What We've Been Up To

We've had a really busy week, which is why the posts haven't been too frequent or consistent.  What have we been up to?

Well, we've been putting babies in Woombies.

Tess is actually starting to take naps that are longer than 20 minutes, which is AWESOME as far as getting at least a few things done around the house is concerned.  It might be the Woombie, or it might be that she's getting older, or it might be that I'm letting her just cry herself to sleep now.  Who cares what it is as long as it works, right?

We've been hangin' out at the laundromat, since our new washing machine doesn't get here until Tuesday.  Tess wasn't that impressed with it.  (She slept most of the time, thank goodness!)

But the boys thought it was a pretty good adventure.  They got to put quarters in machines, watch The Price Is Right for the first time, play with a few kids who were also there, and eat snacks.  As you can see, Cole is really enjoying his snack.

 
What else?  Oh yeah, we went blueberry picking!

We didn't get to go last year because of all the moving madness, but we made up for it this year with 18 pounds of berries.

I made a bunch of freezer jam Thursday night, but forgot to take pictures of it.  I love the color of fresh berry jam. I'm planning on giving some out to neighbors this Christmas.  Don't you wish you lived by me?

We've also been hanging out with old friends.  When Lance and I were getting ready to move out here to Indiana my dad told us that we'd meet friends in graduate school who we would be friends with for life.  He was right.  Liz and Misty are definitely those kinds of friends!

Liz and her family were driving back from Utah and stopped in Indiana for a day or two.  I'm so glad she was able to come visit!  She and Misty and I visited for a few hours while our kids (all 10 of them!) played and fought and ate snacks and played some more.  Before they left we tried to get a picture of all the kiddos together.

Have you ever tried to take a picture of 10 kids?  Not so easy.

First, Dominic decided to run away.  Like how I got him mid-run?

 I like this picture because all of the kids are watching Dom run away. :)

Then Josh decided to make a run for it, too.  Pesky four year olds!

We finally got both Dom and Josh back.  But who's missing?  Cole, that's who.  Punk toddler.

Whew!  Finally one with everyone in it!  Nice face, Josh.

I decided we needed one with just the moms.  Spencer took it for us, which means it was taken from a low angle - not the most flattering.  Oh well.

Oh - I've also been letting Spencer and Josh hold Tess more.  Or rather, they've been showing more interest in it.  I think it's because she's a bit more smiley now, especially for them.

Guess the sun was a little bright for Tess.  Oops.

Awesome, Josh.

Today we cleaned the garage and disinfected the basement.  The garage was never properly unpacked when we moved in, and for some reason most of the cabinets and drawers were empty and everything was stacked on the counters.  Nice.

And the basement?  Well, remember all the fun we had the other night with the basement toilet?  Well, the next day we found out that the sewer pump had been burned out because someone had been flushing wipes down the toilet.  Great.  $885 and a big mess later and everything's back to normal.  We spent a good part of the afternoon and a lot of antibacterial cleaner to clean everything up.  No pictures of either the garage or the basement, but do you really need any?

Finally, I've been trying to get a picture of Tess smiling.  No dice.  She is very stingy with her smiles when the camera is out.  Instead, she kinda gets the whole 'deer in the headlights' look.  Oh well.

This one is pretty close... but not quite.

Alllmooosssstt...

I decided to take her into her room to try to get a smile.  On the wall I have a wooden letter "T" with some ribbons hanging off of it.  On those ribbons I have all of Tess's hair bows.  Whenever I'm in there nursing her and she sees those ribbons she just smiles and coos and shakes her little arms and legs.  She's a girl who loves her accessories!  So I thought I'd show them to her and capture the smile.  But no luck.  This was the best I got.

And that's what we've been up to.  Let's hope next week is a little calmer!

Have You Ever Been So Tired...

... that you fell asleep during a diaper change?

Cole has.

Bad Things Usually Come In Threes. But Not This Time, Right? RIGHT?!?

Lance and I have spent most of the evening trying to unclog the basement toilet and cleaning up the mess of sewage and water from said clog.  It is gross and stinky.

As if that's not bad enough, our washing machine died on Tuesday.  We took advantage of the 4th of July sales and got a good deal on a new Kenmore washer from Sears.  Unfortunately, we won't get the new washer until Tuesday.

Which means we have sewery messes and no washing machine.

Great.  That's just great.

So, not only did we have to drop a pretty penny on a new washer (Because why buy a cheap-o small one when you do as much laundry as I do?) but now tomorrow morning I'm gonna have to probably spend a fair amount on a plumber.

What with these expenses and the continual doctor and hospital bills I keep getting for Tess, I am feeling quite poor.  And picked on.  But mostly poor.

Bad things usually happen in threes, but I don't know if I can afford it this month.  Fingers crossed that we'll be the exception to the rule and won't have any other major expenses.  Sheesh.

Driveway of Fire 2011

This year was our first real Driveway of Fire celebration.  (The name is a spoof of in honor of this.)  Well, we've kind of had Driveway of Fire the past couple of 4ths, but those were just practice runs.  This was the real deal.

I could tell Lance was really excited about this party because he sent the invitations out over a month ago. :) 

In all we had around 12 families come, which meant 24 adults and approximately 297 children.  Everyone brought yummy food to share and we spent the afternoon chatting and eating and trying to help the children not kill themselves on the slip-n-slide or the kid wash. 

Dang it, I forgot to take pictures of the kid wash.  I'll have to do that for another post.  Trust me - it was awesome.

During the party Cole discovered that he likes things that are on sticks, like...

...flags

...popcorn balls

...and suckers.

One sucker in each hand is good, but both in the mouth at the same time is even better.

