Just to Sweet

It's a nightly routine that one of us gets the pleasure of laying down with Andrew at night. The other night it was my turn. He was having a difficult time settling down and I threatened to leave when he says the cutest thing.

Andrew: "Mom, you are my best friend. Let's be friends forever."

He's been watching a lot of The Fox And The Hound lately, but it was still to cute!

Grettings from Andrew

Hello Everyone! Mom doesn't let me on the computer much because Caleb always wants on too and he just pushes to many buttons. But, today is your lucky day because I get to tell you about the most awesome day I had while mom, Caleb, and I were visiting aunt Teri a couple of weeks ago. I know, I'm late, but I blame mom so you can too!

First we went to an aquarium where we got to see some pretty cool ocean life. I saw an octopus, star fish, sea horses, sting rays, sharks, eels and lots of other cool things. We even got to touch a star fish! Mom tried to touch a sting ray that was in a big pool (don't worry, it was safe to touch) but then it came up along the side and mom freaked out. My cousin said she felt the sting ray and said it was slimy. Mom says that's why she didn't touch it. The water there was to deep for me to reach in. But, I did get to touch a star fish. I didn't want to at first, but mom finally talked me into it. It felt bumpy and hard like a rock.


After the aquarium and lunch with aunt Cyndi and uncle Mike, we went to the Child Discovery Museum. My favorite thing there was the helicopter. It was a real life flight helicopter. It was so cool! Then we went to the fountains at Gateway to play. I didn't like that as much. I went out to play in the fountains, then ran to the side and fell and hit my head. I didn't want to play in the fountains any more.














My very favorite part of the day was the trip back to aunt Teri's house. Mom, my cousin Emily and I all road the train back to the station by aunt Teri's house. I LOVED it!! The train went so fast and then it would stop to let people off and then go so fast again. I wish I could ride a train every day!


Well, that's all for now. But before I go, I want to tell my cousin Garrett thanks for the bike. He's the best cousin, because he gave me his bike with training wheels that was to small for him. I ride it every day now! Sometimes, mom and dad go on walks and let me ride my bike. Now I don't mind if Caleb wants to ride my Batman bike.

Family Reunion

Finally, I'm updating a little more of the happenings in the Madsen family. The truth of it is, not a whole lot happens, so it's a while between posts. At the end of July we had a family reunion with Erika's family. The cousins got to get together and play while we camped in the Tetons. What a gorgeous place!!! On the way there we stopped to gas up and had to get pictures of the kids on a Jackelope. Yep, you read it right!

















Then while we were at the reunion, Andrew and Taylor took no time to become great friends. They played in the dirt together, hung out with grandpa together, went on a hike with Ryan and just had a good time. It is so much fun watching the cousins become friends!




Caleb, on the other hand, was pretty intent on figuring out how the camper hooked up to the truck If he wasn't doing that, then he was turning on the water faucet in the campsite and getting himself all wet.

After the reunion, we decided to go into Rigby/Idaho Falls to visit Ryan's family and some friends for a couple of days. The return trip home was a little longer than we expected. We left Don's house (Ryan's dad) in Rigby early Tuesday morning only to make it as far as Ririe before we had trouble. Three bolts on one of the wheels on the camper had sheered off. We had to take the tire off, pull the trailer back to Rigby to see if we could get it all fixed in a hurry. Of course it wasn't going to be that simple. We had to replace the drum, not only that, but we had to track down a drum to fit our trailer! We are of the lucky folks out there where there is no easy route with this one. The drum for our trailor isn't readily available and takes 2 weeks to come in. So, long story short, the place that was suppose to have the drum welded on new bolts for us, Les Schwab fixed the rest. We finally left Rigby at 1:00 Tuesday afternoon and pulled into our driveway at 8:45 that night.

Future Farmers of America...Maybe Not

Hi everyone! Andrew and Caleb here. Mom doesn't update this blog much, so we're filling you in on a visit to Grandpa Madsen's. The best part of the whole visit was the ride on the tractor! Daddy took both of us and drove down the field with us. It was AWESOME!!! It's just like the tractor we drive around the living room at home!

4th of July

4th of July weekend we finally made it out camping for the first time this year! Nothing like camping with a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. It's all about dirt, bubbles and exploring. And what is camping without rain? We had rain a little bit each day and over night. Not enough to make it muddy, just enough to not want to sit in it. AAAHHH, the glory of camping with a camp trailer! It's so much nicer to sit out a rain when you are well protected from it. All was fun and great until the Klampits moved into the campsite next door. As Ryan says, "It was like having Roseanne Bar next door". The woman yelled the whole time at the kids and the dogs and didn't have a nice thing to say about anything. Alas, we went home a little earlier than planned, but we got two good nights out of it before they came along! The only other hitch was the morning we were leaving. Andrew took a drink of hot chocolate that was too hot for him, then dumped it down the front of him. The poor kid had a little bit of blistering, but it healed within the week. And I think it effected his love for hot chocolate, poor boy. He now tells me "Mom, I don't like hot chocolate. It burns me."

