Christmas Letter 2009

Jane is our biggest event of the year. Our 5th baby girl is 9months, three teethed, 90th percentile, mobile, almost walking (translated, mostly falling), growling, giggling, bouncing, and delightful. She was born on March 11th and weighed 6 pounds 12 oz. In one month her weight went from the 10th% to the 90th% (haagen dazs do wonders for milk supply). She is well (not always gently) cared for by all her “mothers”, including her now 4 year old sister

Grace who was the un-intended star of our church primary program. She sang the very loudest (by far) even if she didn't know the words or the tunes very well. She enjoys her speech class (we’ve mastered the K and G sound!) and loves to be with people (a good thing with a family of 7). She is a motivated kid who wants (and determinedly tries) to do everything almost-7-year-old Rachel does, like roller skating and riding a two wheeler, because

Rachel is super cool and “popular” as she will easily attest to. She loves her class, has taken off on reading, and was given a special “Pillars of Character” award at school. When I got the award notice I asked which pillar of character she was being awarded for. She didn’t know because she was matter-of-factly “good at all of them”. Where is this confidence from? For Christmas she wants a real magic wand so she can participate in all the Harry Potter hullabaloo like

Kimmer. You maybe didn’t know that HP is still super “in”. Believe me, it is! My girls have been known to sneak up on people and cast spells, which can be really frightening. One neighbors’ mom even asked them to please not cast unforgivable curses. I think that’s good advice for everyone. And Kimmer doesn’t--she likes to deal more with love potions. She’s been asked on a date twice (she’s 10). Not to worry, she said "No. I want to go to the celestial kingdom." She is a good kid, much like her sister

Lindsey, who is still really good even though she is now 13. She keeps busy with high school honors geometry (as a middle schooler she has the highest score in the class), cross country (she helped the girls team go undefeated—her best mile time is 6:54), good friends (possibly the best), and music (piano, violin, and jazz band). I have rarely met a teenager as self-directed as she is, which makes me believe that she must have gotten it from

Carol. Because, let’s face it, I’m awesome. I have done more laundry this year than any year before. I’ve sewn more this year too. My cousins and I did a fun round robin quilt. (Let me break this down: for Blair family readers, this was a super intensive, beautifully artistic feat. For the Madsens, be grateful I haven’t had anything to do with any of your round robins!) I also planned a trip to Mesa Verde which was totally awesome and enjoyed several good reads. The only one who can out-do me is

Daniel—but he out-does a lot of us. At work he is the temporary chief of staff (SGH) and just got selected for Lieutenant Colonel. In the mean time, he has made cement counter tops, got him a big ol’ deer, is always doing home improvements, and he rode El Tour de Tucson (109 mile bike race). He tries to balance out the two of us so on average we are in pretty good shape and really productive. He’s nice like that. He, along with

The Whole Madsen Family wishes you a peaceful and sweet Christmas. We love you!

El Tour de Tucson

El Tour de Tucson at one point comes about 4 blocks from our house so we went to cheer on the riders. One of them even took a picture of the girls holding the home made GO sign, and a lot of them would thank my girls for being supportive. (This picture is missing the exclamation point that another girl would hold, you know, just to emphasize GO!). It was a beautiful day. Daniel and our brother-in-law Bryce rode 109 miles, which I say (with emphasize) Wow!

Paper Swan

The girl who sat behind us at church folded a paper swan for Gracie. Gracie looked at it and immediately started poking me with it. I couldn't figure this out and so just ignored her. After a while she asked me "what do swans do?" I thought of the traditional romance that is paired with swans, but before I could answer, she said: they bite people. (Which is what her paper swan was doing to me, not being intriguing and beautiful and REVERENT which is what the folder intended. It may as well have been a folded dinosaur). This should not be surprising since Gracie's only experience with swans is from her Great Grandma Spencer's house. They had a pond with two swans--the father swan was particularly territorial and my younger girls were really scared of them. I remember that one time we couldn't find Gracie and Rachel anywhere, we were calling for them and looking for them to no avail. Finally they both came out of the car (in St. George where it was over 90 degrees-yes we've talked about this since) with red faces and tears streaming down their cheeks, obviously having been crying for a long time. They retold of trying to cross the bridge but they knew the swan was going to get them and bite them, so they hid in the car, still convinced that the swan was looking for them. Anyway, it's just interesting that experiences can radically differ from traditional thought. Swan lake may not be appreciated quite as much with this background.

