No Fear

This snake didn't stand a chance against Mads' speed and stealth!

Brave boy that Madser man!!

Mads was quite proud of himself and told Rulon all about it when he got home from school.

Mads gets schooled

Day one of preschool for big time Mads!!

For days he has been casually telling Chester and I how he does not want to go to school and he won't be going this year.  Today, on the way to preschool, he said in a charmingly delighted voice, "Mom I changed my mind and I want to go to school now!  Do you want to know why I didn't want to go before?"

"Uh huh."

"I just didn't want to go so short."

Translation, Rulon goes to school all day, that's what he wanted...

Good thing he had a change of heart.

Shag-ra-la

Mads requested a hair cut.

 I obliged.  Sigh, good bye cute shag hair.

Mads Turned 4 Today!!!

Happy Birthday Mads!!

Mads decided on a Red Sox theme and was so excited to eat some Red Sox this morning!

I think he was actually most interested in that big bouncy ball on the table...

Mads' commentary while I was making his birthday cake:

"Mom!!! You are actually really doing it!!! Good Job!"

Huff and Puff... and blow the candles out.

When asked the question, "Who gets to eat cake for breakfast anyway..."

Mads, "Um, I do since I'm a kid and it's my own birthday."

Mads was pretty happy with his new Monster truck and bouncy ball (from Rulon and Mina), his totally cool new LeapFrog handheld game, and his truck money bank (from mom and dad).  Of course, the wonderful thing about Mads is that he was happy when he thought he was only getting a Red Sox cake... to share.  Mads is the most generous and fun loving, busy child EVER!!

Happy Birthday Madser!

Flippin Mads!!

I totally remember being flipped by my dad!! It is a childhood rite of passage showing trust on one's father, or just lack of judgement!!... either way, I remember I loved it, so does Mads.

send it back, its a box of trouble.

late one night-
Me: "Chester, should we toss the box before the boys ever know it existed? Or keep it for 'fun times'?"
Chesty: " oh keep it, boxes are great!" (or something like that)
the next morning-
Thump, THUMP, thmmmp, bam!
Rulon crying, "aaaaaaah, mommmmmmm, MOMMM!"
A grumpy Mads simultaneously marches into my room, "Mom, I'm upset and I don't know why I'm upset but I pushed Rulon right down the stairs in that box and now his crying is really annoying me!"
Me, "Really. You sit here until I get back."
Looking down the stairs I see an upright box full of Rulon and his tears looking up at me...
Rulon, "I don't know why Mads did that to me!!!!!!!!!!! I hurt my dumb head rolling down these dumb stairs in this dumb box!"

Good idea, you know, keeping the box.  :)

St. George for the Holidays! Part. 1

Painting sugar cookies, BRILLIANT grandma Patti!!

 The indoor pool was amazing.  Funny enough, it was Rulon talkig Mads into getting wet! Talk about role reversal!

 Ah, brotherly love.

 The Richards kiddos were there too.  Rulon was thrilled since Jessica is his best friend!

 Grandpa Dennis had his measuring stick checking depths and measuring children! Rulon got a kick out of that!

 Slippery sliding smiling faces!

Where have we been?

I cannot believe how LONG it's been since I posted something, ANYTHING!!!

So here goes everything.

In the last month...

Chester tried really hard to break his ankle but only succeeded in almost breaking it.

Better luck next time babe! This was before it got all swollen, seriously.

What better place to recover than at home in Raymond?!?!

It was like having his ankle on ice 24 hours a day!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, who goes out in that kind of weather?

The men go out in that kind of weather! They did some hunting...

 IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!! How nice, Steph is giving that poor hurt deer a sled ride!

 They went to a football game...

 Good grief, what a buch of crazies.  I love them ALL!!

Chester had the best trip ever, he was spoiled rotton and got to hug and kiss his momma and tell her how much we miss her.  He was so sad to leave that he told me he had to hug his mom extra long to hide the tears filling up his eyes when it was time to go.  We love Mona and Gord so much.  The boys were super sad they did not get to go to Raymond with their dad!

A few days later it was time to celebrate thanksgiving.  Mads was thankful for his food, his bed, his body and Heavenly Father and Jesus.  Rulon was thankful for his family, his sister little Birdie (he mentioned her specifically), and for pilgrims... and food.

Lets see... Then it snowed a bunch! The boys were bouncing off the walls to go out and drive their vehicles in the snow like the "ice road truckers" we watch on TV.

 Mads was packing snow in to the back of his mini coup and then eating it... like packing a lunch, right?