Family Times

In June we enjoyed visits from Ryan's mom and brother, Zach. A few weeks later we had my mom and sister with her kids visit. Here are the highlights....

During Habibi's (Ryan's mom) and Zach's visit we took a day trip up to Casper Mountain and did a little dutch oven cooking. Here are pictures of Caleb and Andrew with Habibi and Zach. Of course there is a picture of the master dutch ove chef. The boys enjoyed running around looking for bears.

During their visit we experienced our first tornado warning. It was amazing to watch the storm go through town. We went out to eat that night, not knowing about the warning. By the time we got to the restaurant you could here the warning siren. As we drove home the lightning flashes were brilliant and amazing. The rain came in sheets so you could hardly see anyone in front of you. Andrew slept all the way home and Caleb cried as the rain pounded harder and turned to hail. The tornado never actually formed, but we did get water in our basement leaking through a window. I guess that's not as bad as it could have been!

A couple of weeks later we had a visit from Grandma King, Aunt Rachel and cousins Isaac, Taylor and Brooklyn. It was a play date every day for me and the kids! The kids were great together...even Caleb and Brooklyn got along as well as any set of one-year-old could. They constantly looked for the opportunity to take the toy from the other when their back was turned.














The kids decided they needs some time in the water. Taylor, Isaac and Andrew played in the water for hours. Caleb wasn't as brave, but wanted to test the waters. I think it was to cold for him in the pool.

Brooklyn and Caleb had fun on the trampling when the older kids weren't on it to bounce them around.

Move Over Tiger Woods

When your back yard borders a golf course, I suppose you have no choice but to take up the sport.

We found a child's golf club in the play area of our yard a while back. And we have an abundance of golf balls, courtesy of the bad golfers out there. Andrew decided to practice hitting the ball. He would swing and once in a while actually hit the ball. For the most part, he would swing, miss the ball, then come tell me that "this thing doesn't work". I'm sure it had nothing to do with operator error. I guess grandpa King is going to have to help him make it work next time he visits!

To Smart for His Own Good!

Every once in while we have to play games to encourage Andrew to eat his meals. Here is today's conversation through our little game.

Mom: "I bet you can't eat that whole sandwich."

Andrew: Takes a big bite "Look mom."

Mom: "I would hate to see you take another big bite."

Andrew: Takes a big bite and opens his mouth wide for mom to see what he "isn't" suppose to do.

Mom: "Well, whatever you do next, do not take another bit."

Andrew: "OK, I won't."

Sadly, that was the end of lunch today. Now mom has to find another way to outsmart a 3-year-old.

Truckin' Along

In March, we had pictures of the kids taken. There was one series of them together that was to funny to not share!. Some day we will actually get them printed off and sent out to the family. Patience, please!!!

This series starts out nice enough, but it does tell the story of every day at home! Maybe not with the truck involved, but....






























































No worries though, we did get some happy pictures of the kids too.

See, they do get along some times too!

Caleb loved this little rocking horse.

Can you see the excitement on his face?!

He had a death grip on the bottle and would not let go.
I thought it was a sweet picture anyway.

Thoughtful little Andrew

Riding in the truck

And, playing with the tractor.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

We don't have a lot of excitement in our daily lives, but I try to take lots of pictures. So, here are some pictures of the boys over the last few months. They certainly keep us busy!

Caleb is thoroughly enjoying his birthday present - a little car that he can either ride or stand behind and push. He just started doing this cheesy smile whenever we pull out the camera. I love it!


And here he is actually riding on his car. This little boy LOVES to be outside and it is a fight to get him in the house!














Andrew is helping his dad mow the lawn. In Idaho he used to ride on the riding lawn mower with dad, but we sold that and our yard now isn't really big enough to justify a riding lawn mower. Make sure you don't miss anything dad!


We call this series of pictures "Chase Da Wabbit". We have many rabbits that frequent our yard and this particular one likes to lay under a tree in our front yard. If it's there when Andrew gets out of the car he feels obligated to chase it around the tree (about 6 times) in the first picture, then around to the backyard. It's a bit hard to get Andrew and the rabbit both in the picture, but the rabbit is in the last picture, near the corner of the fence.



Last Sunday, he discovered he could get closer to the rabbit if he got down low and went slowly towards it. This is about as close as he was able to get - which is fine with his mother. I just have visions of carnivorous rabbits!





















"HMMM...That didn't work..."



Caleb - "I'm going to climb this tree!"














