear about how 'wrong' her facts/details are as far as birthday parties are concerned.)  In the interest of time/money/sanity, I decided to stick to the basics of Harry Potter, but put our own Madsen twist on them.

Anywho, let's start with the invites.  Each child received an envelope addressed to Miss/Master (their name), and had an owl post stamp on it.  (Hey, I thought I was clever!)

Inside was a letter like this (only, you know, not so fuzzy in some stalker-stalky parts).

Next up: the cake.  I think it turned out fantabulouso!  (That's the spell for "a cake that looks and tastes good"!)  Let me just pause us here for a second and remind you that I have been having issues with cakes in the past few months.  Years.  Whatever.  Well, this time I cooked the cakes for 10 minutes LESS than what the directions said, and they turned out great.  Yes, I do have an oven thermometer.  It's fairly new and accurate, so oven temp wasn't the problem.  The problem was the instructions.  Whatever, back to Harry.

Isn't he cute?

Can you tell that I am very proud of myself?  Harry is also the first four layer cake I have ever made.  Just thought you should know.

I based my design off of a Harry Potter pillow I found on Etsy.  (I'd link you to it, but the shop is apparently closed until January.  Weird.)

By the way, this is what happens to little boys who try to stick their fingers into Harry Potter Birthday Cakes and then try to get away by opening the front door and running outside as fast as they can.  This time out chair is getting a lot of use lately.

Next came the decorations.  I don't believe in spending a bundle on decorations.  It seems silly and wasteful.  I'm all about balloons, crepe paper, ribbon, and things you can print at home.  When combined, these things make the house look very festive.  I spent only $4 on all of the crepe paper and balloons.  Here's what the entrance to our party looked like.

The balloon chandelier is still up because I've been too lazy to haul out the step stool and cut it down.  Such is life.

Here's our platform that you use to get into the Lafayette campus of Hogwarts.  (Hey, this isn't King's Cross station - no 9 3/4 here!)

When the kids came in they first got sorted into a house with the sorting bag.  Yeah, I know, this was kinda lame, but I just ran out of time and couldn't make a sorting hat.  And you know what?  I don't think any of the kids cared.  Then they got to go to Madsenivander's Wand Shoppe and choose a wand. (Or did the wand choose them?  Hmmm...)

Here are the wands that I made.

I wish I had some better pictures, but as I have mentioned, my camera is dying.  It's really picky about lighting now.  (As in, it never has enough light.  Ever.)  Anywho, I made these wands with salt dough and wooden dowels.  I molded the dough on the dowels and baked them for a few hours.  Then I painted them, glittered them (because glitter makes things more magic, right?), and then threw on a little Mod Podge for good measure.

Once sorted and with wand in hand, the new students went down the basement stairs.  The balloons looked way cooler than the picture shows.

And here's the basement.  Again, pictures don't do it justice.

Anyone who's been in my basement knows that it's way too big to fully decorate.  So I decided to just concentrate on the main area where most of the activities would be taking place. See?  A little crepe paper goes a long way.  And yes, those are golden snitches flying around!

Here's a golden snitch up close.  I got the idea from here, which I found on Pinterest.  I modified it a bit just to make things easier and cheaper for me.

All of the decorations are still up downstairs and probably will be through Christmas.  I just can't bring myself to pull them down!

Here's Harry, waiting patiently on the bar to get eaten.  Oh - and in the background?  Magic potions.

Here's Josh.  He got sorted into Slytherin house, which he was very happy with.  What does that tell us?  (That he doesn't know much about Harry Potter, that's what.)

Here's the birthday boy with his wand!  He was thrilled to be sorted into Gryffindor.

As the kids came we worked on each of them making their own Golden Snitch ornament.  I quickly realized that a project that was simple and quick for me was a bit more complicated for kids.  Why?  The amount of glitter glue they used on their wings was amazing!  I forgot how heavy-handed kids are with stuff like that.  The heavy wings made for a difficult time in hot-gluing them to the Christmas balls!  But we got it done and here are the results.  I am sure they are all gracing their respective Christmas trees right now. :)

While I finished up the snitches, Lance held Transfiguration class.  (Note to self: charades might not be the best game for a wild group of animals party guests.)

Then it was time for Potions class. 

I made a lovely assortment of potions, and the kids had to sniff each one and guess what the magic ingredient was.  The kids loved it.

I put them all in differently-shaped glass jars and vases.  The scents included peas, onions, vanilla pudding, oranges, cherry Jell-o, cinnamon, chocolate, maple syrup, grass, peppermint, soap, and black pepper.  I made things harder by changing colors with food coloring.

In case you were wondering, this is what Cole did during a lot of the party.  He's such a party animal.  And Tess?  She slept through the entire thing like a good baby should!

Finally, it was time for the Gringotts Gold Treasure hunt!  Each team got 6 puzzles and clues to help lead them to the Gringotts treasure.

Success!  The gold (candy in gold wrappers) was found under a dragon in the toy closet!  (Which we affectionately call our Harry Potter closet, since it's under the stairs.)

It was finally time for cake and ice cream.  I almost hated to stick Harry's face full of candles.

 

Poor Harry didn't stand a chance.  Don't you love that Spencer chose to have a strawberry cake?  Very fitting.  I was a little disappointed that none of the kids noticed this - maybe if they were older?

They enjoyed some butterbeer (cream soda) with their cake and ice cream.  True story: it wasn't until the next day that Lance and I realized that A&W Cream Soda is caffeinated.  Oops.  Sorry, parents, for sending your kids home full of sugar and caffeine!

Then it was present time.  Spencer's friends know him so well!  He got a Transformer, several Harry Potter Lego sets, a Nerf gun, some cool cars, and even an Angry Birds game!

The party ended with a rousing game of Whomping Willow.  (Duck-duck-goose, only whomp-whomp-willow.)

Yes, that is a vacuum in the background.  It was already out because a certain toddler wasn't exactly careful while eating his cake.

Lance and I were exhausted by the time the party was over, but it was the good kind of tired.  Spencer (and Josh, for that matter), had had a glorious time and he even thanked me, unprompted, for the "good party".

Totally worth all the work.