 Chester got an early christmas present... and Mads tried them out.

Ta Da!!

 I have done a few things with the boys to raise my "cool mom points."  The boys have been on a pirates kick lately so we made telescopes in one afternoon (papertowel rolls, tissue paper, mod podge), and treasure boxes just today... I think I was the "best mom ever" for like 5 whole minutes!!!

 When we make things two things are sure to happen: Rulon will get a bit frustrated that his project is not as perfect as he wanted it to be (uh huh, I  know it's my fault, genetically speaking) and Mads will get more paint, glue, water, dough... on himself than on the project.  Either way, they have fun and I love watching them be themselves!!! 

At the end of each day I wish I could have half the energy of my little Madser... he is determined NOT to stay in his bed.  I suppose sneaking out of his room for the 10(hundredth)th time and finally falling asleep in the living room fort is not the worst thing in the world.

I am so in love with my family, how blessed I am.

Mmmmm Ribs!

I put htis on facebook, but it is worth posting on the blog too!! This is how Mads fell asleep last night, tooooo funny~ He laughed so hard when I showed him the pic of himself.

It is not very often that ribs are a good enough price to buy for dinner... we were all excited to get our faces a little messy and fill our bellies with delish pork ribs. Mads especially enjoyed the getting messy part, well.. the belly filling part too, man can he polish off a few ribs!
Rulon is not scared of the saucy rib-fest either, good thing there are no pictures of Julie & Chester. We try to hold on to our dignity.

Mads Starts Preschool!!

Last week Mads and I made a special trip to his new preschool to meet his teacher, Mrs. Heap, and see the classroom together. Mads was totally excited!  He wanted to wear his backpack in the car and practice his counting the whole way there.  When we parked in front of the house (his school is in a cute add on to a home in a neighborhood) he asked me if I was going to leave him there.  He was certifiably bummed out when I reminded him that we were just visiting for a few minutes so he could meet his teacher and see his class. 

Mads could not believe he gets to go to preschool in the same place that Rulon went to preschool last year.  He was super happy to hear he gets to hang his back pack on a hook (wow!), paint, sing, learn letters and numbers, and use glue and scissors!!

On our way to his REAL first day of preschool Mads was listing things to me that he would not do, "I won't jump and talk mean to the kids or Mrs. Heap will say Mads don't talk mean to those kids, and I won"t suck my fingers or Mrs. Heap will say only babies suck their fingers, and I won pee in my ginch or poop since I am so big, and I won't put my fingers in my nose for a cruster..." You get the idea.  Shoot, what does he need a mom for, he knows the drill.  I just had to remind him of the things he CAN do: smile, listen, play with new friends, say please and thank you, have fun... ok, he does still need me. Whew.

So we went in, found the spot with his name project, and he went to town.  It was all I could do to get him to glance up at me for a quick picture!!  He was so happy that today I WAS leaving him there!!

What a grown up boy!!  He is going to LOVE preschool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mads turns 3!!

All morning it was Rulon who was begging to get the presents out for Mads to open... Mads didn't seem to mind waiting for Chester to come home. However, once the presents were visible and Mads got his hands on them it was a frenzy of torn paper and squeals of 3 year old joy!!
Buzz Lightyear cheated and started "talking" whilt still all wrapped up. Mads must have grabbed the gift on one of the buttons - so Mads' eyes got really big and he said, "It's Buzz inside!"

BIG thanks to grandma & grandpa for the awesome tracks to go with the new trains Mads got. The boys played trains together aaaaall afternoon.

And the birthday cake matched the new Buzz toy, or as close as Julie could manage anyway. Rulon was concerned that Julie was doing it all wrong (thanks buddy) but approved of the final product (whew). Mads is never a tough crowd, he LOVED it and asked to eat the shoes first.

What a great birthday for a great little boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Muscle Man Mads

"Mom, I ate all my food, look at my oomongous muscles!" (need I say more?)

Sleeping and Peeing.

Boys will be boys! This is what I found when I got up this morning after Chester let me have a much needed sleep-in. So cute!! Chester is no dummy, he finds a way to relax while taking care of the boys. Are they in training? You know, boys chillin on the couch watching tv turn into men on the couch watching tv?? Am I worried. Nope, cuz I was sleeping!!!

And then there is this shot. Uh take that whichever way you want. He is hilarious because he holds his bum with one hand and his business with the other. Why? Because when we were teaching him about aiming we always had our hand on his bum to lean him forward enough to hit the toilet and not his toes... so clearly that is how it's done!! Love it.