A Bit of This and That (Socks! I Talk About Socks!!)

So Cole came down with a spring cold last week and since then I have been washing my hands like crazy and disinfecting everything he touches because I really did not want to get that cold!  But then Tess came down with the cold and I knew all hope was lost.  And I was right. 

Last night it struck me HARD.  I could barely breath and barely stay awake while watching the latest episode of Dr. Who with Lance.  DR. WHO, people!!  That's how out of it I was feeling.

I'm doing okay today, but all three of us are just hanging around the house and taking it easy instead of running all of the errands I had planned.  Dang.

I was folding the laundry the other day and decided to take a picture of a fairly common sight.  Why yes, that is Tess with a basket on her head.  It's kinda her thing.  (Her thing also includes growling and then saying "I scare you?" 36 times in a row.  It's pretty darling.)

Okay, so a few months ago I just about had a meltdown over socks. Even though their drawers were FULL of socks, none of my four children seemed to be able to find matching socks. Socks would mysteriously go missing in the wash or get left outside or even in the car. And then the random socks that I found around the house would go in different spots that I would never remember and then they'd never make their way back to their match.  It was ridiculous.  So one day I finally went through every single sock drawer in the house and found all of the matching socks and threw out any that were missing.  It was very therapeutic.

Then I got this cheapo basket from the dollar store and designated it "Sock Purgatory".  I wanted to make a cute sign for it, but c'mon, ain't nobody got time for that.  The basket hangs on the porch door in our master bedroom.  (What, you don't have a door that leads to a porch from your bedroom?  That was one of my favorite features when we first bought the house.  But you know how much we use it?  Not at all, my friends.  Maybe if I actually did something with the porch... but that's a project for another... decade.)

Anyway, now when I fold laundry if there are any socks without a match they go into this basket.  Eventually, most of the socks find their way back to their partner and all is right with the world.  I know, it's not the most sophisticated or beautiful method, but it works for me.

You know what doesn't work for me?  Bad grammar and poor spelling.  As you probably know, I actually work for an editing website.  Which makes this mistake all the more embarrassing. 

Yes, that is the spine of my latest blog book.  And yes, that does say "ike Karen With an "M".  Where the heck did that L go?!  Why didn't I notice this before I ordered my book?!  Would anyone else have ever noticed this had I not pointed it out?!  The answer to all of these questions is a resounding "Who knows?!"  But it sure does bug me.  Oh well.  I guess even I can't achieve grammar perfection.  At least I got the cover right!

In case you're wondering, here's this year's dedicatory haiku.   Not my best work, but it gets the job done.

I sure love that man.  He's the bringer of my internet.

Minecraft

Minecraft has taken over our home.  Spencer and Josh eat, breath, and live it all the livelong day.  (This despite the fact they're only allowed to play computer on the weekend.)  It's almost funny how obsessed they are with it.  Almost.

I found the following conversation I had with Spencer today pretty humorous given all the Minecraft mania in our home.

Spencer: Mom, I have to write a funny haiku for school.  But I don't know what to write about.

Me: What about Tess?  She's pretty funny.

Spencer: Nah.

Me: Okay, how about Pikachu?  Or Phineas and Ferb?  They're pretty funny.

Spencer: Maaaybeee...

Me: I know!  How about Minecraft?!

Spencer (dead serious): Mom, there is nothing funny about Minecraft.

My mistake.

Spring Outfit

Tess got a few new spring outfits in her Easter basket. (Thanks, Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie!)  She has asked every day if she can wear them, but it wasn't until today that it was warm enough. I held out two choices for her and she immediately grabbed this one, hugging the shirt and crying out "Cute!  Cute!"  (I am not making this up.)

I decided to get a few pictures of her in the outfit before she reverted to her natural (i.e. dirty/disheveled/toddler) state.  She did not want to hold still.  I took the pictures and then took a quick shower.  Ten minutes later she had pulled out both sides of her hair, had half of a shoe on, and had some sort of mystery substance smeared across her face and shirt. Homeostasis restored.

I love the pouty pictures.  I can't remember why she was pouting, but does it really matter?  Tess is the queen of pouts.

Early Mother's Day Gift: Farmer's Edition

For years and years I have wanted my own tiller.  After we got a rather generous tax return I decided that this was the year.  I was even willing to claim it as my Mother's Day gift!  So I did some tiller research, discovered the one I wanted on sale (!), and then dragged Lance and the kiddos (sans Josh - he was at a birthday party) down to Sears last night and bought it.

