6th Grade Pictures

Spencer got his school pictures back today.

I like his little smirk. And why the Zombie t-shirt, of all things? Certainly not the best picture he's ever taken.

Still, I've seen worse.

Oh man. 1989 was not kind to me. I guess we know where the kids get the bad school picture gene... (Although, to be fair on that assessment we'd have to look at Lance's pictures, too.  Alas, being the middle child his picture all seem to have mysteriously disappeared. I guess we'll never know for sure.) ((Yes we will. My 6th grade picture is awful.))

Candy Stashes and Diamonds

I decided to make some cookies this morning. Some for a friend, some for FHE tonight, and the rest to freeze for conference this weekend, in case you were wondering. I asked Tess what kind of cookies I should make and she responded "Candy". 

At first I laughed it off. And then I remembered all of the random chocolate candy we have around the house. I keep a candy jar in the pantry for little emergencies or rewards; it contains random leftover candy from clearance sales, holidays, and who knows where. Seriously, I cannot imagine where it all comes from. Should I be worried?

Anywho, why use chocolate chips when I had plenty of decent candy around that I decided really needed to be out of the house before Halloween. I scouted around the pantry and the storage room and came up with a full bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cup miniatures, 5 fun-size Kit Kats, 8 mini bags of regular M&Ms, 3 mini Hershey's Dark Chocolate bars, a small pack of Cadbury Mini Eggs, and a regular sized Hershey's bar. (There were 4 other full sized Hershey's bars, but I decided not to overdo it.)

Tess was nice enough to help me unwrap the candy and taste test some to make sure it was still good.

The cookies are delicious. They're also a bit odd, because I think some of the M&Ms might have picked up some flavoring from the Swedish Fish that are also in the candy jar. There's a random fruitiness present in some bites - like a fine wine, right? (I have no idea what I'm talking about. I've never had wine. But I know all about making it since I grew up over the hill from Napa Valley and have been on at least a dozen winery tours! But that's a story for another time.) I owed her a quarter. Why? Because she woke up with a dry pull-up this morning! Woo-hoo! She's been struggling with this for a while, so her waking up dry was a big deal. (Her pediatrician recommended I offer giving her a quarter for each dry pull-up to "buy it back". Probably as an alternative to candy bribery... let's not mention my candy stashing to the pediatrician, shall we?)

Tess was so pleased with that quarter! She played and played with it! And then she lost it somewhere inside the piano. I know. I pulled the piano apart as much as I could, but it could not be found. Much sadness, weeping, and wailing. I didn't have another quarter in my wallet, but I really wanted her to not give up on being dry at night because she lost the stinkin' quarter! (Fiscal responsibility is a lesson for another day.) And then I remembered some loose change in the van. Score! And all was right with the world.

She was playing on my bed while I folded some laundry. She was chatting away and I caught her saying "I like pennies and quarters and diamonds. Mommy, when do I get a diamond?" I have no idea where that came from, but it was all I could do not to laugh and ruin the moment. I told her she'd get a diamond when she was older, like when she got married. She was pleased with that answer and started chatting away again.

This afternoon she started getting really crabby. She didn't want to do anything I mentioned or offered. She kept rolling all over my bed, where I was trying to fold more laundry. (Laundry is pretty much never-ending in this house.) Finally I got frustrated and said "Why don't you just take a nap!?"

And so she did. 

For about 30 minutes, which means she's refreshed for tonight but will still go to bed on time.

This girl. I love her so!

Five Year Itch

When we first moved into this house there were plenty of projects that needed to be done. There were also plenty of projects I wanted to be done. The projects that needed to get done eventually got done while the wanted projects kind of festered.

Well, five years must be the magic number, because I've gotten a lot of those wanted projects done within the past year! I painted the front door, replaced all of the bushes on the east side of the house, replaced Comcast with Metronet, put up art in the master bedroom, and got rid of the ugly juniper bushes on either side of the garage. And today I finally replaced the driveway lights! (And by I, I mean I plan the projects and then often get Lance to do a lot of the work. We make a good team.)

It was especially exciting to replace these dang lights because, not only were they ugly and old...

... but they didn't even work. They had weird timers on them and they just never worked right. Often one would go on but not the other, or they'd both be on but only during the day. About 9 months ago I noticed they had completely died. Stupid lights.

My friend Deidra just moved and sends me updates on what she's doing to her new home. When she replaced her garage lights it reminded me that ours were in desperate need of replacement. So when I saw these awesome LED ones at Costco today for only $30, I was sold.

