Sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down

Pixar has a darling little short film called Boundin' (on the extras of the film Incredibles) about a little sheep who has a coat of hair with the most remarkable sheen, but then one day a truck comes along, sheers the poor sheep and then dumps him back in his home in the middle of a rain storm. The down-trodden sheep is so very sad and in the dumps until a-bounding up the slope comes a great American jackal ope who has some very sound advice for the poor sheep: "Sometimes you're up and sometimes you're down. When you find you're down, just look around and you'll bound, bound, bound and rebound." (And then, of course, a lot of jumping up and down ensues). Will loves this little film and I love it too because I love the message. Sometimes in life we're up and sometimes we're down but if we just look around we'll see it ain't all so bad and we'll bound, bound, bound and re-bound. And Monday was just a down, down day. And I needed a little boundin'. So I took Will to our favorite park on a beautiful, crisp fall day in NY and basked in the goodness that it is to be the mom of this energetic, funny, vibrant little boy. Then I went to the City Mission to serve dinner and recognized that I am so blessed, that I have so much. Then I came home to a clean, quiet house and snuggled with my hubby and read this talk with him from last General Conference that stated:

"If you have been wronged--by anyone (a family member, a friend, another member of the Church, a Church leader, a business associate) or by anything (The death of a loved one, health problems, a financial reversal, abuse, addictions)--deal with the matter directly and with all the strength you have. "Hold on the way"; giving up is not an option. And, without delay, turn to the Lord. Exercise all of the faith you have in Him. Let Him share your burden. Allow His grace to lighten your load. We are promised that we will "suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ" (Alma 31:38). Never let an earthly circumstance disable you spiritually."

And I realized that I am not alone, that I am never alone. And that however it all turns out, it will all turn out right. And now I've bounded, bounded, bounded and re-bounded. Things are looking up again.

Now because no post is a good post without pictures, here are some photos of my boy at the "firetruck park".

How can you look at this photo and not be up?

So Long, Summer

It's official: summer's over. And while I typically have a love/hate relationship with summer (love all the fun summer festivities, like bbqs, summer produce, swimming, etc.; hate the humidity and heat that make me sweat every hour of every day), I find myself now longing for those sunny, summery days and wholly unprepared and unready for the dark and dreary days of winter. So, here's one last sad good-bye to summer and a final look at some of our fun summer times.

Wolfe's Neck, Maine

Madsen family vacation May 2010

The dreamy house we stayed in whilst in Maine. It was gorgeous.

Trips to Vermont.

Two, in fact. Once before baby James and once after.

Here's the sole picture we took while at Shelburne Farms.

Family Movie Nights

This time I made my boys endure Enchanted, though Will only lasted for the animated portion. I love that he thought that the princess' dress was made out of toilet paper (instead of lace).

Days at the Lake.
Moreau Lake August 2010. Will was made for the water. I was made for this kind of water. Since it is a tiny lake, 35 minutes north of us, it is soooooo very warm. Per-fect.



So long, summer!

Camping Bed

What do you get when you take:

• 3 very excited kids under the age of five
• 1 very excited man under the age of thirty-five
• 1 tent
• 3 "nigh-nighs"
• 1 DVD player?

You get:

• 2 kids attempting sleep
• 1 child bouncing and hopping all over said sleeping children (thus, waking them up--try and guess which child that was)
• 2 women sitting on the couch, eating ice cream, watching a chick flick and enjoying the peace and quiet
• 1 child taken to his crib inside
• 2 children and 1 adult finally sleeping
• 3 very tired children the next day
• 1 happy backyard campout had by all!

We sure had fun with our VT cousins. Just wishing they could come again and soon!

Beth, Sam, Will and Josh in the "camping bed" (sadly the only picture taken from their visit).

Oh What Did You Do in the Summertime?

Disclaimer: I thought it would be oh-so-fun to describe our WA trip, which happened over two months ago, in the form of a song. However, I never claimed it would be a good song or that it would rhyme. But in the form of a song it is. Enjoy the picture overload. And I even pared it down.

Oh what did you do in the summertime when all the world was green?

Did you hop on three planes,

to go to Spokane,

to see this crazy fam? Is that what you did? Well, so did I.

Oh what did you do in the summer time when all the world was hot? Did you camp in a tent,

with a view like this,

and roast marshmellows with your favorite guy? Is that what you did? Well, so did I.
Oh what did you do in the summertime when all the world was humid? Did you ride on this boat,
or go wake surfing,

or be forced to wear a pink lifejacket? Is that what you did? Well, so did I.

Oh what did you do in the summertime when all the world was happy? Did you ride on the "motorcycle boat",

or build drip castles,

or hit the ball real high in the sky? Is that what you did? Well, so did I.

Oh, what did you do in the summertime when all the world was swimming? Did you play with your cousins,

or hike to waterfalls,

or watch Tanner throw baseaballs in the sky? Is that what you did? Well, so did I!

