A pink rastafarian and some "brochet"...

I got these neat new curlers for my birthday and tried them out on Evie. Brian said it looked like she had pink dreadlocks...

They made some very nice curls though.


And here is Jake working on a sewing project. Not surprising that my kids want to learn how to sew, or knit, or crochet...
I remember that one of the first crafts my mom taught me was needlepoint on plastic canvas, she called it barjelo. sp? (I don't know if anyone else calls it that?) Jake can't seem to remember that word however and he keeps calling it his "brochet", which I can only assume is a more masculine version of crochet...

Did I really just say that?

Have you ever lain in bed at night and gone over the day in your head, replayed conversations where you didn't come out on top, wondered if the things you've said really came out of your mouth...

I feel like I spent all day yesterday fighting my children's natural ability to tune out anything that sounds remotely like my voice. Repeating myself over and over again. Looking back I feel like all I said all day long was, "Don't do that... stop that... quit it!..." In fact the following phrases actually came out of my mouth,

To Jake at Costco, where I always feel slightly ridiculous trying to push a cart that is taller than me with the car seat in it, while simultaneously trying to talk on the phone: "Will you get OUT of the meat freezer!"

To Evie at dinner: "Stop finger painting with the mashed potatoes!"

To them both in my drill sergeant voice: "SIT DOWN NOW!!!" (That one did get results, for about 10 seconds.)

To Lila in desperation: "Please stop crying, honey."

Whispered in their ears after they fell asleep: "Stop growing up..."

Jakeisms...

*Disclaimer* If you have to pee, do that before you read on...

This kid just cracks me up, when we went to Red Lobster on Valentine's Day with the fam he and Evie were fascinated by the lobster tank in the front of the restaurant. Everyone was joking that if Jake picked out a lobster he would want it for a pet, and I said we watched enough Food Network that he knew lobsters were for eating. Jake asked me why they weren't red and I told him they turned red when they were cooked, he looked at the tank and then paraphrased from an episode of Iron Chef, "Happiness is no longer an issue for that lobster..." (He also said he was picking out a 3 banded lobster for his dinner, he ended up being quite content with the kid's popcorn shrimp thank goodness.)

Yesterday as we pulled out of a parking lot Jake yelled from the back seat, "Hey! Look at that Porsche! Ummm, or maybe it's a minivan." I started to laugh because even I can tell the difference between a Porsche and a minivan.

Today we were watching some TV and Jake was playing on the floor with some of his hot wheels and out of the blue he sat up and said, "Boy, I'm glad I don't have a wife!" After a moment of startled silence I asked him why. He replied, "They just seem like an awful lot of work." So I want to know who's been talking to him about marriage....

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I am 30! That's right, the big three-oh... so how did I spend the day? Mostly just the regular mom stuff (although I did treat my kids to happy meals because I didn't feel like cooking on my birthday) dishes, diapers, ect. But the fun started this evening when I got to dress up and go out with other grown-ups to play. Thanks to Caite and Patrick, and Jim and Terrie, for baby-sitting. (And by dress up, I mean clothes that aren't sweats or pajamas and make-up.)

We went to eat here...

...with these cool people...

...and Brian got the "most awesome" pasta ever! (according to the server).

I was psyched that these were on sale at Bath and Body Works, and they even had my favorite scent, Kitchen Lemon.

I got some very nice cards from my grandmas, plus this great one from my dad...(yea for guilt-free spending money!)

...the aforementioned cool people gave me these beautiful flowers...

...and hubby actually pulled off a surprise with season #1 of one of my favorite shows.

(These are my birthday present to me!)

Another great surprise was the cool red colander from my in-laws, doesn't it look great on the pot rack?

And last, but not least, my sweet sisters-in-law gave me this statue. I love these Willow Tree figurines, and I cried when I opened this present. It is perfect!

So thank you to everyone who made this a pretty great birthday... and so far I don't feel much different than I did at 29. Three decades and not a gray hair to show for it. (Knock on wood...)

All you need is...

Blast from the past

I love hand-me-downs. Not only is it great to get "free" clothes, sometimes it is a real walk down memory lane. Anyone recognize these? My grandma bought these for my sister and four of my cousins, somewhere there is a great picture of them all in the jammies for a sleep over. This pair was handed down through the cousins until they came to us. (I think they used to be pink...) Brings back memories of Caite running around in her pair. I'm thinking I might be able to make a pattern off of them before they get too holey.

And on a completely unrelated note I just wanted to show off this hairdo, because it took us a ridiculous amount of time to figure out and do... I had to redo parts of it 2 or 3 times to make it lay right and have a heart shape. It turned out pretty awesome though, if I do say so myself. I don't think I will attempt it again anytime soon...


Love this cutie!

Pardon my soapbox...