Because I was too busy gabbing I didn't get very many pictures during the party.  But I did get this cute one of Addy playing under the table.  (Probably hoping someone would drop some food for her, because she is so very obviously starved at home!)

Here's Heidi Fry, aka the Baby Whisperer (she's holding Tess), and Misty South, whose husband was one of the very excited pyrotechnic technicians of the evening. :)

Our friends Sarah and John Roylance and Aaron and Felicia Trembath.

Around the time Tess was born there were four other women in our ward who were also having baby girls.  Three of the five were there last night.  (The other two have already moved.  Sad.)  You would think that in the world of digital photography it would be fairly easy to get a decent picture of three infants.  You would be wrong.  From left to right is Tess (Tessapotomus), Amelia (Millie), and Karen (like Maren with a K).

Karen sticks out her tongue, showing exactly what she thought of this whole picture taking business.

Amelia decides she does NOT want to share the spotlight with anyone.

Tess looks like she's about to smack Amelia in the head.

Apparently, look at the camera means "Look anywhere BUT at the camera... or just close your eyes".

Oh well... no perfect pictures.  But that doesn't really matter when all three of them are such dang cute babies!

Here's somebody else who is dang cute - Lance with his fireworks stash.

Around 8pm the natives (the kiddos) were getting pretty restless.  (Note to self: start DOF an hour later next year.)  So even though it wasn't that dark yet the men decided to start the show.

Yes, that's at the top of the hill in our backyard, so I guess technically we should have called this Back Yard of Fire, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it.  (Maybe Lawn of Fire?  Hill of Fire?  Boys Playing With Fire?  Suggestions?)

Spencer loved the fireworks.

Cole did not. 

In fact, I had to hold him for almost the entire show. (Thanks again for holding Tess, Felicia!)  In Cole's defense, some of those fireworks were really big and loud!

The pyros get to work.  (Paul South, Lance, and Tad Colver)

A man in his element.

Some of the kiddos liked to watch the fireworks from the top of the playset.  It was hilarious to listen to their comments and cheers, but my favorite part was when they all booed a firework they didn't like.  "Booo!  Booooooo!  You have displeased us!  We are all sticky and wound up from the pounds of sugar we have digested!  Booooooo!"

Someone brought glow sticks to share, which were a HUGE hit with the 12 and under crowd.

And now, because the only thing better than looking at pictures of fireworks is watching a video of fireworks (haha), for your viewing pleasure...

Actually, the best part of the video is towards the end when Cole (who had mellowed out a bit by then) starts saying "Ta-da!"  It's also pretty fun to watch the guys run away from the lit fireworks. :)

The food was fantastic and the company even better.  We had perfect weather and a fun fireworks show.  I think Driveway of Fire will definitely have to become an annual event for the Madsens!

Swimming Lessons

For the past two weeks the boys have gone to swimming lessons every day at McCutcheon High School.  They LOVED it.  (So much so that it was a very effective threat to not let them go if they didn't behave.)

I can't say I loved the lessons as much as they did.  Not because the lessons themselves weren't great - they were.  But getting everyone ready to go, into the car, out of the car, into the high school, into the showers (and keeping certain toddlers out of the showers!), into the pool (and keeping certain toddlers out of the pool), out of the pool, into the car, out of the car, and back into regular clothes, all the while trying to make sure Tess nursed at the right time so I wouldn't have to feed her at the pool while chasing Cole around... well, it was all a lot of work.

Complain complain complain.  Which I shouldn't do, because it wasn't that bad.  I met some really nice moms there and had fun chatting with them when I wasn't chasing after Cole.  And the swimming pool was indoors, which meant the weather wasn't a concern and I didn't have to deal with slathering everyone in sunscreen every day - a big bonus!  And the teachers seemed to know what they were doing and gave a lot of one-on-one attention to each student.

Spencer and and Josh did great - Josh is a lot more confident and Spencer doesn't sink quite as readily.  So I guess we'll be doing them again.  Just not anytime soon - I need a break.

On the last day they let the kids go off of the diving board.  Spencer and Josh were so excited!  It's pretty cute to see them, but what I like best are Cole's comments.  He was pretty excited to see them jump!

Have You Ever Been So Tired...

... that you lost your pants and literally fallen down asleep on the couch...

... and then on the floor?

Cole has.

Cereal Martyr

It's a typical Summer morning in the Madsen home.  The boys are sitting at the kitchen table, eating cold cereal and watching cartoons.  I have just finished feeding, changing, and clothing Tess and am now loading the dishwasher, cleaning up a few messes, starting the laundry, making my bed, and sundry other morning chores.

At this moment I am walking by with a rather large pile of dirty laundry in my arms.  Please note that I have been up for over an hour and still have not eaten breakfast and am starving.  (This is not really relevant, but thought you should know.)

Spencer: Can I have some more cereal, please?

Me: Yep.  Go ahead.

Spencer: Noooo.  Can you give me some more cereal, please?

Me: Nope, you can do that yourself.

Spencer: AWWWWWWW!!  Why do I have to do all of the work around here?!

At this moment I knew I should have had a nice, mature talk about how mom can't be expected to do everything, especially for big kids who are able to do things themselves.

What I wanted to do was throw the laundry at him.

Instead I opted for something inbetween the two previous options: sarcasm.

Me: I know, Spencer, you're such a martyr.

Spencer: What's that?

Me: A kid who's mom makes him poor his own cereal even though it is SUCH hard work and he is perfectly capable of doing it himself.

Spencer looks at me, trying to figure out if I'm teasing him or not.  (He's at that stage where he understands the concept of sarcasm but can't always detect it.)

He scowls.

And then he pours himself some cereal.