San Francisco - Getting There

Lance and I left for San Francisco Sunday afternoon after church.  We left the kids plenty of food and water and told them to make sure they went to school.  We figured they'd be fine on their own for a few days.

Kidding!  We left them with an amazing couple in our ward, David and Janene Silvers.  And I'm not just saying that they're amazing because they were willing to watch our kids.  (Although that is definitely a part of this.)  No, Dr. Janene is one of my awesome visiting teachers and Future Dr. David is way fun with kids.  We knew they'd be great with our brood.  (I just hope we didn't scare them out of having kids of their own some day...)

Tess was taking a nap when we left and Spencer and Josh were glued to the computer.  The only child who seemed to even notice we were leaving was Cole, and he seemed fine.  It's always a little bittersweet leaving your kids for any length of time; even though you know everything will be fine you still can't help but feel a little bit anxious.  You also can't help but feel a little bit like you're escaping!

Our flights were uneventful, although we both agreed it was quite stupid that we had to fly to Cleveland and then to SF.  Stupid airlines.

It felt like 1am by the time we got to SFO, but we were both wide awake.  We decided to take a shuttle to the airport instead of BART, mainly I because I was worried about having a late flight and getting in after BART shut down for the night. (We totally could have taken BART.  Dang.)  There were a couple of other people in our shuttle.  One was a twenty-something guy who called one of his friends and kept saying "San Fran".  LAME.

The other was a lady who was dropped off at not a very friendly looking place.  Scary, in fact.  We sure were glad that we had a decent hotel to go to!  Our room was pretty small and we had a lovely view of the... other side of the building.  Not very scenic, but whatever.  The bathroom was a little weird, too - instead of a real door it was this lightweight folding thing, like on a closet.  Not very... private.  But whatever, we weren't paying for the room, so who can complain?  Other than that, the room was very nice; clean, modern, decent bed.  Which we fell into, exhausted.  (And then of course woke up at 4am (7am EST).  Dang it.)

Facebook post of the day:

Twinkies

The food wars have reached new heights around the Madsen home.  Josh pretty much refuses to eat anything, claiming that it's all "gross".  (Or, in his words before being sent to his room for rudeness, it's all "*barfing noises*".)

Seriously, food that he ate just last week he refuses to touch now. (For example, oh-so-gross peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.)  Food that he's eaten for years and years he's decided he'll have nothing to do with.  (For example, disgusting oatmeal with raisins.)

This child.

This is the child who was born at a whopping 9lbs 15oz and then proceeded to nurse SO MUCH that he literally gained TWO POUNDS in two weeks.  I remember the pediatric nurse double checked his weight and then checked to see if the scale was calibrated correctly when she weighed him.  It was awesome.

So of course my baby who wanted to eat everything in sight is now my pickiest eater.

The thing is, I know it's just an independent streak he's going through.  He wants to control something, and food is an easy target.  How do I know?  Because I can easily get him to eat if I bribe him.  (No, I do not bribe him often.  But I'm not above it now and again.  It's a very useful parenting tool. :)  Granted, I'm sure there are some things that he really doesn't like to eat, and I'm okay with that.  But when it's Every. Freaking. Meal.  Then I have issues.

So if Josh comes to your house and claims he's starving, please know that it's his choice to starve and not because I don't feed him.  Oh, I refuse to cater to him and make meals just for him, but I always offer him a variety of food that is most certainly not gross.  (For the record, if Josh had complete control over our meal menus it would all be sugar.  Pure sugar.  With a hamburger or hot dog thrown in every now and then.)

What does this have to do with Twinkies?

Well, ever since Twinkies came back on the market I've been thinking I should introduce them to my kids.  I mean, c'mon, it's a Twinkie.  Not an every day treat, but certainly something you should try at least once in your life.  But our local WalMart has been sold out every time I went until last week.  So today all of the kids get Twinkies in their lunches!  Spencer was excited.  Josh was dubious - I suspect he'll gobble it up and then claim to hate it, thinking I'll be none the wiser.  And Tess and Cole?

The Twinkie was the first thing she went for.  Yum.

Tess eats her Twinkies like she eats her hot dogs - from the middle.  (I should mention that I let Picassa recommend all of the filters and cropping and such on these photos.  Because dramatic photos of my children with Twinkies are funny.)

Cole was not too interested in the Twinkie.  I told him it was cake, but he went for the cantaloup first.  Good boy.

One Twinkie, all alone.  He eventually did try it and decided he didn't like it.  I thought that was odd, so I had a bite.  You know what?  I'm not a huge fan of Twinkies either!  I'm more of a Hostess Chocolate Cupcake girl, if I have to choose some sort of fat-and-sugar-laden packaged lunch dessert.

How long 'till this one decides to hate all food?

Some day, some day far, far into the future, my children will appreciate the meals I made them.  Or they will have children who give them this much grief over food as they give me.

Either way, I'll be satisfied.

The Little Things - Like Cars

I feel like I've been really slacking in the blog department lately.  Part of it is my hormonal-writer's block.  But another part is that in the evening - my usual blogging time - I'm just so exhausted and/or busy, so I don't even think about blogging.

Anyways, I'm trying to get back in the blogging habit.  And one way of doing that is to start recording the little things again.  Funny things the kids have said and done, things I've noticed in life, weird stuff strangers say to me at the store... that sort of thing.