They look good and, crazy enough, they actually work!  Woo-hoo!

Tess was kind enough to help out. What is it about empty boxes and little kids? (I don't know, but it's cute.)

Now I just need to 1) help that magnolia bush fill in next to the house and 2) figure out what to put in the flower beds now that the junipers are gone. The big chrysanthemum is another great Costco purchase, but will only be there through the fall.

In somewhat related news, I have also started replacing and changing the color schemes of our master bedroom bathroom and bedding. No painting, just replacing old towels and shower curtains and duvet covers. I'm on a roll and feeling very productive! (Who knows - maybe I'll go crazy in October and finally paint Spencer's bedroom!)

Picnic

I've been trying to spend more special time with Tess while we're home together. Tess is excellent at entertaining herself, and I have a never-ending list of housework and papers to edit. So it's often really easy to be at home all day together but not really spend any time together.

Anywho, yesterday on a whim I decided we should have a little picnic. Rather than making it a big to-do at the park or whatever, we just had it up on our hill, underneath one of our apple trees. It was a bit bright out, but an IKEA umbrella took care of that problem.

Her pink pigs a random collection of other toys joined us.

I expected her to last about 30 minutes.

NINETY minutes later I was like "Um, I have things I still have to get done!" She talked the entire time; it was all I could do to get her to eat! I guess we will have to have more picnics while the weather holds.

I talk a lot about the freedom I'll have to get work done next year when all 4 kids are in school all day, but I'm sure there will be times when I miss this sweet girl!

Ice Cream Injury

Last month I was being nice and getting Lance a bowl of ice cream. (After the kids went to bed. We are those kind of parents.)

The ice cream was really hard, and as I worked the scoop through it slipped and hit my thumb. Hard.

I knew I had bruised it pretty good, but it wasn't until it started to grow out that I realized how hard it was hit. Isn't it lovely?
The ice cream was homemade Fat Elvis. (Banana vanilla with peanut butter and fudge swirls.) Or was it the homemade blueberry cheesecake?

Either way, worth it.

Pink Computer

Today Deidra reminded me that I had neglected to ever blog about The Pink Computer. (In my defense, the whole Pink Computer thing occurred RIGHT after 2 full days of driving home from UT. Blogging? Not my top priority.)

Tess had been requesting a pink computer for quite a while, so when we were at Fry's Electronics (during our mini vacation to Indy) and found a pink case for a very reasonable price, of course Lance bought it. Because it's computery and Lance is all about turning his children computery by any means necessary. (Any means.)

I usually leave some home improvement jobs for Lance when I leave town and take the kids, but this last time I totally and completely spaced on that. I blame the fact that Kevin was here a few days before we left and we had all those car issues and it was just a crazy time. Poor Lance must've needed a project, because when we got home we found this:

(Isn't Tess the cutest? Seriously.)

Yup, I thought he had just put together a computer with old parts that we had, but he did that and then some.

He actually spray painted the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and earphones to match the case!

The pictures really don't do it justice. It's really, really pink.

Tess sure loves her pink computer. It's never "I'm gonna go play on my computer", it's always "I'm gonna go play on my Pink Computer."

This little princess sure is lucky she has such a computery, handy, and handsome dad!

Man-catchin' Brownies

People started freaking out when I posted this on Instagram/Facebook:

These brownies are worth the freak out.

I meant to take a picture of one on a plate, but forgot during the ward activity. And when I came home from an RS activity this afternoon the few remaining brownies were gone. Sadness for all.

I'm pretty sure I've posted this recipe on this blog before, but I'm far too lazy to go looking for it.  So here it is again.

Please note: These brownies are good for both catchin' and retainin' men. To make them more potent bake them during a full moon. Just kidding - the brownies don't need any celestial help. (I've just got full moons on the brain because Cole is now into those. September 27th is the next full moon, in case you were wondering. In case you were also wondering, yes, Cole yelled and got mad at me because that wasn't soon enough for his liking. That boy...)

Without further ado...

Man Catchin’ Brownies

Recipe given to me by roommate Heather Wold, 1996

48 caramels
8 TBL whipping cream
1 ½ C flour
1 ½ C oats
1/3 tsp salt
2/3 tsp soda
1 ½ C brown sugar
1 1/8 C butter, melted
2 C milk chocolate chips


1. Mix the flour, oats, salt, soda, brown sugar, and butter together. Put half of the mixture into a 9x13 pan.
2. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.
3. Let cool completely.
4. Melt caramel and whipping cream.  Pour on top of cooled oat mixture.

