LICE.

I thought we just might get away without experiencing this little rite of passage, but no. Last Thursday as I was braiding Tess's hair I found lice on her head.

Erlack.

I tried to make sure she didn't feel ashamed or scared, but also sternly explained that she was NOT to sit on any beds or couches or roll on the floor. She was NOT to rub her head on me or on anything else. She had to sit at the kitchen table and watch cartoons while I checked her brothers and got them off to school.

She was fine with all of this except the her not going to school part. Miss a day of Kindergarten? Travesty!!

Thank goodness both Josh and Cole were lice free. Josh tried to convince me he needed to stay home as well, but I would have none of it. (That boy cries wolf trying to get out of school a good 2-3 times per week. It's a lovely phase...)

We all talked about what lice is and how it can't hurt you and it doesn't mean you're dirty, but that it is hard to get rid of and can be pretty contagious. Then I called the school to let them know what was going on. What a fun phone call that was.

After the boys left for school, Tess and I went down to CVS to get supplies. The checkout lady was so nice in helping us find what we needed, and even offered to sell me a bag of clearance Halloween candy for 75% off (Instead of the 50% it was marked). Sold.

Unfortunately, the lice kit we bought was pretty worthless. The lice killing shampoo slowed the little critters down but definitely did not kill them. And the little plastic comb? Worse than worthless. So on the advice of a friend who has had to deal with lice several times (lucky girl!), I went off in search of a metal comb. We went to Sally Beauty Supply, which had kind of a judgey checkout girl but an amazing metal lice comb for only $4, so that was a win. Then we walked next door to Nature's Pharms, the local naturalist store, and bought some tea tree oil because it was time to try some alternative lice-ridding methods.

I used a combo of coconut and tea tree oil on Tess's head and have spent literal hours (at least 7) over the past few days combing through her hair. She had been just so so good about it all. She sits and watches cartoons while I try my best not to pull the hair out of her head. I section her hair, comb through a small part, wipe the comb each time on a paper towel, and then start again. The paper towels go into a Ziploc bag for safety, and the combs, brushes, and bobby pins soak in boiling soapy water after. I've been using a flashlight and a bright lamp to help find the nits. I've used oils and apple cider vinegar, and both seem to do a great job. In 9 days I'll comb again to make sure we've gotten everything - by then any nits that might be left behind will have hatched but won't be old enough to lay eggs.

I've also done a bit of cleaning, vacuuming of floors and furniture, and washing of clothes in the sanitize cycle. But from all that I've read, lice can't live for long when not on a human. Still, better safe than sorry!

We've spent the last few days with sympathy itching on our heads, checking each other's scalps like a family of primates. Good times.

Tess is treating this like a badge of courage. "I'm the only kid who has had Scarlet Fever AND lice! Did you have Scarlett Fever, Mommy?" Nope. And nope to the lice, too. Which makes her even prouder.

Fingers crossed and lots of prayers said that this is the worst of it and we won't have a rebound episode. This whole experience hasn't been awful, but it sure hasn't been fun, either.

Halloween 2016

What with all the school and church and doughnut parties before hand, by the time Halloween finally gets here it always feels underwhelming. Kinda like something we just have to get over with. Which is ridiculous because Halloween is AWESOME. It's kids dressed up and begging for candy, how is this not amazing? (Because as an adult it is frowned upon to beg for candy. Also, you have to pay for all the candy and do all the work for the costumes. Harrumph.)

But, lest you think I'm some sort of Halloween Grinch, we had a great evening. First, I had to wrangle all the kids into their costumes and take pictures because that is what you do. You'd have thought I was torturing them. Maybe I was torturing them. You know what? So what. I made these dang costumes and I was owed some picture taking. Punk kids.

First up: Spencer. It took me forever to get him to decide on a costume, and when he did he came up with this:

Yeah, I don't know who/what that is, either. I'm not cool enough. Apparently it's some web comic he and all his friends are obsessed with. Okaaaayyy... so this is what i came up with. Not bad, right? I should've gotten a better picture of the hat and the horns. They were cool.

Josh took a long time deciding, too. He finally declared he wanted to be a glow stick man. I knew this would just be torture oodles of fun. See, it looks all easy, but it's not. I ended up sewing little fishing line hoops all over his pants and hoodie and then using those and packing tape to keep things in place. It worked pretty well, but boy did he complain when putting it on. But let's be honest here - he woulda complained about anything, so whatever. I'm over it. It didn't look like much in the light.

