Christmas Randomness

I have a few more pictures from Christmas and decided to throw them all together in one random post.

Back when Lance and I lived in Utah and we could all be together for Christmas more often, we had a family tradition of playing Trivial Pursuit for one evening.  We'd play in teams, and Lance and I were notorious for talking each other out of the right answers.  I'm pretty sure my mom and dad won more often than not, mainly for my dad's sports knowledge.  And then there was the year of the "Christmas Miracle", where my two brothers came back from behind to beat us all.  What a shameful, shameful year.

Kevin gave us the latest version of Trivial Pursuit for Christmas, so of course we had to put it to good use.

Lance and I won!!!  Bragging rights for a year!!!  I can't remember what our winning question was, but I do know I answered one about Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a book that I have never read.  Booyaa!

I don't know what's up with my bangs in this shot, but who cares?  We won!

My house apparently made Kevin really sleepy, because he slept.  A lot.  Maybe he's like Tess and needs 16 hours of sleep a day?

Grandma Susie was always more than willing to hold Miss Tess, which Tess loved.  Not that she expressed this.  Tess decided to not smile for anyone the entire holiday, pesky baby.  That's why we call her Tess "Stoneface" Madsen.

She's forgiven, though, because she's so stinkin' cute.

And chubby.  If Tess's fat rolls are any indication, we are in for a LONG, COLD winter.

On their last night here my dad treated us all to a Chinese/Italian dinner: Papa Murphy's pizza and Chinese take-out.  Why the combo?  Some people in our family won't eat Chinese.  Plus, my dad wanted both. 

It was delicious!

Spencer's Baptism

Spencer turning 8 this year meant that he could be baptized a member of the church.  (In our faith, we believe that little children cannot be held accountable for their sins until they are old enough to really understand about making right/wrong choices and the consequences that come with these choices.  For more info, go here or here.  Or just ask me - I'm more than willing to answer questions!)

Lance and I are so pleased that Spencer chose to be baptized.  He was really excited, and had prepared really well.  Spencer had a good friend, Ashley, who also turned eight in December.  Her mom and I decided that it would make both our lives easier if we combined the baptisms. In preparation I made some invites to send to friends and family:

 

I also made a bajillion cookies.  It seemed like I needed cookies for something every other day in December, so I always doubled my batches and froze the rest.

When I set up these trays I was sure we'd be left over with a ton of cookies, but everyone must have been really hungry because we were only left with a dozen or so!

When we got to the church that evening the fire alarm was going off in all of the entrances.  Nice.  Fortunately, if you closed the doors you couldn't really hear it in the rooms we were in.  We were able to get a few shots of us before the baptismal service started.  Why we chose to stand in front of those ugly, brown accordion doors I'll never know.

Lance baptized and confirmed Spencer a member of the church.

 

We tried to get a picture of the entire family, but it was NOT gonna happen.  Tess was super-grouchy and Cole was being a holy terror.  (More on that later.)

We're so glad Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie could be there with us!

Spencer and his friend, Ashley. (Ashley is moving in January - we're so sad to see her and her family move!)

As mentioned, Cole was in his normal church behavior mode: imp of Satan.  Wait, okay, maybe that's a little harsh.  But he sure was NAUGHTY.  He wanted me to hold him, but I couldn't because Tess wanted me to hold her and then she fell asleep.  I wasn't willing to put her down and risk waking her up.  So my Dad and Susie had to wrangle the rotten kid for the evening.  He was whiny.  He was wiggly.

And of course he had the ABCs on his brain.  I found a random ABC book in the room and gave it to him as a distraction.  For a good 10 minutes he LOUDLY recited the ABCs and told everyone what letter was on what page.  Susie tried covering his mouth, but that only made him louder.  The boy is an alphabet junkie.  It was actually pretty funny/mortifying at the same time.  I mean, I wouldn't have minded it so much if it was just Spencer's baptism, but there were a lot of friends and family members there for Ashley as well.  My only hope is that they have all experienced two year olds as well and understand that sometimes there's just nothing you can do.

We got to the point where Ashley and then Spencer were baptized.  Cole didn't care about Ashley being baptized, but he was quite interested with Spencer.  Lance and Spencer both did a great job, as did uncles Kyle and Kevin, who were the witnesses.  (Just had to throw that in there, since this is turning out to be a post more about Cole than Spencer.)  Once they were done, the doors to the font were closed.  Cole was NOT happy.  He wanted to be in the water!  Boy, was he upset.  I think after this point he spent the rest of the service out in the hall with one adult or another.

My dad gave a really good talk about the Holy Ghost.  During it, my brother Kyle walked up and down the hall with Cole. At one point I learned that Cole had pulled a phone from off of the wall and smacked himself on the face with it.  I wondered what in the world my brother was doing that this happened, but then decided that Cole probably deserved it.  (Terrible mother, I know.)  I like to think that Kyle saw him reaching for the phone and thought something along the lines of "Hmm... I'd like to see where this is going..."