In New York City (Take Two)

Last summer, we headed on down to NYC via the Metro North train to visit our favorite Aunt Jane and visit with Josh's parents who were visiting for the weekend (see this post for a walk down memory lane). And this year, we did it again. And it was just as fun. And this time Annie and Ryan joined us for the fun. And thanks to Jane, the best tour guide ever, we enjoyed a weekend filled with all things New York City:

• A trip to temple while Jane watched Will (thanks, Jane)!
• Playing at the playground in Central Park


• A visit to the Natural History Museum


• More Shake Shack (sooooo worth the three-hour commute)


• Boat rides in Central Park


• A night at the Met

Then, Josh and Will took off (Josh had to get back for a youth water skiing activity and he took Will with him) and I got to enjoy the city sans a kid in tow. We slept in, went to brunch at Alice's Teacup, ate Levain cookies (dreamy), had a pedicure/massage and then went to a show. It was perfect. And sort of a dream to do it all without a kid. Thanks to all who made our annual NYC summer trip a hit!
Will on the train. This train is the best because it has the added bonus of running along the water so Will gets to be on the train AND see boats. Oh how he loved it.

Jane, Jessy, Will, Annie and Ryan at the Natural History Museum. Will insisted that we find these elephants. And find them we did. And he was impressed.
This nice street performer gave Will some instruments. Will was stoked.
My cute, matching boys at Central Park.
More street performers. There were all out this weekend--the weather was a dream (which is lucky because it was August in the city).
On the boats. Will stuck his hand in the water the entire time and I just pretended that the water was clean.
The Mad Family on the boats in Central Park. It was too fun. We even saw a guy proposing to his girlfriend. We all applauded and whooped at the happy couple. Classy, no?
Will was so tired he actually fell asleep while Josh was carrying him on his shoulders. Will never just falls asleep. It was a New York City miracle. It was too cute.
Ryan, Annie, Josh, a sleeping Will and Jane all on the subway. What's a trip to NYC without a picture on the subway?

Oh, Heaven Help Us.....

...for we are attempting this:

and so far it has been anything but fun.

(Warning: potty talk ensuing. Please don't read if this will make you uncomfortable and/or squeamish).

Let's just re-cap my morning to illustrate:

• Will refuses to wear big boy underpants, but also refuses to wear a wet diaper. What will he wear? Why, nothing. He just wants to be naked. Dressing him has become quite the nightmare.
• This morning Will goes twice in the big boy potty--he just comes up to me and tells me he has to go (success!).
• We run a couple errands where one such errand is to purchase some M&Ms as bribery for going on the big boy potty. He stays dry for the hour of errand running.
• We come home, he goes pee-pee in the big boy potty and receives an M&M (success!).
• He insists on staying on the potty so that he can go again in order to receive another M&M.
• He sits on the potty for about 10 minutes.
• I leave him on the potty for all of two minutes until I suddenly hear an, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" scream coming from the bathroom.
• You guessed it (#2) is ALL over the step-stool and ALL over the floor and ALL over Will's leg.
• We clean it up yet Will still insists on sitting on the potty (he loves M&Ms). He tells me he has to go poo-poo again. Right.
• He sits on the potty for another 5-10 minutes while I clean up the kitchen. Once again I hear another, "Oh no, oh no, oh no!" coming from the bathroom.
• This time Will has shoved enough toilet paper in the toilet to cause the toilet to overflow. Water is everywhere and the toilet is still running. Arghh.
• Will still insists on sitting on the potty though it is past lunch and nap time and even though the floor around him is drenched in toilet water.
• Finally, I pry him off the potty, kicking and screaming, force feed him lunch and get him down for a nap.
• Now, not only is my house a disaster but it also doesn't smell like roses either. Per-fect. Plus, I'm scarfing enough M&Ms to make some kind of record. I have no kind of self control when it comes to those delicious morsels. Chocolate covered in a candy shell? Ingenious.
• I think I quit.
• And let's not even talk about what happened last week at Chipotle when Will's five-year-old niece insisted that Will had to go to the bathroom. Let's just say I'm never using public restrooms again.

Now, it's your turn. Please tell me that you are having just as miserable time as I am. However, if you are one of those people whose child potty trained in one day (which I totally think is an urban myth), then don't comment or brag. Misery loves company--I only want potty horror stories. Or advice. Or an offer to come to my house and personally potty train my child while I go out shopping and get a pedicure.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Our ward all gathered at our local (and I mean local) baseball game for a night of baseball, hot dogs and, of course, fireworks. To get Will pumped for the game we told him that Ben (his friend down the street) was going to the game (that holds much more appeal for our two-year-old than a night of baseball). All afternoon long he chanted, "Go see Ben. Go see Ben." So when we finally got to the game, he, of course, promptly went and found Ben, Ben's dada and insisted on sitting on Ben's dada's lap for the entire game. When we tried to get him to come sit with us, he just cried, "See Ben's dada. See Ben's dada." And who are we to refuse? So, he stayed there the entire game, asking Ben's dada repeatedly, "Where ball going? Where ball going? Where ball going?" Ben's dada, being the nice guy he is, continued to answer him. All I can say is, thank goodness for Ben's dada!

Here's Will with Ben's dada.
Ben's dada, Will, Ben and Ben's brother Damian.

Oh look--we were there too and Will deigned to sit with us for a while. (No, our child is not special; however, he does have a special cheese smile. He can smile normal--just not for pictures).

Cuddling with Dada. Will couldn't hold out for the fireworks. We had to get him home to bed.