But once it got dark it looked pretty cool!

Cole was by far the easiest costume this year - he wanted to be a vampire. We had all the clothes so I just bought a cheapo makeup kit (fangs included!) and called it good. He didn't like the blood on the sides of his mouth, so we skipped most of that. Doesn't he look so old in this picture? When did he get so big?!

This is him trying to look scary. (It made me giggle!)

Finally, my piece-de-resistance: Tess the Taco! As in, it's TACO TESSDAY!!!

Hahahahahaha!!! Oh man. I love this costume. One day she just declared she wanted to be a taco for Halloween, and I knew I had to make it so. It was actually a pretty easy costume to make - all felt and foam board and hot glue. Oh mercy, she is the cutest.

Tess being Tess, she had to make a face like this at least once.

This is how I felt after having to deal with all these rotten children acting as if I were the meanest mom in the world, forcing them to smile for pictures.

But I sweetened up once I got to put on my Halloween fascinator. I'm so cool.

That night we had our usual pizza for dinner with the Reams, who were joining us for Trick-or-Treating. (Sans Gigi, though, who was traveling back from a quick trip to UT. We missed you, Gigi! Never be gone for Halloween again!!)

Bergen and Logan were super cute and didn't hassle me at all about taking a picture. My kids could learn a thing or two from those Reams.

For the first time in memory on Halloween in Indiana it: 1) wasn't raining, and 2) it wasn't even cold. In fact, it was in the 70s! No one even needed a jacket. Will wonders never cease?

Oh mercy. Following this taco around made me smile. She got SO MANY compliments and joyful exclamations of "Oh my! It's a taco!" She endured it, but Tess did not really appreciate the extra attention. (I think I was like that as a kid, too.)

Tess went around the circle and was done, so we spent the rest of the evening handing out candy. It was such a nice night that we just sat on the porch. Here's Tess desperately waiting for some trick-or-treaters.

I really do love our neighborhood. It's just so perfect for us. Here's a little video of the sounds of Halloween in The Landing. Oh, and Tess.

We of course took a few selfies as well.

I thought she said "Look scared", but I think she really said "Look scary." Either way, this is an awesome picture. (It looks like I think we're about to get murdered.)

The evening ended with the kids sorting through their loot, making trades and eating their favorites. They ended up only going to bed about an hour later than normal, which isn't bad considering it was a school night.

I got some pictures of our pumpkins just before blowing out their candles. This is the little star pumpkin Tess and I carved. She was quite proud of it.

Here's Spencer's first attempt at carving a pumpkin all by himself. It's some logo or something something something... I dunno. I'm not cool enough to know. But it was a difficult carving and he did a great job!

And finally, here's mine. I went for the classic. And got lots of compliments on it, mainly because I don't think most people do the classic faces anymore.

I discovered that night that none of my kids like Almond Joy. This is ridiculous, because those things are tasty. (Ironically, I didn't like Almond Joy as a kid either.) Lance and I ended our evening catching up on The Walking Dead and enjoying a few pieces of candy stolen from the kids, as is our parental right.

Cole's First Lost Tooth

On Halloween morning Cole finally lost his first tooth. I say finally because he had been wiggling that dang tooth for a couple of weeks and it was starting to gross me out. He'd smile and stick his tongue on the tooth and it'd stick out of his mouth; or he'd worry with it at church and I was sure it'd fall out in a gush of blood all over his white church shirt. You know, the usual kids-losing-teeth stuff.

He kept complaining that the tooth hurt him and absolutely refused any help from me, so I was pretty surprised when it popped out easily and with little fanfare. Just how I like things.

He was really quite pleased with himself. (Madsen kids tend to get their baby teeth later and thus lose them later than average. Cole was tired of being the only kid in his class with a full set of chompers.)

In anticipation I had made this elegant tooth fairy box. Yes, that is an old travel soap box that I quickly decorated with a little help from my Cricut. It works perfectly.

The next morning he woke up to discover the money the Tooth Fairy left.

"Aw man! I only got $2!!"