I very rarely take the time and effort to make other people listen to my opinions, I hate politics for this reason. I feel strongly that everyone is entitled to their own thoughts and feelings and I don't like to debate or feel like someone is trying to change how I think or feel about something. So with that caveat firmly in place I wanted to reach out to all my family and friends who might not have seen this floating around in cyberspace...


I came across this site through the one of the hair blogs I check regularly and I really like the goal of this lady. As a mom of sweet, innocent daughters I want them to stay that way as long as possible. I signed the petition and wanted to invite anyone who feels the same way to sign too. The button on my sidebar links to the blog where you can sign the petition and get a button too.

We put the "fun" in funeral...

...Okay, okay, I know that sounds awful. But whatever else my mom was she was never average or boring, and she wanted her funeral to be a celebration. So it seems very appropriate that she would have her funeral on a holiday. She made every holiday a magic occasion, and she loved nothing better than an excuse to get everyone together and eat and talk and laugh. Everything went perfectly, everyone who gave a talk or preformed a musical number expressed a blend of sorrow at her passing and the hope and comfort that the knowledge of the gospel gives us. The hardest part of the day came for me at the graveside when my children finally realized that Mima was going into the ground. Evie was very concerned that grandma would get dirty when they buried her, and Jake just broke down crying. He was comforted when I told him that in the spring we would come back and have picnics "with" Mima, just like we used to.

After naps to recuperate emotionally and physically, we met up with some family and friends and went to dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day and Brian's 37th birthday.

Brian and his "Sweet Heart"

I'm not certain, but I think Jake liked his valentine present...

Josh and his lobster, "El Guapo"

It was a nice way to end this particular Valentine's day, good food, good company, lots of laughter and love. Mom, I will always remember what you said to me this last Christmas when I was having a hard time wanting to celebrate, "Go make some magic for your family." We will keep that spirit alive, and look for ways to make everyday an adventure.

Kim Ellis Madsen

Aug. 14, 1958-Feb. 9, 2009



Sometimes words aren't enough to express everything you want to, and so many others have said it so much better than I feel I can right now. We met with the funeral director yesterday to finalize arrangements and he told us that Mom had a darling smile. That made me think of how she was always telling us to find joy in the journey and enjoy the moment. I hope that at the end my natural expression is a smile too. Thank you Mom, for teaching us to smile and find our happiness. I love you.

For information about the viewing and funeral services, and to see her obituary, click here.

Jake's room

I've been meaning to post pictures of how neat Jake's room turned out for almost three months now. We are so lucky to have Uncle Josh who is so talented and willing to help with projects like this. Plus, after the last post I wanted to prove that he really does have a bed to sleep in when he wants to...
In this picture you can see the cool ceiling that Josh painted to look like clouds in the sky.
This is the brick wall, cool huh? And can you see the "secret passage"?

Very Diagon Ally if you ask me... (think Harry Potter)

And Jake wanted to show this neat prize he got today at school for having read the most hours in his grade level so far for the read-a-thon this week. What an incentive, Hot Wheels for reading. (Not that Jake ever really needs an incentive. He got a new Magic Tree house book yesterday for having good grades at his parent/teacher conference, and had finished it before he went to bed.)

Nighttime Travels

Monday night we put our kids to bed at nine o'clock. At eleven we hear the door open and Jake crying. I spring up with visions of vomit covered child and bedding running though my head, only to stumble to a stop as I see him coming down the hall wearing nothing but his glasses. I was understandably surprised since I knew he was tucked in wearing jammies and no glasses... He was crying and distressed and all I could get out of him was that he couldn't find the bathtub and had hurt himself. I went in the bedroom to find all his clothing folded on the rocking chair and the light on. I got him back in bed and before I had finished getting his jammies back on he was sound asleep. I hope that he isn't going to start sleep walking on a regular basis, that is too scary.

Tonight we put our kids to bed at nine o'clock again. At eleven, the door opened and out comes Evie with diaper in hand because she was wet. (Anyone else noticing a pattern here?) So we changed her and sent her back to bed, and thought that was the end of it... until I went in at midnight to get a diaper for the baby and saw this...
Don't they just about melt your heart?

(Please don't think we make him sleep on the floor, Jake actually does have a very nice bedroom and bed of his very own. He is just having a hard time transitioning to not sharing a room.)

Peanut butter tastes better in 3-D!

Well, really... what wouldn't taste better with glasses like these? Jake tells us the 80's are coming back, so grab a pair and become a trendsetter!

My winter princess

Just a quick post to show off my pretty baby. We had Lila's blessing yesterday. It was a beautiful day celebrating with family and friends this precious child we have. (I will be posting more pictures when I get them from my brother, who takes much better pictures and has a nicer camera.) The only downside was missing those that couldn't join us because of timing or distance. We love you all!