The service ended and everyone went down the hall for refreshments.  The kids (there were a lot of them!) all had a great time gobbling down cookies and running around with each other, while the adults chatted and I apologized for Cole's behavior.  Luckily, we were all friends, so they all understood.

Just so I remember in the future, here are some of the people I remember being there.  We were really grateful for their love and support in coming!

• Bishopric Counselor, Kevin Asay
• The Harris family
• Tad and YiChou Culver and their 5 children
• Gigi, Logan, and Bergen Ream
• John and Kanien Wallin (Spencer's beloved primary teachers) and their daughters, Marcella and Claire
• Don and Heidi Fry and their 4 children
• Cherisse Ritchey (a former Primary teacher of Spencer's)
• Sarah Harrington (Spencer's Primary President)

I hope I didn't forget anyone.  (If I did, I'm so sorry, and can only blame it on Alphabet Trauma caused by Cole!)

Despite his little bother's antics, Spencer's baptism was a special event for our family, and I'm so glad we were able to share it with my immediate family during Christmas time.

The Madsen Top Ten Events of 2011

Last night as I was working on our Top Ten list for 2011, I wondered if I should send the email out that night or wait until the new year.  "What if something big happens in the next 24 hours and the list changes?"

Auspiscious.

That evening I took a rather bad tumble down the stairs.  While holding Tess. It hurt.  A lot.

Tess was ANGRY and seems to have slightly hurt her right leg.  I took the brunt of the fall and have been aching from top to bottom all day.  Why is it that Cole can fall down the stairs and not even flinch while it almost kills me?  I'm an old, old lady, that's why.

Okay, so falling down the stairs doesn't really qualify as one of our biggest events.  But it has prevented me from doing the blogging I wanted to get done about Spencer's baptism and the rest of Christmas (don't worry - I'll get it done!).  In the meantime, here's a copy of our top 10 list.  Many of my readers probably got an email copy, so this is for all of my lovely stalkers and the blog book I print up each year.

My new year's resolution for 2012?  Avoid falling down the stairs at all costs.  Oy.

Happy New Year!

Family Pictures

Whenever our whole family gets together we get family pictures taken.  This is definitely easier said than done. (Remember last year?  Oh boy.)

This year we decided to try Target's portrait studio.  This was a good choice, because the photographer there was GREAT with grouchy little toddlers, one of which we happened to have.  I think the pictures turned out pretty great!  Well, except my hair.  Of all days to have a bad hair day?  And why didn't I remember to comb it right before?  Oh well.

This stupid picture refuses to turn for me.  So yes, Lance and I were lying down for it.  What of it?

Christmas Morning

Because we had so many people in the house, Spencer got to sleep in Tess's room.  These two are like peas in a pod and would not behave or go to sleep that first night.  I actually had to go in and get after Tess for talking to Spencer.  (No, really!)  So it came as no surprise when they woke me up at 1:20am and decided it was time for Christmas presents.  Imagine their disappointment when I put them back to bed.

Christmas started at a much more reasonable 6:30am.  I could hear Josh and Spencer checking everything out in the living room; I loved their little exclamations of surprise and joy!  I had to go get a bewildered Cole out of bed.  I told him there were toys and presents in the living room and carried him out.  It took him 3.8 seconds to realize that this was no ordinary day!  To the kitchen he went and immediately began playing!  (I get great satisfaction in getting a gift for my child that they actually like.)

Spencer and Josh passed out the presents and we all took turns opening them.  Everyone was very generous in their gift giving this year - thank you so much!

Here's Grandpa ElRay helping Cole with one of the Angry Birds Santa put in his stocking.  Because every home needs a set of plush Angry Birds.

Tess even got in on the action.  She didn't open any presents, but she sure loved playing with the paper and ribbons.  She also loved the ball Santa put in her stocking.

Uncle Kevin in his SoCal capri flannel pajamas.  You're in luck ladies - he's single!  (hahaha - that's what you get for leaving the wedding plaque at my house, Kevin!!)

The kids in our family draw names for who they are giving a gift to.  Josh chose Tess and decided to buy her her first doll.   She was quite mesmerized with it at first - it was very cute!  Now she just likes to chew on the baby's hands.  Hmm...

Spencer showing off a book he received.   (That boy loves to read!)

Cutie pie Tess and her new book.

Grandpa ElRay and his new grandpa slippers.  (His name for them, not mine!)

Cole got a new computer from his grandparents.  For any of you who know Cole, you know he is currently obsessed with his 'carputer'.  Now he is obsessed with this 'laptop', and can often be seen playing with both toys at the same time.  It is grand and glorious.  And loud.  So very loud.

