Fall 2015

We had a busy and fun fall 2015!

Tag charms everyone with those baby blues!!

One day Sport came home from preschool with a pet spider.  He found one in the basement of the house he was at and the Mom/teacher gave him a jar to take it home.  I'm no longer speaking to her.  I HATE spiders and this one was huge and hairy. Sport loves all living things (except me, apparently) and so he babied this little nightmare for as long as he could without providing him food because I refused to let him open the jar even for a second.  When the end came (and not soon enough), he memorialized "Spidey" with this picture and a burial in the backyard. 

We made Spider cookies in honor of "Spidey" and Halloween.

The kids tempting Tag to crawl with everyone's favorite...Scotch tape!

A success!

All his siblings were so anxious for Tag to learn to crawl and then when he did they realized it turned him into a game wrecking tormentor. When they can't stand it any longer they lock themselves and their toys in the bedroom.  And sweet little Tagalong sits outside the door and knocks.

One day Sport bit his pretzels into an ode to his favorite college.

Tag has teeth!

Sport and Sis took on the chore of shoveling off the back porch while the boys were at school.  They finished just as the brothers walked up.

Sport made made crowns and shared one with Tag.  Sis was devastated.

Someone didn't want to finish their apple, but Tag doesn't like to see food go to waste.

Right after Thanksgiving we tried taking a picture in front of the pretty Christmas lights at the local park.  It was below zero and every kid fell in the snow at least once.  This was the best we could manage.

Sissy turns 3!!

Sissy's third birthday was as exciting as she hoped for!

Grandma and Grandpa Madsen came over to help us celebrate, but we put them to work instead.  While the adults spent the morning hauling things over to the new house, the boys kept Sis entertained with a rousing game of indoor football.

Bringing down Dash.

Sissy is a powerful tackle.

Juking and jiving.

A Happy Birthday Bloody Nose.

Sissy's pink flower birthday cookie.

Opening presents! Lots of Frozen paraphernalia, purses, jewelry, ect. 

Sis may join in the football games, but she does it with style!
(so does Dash...)

Happy Birthday Little Sister!!

Halloween 2015

Another successful Halloween!!

Tag didn't mind the gooey pumpkin guts.

In fact, he found them quite tasty.

Sport's pumpkin eating Brandan's pumpkin.  All the boys carved their pumpkins on their own this year. Yep, our recently turned 5 year old was handed a sharp tool and told to go to.  Brand didn't have much time for carving this year, but he whipped this little thing out the evening before Halloween.

Sis's cat pumpkin in front and Dash's BYU logo pumpkin in back.

Colt's RIP pumpkin and Tag's scary face pumpkin in back.  I had to carve his and I'm completely unoriginal.

Halloween night and the ward soup dinner.

Getting ready to Trick-or-Treat.

The Spoils!!

Sport is 5!!

Sport had a great 5th birthday and this in spite of the fact that even though he is now five, he still can't go to school for nearly a year. 

Sport's birthday was on Sunday this year, but he was able to open one gift before church.

After church.  This is pretty much how our Sundays go too.  Decent through church and then obscenely comfortable. Actually that is how Sport spends everyday, except without the decent part.  The kid literally never wears a shirt unless we leave the house and I force him to put one on.  I've had to start checking under his coat before we leave.  He's tricky.

Cake with the Linfords.

Panda bear cupcakes, or puppy face cupcakes, or really just cupcakes with sprinkles and chocolate chips.  Sigh.
The website made it look so easy...

To finish his celebration, we spent the following Monday night at the Lyman pool where we had complete range of the whole facility since we were the only family there.  I'm sure the lifeguards appreciated the company.  And the show.  Everyone except Sis and Tag took turns flipping off (belly flopping from) the diving board.

Colt is 7!!

For Colt's birthday this year, he asked for a trip to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City.  The Saturday before his big day, we spent half the morning working on the house (we are always working on the house) while the the weather was beautiful and then we loaded up and headed to Utah right as the clouds gathered and it began to rain.  Oh well, it made it that much less crowded.

The kids and I outside the giraffe house where a long-neck entertained us by licking the wall.

The monkey house was definitely a family favorite.  While Sis peered in the window at the Orangutans, the Momma caught sight of her and sidled over for a chat.  They made faces and gestured at each other for quite a while and they then were joined by Baby Orangutan, and the rest of the Madsen monkeys as well.

One thing we will definitely miss about living in town is neighborhood kids.  When it came time to eat birthday cake and blow out candles, I literally just went outside and gathered up all the kids playing between the houses and was able to pull together quite a party. 

Broncos jersey birthday brownies.

I think he likes his present.

Soccer!!

Six cleats 

+ three different colored jerseys 

+ three practices and three games per week 

+  occasional snow storms 

+ 2 kids too young to play, but too old to sit strapped in car seats 

+ one mom that coaches 

+ one dad that coaches an entirely different sport during the same time frame 

+ team pictures 

+ after game snacks 

+ three players

+ one broken leg

=    Soccer Season!

This year I coached Sport's soccer team.  This picture is very indicative of my coaching style.

Sport was one of the smallest players on the field, but oh so aggressive.

Like really, really aggressive.  He scored tons of goals and ran down many a larger player.

Maybe a little too aggressive. See the kid falling here? Sport is stepping on the back of his foot and may have shoved him in the back.  Its his own team mate.  The kid literally broke his femur.  I heard it pop.  I can still hear it pop.  It was accident.  I think.  Still, I don't cross Sport.

Spectators. 

Colt also had a great season.  He was one of the younger kids on his team this year, but he held his own!

Charging the ball.  The other kid in this picture looked so much like Colt out on the field.  Little redheads.  He got a lot of cheering from our family.

About to score a goal!

When Sport wasn't playing he often volunteered to take Sis over to the playground.

I'm a broken record, but Dash had a great season also.  We generally do, which is good, because we invest plenty of time.
Here he is saving a goal.

Dribbling past the competition.

Starting to break away.

Goals!

 

Lives of the Rich and Famous

Sept 15, 2015

Its a glamorous life that I lead.

6:10 am - Move Tag out of our bed back to his bed for the 3rd time.  Make the bed over the snot and milk stain in the sheets.

7:05 am - Colt dropped the box containing his bug collection for 1st grade science.  I recollect the dead bugs and discover that one large grasshopper is less dead than expected.

7:15 am - Dash swears that he will not go to school unless the dog poo he stepped on yesterday is completely cleaned off of his new high top sneakers.  I take the sneaker and a push pin onto the back porch and systematically scrape the mess out of a complicated tread pattern.  I will not be finishing my breakfast.

8:00 am - Sport comes out of the bathroom and describes his bowel movement in detail finishing up with the announcement that some of it is mysteriously stuck to the side of the toilet bowl.  I try multiple flushes, dumping in a bucket of water and then finally resort to using the toilet brush that I immediately throw away in the outside garbage.

10:13 am - Sis coughs so hard she throws up on the ground.

It's going to be a great day!!