We went on a walk on a nature trail near our house. Andrew had fun playing in the creek while Caleb sat with dad.

Catching Up!

Wow! How time does fly when you're having fun...and when you're not. It looks like we haven't updated this at all since February and much has happened and Ryan has charged me with this responsibility this time. I apologize it will be a long one. So, here goes....

Another Move
At the end of February we found out that the house we were renting sold, so we had to find a new place to live. Rentals are hard to find and outrageously priced. In the end it is cheaper to buy a house than to rent, so that's what we did. We are now the happy owners of two mortgages!! Anybody know someone that wants to move to the Idaho Falls area??? There's a great house for sale there! We moved from our rental on March 31st, but couldn't get into the new house until April 14th. So, we prepared for 2 weeks of homelessness. A family at church took pity on us and let us store much of our stuff in their garage and took us in. I didn't feel that I could impose the whole family on them, so the boys and I went to Utah and visited family for a while. During all of this we got some good news - we were able to move into the new house on April 8th, a week earlier than expected.

Fun Times
When we weren't looking at houses or packing we did find some time to do a few fun things. First, we have heard about some water falls that are close to here and a pretty easy hike in, so we took a Saturday to do that. We really did hike to the falls, but they were still ice, so we just got some pictures of the kids and me in that general area!


It was a fun little hike and we will have to do it again when there isn't snow on the ground. For some reason I really didn't expect that much snow there in March, but I forget how much we actually do climb in elevation getting there! Next time we might actually have pictures of water!

We had some nice warm days in March and we had some days with 16 inches of snow. On the nice days we got outside and played. Andrew loves to ride his motorcycle (a batman big wheels) and he is actually learning how to peddle. Maybe moving in Flinstone fashion is getting old!
Caleb doesn't have a ton of outside pictures only because the ground was still pretty wet and he's not walking yet. So, most of our outside time is while Caleb is taking his nap. I'm not really a mom choosing favorites in children here!

While the boys and I were in Utah, my sister and I decided to take them to Hill Airforce Museum. Andrew had a BLAST looking at the airplanes. He ran from plane to plane with shouts of "Yee Haw!" (I really have no clue where he got that one from!) and many many "Wow!" I think the little man was in heaven. Caleb was pretty content in the stroller viewing from that vantage point. Here are some pictures of that little adventure.


The boys sitting by a plane. It was impossible to get a picture of the plane in the picture with them.

Andrew is standing by the tire of one of the planes. Just to give you an idea of scale, Andrew is 35 inches tall and the tire is still a bit taller than him!

I had to get a picture of the Idaho Jet.

Easter
We were still unpacking and living out of boxes over Easter weekend, so we missed out on the fun of dying eggs. Instead, we filled plastic eggs with jellybeans for the little man to find. And after filling the eggs I had to ask myself, is it really worth dying the eggs when there is so much less mess with the plastic eggs??? I'm sure next year we will dive fully into the mess!

Andrew finding Easter eggs.

Andrew showing his find. For the next week he kept asking when the Easter Bunny was going to come hide eggs for him again. I kept throwing away plastic eggs as quietly as I could!

Birthday Time
Can you believe our baby is one year old now?! And Andrew is 3!! It is amazing how fast it all goes by. There are days I wish for Caleb and Andrew to be a little older so my life might be a little easier when going places. Then they have a birthday and I realize all over again how much they have changed over the last year and all that they are doing now and I'm not really ready for them to be any older than they are.

This is Caleb's first birthday cake. As a one-year-old, he is crawling every where, but more importantly he is walking around furniture and with the help of mom and dad. One day soon I'm sure I will be trying to keep up with him as a biped! He's got "mamama" down pretty good, especially when he is upset. I am trying to encourage his love for "dadada"! He weigh's in at 22 pounds and is 31 inches long - still a big boy, but starting to thin out. The doctor is impressed and says all is well with the boy!

Caleb enjoying his birthday cake

All done with the cake. Evidently, he had a piece with a red balloon.
His mother has a similar picture of a cupcake all over her face at about this age!

Here is Andrew's 3rd birthday cake. He loved his dinosaurs! He is just to funny to listen to now. We have a little parrot in our house that repeats everything we say if he is within earshot. Needless to say, we are beginning to be much more careful about what is said around him!! As a 3 year old he is potty trained, which really happened around Thanksgiving. Andrew is trying to use the peddles on his bike and climbing trees. I think he might have his dad's rock climbing genes in him! He now weighs 28 pounds and is 35 inches tall. The doctor says he's healthy, but should gain some weight, which is not at all new to us since he's always been on the smaller side. The poor kid is going to be passed up by his brother if he doesn't start doing some growing soon!

Ready to dig in!

Climbing the tree in the front yard of the new house. This is just preparing mom for the first visit to the doctor for a broken arm!