I could tell the guy who sold it to me was amused that the wife was buying a tiller.  I guess a tiller isn't a very feminine purchase.  (It totally should be.)  But I didn't care because I was so happy to be getting my tiller!  Plus, when he brought up my record of past purchases from Sears he was quite a bit more polite.  (We buy lots of our major appliances and such from Sears; we're Craftsman people.)

I woke up this morning totally excited to use my tiller!

Is that weird?

No, no it is not.

But first I had to put it together.  It really wasn't all that complicated, but I ended up having Lance help me because it was a project that really needed two sets of hands.  Plus, he's much more mechanically minded than I am.  This is why you get married: to find someone who complements you, who completes you in the areas where you lack, and who is willing to put your tiller together while your almost-two-year-old daughter rubs her hands all over the filthy cars in the garage, climbs on you, and generally just gets in the way.  That's love, people.

After that Lance was off to Menards (more on that later) and I was ready to till!

Oh man, it was so fun. Seriously, tilling with a machine you own is WAY more fun than tilling with a machine you've rented.  And my tiller did such a great job!  I didn't even mind it (much) when each of my four children tried to get me to stop for one silly reason or other - twice each.  Seriously, without fail, whenever I am using some sort of noisy machine that is kind of a pain to stop using (blender, vacuum cleaner, lawn mower, tiller, etc.) my children suddenly all need to talk to me.  Right then. Of the utmost important things like "Hey, it's 10 o'clock!" or "Cole's climbing UP the slide!" or (my personal favorite) "My arm itches".  Dang children.

My tiller made short work of my garden.  Well, shorter work than my shovel would have done.  Spencer took a picture of me to commemorate it.  I'm pretty sure my eyes are closed.  And aren't my gardening clothes/hairdo lovely?  Oy.

I really love my tiller.  (Making this pose made Josh roll his eyes at me.  Which is why I did it in the first place.)

Per my father's suggestion, I am currently in search of a name for this lovely piece of machinery.   Suggestions?

Part of the reason I wanted to till this early in the season is because I wanted to get some peas into the ground.  Which is also the reason Lance was at the hardware store on a lovely Saturday morning: he was buying the supplies to make this:

That, my friends, is a pea/pole bean pyramid.  I want my peas and pole beans to grow up it on all sides.  Why?  Because pole peas and beans apparently have higher yields.  Plus, I just think it'll look cool.

I gave Lance a rough idea of what I wanted and he went from there.  Isn't it so cool?  I'm sure the neighbors are wondering what the heck those crazy Mormons down/across the street are doing now, but oh well!  I had toyed with the idea of leaving one section open so the kids could climb in and out, but Lance talked me out of that craziness.  (At least craziness for now - maybe next year Tess will be old enough not to destroy my garden!)

I just really hope my peas grow.  I've never grown them before.

I also need to give a shout out to Santa.  Last Christmas he put these Atlas 370 Gardening Gloves in my stocking and I finally got to use them today.  They. Are. AWESOME.

Seriously, the best gardening gloves I have ever had!  (And I've had many.)  Here's why.  They fit really well.  And the nitrile coating is super-tough but super-flexible.  I could use them to till the garden, hoe the rows for my peas, and screw the unwieldy hose into the faucet; but I also wore them to actually put the pea seeds into the ground.  I could never do that with my other gardening gloves because they were too bulky and awkward.  Also.  See how the gloves are tight at the wrist and up a ways?  That means no rogue dirt can get in, which drove me nuts with my other gloves.

After using them all afternoon I'm about ready to go toss out all my old work gloves and buy a four pack of these bad boys. Love them.

Almost as much as I love my tiller.

p.s.  I just bought the four pack.  Totally worth it.

Spencer Says

Spencer is entering a pretty fun pre-teen stage.  And by fun I mean grouchy. 

I talk to other moms with boys the same age and they all claim the same thing: their once sweet, mild-mannered children have turned into surly, drama-riddled enigmas.  At least I know I'm not alone.

Yesterday Spencer was actually in a pretty good mood.  He was also in a say-funny-things-without-knowing-it mood. I love those moods.

Here are a couple of the better conversations we had:

Spencer: Where's our Meter stick?
Me: Our what now?
Spencer: Meter stick. I need it for homework.
Me: We don't have a Meter stick - we have a yard stick.
Spencer: That's dumb! How am I supposed to do my homework without a Meter stick? Why don't we have a Meter stick?
Me: Because we don't use the Metric system in the United States.
Spencer: When why am I learning about it in school?
Me: Because the Metric system is better.
Spencer: That is dumb.

Yes. Yes it is.

******
At the public library...

Me: C'mon, Spence. Let's go look in the Encyclopedia.
Spencer: The encyclo what?
Me: *sigh* The printed internet.