5. Let cool completely.

6. Put chocolate chips on top of the cooled caramel.

7. Drop the rest of the oat mixture on top of the chocolate chips.

8. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Bad School Pictures

Cole has now been inducted into the Madsen Children Bad School Pictures Hall of Fame.

Josh is still a pretty great contender.

Spencer's pictures are mysteriously missing. Which means he's either not gotten them back yet or they were so bad he "misplaced" them. (You never know. It's middle school.)

One can only hope Tess will join this elite group next year!

Happy 9th Birthday, Josh!

I know. I know. I'm a terrible mother for taking so long to blog about Josh's birthday. In fact, yesterday afternoon I was apologizing to him for it (in true Josh style he didn't seem to care), and I said, several times "I'm a terrible mother!" Then Tess waltzed into the kitchen and started sing "Terrible Mother! Terrible Mother!" Josh laughed. So did I. But then I felt bad.

Stuff's been going on. It's busy, you know? Even with 3 mornings a week without children I seem to be way overscheduled. My own doing, I know.

Anyways.

On to the good stuff.

For Josh's class treat he chose M&M snickerdoodles. Who knew that was a thing? I decided to make these cute tags on my Cricut. After I had cut them out Josh decided he didn't want them. "I want just number 9's!" Um, too bad, child. You approved these already! (He later admitted he liked them.)

Since it's an odd numbered year Josh didn't have a big friend birthday party - but we decided to allow him one friend to sleep over. He chose Justin. (Justin is over here enough it didn't feel that different to me, but the boys were sure excited!)

Since we don't do sleepovers Saturday night because of church the next day, Justin slept over on Friday night and we decided to just do all of our celebrating a day early. (Josh's actual birthday was on Saturday. This confused and angered Cole to no end.)

So, Friday morning Josh awoke to our traditional birthday pancakes!

This is about how much excitement you get out of the boy at quarter after seven in the morning.

It was a little sad not having Spencer there with us. (He leaves before anyone else even wakes up.)

I allowed Josh to open one present that I got to pick - a Minecraft shirt that Cole got for him. Josh was disappointed it was "just a shirt". He's kind of a jerk that way. But he later changed his tune and happily wore it to school that day.

After school I let him open another gift, only because I knew it would keep him occupied all afternoon and keep him out of my hair until the sleep over!

A new binder for all of his Pokemon cards! Thank you Grandpa Viggo and Grammy B!

Justin "finally" came over (Josh's words, not mine) and we headed out to dinner. The birthday boy's choice? Teppanyaki Buffet. The servers were impressed we were there with 5 kids.

We haven't been there in quite a while, and I was pleasantly surprised! I think for a while we went too often and got tired of it, but 2-3 times a year seems just about right.

The kids were all relatively well-behaved!

No one was the least bit hungry when we got home, so we skipped cake and opened the rest of his gifts.

Spencer gave him 4 packages of Ice Breakers Duo Mints - Josh's candy of choice on our big road trip. Josh was extra pleased. (Until he caught Cole stealing some a few days later. Hey, if you're not smart enough to know to hide candy from younger siblings, then this is a good way to learn.)

Justin gave him a rather loud and obnoxious Bop-It toy. The perfect gift for a 9 year old.

Tess gave him this giant pencil. It really works!

Lance and I gave him this pitching machine, along with extra balls for it and some new baseballs. He was pretty excited.

Then Lance decided to use the pencil as a bat...

Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie supplied a much-wanted baseball glove. He sure was excited!
Thank you, Grandpa & Grandma!

Finally, Lance and I gave him this big, fuzzy blanket we had found at Costco. Josh had been begging for one like Tess's, only Tess's has Frozen on it. We could have bought him a Frozen one, but wisely went with grey instead. He's been snuggling up with it every night since. Score!

After presents it was time to test out the pitching machine. It worked pretty well and the kids all had a great time batting and catching and eventually shooting balls at each other, as was expected.

I got a good shot of Justin missing a ball. I never got any pictures of my kids, though, because I got bored and started picking raspberries instead.

Eventually we all trooped in for cake - only we didn't have cake. The birthday boy had requested Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies instead. My kind of treat!

Those are peanut butter cups and peanut M&Ms in there. Delish!

Just before blowing out the candles. Oh man, I can't believe how big this kid is getting!

