April {Snow} Showers

On Tuesday, April 9th we. got. snow. A lot of snow.  Like 26 inches in 24 hours. School was cancelled and everyone stayed home (except for us, we walked through the snow to play at the school gym...life has to go on). And then we got more snow on the 12th, the 16th, 17th, 18th and the 23rd.  We had some late start school days and scary roads.  But maybe the best way to describe our "spring" is to tell you that the high school track started practice March 4th and had their first track meet April 26th because all the meets had been cancelled due to weather.

The first big snow storm.

 

Colt admiring the piles on the front porch.

 

Taking the day off.

 

My kids are great examples to me.  One day when I was complaining about the snow, Colt told me not to worry because when it all melts the grass would look sooo green! 

So I guess the lesson is when life gives you snow, make a snow fort.

The boys and I built this snow fort the day after the first big storm.  It might not look like much, but it was a lot of work!

 

Incoherent Observations, Anecdotes, and Incidents

I'm very behind on my blog so I plan to make this a catch up post.  There is a lot to say and I really don't want to try and make it cohesive, so the following is everything that pops into my head in the order it does so.
 Yikes, right?

Considering the fact that I recently polished off a pan of brownies on my own, I think it is safe to say that I have a long way to go towards my New Year's Resolution of eating healthier, however, I have made some serious progress and the boys are finally starting to get on board.  Everyone loves the fruit and veggie smoothies, especially Sport.  I don't know how I did it, but the kid also loves salad, broccoli, stir fry veggies, zucchini...and anything on my plate eaten with the fork I have in my hand.

Sport and Colt drinking my green smoothie.

 

Sport and Sis fell asleep on our walk and we really didn't want to wake them up so we carefully carried the stroller up the back steps and into the house.

 

Baby Sis is definitely my daughter.  She can't just sit still in your lap, but instead she rocks herself back and forth and bangs her head against your chest.  Its hard to try and have a conversation holding her because she knocks the wind out of you while you're speaking. 

The boys all have unique techniques to help cheer Sis up when she gets upset.  Dash holds her and sings silly songs, Colt clicks his tongue and claps and Sport covers her with a blanket, like a parakeet. 

Dash and Sis snuggling before school.

 

A couple of weeks ago the PTO sponsored a Medieval Night.  Colt was super excited to dress up like a "knightmare".

Three brave knights and one fair lady.

 

Dash was the voice of the frog at the Medieval Night play.

 

Medieval Bounce House.  Sport was as scared as he looks.

 

Colt and Dash jousting at the Medieval Night.  Hilarious.

 

This was a lot of work for both the boys, but they loved it, as did the audience.

 

They were both declared champions, which forced them to settle the tie at home in a good ol' fashion wresting match.

 

There is something about bath time that turns Colt up to full volume.  Add that to echoing shower walls and you what you get is a headache.

The best part of waking up at 3 am to feed your baby girl is hearing her giggle when she sees you coming.

One day Colt sat on Sis and started making funny faces.  I was yelling at him to get off, but he couldn't hear me over her giggling.

 

Last week I realized something about myself that I have been subconsciously doing for a few years now - sneaking around, I'm a sneak.  I tiptoe around the kids like a ballet dancer.  For instance, if I need to shower, I wait until all the kids are distracted and then slowly back out of the room.  I quietly walk towards my bathroom fighting the urge to break into a run, but I can't help speed walking as I get closer, then I slam the door shut and lean against it, listening quietly.  This technique usually gives me the time I need to get into the shower, but since I don't lock the door (there could be a legitimate emergency) I almost always have at least two boys waiting for me on the bathroom floor to get out and solve their problems, such as the fact that their "booooored!"

I was trying to bake brownies for the missionaries so I put Sis up on the island by me.  I thought it looked like a magazine spread with all the ingredients sitting around her so I took a picture.  However, the truth is that two minutes after the picture, Colt and Sport both climbed onto the counter, most of the ingredients ended up on the floor, Sis started crying and I had to postpone the whole process while I fed her.  Later I snuck into the kitchen to finish up the treats by myself.