Iron Kids

Friday at the bus stop our neighbor told us that their daughter was running a triathlon the next day. I listened and thought that sounded pretty fun, surely my kids could do that, then mentioned kindly that he should send us more information. After talking to the girls and Daniel about it we decided that they would do it too. (Kimmer said she would like to train first and I told her that it wouldn't do much good to go running the night before the race). So, very spontaneously, Lindsey, Kimmer and Rachel registered and ran a the Iron Kids triathlon.

Lindsey was in the 12-15 year old group, swam 300 meters, biked 8 miles and ran 2 miles. She said that we need to invite Ben Powell to do this next year, and she would like to work on swimming since she hasn't done laps in quite a while.

Kimmer was in the 8-11 year old group. She swam 150 meters, biked 4 miles and ran 1 mile. The biking was hard for everyone, but she hasn't really done any running so wants to train to do better for another race. She enjoyed it and did well.

Rachel beamed the whole race. She was in the 6-8 year old group and swam 50 meters, biked 2 miles and ran 500 meters. I think she smiled the whole time. She took 2nd place in her age group and qualified for the Iron Kids National Championship race (which was on Sunday so she didn't get to compete).

You can see in this picture that she is jumping up with great pride at her trophy. I think she'll be competing again too. Fun time.

New Government By Kimmer

Found this hanging up on our bulletin board. Kimmer had written it and had Rachel and Gracie sign. I wonder what set it off.

(Typed as written)
Madsen Constitution
We the girls of the madsen house hold, proclaim independence from others ruling over us. We beleive that each indevidual should have a say in every judgement. We claim that an oraganisation should be put forth to equal powers of this Madsen Family. We have listed some rights of each person should have.
(Signed, Rachel, Kimberly and Grace)

Bill of rights

• The parents are the most powerful but if 3/4 disagree with the disition, it is unafficial.
• Any one can proclaim trial. If the persons dessition is found selfish or unagreeable, they will be sentenced to cleaning
• One can not be in control of another if they are under the age of 18
• No trial can be set for protesting
• Each person should have the same time for holding Jane, even if they have homework.
• Trial can be scentanced if one person has too much tecnolagy or holding Jane, and will be scentanced according to the judge
  

Sour Cream Lemon Pie

Here's the recipe Heather. (Note at bottom for others who wanted this pie)* It is actually super easy and fast. (And Yummy).

1 C sugar
3 T cornstarch
1/4 C butter
1 C milk
1/2 C fresh squeezed lemon juice (if not using fresh, use more)
1/2-3/4 tsp lemon zest

1/2 Pint sour cream (folded in after cooking above)

Conbine sugar, cornstarch, butter, milk, lemon juice and zest in sauce pan. Whisk over medium heat until filling reaches "pudding" consistency. Remove from heat. Fold in sour cream.

Pour into baked pie shell (you can make your own or buy). Chill for two hours. Top entire pie with heavy, sweetened whipped cream (not whipped topping! You have to actually whip the cream).

Enjoy.

We made two pies with this recipe, the pies were a little thinner, but that's okay if you're a pie.

*When I was thinking about making this pie Heather told me that it sounded good. That was the key: telling me that my idea sounds good. Then I shared it with her. Daniel said that he should call and tell me that Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream sounds good, but since I didn't come up with the idea, it isn't as effective. See? You benefit from encouraging a woman's ideas. Most men could be better at this.

