Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving 2011 was spent how we spend it best: with the Vermont Madsens. And the thought that it is our last Brothers Madsen Thanksgiving makes the tears start flowing freely. The festivities were dampened a little by one baby Lucy (why didn't anyone remind me that newborns were so much work?) but we did manage to have some fun. Two trips to Five Guys (of course), two mountain bike rides (for the big boys), one trip to Target, a visit to the Albany Museum, a Thomas the Train movie in the theater and, obviously, the making and eating of a dreamy homemade Thanksgiving dinner. None too shabby, I'd say.

Will loved having his cousins come and the excitement at their impending arrival was palpable. He helped me clean the whole house for his cousins with gusto and not one complaint--all I had to say was, "We got to clean this or that for our cousins" and he was all help (not his typical reaction when asked to clean). Plus, he called Amy at least a dozen times, asking when they were coming. And when he was waiting for them to arrive at the window and they finally got here, he dashed into my room and shouted with joy, "Our cousins are here! Our cousins are here!" And the next day, when Josh got home from work, he proclaimed, "Dada, our cousins are still here!" It was priceless. Whatever are we going to do without our Vermont Madsens?

Of course, this Thanksgiving I am grateful for my little family. How blessed are we to have Will and Lucy Lu in our lives? I could never fully verbalize how grateful I am for those two little rug-rats, even if they are the world's least photogenic children, as evidenced below:

Sam, Beth, Will and Lucy (barely) sitting, ready to eat a Thanksgiving feast (where is James? Who knows??)
And here is a better one of Sam and Beth but check out Will. I'll bet those of you who know him know what he is saying, "I am tired." A mantra he chats from 5:00 on.

And my two kids. Aren't they prizes?


Happy Thanksgiving!

Janelet

Our favorite Aunt Jane also came to help out with the babe and Will. It was uber nice of her to give up a weekend of living large in New York City to spend it with us happenin' folk in Schenectady, participating in such exciting things as cleaning out the pantry/fridge, Thanksgiving shopping at BJ's and going to bed at 10:00 (the earliest, she claimed, she'd been to bed in ages). It was so nice to have an extra set of hands around--she held baby Lu Lu all through church so I could run around and do my Relief Society responsibilities and Josh could do his Young Men's. I think I need Jane at church with me every week. We seriously adore our Aunt Jane and are so glad we finally got a picture with her (I made everyone snap a photo before church). And my kids are her hair twins, which couldn't make me happier. Isn't she beautiful? Love you, Jane. Come back and soon!

Granny Came, Too

I'm seriously easing into this whole parenting-two-children-gig. And it's a good thing. It's not for wusses (how anyone cares for more than two children is mind-boggling to me). I've had lots of help come my way, saving me in these times of sleep-deprivation, never-ending nursing sessions and constant diaper changes. And let's not even talk about Will. After Josh went back to work, I flew solo for two days, then my mom came. After she left, I had three days by myself until Josh's mom came. Then she left and I had four days alone before Aunt Jane came. And immediately following Jane, Amy and the kids came to play with Will for a week (and spend Thanksgiving) and let me sleep in every day (because we all know Will is a notorious early riser--especially when his cousins are around. Sorry, Amy). Now I am facing my longest stretch yet--two whole weeks all by myself (not including weekends, of course) until my dad comes (I called home and begged for him to come. We can't wait). Let's see if I can handle these two weeks (one week down and I barely survived).

We were so very happy to have Granny (Josh's mom) all to ourselves for a week. The day she left, Will ran into the bathroom while I was taking a shower and cried, "I miss Granny." I quickly told him, "I miss Granny, too, buddy." And trust me, we still miss Granny. She got up with Will every morning, cooked us 14 batches of enchiladas to go in our new freezer (that she got for us because where else were we going to fit 14 batches of enchiladas?), made us dinner, took Will to get some trains, colored with Will (as shown in the pictures below. Castles were that week's fascination), snuggled baby Lucy lots and just spoiled us rotten. We love you, Granny and we miss you lots!