Josh is a great kid. Oh sure, he knows how to push buttons. Especially mine. (And especially especially Cole's....) But all of his positive attributes totally outweigh this. He's kind and helpful and has a great sense of humor. He's a good friend. He can be a hard worker when he really wants to be. He's developed patience and can generally find good ways of entertaining himself. He's bright and very well-liked at school. He thinks he can't ride a bike but he could if he really wanted to. He's super at doing laundry, not so much at helping Cole do, though. ;) He's coming along so nicely on the piano. He's well-behaved at church and he seems to really pay attention to what is being taught there. He's goofy and silly and lovey and sometimes ornery and happy. In short, a pretty typical, well-adjusted nine year old boy.

I sure love him!

Favorite Tessism of the Day

When asked to go clean her room:

"I can't because I don't want to!"

Truth.

No Internet This and That

I should be writing about Josh's birthday, but we currently have no Internet and my phone is being really stupid about transferring files from my laptop (where all of the birthday pictures are), so here we are.

Why no Internet? The lawn guys came and aerated the lawn this morning. And although Metronet swears up and down that they buried the cable deep enough it's hard for me NOT to find a connection since the Internet/cable/phone went down right after the aeration. Grrr.... This is what I get for trying to take care of the lawn and maintain our home. So now I'm waiting for the repair man to come.

I'm actually sitting in a camping chair in the garage, feeling rather hillbilly about it. But it's so beautiful outside and the garage is shady but still gets the breeze. And I guess I'm not that hillbilly because I see neighbors hanging out in their garages all the time. *gasp* Perhaps I am now a real Hoosier!

Spencer came home and was NOT happy about the internet/cable situation. Because, you know, I did that on purpose.

He was also extremely put out when I said NO to his request to go to Italy (ITALY) on a school trip for Spring Break. I did not laugh. Out loud. But when he pouted and I realized he was not joking -he really thought he had a shot at this - I told him that 1) I have never been to Italy, there's no way he is going to go before me; 2) he is in middle school and I don't think he'd really appreciate international travel until he is at least 14; 3) there's no way he's going on a trip like that without a parent and there's no way EVER Lance or I would ever travel that type of distance with middle schoolers. Ever ever ever; 4) I have a self-imposed $20 limit for school field trips. This trip cost at the very least 100 times that.

Side note to the above reasons:
1) This is not quite true. I once had a layover in Rome's airport. I wandered the terminal, listened to a lot of fast Italian, and even ran into some Mormon missionaries. But this does not mean I've really been to Italy.
2) This is solid logic. Don't fight me on it.
3) This is also solid logic. We are not lunatics.
4) Even if Spence paid for the trip himself he wouldn't get to go. (See reason 3.)

Anyways. I'm sure I've dashed all of his hopes and dreams and have ruined his life forever. It was bound to happen some day.

Nevermind. He's forgiven me because I'm letting him play on computer on a weekday.

Tess has been pretty cute today. For starters, she played in the bathtub for close to an hour, singing and talking to imaginary friends. It was darling.

Later, she learned that just because balloons have strings doesn't mean they will start flying. (Try explaining helium at a pre-k level.) It was tragically disappointing.

At lunch she learned about regular sized carrots. I'm not sure where she's been the last few years - or perhaps I've only bought baby carrots or always cut up bigger ones for her - but she was genuinely surprised at the size of the carrot I was peeling. "It's a GIANT CARROT! HAHAHAHAHA!"

On Saturday I went to Sam's Club specifically to upgrade my phone. I did it there last time. Got a great deal and it was easy peasy. This year? Not so much.

The phone lady was about to ring me up when I said "Wait, I couldn't find a price on that. How much is it?" She then explained that AT&T had changed their upgrade policy and that now you just made monthly payments for phones. And that payment for me would be $38 per month.

WHAT THE WHAT?!

I balked and asked if that was just at Sam's Club or all retailers. She said it was everywhere and that it was because they got rid of 2 year contracts. She was kinda talking to me like I was an idiot. Yeah, because non-idiots pay that much for phones.

I told her I don't upgrade my phone often enough to "lease" a phone, and that I didn't care about the 2 year contract. Then I did some rough calculations in my head and exclaimed that even if I only kept the phone for a year it would be more than $450! So not worth that price.

She snarkily replied that this phone was a miniature computer, so the price was reasonable. I said I already had a laptop and a smartphone and that the price was far too much and walked away.

They didn't even have it in white, which made it all the easier.

Later I went on the AT&T website where I upgraded my phone for $250 (Plus a $45 upgrade fee. Growl.) and got free expidited shipping so it should be here today or early tomorrow.