Whole Wheat Bread by Grandma Groberg

I was going to (still might?) make a cook book of our favorite recipes with pictures and all. For some reason it seems more doable to blog a recipe at a time with labels for easy access when I want to put it all together. In a happy way, this means everyone gets the cook book, not just a few people I would have sent it to for Christmas (which, don't worry, you would have been included). The first recipe:

Whole Wheat Bread
Long but totally worth it!
3 T yeast
1/4 c sugar
1 c warm water
Mix together and when it's bubbly add
3 c warm water
2 tsp salt
1/2 c honey
1/2 c molasses
1/4 c butter
1 c powdered milk
Enough whole wheat flour to make a soft dough
Mix together and rest 10 minutes (this is for you as much as for the bread! Even better if your rest includes some chocolate)

Add as much flour as it takes to make a little bit sticky, little bit firm dough. Let it rise twice. Form into loaves (4 loaf pans) Let rise until double. Bake at 350 for 35-40 inutes--longer if your loaf pan is glass. (That's something I've learned by failing at least a dozen times).

Side note: original recipe had 1/2 c honey or molasses. Somehow we decided that 1/2 cup of each was preferrable.

Bread dough can hardly rise when Gracie helps me cook.

Lindsey's cross country race

We don't have her official time yet, but the race was 1.6 miles and her time was around 12 minutes. She is doing really well and has a goal of running 2 miles in 15 minutes. I think she'll do it easily. The last two pictures are her sprint to the end.

Taking a tangent (which I tend to d0) for activity days my girls (ages 8-11) and I ran 3/4 of a mile and Rachel ran with us and won by a ways. Lindsey was not there, but she should start running with her. Man, I'm glad some of my athletic ability has transferred to my girls ;o}. Today Lindsey and Kimmer start tennis lessons. We'll let you know if you should start investing in their future.

Growing Baby

Janie is officially 6 months and is growing so fast. She is already crawling and trying to pull herself to standing (crazy baby). Here are some pictures.

Competing with the girls for the computer. By competing, mostly impeding their use of the computer. (Notice the site is LDS.org. No room for criticism!)

Janie loves Daniel and Daniel loves to play with her. They get a long really well. Both bring immediate smiles to the other's face.

Our smiley baby Jane. I think she has a cabbage patch smile. She tucks her lips in. It's super cute.

Ready to swim! She loves when we take her in the pool. I've even dunked her (once accidentally) and she is happy as a lark. Daniel has her float on her back, but mostly she loves to kick and splash.

The True Meaning of Labor Day

Labor: physical or mental work, esp. of a hard or fatiguing kind; toil.

Today, we ate pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast, worked in the yard (trimming trees, raking seed pods, getting ants in hair, etc), and drank lemonade.

We (mostly I) also plan to practice violin and piano, study for tomorrow's math test, go running (cross country meet on Wednesday- my goal is 3rd place!), finish lab write-up (due Wednesday), have FHE, and go to violin lessons.

But all I want to do is take a nap.

Tips from Kimmer

Kimmer put this on her blog and I loved it so I'm transferring it here. Some of you may have gotten it emailed, but it's worth re-reading. Ahh Kimmer, what a cutie!

10 tips for school.
always turn in your homework
don't be shy
only do what your going to do during the school year, gives the teacher a good view on you
don't be shy
try hard
follow rules
waire clothing that isn't wrinkly and dirty. Sets a bad impression
be friends with everyone. Gives you good contacts and keeps you updated
always raise your hand if possible
don't be unsure. Be independent!

Lindsey is 13!

Lindsey's 13th birthday was quite an event. We went to Las Cruces (just me and the girls) to stay with my brother Bob and his family. Christy (as is typical) got some fun activities for the girls to do (beaded jewelery and painting--and I have to admit that my pink ghost was pretty cute!) And she made a layered cake with whoppers and let Lindsey pick out the ice cream (homemade) toppings. Yum.