**True story: yesterday at WalMart a lady assumed that I only had two kids because just Tess and Cole were with me.  I told her I actually had four, which is why I had so much milk in my cart, haha.  She seemed to take offense with this and tried to convince me that her two kids drank more milk than my four.  Okay, lady, whatever.  Didn't realize it was a competition.  (And if it were, my kids would beat yours under the table.  Take that!!)**

Anywho, today I was looking for something to occupy Tess and Cole, who have seemingly lost all ability to entertain themselves now that Spencer and Josh are back in school.  I just needed an hour to work on a paper I'm editing.  Inspiration struck while I was looking for something out in the garage.

Yes, we have a basement filled to the brim with all sorts of awesome toys, but what keeps my kiddos occupied for a good 45 minutes?  Leftover, dusty boards.

Tess eventually got her own little board, but she started with books.  (These were obviously NOT the same and NOT good enough, which is why she got a board later.)

I even let them color on the boards, but the car racing was the main thing.  Everyone had to count backwards from 10, including me, which made editing a difficult proposition every 39 seconds or so.

Spencer and Josh are going to a birthday party this weekend and I'm having a hard time trying to find a good gift.  Think a 9 year old would like an old board?  (Haha.  No.)

Hee Hee

This is what you get when you walk around sucking on a ringpop that looks like a pacifier.

Favorite Temple Quotes

No, these are not quotes about the temple.  These are quotes said by my children while we were in Chicago yesterday to go to the temple.  (2.5 hour drive there, 5 hours in Chicago, 2.5 hour drive home.  There's bound to be plenty of notable things said by both parents and children...)

Spencer
We're outside on the sidewalk in front of the Glenview Target.  He's waving his arm frantically around and whining and crying and carrying on as if he were a 3 year old instead of 9.

Me: What is wrong with you, Spencer?
Spencer: It REALLY hurts when I do THIS!!!!

He proceeds to poke the elbow he skinned the other day in a tragic swing set accident.

Me: Then Don't. Do. That.
Spencer: But... but... Josh keeps doing it to me!
Me: Josh is nowhere near you.

Spencer pokes his elbow again.  He starts freaking out again.

Me: Dude. What's wrong with you?
Spencer: It hurts when I do THIS!!!! (He pokes it.  Again.)
Me: There are some things mothers obviously can't fix.

Josh
We are in the Glenview Kohl's.  (Hey, I had a $10 off $10 coupon that had to be used.)

Josh: I'm sooooo sleeeeepy!  Can I take a nap?
Me: Sure, you can take a nap when we get back in the car.
Josh: No, I mean right now.

He then lays down on the floor next to the line we're waiting in to check out.

Me: Get off of that floor.  Gross.
Josh: I'm soooo sleeepy!
Me: I guess you'll just have to go to bed earlier tonight.
Josh: What?!  Why?!
Me: Because your sooooo sleeeepy.
Josh: Oh, no.  I'm not that sleepy.
Me: That's what I thought.
Josh: Can I stay up late tonight?
Me: No.

Cole
Cole is running around on top of the three foot concrete ledge that encircles a fountain on the temple grounds.

Me: Cole - be careful!  You're going to fall down and get hurt.  Why don't you get down, please, before you fall.
Cole: No!  I want to run!  I won't-

He falls.  Tears ensue.

Tess
We are driving towards Chicago.

Tess: Can I drive?
Lance: No.
Tess: Please?
Lance: No.
Tess: Waaaah!

First Day of School (As Told In Photo Captions)

3rd Annual Madsen Back-to-School Night

This year I let the kiddos choose the meal for our annual back-to-school night.  Their choice?  Nachos.  I was a little hesitant about this at first, but then I had a few realizations: 1) Nachos are just open-faced tacos, and we eat tacos for dinner. 2) If I let them have what they wanted there would be no complaining at dinner time, making our back-to-school evening all the better.  Nachos it was!

Josh decided to be a punk and hide from the picture.  Punkety punk.  (Deidra: your pasta bowls also happen to make excellent nacho bowls!  Bet you're wishing you had hung on to them now!)

Every school year we have a new theme for our family.  This year's theme is:

Why yes, that sign does match my living room perfectly.  Funny how that works out...

Lance gave a really good lesson on choosing the right/standing for the right even if you're the only one to do so.  The dominoes represented people when everyone succumbs to peer pressure and "falls down".  Well, Lance put it much more eloquently.  I listened as best I could, but was also trying to keep Cole and Tess from knocking the object lesson down.

Here's a little bit of it at the end:

Tess was NOT HAPPY about not being able to sit right next to the table.  It's as if we didn't trust her or something...

Cole reaaaallly wanted to knock those dominoes down.  It was all he could do to behave himself.

Lance taught about how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago all stood up against King Nebuchadnezzar, even though it was really hard and really scary.  The boys were most impressed with the part where the fire was so hot that it killed the guards who were throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednago into the furnace.

We then had Lance give each boy a Father's Blessing.  (Tess didn't want one, and why fight with a 2 year old about that?)  As per usual, there was much fighting and weeping and wailing leading up to it, but the kids all behaved during the actual blessings.  Miracles, people, miracles.

We ended the evening with eating a rather large batch of peanut butter and jelly muddy buddies out on the back lawn.  The weather was just perfect and the muddy buddies were tasty.  No one even stepped in the bowl until the very end.  (Because someone stepping in the bowl was inevitable...)

It was a good evening.  I have high hopes for this school year!