First Annual Madsen Family Back-To-School Night

Lance and I have decided to start a new back-to-school tradition in our family.  I had actually wanted to do this for a few years now, but certain brand new babies (Cole) and morning sickness (Tess) prevented this.  This year our baby was only relatively new and I have no morning sickness (nor any reason to have it!), so there was nothing to stop me.

Anywho, the special back-to-school evening included dinner and a special Family Home Evening lesson where we introduced our new family theme for the 2011/2012 school year.

The actual dinner itself was special only in that I made something I knew the boys would eat and not complain (much) about.  (Spaghetti and meatballs, in case you're wondering.)  I decided to decorate a bit to make it more festive and important. 

First up, a cute and simple pencil bouquet.  Well, I thought it was cute.  Josh thought is was weird and ugly, which he made sure I knew.  Punk kid.  (Too bad, Josh - the pencil bouquet will be back next year!)

I also did some cute pennant banners.  It was really hard to get a picture of it because of the window.  Oh well... trust me, it looked cute.  The boys loved it!

 

We ate dinner and then Lance gave a really good lesson about how fear and doubt and things like that can sometimes stop us from doing tasks that we could really do if we just tried.  He tied balloons to the boys to represent that fear, doubt, etc.

The boys, of course, loved it.

Then he had the boys try to put their shoes on with all of the balloons in the way.  It was a bit tricky, of course.

Then Lance talked D&C 18:10, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God."  He taught the boys that Heavenly Father loves us very, very much, and that he is willing to help us do anything we need, such as school work, household chores, learning a new instrument, etc.  If we try our best, Heavenly Father will help us get rid of the fear and doubt that is stopping us.  Then Lance popped the balloons, showing that without those hindrances the boys could easily tie their shoes. (Or anything else they put their mind to!)

Cole thought the balloon popping was hysterical!

Tess did not.

Then we introduced our theme for the year:

We get a lot of "I can'ts" around this house.  Much of the time the boys really mean "I don't want to" when they say it, but often they just really think they can't do something and are just too afraid to try.  Hopefully this motto will help get rid of some of that fear, or at least give them the courage to try.  A copy of this now hangs up on a wall in our home, where everyone can see it and be reminded of it. 

Overall, I think the night went really well.  I think Spencer and Josh caught the idea of the lesson and understand the message we were trying to convey.  Do I expect smooth sailing for the year?  No way.  I'm pretty sure Lance and I will be referring to the sign above frequently during the year as we hear the usual "I can'ts" when the boys are given jobs to do.  But hopefully it will help ease some of the usual school year drama when it comes to homework and projects and such.  (Well, for me at least.  I hate homework and school projects - they are hard things for me!)

Lessons In Futility

I tried to get a picture of Tess smiling in her church dress.  No dice.

But I did get one of her trying to flash us.

 

 

I also tried to get some of all the kiddos in their Sunday best.  No dice.

We had stuffed chicks in front of faces.

And spiky-haired toddlers trying to escape.

This is a pretty good shot of Josh.  But not of Tess.

Spencer LOVES babies.  Especially Tess.

Well, at least three of the four are smiling!

Newest Harry Potter Fan

Lance and I are totally romantic when it comes to anniversaries.  And by romantic I mean lazy.

I love that about us.

Since our anniversary is this Tuesday, which is also the first day of school, we decided to celebrate by hiring a sitter for the boys and going out to dinner and a movie last night.  We were the only people on earth who still hadn't seen the last Harry Potter film, so of course that's what we chose to see.

Side note: I had a goal to see every single Harry Potter movie in the movie theater.  This might not seem like such a big deal, but we very rarely go to movies at the theater and all of my babies saw fit to come at very inconvenient Potter times.  I'm happy to report that my goal was completed last night!  It's good to have goals.  Even goofy ones.

Tess came along with us since she's still too little to stay with a sitter.  Plus, she doesn't even like Lance that much right now, who knows how she'd react to a stranger.  So Lance got to go out with two beautiful ladies!

I was a bit nervous about how Tess would behave during the movie.  I'm sure the other people in the theater were nervous, too.  (We got quite a few "Aw man!  I can't believe someone brought a baby!" looks.) 

I shouldn't have worried.  Apart from a couple of times where I didn't get the bottle fast enough to her mouth, Tess was really good!  Apparently, Tess is a huge Harry Potter fan.  Seriously, that baby watched a good 3/4's of the film!  If I turned her away from the screen she let her displeasure be known.  Eventually she fell asleep, and then was quite upset that she missed the end of the movie.  (Or maybe because I woke her up getting her into her car seat.  One of the two.)  And who can blame her?  It was a pretty awesome movie.