 

It's no secret that Dash is competitive, but I never thought it would be such an academic advantage.  His school has an online reading program that lets the students practice reading stories and taking quizzes both at school and at home.  The students are supposed to eventually work their way through levels A-Z.  Dash can't stand to have any other student in his class within two levels of himself so he'll come into our room at 6 am on a Saturday morning and ask to be allowed to read from the computer program.  We can't really say no, so we stumble in there and soon Colt joins us.  Colt is a great listener (to Dash, not so much to his parents) and so he can usually help Dash answer the quiz questions after he has finished reading the story.  Colt feels so involved that he has repeatedly suggested that Dash ask his teacher "Ms. Mogley" (aka Ms. Mobeley) to add Colt's name in the student section of the computer program.

The boys are also excellent mathematicians.  A third grader on the school bus told Dash that he won't learn times tables until 3rd grade so Dash came home and made me teach him the concept behind the "x sign".  Now Dash can figure out most simple multiplication problems in his head and he is teaching Colt how to add three numbers as well.

The boys are saving all their money for an outdoor basketball hoop.  Pennies and dimes take a while to add up so when Dash's front tooth fell out at breakfast the other day he was completely thrilled because it meant a visit from the tooth fairy.  He was particularly excited because "his best friend Rhett" had recently been visited by the tooth fairy and she had left him $10!  Dash felt confident that this was her new norm.  Unfortunately, all Dash got was $.50 and a note from the tooth fairy promising him that she would be visiting again soon.  He wasn't disappointed, however, but he did interpret her note to mean that he would get his $10, but he would have to lose more teeth first.  Several times now I have caught him in front of the mirror trying to manually loosen more teeth.  It's like his part time job!

Dash's missing front tooth.

We are all so happy to announce that Brandan just finished up another Masters class and has 6 weeks off before his summer classes begin.  Hallelujah.  Whenever he can grab a spare minute, Brandan still loves to carve and has made quite a name for himself on Ebay.  His goal is to make enough to pay for Christmas and he is already about halfway to a very nice holiday. 

Spring Break

Our Spring Break was fantastic as was our company.

On Friday, we drove out to Devil's Tower.

Colt, Dash and Boe climbing on the dead trees at Devil's Tower.

 

Sissy rode around the trail in style.

 

The kids enjoying the view.  I believe Kamber planned for a summer house down my the creek.

 

Dash, Colt and Kamber on the rocks.

 

The crew at the walk's completion.

The Upton Easter Egg hunt didn't start until 1:00, so we knew we would need to plan for something to occupy the kids in the morning.  So we set up a scavenger hunt of sorts.  We gave each child a camera and set them out to take pictures of different objects or of themselves performing certain tasks.  They had to come back and show us the pictures before we gave them their next task.

Taking pictures of Jesus.

All the tasks eventually led up to an egg hunt.  Because it was a little drizzily, Jill and I set up the hunt indoors while the Brand and Dan took the kids over the school gym to get their final pictures. 

The (indoor) egg hunt

 

Dash and Kamber

 

Colt, Sport and Boe

After the hunt was over, we had the kids empty the eggs into a communal bowl for everyone to share, particularly for the adults. 

Cracking eggs

In the afternoon we went to the community egg hunt. 

Boe helped Sport on his hunt.

 

Sport kept his hood low so that he didn't get distracted by the other hunters.

 

Dash waiting for the start of the hunt.

 

Colt just relaxing before the chase began.

And they're off...

Sport

 

Colt

 

Dash

 

The Easter Bunny

After the hunts we came home and colored some eggs. 

Dyeing eggs

 

Dad and Sport creating intricate designs

 

Dash and Kamber

Boe and his prize egg

Sport favored the blue eggs.

The work space

Breeze opted out of coloring eggs...too messy.

Easter Sunday!!!

Sickies

It wouldn't be March at the Madsen house if we didn't all get sick.  This month we all battled the stomach flu, sinus infections and horrible colds.  When I took Sissy in for her 4 month well baby check up, I had Sport and Colt in tow.  They were hacking and barking and coughing on everyone and everything and so the doctor decided to do a quick check of them all (good bang for my buck!).  After listening to their lungs, Dr. Anderson decided they all sounded wheezy and she prescribed some breathing treatments.  And so...

Sport did really well with his treatments.  He looks a little sad, but he insisted on wearing the mask this way.

 

Colt didn't love the his treatments, but he got through them by distracting himself with movies.

 

Breeze seemed the most positively affected by the treatments so we did hers more frequently.  We knew she was feeling better when she tried to eat the mouth piece.