Stupid Sam's Club. If the rumors are true that they're going to build a Costco in West Lafayette you are in so much trouble.

Josh and Cole will be home any minute; time to wrap things up. Perhaps they'll expect a Spring Break trip to France? One can only hope. I'm on a roll...

Tenderfoot

There's no love lost between me and the BSA.

But I sure am proud of this Boy Scout for earning his Tenderfoot last night! (He actually earned it a while ago but there was no court of honor during the summer.)

Being a Boy Scout Mom N00b (I'm always a n00b where Spencer is concerned. Poor oldest guinea pig child...) I didn't realize that the mom gets a pin when the Scout advances in rank.

So I was trying to get some pictures of Spence when they called me up, too. Why am I always so awkward? Oh well, it was at church and among friends who are very used to my awkwardness.

After the court of honor we all enjoyed some of the desserts that we had all brought. Well, some of us did. Several of the older scouts decided to ignore the "Courteous" part of the Scout Law took far more than their fair share. I saw one kid from our ward with literally 12 of the cookies I had brought. (And I brought 4 dozen, thinking we'd have left overs.) We had words and he eventually conceded it allowing a few of the other scouts to have some since they didn't have any, but I suspect he was not exactly happy with me about this prospect. Teenage boys are weird.

Well, hopefully my teenage boys won't be that weird. (Or at least will have better manners.)

Have You Ever Been So Tired...

...that the inside of a pillowcase - still on the pillow - and surrounded by clean laundry that needs to be put away looks like a pretty good place to crash?

Tess has.

Favorite Husband

This afternoon I discovered that both loaves of bread were moldy. (It's been EXTREMELY humid here and I forgot to put them in the fridge.)

As I stressed out loud about when I was going to be able to run to the store to get bread for lunches, Lance offered to take Tess to get the bread while I took the boys to piano lessons. Life made infinitely easier in one stroke!

When I got home I found two non-moldy loaves of bread and these.

All exactly what I needed.

Lance is my most favorite husband ever.

Cole vs. Alaska

An actual conversation that occurred while I was making dinner this evening. (Waffles, BTW. Delish.)

Josh: Mommy, is Alaska the biggest state?

Cole: NO. It's Texas! Texas is bigger!

Me: Actually, it's Alaska. It's the biggest.

Cole: WHAT?!?! NO! Stupid Alaska! We all hate you!

Me: I'm assuming you mean the state and not me.

Cole: What?

Josh (talking to Cole): See? I told you!

Cole: Is Alaska the oldest state? It's the oldest.

Me: No. It's not the oldest. It is the COLDEST, though! Hah!

Cole: STUPID ALASKA.

And that's how Alaska got onto Cole's hit list. Watch out. That super villain  kid now has it in for you.

Tess's First Day of Pre-K

This morning was the first day of Pre-K for Tess. FINALLY!

Since the boys have been in school for three weeks it all seemed a little anti-climatic. Our neighbor gave Tess a balloon yesterday and somehow that made it into the picture. I have no idea why, other than, hey, we have a balloon! Why not?!

Classic Tess.

She really was looking forward to going. She's been getting so bored at home!

When we walked in she started heading to where her old cubby used to be, but then quickly remembered she was in the big kid class and found her new cubby. She even got to wear a cool name tag!

Some poor little girl was screaming and crying about not wanting to stay, but this didn't phase Tess at all. No tears on her end whatsoever! (Nor on my end, which I thought was a little odd given my reaction last year. No matter; I'm sure next year will be a different story.)

As per tradition, the preschooler got to choose where we went for lunch after school - the McDonald's with the PlayPlace. Not only did they have Hello Kitty toys, but Tess also got a free ice cream cone. (It had accidentally been made and we were in the right place at the right time.) Tess is truly my daughter and dipped her fries in the soft serve.

Here's to a great year of Pre-K!

Cultured Hate Mail

The other night I found this yellow envelope in our mailbox.

I recognized it as some of the nicer stationary I have down in my office.

So I took it inside, opened it, and found this.

Apparently Cole and Josh were having some sort of feud. But being the cultured, well-bred young man that he is, Cole decided to voice his opinion in a genteel, dignified way.

There is never a dull moment around this house.

So many questions. So. Many. Questions.

1) What did Josh do to Cole?
2) Why didn't Cole just punch him, like he usually does?
3) Why did he use my nice stationary?
4) Why was it in the mailbox?
5) Did he expect Josh to get this letter? If so, how?
6) Why does this make me giggle so much?