Despite his moods, I sure love that kid. 

"Spring" Break 2013

As you probably know, there was not much Spring in our Spring break this year.  Much of the week was spent with quite a bit of snow on the ground.  Before my L.A. trip I had planned two or three outings for the kids for when I came back; unfortunately, all of them involved being outside or travel that I didn't want to make in bad weather.

So we were stuck at home.

For the most part, the kids were really good about it.  Spencer and Josh and were in heaven because I let them play as much computer as they wanted.  Cole and Tess were in heaven because Spencer and Josh were home during the day.

But once or twice we all got a good case of cabin fever.  On the first day it struck I loaded them all into the mini van and headed out to McDonald's.  Everyone else in Lafayette had the same idea because that place was packed.  But the kids had a great time running around and getting stuff on their faces.  I even splurged and allowed Spencer and Josh to buy a couple of hot fudge sundaes - on their own.  They felt quite grown up and sauntered importantly back to our table with the ice cream and my change.

After lunch I surprised them with a trip to Toys-R-Us.

"But Maren," you ask "You HATE Toys-R-Us!  Why would you take your children there?"

"Why does Maren hate Toys-R-Us?" some other readers ask.

I'll answer you both.

1) I hate Toys-R-Us because they are quite often a) overpriced, b) understaffed, c) messy, and d) understocked.  Also, our local Toys-R-Us is right next to - and I kid you not - our local strip club Gentlemen's Club.  It's funny until you have children old enough to ask you "What's Filly's Gentlemen's Club?" when you drive by.

2) I took them because I wasn't paying for it.  They had each received a Toys-R-Us gift card from their Uncle Dane for Christmas.  Since they had each just received plenty of toys I didn't feel the need to go out and spend the money right away.

It was the perfect outing.  Well, for them - for me it was a good lesson in patience.  But that's precisely what I expected when we drove into the parking lot and I told them they each had $X amount to spend on whatever they wanted.  An hour and one bruised toddler later, we emerged from the store with our treasures.

Cole was the hardest to shop for because he didn't really care about anything - until he saw Dumbo.  That boy loves Dumbo right now.  I could honestly quote the movie to you, word-for-word, song-for-song, on que.  It's way fun.

Spencer got this Wii game, which he swears up and down that he loves, but he only played it for about 30 minutes and then went back to playing Minecraft on the computer.

Josh also got a Wii game that he only played for a little bit before going back to Minecraft.  But he also had enough money left over to buy this Puffle, whatever that is.  Some character on his Wii game.  Whatever, he luuuurrrrvvveeess it.

Tessie got a nice goose egg on her noggin' when Cole tried to move her while we were shopping and instead knocked her over and fell on top of her.  Her head made such a lovely thwacking sound as it hit the concrete floor of the store.  Sheesh.  But she also got her first My Little Pony, which she carries around and talks to.  She also got a very basic Cinderella board book, which she LOVES.  Seriously, I'm not sure why, but she does.  Perhaps loving princesses really is a gender thing because I could never (and still can't) get my boys interested at all in fairy tales.
 

I do have to say that it's pretty fun to go into a toy store and let your kids pick out pretty much whatever they want.  They were SO happy!

By Friday we were all ready for another diversion.  I decided to practice a little democracy and allowed the kids to vote for where we ate lunch.  (McDonald's was not allowed - I'm nice but not that nice.)  Surprisingly, they all wanted Sam's Club.  Well, except for Cole, who cried and tantrummed all the way in until he got his hot dog.  I fed all 5 of us (including my surprisingly tasty pre-made Spinach Harvest Salad) for under $9.  You gotta love Sam's!  (I'm still praying for a Costco, though.)  ((Okay, not I'm not.  But I'm really, really hoping for one!))

I also promised them a treat after lunch, but we were all so full that we decided to go after Tess's nap.  The treat?  A trip to the newly-opened Pink Walrus frozen yogurt place.  It's basically a frozen yogurt buffet where you get as many flavors and toppings as you want and then pay by the weight.  The kids were in heaven.  I supervised the amount of yogurt they got but let them go to town on the toppings.

As you can see, Cole approved.

So did Tess, even though she had to share with me. She kept picking off all the toppings with her grubby little hands.  (Note to self: make Tess share with Lance the next time we go.)

Josh, my ardent buffet lover, was blissfully happy.  I think his eyes were a bit bigger than his stomach, but to his credit he finished everything!

Spencer declared it even better than Igloo Frozen Custard.  I don't know about that - it's kinda hard for any frozen yogurt to beat custard - but it was pretty good.