All Dressed up and No Place to Go

If you can believe, this little girl is one month old. I really can't. To celebrate, I got her all dressed up and ready for church in this darling little dress, but instead of wearing it to church, she only wore it to a much-needed four-hour nap at home (she'd had a really rough morning with NO naps, so when she finally crashed, I told myself I'd just bring her to church once she woke up. But she never woke up. And since Josh and Will were already at church, I had a glorious afternoon, far more restorative than church--shhh, don't tell my bishop I said that).

After church, Will, Lucy and I had a little photo shoot to commemorate her first month of life. Will took several of these photos and didn't do a bad job, I'd say. We love you, Lucy, even if you are a tad high maintenance at this early stage of your life. We can't imagine life without you!

Look at her cross-eyed look!

The Night I Cried Myself to Sleep. . .

. . .was the night my mom/Grammy left us. Really. I cried myself to sleep, for so many reasons. I cried because when Grammy was here:

• Will had a constant playmate, coloring (and coloring and coloring), playing with play-do, driving cars, reading books, etc., etc., etc. Will loves him his Grammy and could NOT understand why she had to go home.


• I got to sleep in until 8 every morning, knowing that Will was taken care of. I cried a lot for the loss of this one.


• We had a home cooked meal every night that I had nothing to do with. And I never even washed a dish.


• We ate lots of yummy homemade baked goods (Will told me after Grammy left that Grammy is the best cookie maker ever.)


• Will got to and from preschool without any assistance from me.


• She cleaned my house. Twice. And it needed it.


• I had a constant friend and companion. I cried the most at the loss of this one.

We love you, Grammy. We miss you. We really, really want you to come back. And soon. Thanks for making the long trek out to see us and help us.

Now, here is the only picture I took of Grammy and my kids, but it had to make it on the blog):

And Even More Lucy

Another friend took some pictures of our little Lucy. They turned out darling. My friend, April, has a photography business and she is very talented. If you live in the area and are looking for some fantastic pictures, look her up.

Here's the link to the photos of our Lucy Lu: http://www.aprilnewmanphoto.com/?p=370

Thanks, April!

Halloween 3-Year-Old Style

In order to truly appreciate Halloween, I think you must be three. In my opinion, this holiday was made for three-year-olds. So, without further ado, here's how to have the perfect Halloween, three-year-old style. (And yes, below you will find picture overload. I did pare it down. A little).

1. Have a lazy mother who once again failed to get you a Halloween costume (can we blame baby Lucy just a little??). Have a wonderfully talented friend and neighbor who once again let you raid her homemade Halloween costume collection and pick out your favorite one: a dinsadour costume, of course (that's how he says it: dinsadour).

2. Wear that dinsadour costume everywhere for two weeks straight: to bed, riding your bike, to music class, to Panera for dinner. If your mom or dad tells you that you cannot wear that dinsadour costume to church and/or school, break down in absolute hysteria.

3. Attend your preschool's Halloween party and parade with all your school friends (especially Olivia--the little Snow White to the right of Will. He loves Olivia and she loves him. Olivia told her mom that she wants to "bury" (aka marry) Will).

4. Insist you hold your baby sister in her Halloween outfit. (Or insist you hold your baby sister in any outfit. At any time).

5. Carve a "scary jack-o-lantern" with your headless horseman father and your grammy. Love every second of it, especially the lighting of the jack-o-lantern at night. (And, of course, it's all done while wearing your dinsadour costume).

6. Attend the ward party, where you participate with your whole heart and soul in every game, in order to win the coveted prize: candy, candy, candy. In fact, insist you play every game twice so that you can receive more candy. (Note: my favorite game is pictured directly below. Will had to crawl through the streamers without knocking them down to get to the pumpkin filled with candy. Never have I seen a child take on a task so seriously. He was not messing around).

7. Go trick-or-treating for the first time in your neighborhood. Run with gusto and much excitement to every door (really, I want that image to stay in my mind forever--Will running gleefully from door to door, dinosaur tail wagging, pumpking pail glowing in the dark night. It will make me smile for years to come). Once you've hit about 15 houses, tell your dada, "It's past my bedtime. Let's go home."

Trick-or-treating at our house with Grammy passing out candy.

After running so fast and furiously from house to house, Will would run up to the house, ring the doorbell, then sit down and wait, then say, "I just need to rest a minute." It was too cute.

Happy Halloween to all. May you ever experience and enjoy it through the eyes of a three-year-old.