He was quite crushed. Apparently someone in his class had gotten TWENTY DOLLARS for their first tooth! What the what, Tooth Fairy?!?!??!? I had to explain to Cole that no one in this family had ever or would ever receive that much for a tooth. Because it's a tooth. A used tooth.

He eventually accepted this fact and happily deposited the $2 into his allowance fund.

12th Annual Madsen Halloween Doughnut Party

Guys. I went a little crazy last year with the Harry Potter theme at all. Remember? As we got closer to this year's party I started to get nervous - I just didn't have the time nor the inclination (nor the ideas!) to put as much effort into it this year. There's only so many hours in the day. But, things seemed to pull together in the end and I think it turned out pretty great. I mean, perhaps not floating candles great, but still. At least passable.

Also, the doughnuts were fantastic and all were eaten. (Only some "monster" doughuts were left at the end - you know, the ones we make out of the remnant scraps.) ((Actually, these are extra yummy, I think, because they're edges get all crispy. *nom*nom*nom* True Madsen party-goers know to stay to the end to get these little pieces of heaven.))

Here's this year's invite. I had wanted to have the party the night before, but someone else in the ward decided to have a Halloween party that night. Rude. Maybe we'll push it up a week next year, just to see what would happen... (I really perfer having this party on a Friday rather than a Saturday.)

In true Maren fashion I only took a few pictures of the actual party, none of which seemed to include any of my family. I am awesome.

But I did get this darling Ewok, so I think I'm good.

We had A New Hope on during the party. I thought it'd just be noise in the background and was truly surprised to see so many kids watching intently! Can't beat a classic like that movie.

We also had our usual trivia games. The grammar geek in me giggled every time I saw the sign for this game.

We also did Star Wars Bingo for the kids this year - it went over really well and I was told several times (by the kids) that we needed even more kid games next year. I had originally thought I'd just download the bingo cards online - but then they wanted to charge me $5! What the what?! So I made some for free.

I also found Star Wars puzzles at the Dollar Store. Score!

Also, it was SO warm this year - 76 degrees that afternoon! So the kids had a great time playing outside until it got too dark. There really wasn't a need for more kid games.

We don't really have that much Star Wars stuff, but our friends the Eastsons do - they let us borrow all of their Star Wars toys and it was awesome.

We had an Ewok in a tree.

And a wookie in a chandelier.

And little figures on frames.

And amazing felt pennants.

Crocheted figures guarding the piano.

Storm Troopers holding pumpkins.

And my personal favorite - Darth Vader on the mantle.

I don't know why, but this tickled me to no end.

We also had mini figures interspersed with my pumpkins. I decided the night before to add the text balloons. I was quite pleased with myself. ;)

I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures of the doughnut table, but for the first year ever we were running a bit behind and people actually came on time, which pretty much never happens! So I forgot. But here's the signs I had for the glazes. The Light Side won. (Which is weird, because chocolate is usually the first to go.)

I also put these awesome signs in the bathrooms. The Storm Trooper ones might stay up for a while. (*cough* ColeI'mLookingAtYou *cough*)

This year I had awesome prizes - each winner got a couple of Star Wars dish towels, a Millennium Falcon key chain, and some Star Wars Pop Rocks. (One of our Missionaries won and thought the key chain was a beer bottle opener. Yes, Elder. I give out bottle openers at my parties. It's that kind of party.)

I was quite pleased with myself with the dish towels, because everyone can use a dish towel and because I think they turned out super cool. Making dishtowels with my Cricut is kinda my thing now.

 

As per usual I photoshopped some of our family pictures. Someone glanced at them and thought we had taken pictures specifically for this party in Star Wars helmets. Ah, no. That sounds like my own personal hell. ("Don't move, kids! I know we've been taking pictures for 45 minutes in clothes you don't really like. But let's just put on these helmets and masks and take a few dozen more!! It'll be great!!") But I took it as a compliment for my (not-so) mad photoshopping skills.

We had a big turn out and I finally got to chat with a lot of the new members of our ward. (Being Primary pianist has it's disadvantages in the meeting-new-people department.) Lots of our regulars were missing, though, and that was a little sad. But overall, we had a great time. The evening ended with Josh and Cole loudly and obnoxiously proclaiming that it was completely unfair they had to go to bed, even though it was past Sunday and we had church in the morning. I'll take that as a sign of a good party.