Ward Christmas Party

Our ward Christmas party was last Saturday. We helped put together hygiene kits, made gingerbread houses, sang carols, and visited with ward members.

I made a gingerbread tent, complete with tiki torches. I was pretty proud.

Of course a true Madsen camping experience should have rain involved - lots of rain. But my decorating talents only go so far.

Tess and Lance also made a gingerbread house, complete with person in front.

Here's Coles. There was an attempt.

Here's Josh's. There was no attempt. Only lots of hot chocolate drinking.

We have a couple of professional photographers in the ward, so we got some pretty great shots. No one seemed to know who this Santa was. Must've been the real deal!

Not a bad family portrait!

Spencer Turned 14!

Turning 40 did not make me feel any older.

But Spencer turning 14 sure did!

We of course had the obligatory Mary Lou doughnuts for breakfast. They must've had a couple of big orders or something that morning, because when I got there at 6am they were half out of most and didn't have the usual selection. And, there was only one old guy at the counter instead of the usual dozen or so. I hope this isn't a sign of bad new management.

We let Spencer open one present before school. I know he really wanted to get his phone first thing, but I figured that was just asking for trouble - the temptation might be too great to take it out during class!

A new BYU hat was a nice consolation. (He really does like it!)

I was nicer when he got home from school and let him open the phone first thing. He couldn't even finish the cookie he was eating, he was so excited!

He's known for a while that he was getting a phone, he just didn't know what kind. Lance did a great job of picking one out that was cool enough for a 14 year old PC fanatic, but wouldn't break the bank. (It's a Chinese brand phone, a Huawei Honor 6x. I'd never heard of it, but Spencer had!)

That boy sure was excited! He spent all afternoon customizing and figuring out what his phone could do. He was super excited to learn that because it's part of our existing plan he has unlimited data.

This has been our view of him ever since! ;)

We decided to help customize his phone a little before hand and put this picture on his home page. He laughed and rolled his eyes and basically reacted the way I wanted him to. And then he changed the photo, can you believe it?!

Lance had won some free tickets to see the new Star Wars movie at an IMAX theater in Indy, so that's what he and Spencer did that evening. Lucky boys!

The next afternoon Spencer had some of his buddies over to hang out. (They're too old to come over to play, right?) They played board games and talked and had a giant Nerf gun fight. Josh and Cole and Tess were in heaven playing with the big kids - Spencer's a really nice big brother to let them.

From left to right: Andrew, Tanner, Spencer, Bailey, and Clayton. Good group of kids!

Spencer requested a chocolate peppermint cake that I think turned out beautifully!

Look at all those candles! And he blew them all out in one try. Must be those big saxophonist lungs!

 

We're pretty lucky to have Spencer in our family. Most of the time he's easy going, kind, and friendly. He's figured out that life is a lot easier when he does what he's supposed to, which makes parenting a lot easier, too. He knows how to press his siblings' buttons, but he also knows how to help them out when needed and be a good big brother. We sure love you, Spence!

Tess's First Grade Christmas Program

Tess had her First Grade Christmas Program a couple of weeks ago - something she had been looking forward to for ages!

This was also our family's very last First Grade Christmas Program - something we had been looking forward to for ages! (Okay, that's mean. The programs aren't that bad. But sitting on bleachers in a stuffy gym with kids (our kids) who don't want to be there? Not a great time.)

Tess was so cute! Up front and center.

She sang every word to each song and did actions for each - whether or not there were planned actions!

I've been trying for a while to get some video uploaded, but it just won't let me. Dang it. Well, trust me when I say it was pretty dang cute. Especially the actions to "FIVE GOLDEN RINGS" on the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Think holding hands up like Beyonce in Single Ladies. I loved it.)

After the program Tess was super excited - until she saw some other little girls get flowers. Gosh dang other parents for thinking of that and making me look bad! She was pretty mad she didn't get flowers. See that smile down there? Totally fake. I was threatening her the entire time. I just wanted one good picture with the decorations. She pulled it together for one awkwardly-smiling photo and then scowled and stomped out of the school and all the way to the car. Growl.