Here are a few shots I got tonight of our newest Harry Potter fan.  She's cast a spell on me with her cuteness.  (Is that lame?  I don't care.  There's something unbelievably adorable about a baby grabbing her feet!)

 

 

 

Adventures In Tofu

I like tofu but have never cooked with it, mainly because I didn't want any grief from the kids.  (Or Lance, truth be told.)  But this week I finally decided to heck with that.  I'm the one who does all the cooking, and if I want tofu we're havin' tofu!

So there.

I found a recipe for Asian Noodle Salad with Sesame Tofu Bites in Family Fun magazine that looked promising, so I decided to try it out.  It sounded really good and easy, plus the tofu was pan fried, which I thought might win Lance over.  (He lives by the principle that anything fried is good.  It's a good principle.)

Here's my very first ever block of tofu.  And my Santoku knife.  I love Santoku knives.

It smelled like... well, like nothing, really.  That's the beauty of tofu.  It'll take on any flavor you give it.

I cut the tofu into triangles and then put it on a cookie sheet that had several layers of paper towel on it.  More paper towels went on top of that and then another cookie sheet.

This was topped off with a rather large and heavy pot.  I wanted to get as much moisture out of the tofu as possible.

While the tofu was drying I worked on cooking the udon noodles, making the dressing, and chopping the veggies.  Tess worked on being cute and not under any circumstances smiling for the camera.  (Which is too bad because she's doing that adorable mouth-opened-all-the-way smile right now.  Who knew toothless gums could be so cute?)

Side note: Tess is now also just starting to think she needs to be entertained all the time.  I have tried explaining to her that she is in the wrong family if she thinks that's going to happen, but she doesn't listen.  She just whines and whines until I either look at and talk to her or pick her up.  This is where she ended up during the middle of my tofu adventures.

She loves her playmat, but tonight she only played with it for ten minutes before she started whining again, this time because she wanted to be entertained and she was tired.  She was then politely put to bed, where she let her displeasure be known.  Loudly.

Back to the tofu.  It dried quite a bit!

So then I pressed each side into sesame seeds

 

and then put them into a frying pan with some oil.

Meanwhile, I put the noodles, veggies, and dressing together.  Oh, and cilantro.  I live by the principle that you can never have too much cilantro in your life.  Never.

Once the tofu had fried to a golden brown on each side I put in the sauce, which bubbled up and caramelized into yummy tofu goodness.

And here's the finished product.

I thought it was most excellent. It really did taste good, and it's good for you!

I called the tofu Sesame Surprise Triangles.  I really didn't think the boys would fall for it, but they surprised me.  Josh ate one (a minor miracle!), Spencer ate two (amazing!), and Cole ate lots and lots (not so surprising - he eats just about anything we put in front of him).

No, Cole's not in a tofu coma.  He's falling asleep at the dinner table again.

It's hard to fall asleep when Daddy is cleaning you up.

Poor sleepy (and full of tofu) Cole!

Tess was out of her crib (she never did fall asleep, pesky baby!) and at her most favorite place to be during dinner: on my lap.  (We've tried the high chair - she's not a fan.)  And of course since we were eating she wanted to eat, too.  She had to settle for my thumb instead of tofu.

Verdict?  I would totally make something with tofu again.  It's cheap, healthy, and easy to cook with.  It can even be disguised in dessert.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to try this recipe in the near future.

National S'mores Day

Today is National S'mores Day.  You didn't know?  Shame on you.

Since I kinda have a thing for s'mores (especially in the summer), I of course had to honor this day by trying out this recipe for s'mores rice crispie treats.

As you can see, these delicious treats were very well received.  Mmmmm...

Best random national holiday ever.

A Birthday Greeting For Grandpa ElRay

Here for your viewing and listening pleasure is a little birthday song for Grandpa ElRay from his most favorite grandchildren:

Director's note: Spencer and Josh chose and insisted upon this version of the Happy Birthday song.  True, the director is the one who taught it to them, but that's not really the point and shouldn't be dwelt upon.  Also, The boys were singing quite loudly, but you can't tell because I forgot that the mic was right next to me.  Ooops.

Anywho,

Happy Birthday, Grandpa ElRay!

Oh What Do You Do In The Summer Time, When All The World Is Green?

You sit on the couch and read comic books.  Duh.

My kids fuss and whine when I force them to go play outside.  Then they fuss and whine even more when it's time for them to come in.  Obviously, I am doing something wrong.  (Did you catch the sarcasm there?)