Not the most exciting Spring Break ever, but I don't think the kids felt too picked on.  Hopefully the weather will be nice (read: not too hot) after school is out and we'll be able to make up for some of our missed trips!

Easter

Easter kinda snuck up on me.  Again.  Seriously, what's up with the whole lunar calendar thing determining when Easter is?  Why can't we just way it's always the 2nd Sunday in April or something?  As a Christian I would be totally and completely fine with this.

But that is neither here nor there.  Easter came and we enjoyed it.

On Saturday the Easter Bunny left lots and lots of eggs around the house.  This is the first year that every Madsen child got in on the action.  I was actually pretty impressed with how well Tess caught on.  That didn't stop her from opening every other egg she found to eat the candy, but still.  Progress.

Spencer and Josh looking into their Easter bags.  They were quite pleased with the shirts and jammies and other sundry items.  (It wasn't until last night that I realized I had forgotten to put some books that I had ordered in those bags.  Dang it!!!)

I'm pretty sure Spencer knows what's up with the Easter Bunny, but he's good natured about it and doesn't let on to his younger siblings.  I think Josh is on the fence - he was asking some pretty hard core questions about Santa last Christmas.  I'm trying extra hard to help him believe, because you're only in Kindergarten once and Kindergarten and magic go hand-in-hand.

Tess was wild for the sunglasses she got.  I think she kinda looks like Elton John.  It's a good look, Tess.

Everyone got these little flashing light thingies that I randomly got thinking that they probably wouldn't like them that much.  I was wrong - they loved them!

Cole reaching for some Easter eggs.

More egg hunting action.

I told you we had a lot of eggs.  But when you have a lot of kids you need a lot of eggs.

They weren't all full of candy, though.  I used an idea I found on Pinterest and filled lots of the eggs with these little coupons that the kids could "eggs-change" (hahaha!) for certain privileges.  A few of the favorites included dinner dates with Daddy or me, getting to buy school lunch twice in one week, or choosing what we have for dinner one night.  Spencer and Josh were SUPER excited about these!  We will definitely be doing this again.

On Sunday I felt only a small twinge of guilt for not getting anything new for the boys to wear for church.  But then I remembered last year's super cute bow ties that I had made that the boys hated for no good reason and my guilt disappeared.  Dang boys.

Tess, on the other hand, fully appreciated her new Easter dress that Grandma Susie and Grandpa ElRay so kindly provided for her.  Not enough to really hold still for a picture, but trust me, she liked the dress.

I love the shoes, mainly because I love polka dots.  Her hair was in two pigtails and I made felt flower clips that matched.  Not that she let me take a picture of them.

Look!  A missed Easter egg!  Good eye, Tess.

She was darling.  As were all the other little girls at church.  Seriously, so cute, Lafayette 3rd ward!

I foolishly tried to get a picture of all four kids.  Miraculously, it wasn't Cole giving us a hard time this time - it was Tess.  She was offended about something and refused to stop pouting.  That girl is a serious pouter; I have pictures and video to prove it, and if I ever have any free time ever again (small chance) I might just blog about it.

Spencer was laughing so hard at her that he was in tears.  Which, you know, made him also look great for the pictures.

Oh, my brood.  How cute you are!

And here's a random shot of me that I honestly don't recall putting into my queue to be uploaded.  But here you go.  I'm really trying to wear my hair curly as much as possible now, mainly because I'm tired of fighting the curl all day.  It's hard getting used to having big hair all the time.  (At least, it feels big.)  I really need to get it cut to help accentuate the curls, but I want to grow it out a bit more first.  I'm sure you really wanted to know all of this.  Anywho, I'll probably now be known as "that chic with the wild hair".  And I'm okay with that.  (No I'm not.  That's why I'm trying to tame the curl.)

We had what will probably be a last holiday feast with our Hoosier family, the Souths.  *SOB* Paul graduated and is going to do a post-doc in Illinois.  I am still in denial about this.  I had grand plans of us all taking some pictures together, but this is the only shot I got.  The entire evening.  Because I'm awesome like that.

Not that we could ever replace the Souths, but now we're gonna need another Hoosier family.  Anyone want to apply?  Requirements: must be willing to come to our house on random holidays and eat food.  (Sense of humor and wild children to play with our wild children are a plus.)

Finally, a few of our Easter eggs from this year.  I tried to do an ombre effect on some and it kinda worked.  (I suspect the very low quality dye had more to do with it than anything.)  I totally copied that chick from Pinterest.  Josh totally tried to copy mine, but it turned more into a scary clown chick.  I love it.