While first graders dressed up in Christmas colors and singing Christmas songs is pretty dang cute, this is one holiday tradition I don't think we'll miss too much!

Maren's 40th Birthday!

Hey - I turned 40 on the 4th!

It seemed a little anti-climatic after all the traveling we had done. Plus, I was knee-deep in Jubilee Christmas stuff for our ward. (That's a big community project we help with through LUM.) But we've started this little tradition of doing something as a family for my birthday, so I told Lance he had to tell the Bishop he couldn't be there for all of tithing settlement at Saturday (he wanted him there ALL day. What the what?!) and made some plans.

I decided what I really wanted to do - that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg - was go down to Indy to see the Festival of Trees at the Indiana Historical Society. My kids were... willing. But probably only because I promised them dinner out that evening. Also, snacks.

We got to the museum and discovered that admission was free that day. SCORE!

Of course we had to take a picture at the Christmas Story display, although, sadly, no one in the family wanted to dress in the pink bunny pajama costumes they had for people to use!

There was a GIANT, walk through tree in the main gallery that was pretty impressive.

And there were 80+ trees to look at! I had been a couple of years ago and the trees then were a bit more impressive - several of them this time used paper ornaments, which kinda looked cheap and a little tacky. (See the cookies? Lame.)

This doughnut tree had the right idea, though! I need to find a doughnut ornament I like.

This tree was covered in full-sized instruments.

We all giggled at this tree.

It's a pretty impressive building, with lots of levels and light.

After a while Tess had had enough!

Josh was bound and determined to find the Elf of the Shelf so he could win a prize. We thought this was the guy, but apparently it was not.

So then we had to go hunt the real elf down. We found him and the kids got prizes like those cheap little stamps and tiny Koosh balls. Josh was a bit disappointed, although I'm not quite sure what he was expecting.

After some snacks we had a nice walk along the canal and downtown. It was such a nice day, we didn't even need jackets!

We eventually made it down to the Soldiers and Sailors monument. Josh and Cole REALLY wanted to climb it. I wasn't that interested because the last time we did that I had to carry Tess up half the way. But then I got the tower climbing itch - I must've picked it up in Italy. So up we went! And this time no one had to carry Tess.

She was pretty pleased with herself!

Too bad it wasn't a bit darker so we could see the lights.

We eventually made our way to Red Robin for dinner. I picked it because 1) we don't have one in Lafayette, so it's something different, 2) I knew the kids would eat the food, 3) I wasn't willing to try anything new or fancy because I didn't want to listen to whiny kids, and 4) I could get a free burger for my birthday. But I was the one who wanted to whine in the end because the service was SO SLOW. Red Robin must really not treat their employees well, because every time we go (and that's only maybe 1-2 times a year) they are understaffed (that's what they tell us, anyway), take forever, and often get orders wrong. So while I love the steak fries, I think we'll be going somewhere else from now on.

We decided to hit the light display in Rossville on the way home. It wasn't as magical as last year, maybe because we were tired and because it was still 50 degrees outside and didn't feel very Christmassy.

Monday was my actual birthday, and Lance surprised me by taking the day off. He got up to get the kids off to school and everything. (Although I woke up to him taping plastic by our bedroom door and filling the space with balloons. I'm not sure why he didn't think that wouldn't wake me up...)

We went to see "Wonder" that morning, which was a really good movie. And then we went to DT Kirby's for lunch, where I got this monstrosity. Yes, that's a burger with grilled cheese buns. As in the buns are grilled cheese sandwiches. It was amazing. (The atmosphere - not quite as amazing. It's definitely a bar and not fancy, but something must be going on with their plumbing because they had PORTA POTIES in the restaurant!! As in next to the tables in the back. It was weird.)

I decided I didn't want a cake for my birthday, so we had Dark Chocolate Orange cookies instead. They were heavenly.

The kids helped me open my presents, which included a lot of random things like mints with 40 in the container and 40 cleaning wipes.

But also some stuff I wanted, like new cookie sheets and some bowls.

I wanted one good self-timed family picture. We got one - kinda. And then the kids went crazy.

So, how does it feel to be 40? A lot like 39, actually.