Miss Tess in her ladybug hat, playing with her favorite gift - wrapping paper.

Tess and Uncle Kyle.  Kyle is so good with kids!  Unless they're crying or poopy.  Then he heads straight to mom and is no help at all.

Uncle Kevin's turn to open a gift! 

Josh opens his Gigantic Paper Plane book.  Good fun in store!

The Christmas morning aftermath.

Christmas means carnage!  Christmas means carnage!  (Know the movie?)

We spent the rest of the day enjoying our gifts, laying around, and laughing at all the poor suckers who had to wait another 24 hours for their Christmas.  Ha!

What a cute little fat ladybug!

We also introduced Kyle and Kevin to Just Dance 3, which is most awesome and fun.  Especially fun is the fact that Kevin is so tall his hands kept hitting the ceiling. (There's a reason my kids call him The Giant.)

I think it was a great Hoosier Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve

It's taken me a long time to get around to blogging, mainly because I've been so busy with my family here in town.  And by busy I mean lazing around, eating, talking, and generally not being productive in any way whatsoever.  Now that's my kind of Christmas!

This year we had an extra-special Hoosier Christmas because my family came all the way out from Utah and California to join us.  Dad, Susie, Kyle, and Kevin all showed up on Friday, bearing gifts, good cheer, and soda.  Lots and lots of soda.  Seriously, this Christmas was the Soda Christmas.  It was a very caffeinated holiday.

Anywho, Spencer's school district apparently has a bit of a problem in their calendaring, in that they don't know how to calendar.  He had school through the 23rd of December. Can you believe it?!  So when he finally got home from school around quarter to four we were ready to start our Christmas Eve activities.  Wait - that's not Christmas Eve?  Wrong.  In our house we specifically asked Santa to come a day early so we wouldn't have to rush Christmas morning in order to get to church in time.  And because we're extra cool, he agreed and we got to have Christmas a day early.  Be jealous.

We started with our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner.  This year, because we had so many people, we had a kid's table in the kitchen for Josh and Cole.  They quite enjoyed sitting there for the entire 4.7 seconds they sat for dinner.  Punks. 

The adults (and Spencer) behaved a bit better at their table.  We even used our fancy wedding china, because when else are you going to use it if not at Christmas time?  (Okay, besides Thanksgiving.  And Easter.)

Then is it was time for opening our first gifts of the season - new jammies for all Madsens, of course! 

 

 

We also get a new Christmas book on Christmas Eve.  We change into our jammies and then read the book.  I try to get a book that helps teach/remind the kids about the true meaning of Christmas.  This year's book was Humphrey's First Christmas, which I thought was really cute.

As per usual, the kids could barely contain themselves for the book, but I like to tell myself that they got a little something out of it.  (I also tell myself that Christmas cookies don't have any calories during the holidays, so there you go.)

Then we posed for our annual pajamas on Christmas Eve picture.  Since we didn't have to do the self-timer this year one would think that it would have been easier to take.  One would be wrong.  You saw the best one in the previous post.  Here's one that shows what the rest all pretty much looked like: Josh misbehaving, Tess crying about who knows what, and Cole freaking out.  Love at home, people, love at home.

Rotgut toddler.

We then played a rousing game of Christmas Eve bingo, which Spencer and Josh look forward to every year.  The competition was pretty intense, which is why I apparently didn't take any pictures.  But with fabulous prizes like SpongeBob toothpaste and Whoopee cushions, who can blame me for getting caught up in the moment?  (Note to Kyle and Kevin: no way did I ever cheat.  It just so happened that I could see what card needed to be drawn for someone who hadn't won yet needed to be won.  And then it just so happened that I could quickly find said card.  Just call me the Santa of Christmas Bingo.)

We eventually got all kiddos into bed, including Kevin, who apparently needs 18 hours of sleep a day because that's all he did while he was here.  Just sayin'.

We got to work getting all the gifts out and putting everything together, including this most excellent 2,567 piece kitchen set for Cole and Tess.  Lance did most of the work, with the rest of us helping here and there and losing only one piece.  Or two.  Nothing brings family together like combing through the garbage for a small piece of plastic you accidentally threw away, especially at Christmas time.

Everything was finally set up.  The stockings were filled (Thanks, in part, to the stuff I rummaged from around the house to put in mine. I'm just sayin', Lance, that after 11 years of marriage you should know that you need to fill my stocking.  Sheesh.  Perhaps this public forum will help you remember?  Yes, this is a call to repentance.)

I love the living room on Christmas Eve, with all the gifts out and only the Christmas lights on.  It's still magical, even as an adult.

A very merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas from the Madsens!

Hoping your day is merry and bright!