On her actual birthday we made pancakes for breakfast, I took her out of school to go to lunch (Chinese), and we had lasagna (her request) for dinner. (Man, everything revolves around food). After dinner we went on a bike ride up Sabino Canyon and Lindsey did so well. She is getting strong. Let me take a quick tangent here . . .she is in cross country and had her first meet yesterday and came in 8th of about 60 girls. Her time was around 14:20 for 1.75 miles. She wants to get under 15 for a 2 mile course. It'll happen soon. When I brag to people about this they say almost without fail that she gets that from her dad. Let me give you a pointer here: Don't say that to the mom. You can assume that I am not a good runner, and you might be right, but it just isn't polite. Let's just assume the best of people. It should be goodly parents, not just goodly parent. Let me at least think that I have some sort of good to offer in her athletic make up. ;O). Tangent over. Back to the birthday girl

Today she invited 3 friends to a party (perfect amount of people!). They played a jeopardy game that she made on power point, they went swimming, made fruit bouquets and had fruit pizza and tart homemade fro yo. It was all fresh and yum. Then they watched 13 going on 30, which is perfect for Lindsey. Happy times with an official teenager.

Cunundrum

We had a fabulous summer! Two trips to Denver, a trip to Utah, and side trips to Mesa Verde, Aspen, and Moab. On our second trip to Denver, Daniel went to a medical conference and coupled that with hiking a 14er (14000 feet elevation) with the Sabey family. It was a high adventure with some great stories. When Daniel called me to re-cap the hike he prefaced it with "Don't tell Lisa." Some of the adventurous things were climbing up loose rocks: 2 steps up, 1 step slide backwards. Daniel had to dodge a brief case size boulder that came straight at his head. Although that was probably made up for when they hot tubbed with "naturally" dressed women. (That news came from my nephews not Daniel). Towards the end at least one of the hikers were on all fours thinking death was at the next bend. And Mark took his life in his hands when he glasaded down a steep icy hill that ended into a bunch of big sharp rocks. Everyone was grateful he stopped in time--and the remainder chose to hike down on the side of the ice field. It was memorable, fun, exciting and maybe a little anti-climatic since they didn't quite make it to 14000 feet (Lindsey, Kimmer and Rachel have hiked done a 14er with the Sabey's so they are still one up on Daniel). Daniel and the Sabey's have learned that if they want to hike Cunundrum again they should take a different route, with less rocks. But overall it was a great trip that Daniel would happily do again.

Jane the Sailor

She's ready to sail, and she can't even sit up. Impressive.

Rachels First Lost Tooth

It was a momentous day, actually several days (the tooth was barely attached for a long time). But. The first tooth has fallen and things will never be the same again. We are in line for several more fallen teeth. Exciting times!

The evening after it fell out Rachel came to me sobbing because she couldn't decide whether it was worth the money to give up the tooth. It truly anguished her. Luckily the tooth fairy took heart and left the money without taking the tooth. But, unluckily, that was not the right thing to do.

Truth be known, we have an inadequate tooth fairy.

Family Vacation Video

Grace and the Toilet Paper Monster

I asked Gracie to get Jane a rag because she was spitting up and this is what Jane ended up with. Jane enjoyed it so much that she didn't want it taken away. (Thus the crying picture.)

A Real Current Event

Who: Lindsey
What: screamed and almost ran into a cactus
When: on her bikeride home from school
Where: in the shortcut near her house
Why: she saw a snake in the middle of the pathway, so quickly turned out of its way, but wasn't smart enough to brake
How: she was smiling, and looking forward to being home, but then she looked down, leaned right, screamed, and forgot there was a cactus

A photoshopped version of the snake. It was actually a little lighter in color, so it blended in. As you can see, it was probably bigger than Lindsey.

Luckily, the cactus was small, and I was back in my right mind enough that I could brake, then go around it.

I ran quickly inside, told my news, got a quick snack, and then ran outside with a camera, only to find the snake had already left.

Happy Mother's Day!

After having been given my most requested gift (that of sleeping in) I was given a darling menu with these choices:

Main Courses
Pancakes--sorry, no longer available because someone put chocolate chips in the batter.
Chocolate Chip Pancakes--yummy semi-sweet chocolate chips in a buttermilk batter.

Side Dishes
Fruit Salad--A combination of all the fruit we have.
Eggs--Scrambled or fried
Sausage--freshly cooked

Refreshments
Strawberry Smoothie--As simple as strawberries, milk and sugar.
Juice--apple, grape, pine-orange-banana, or orange
Milk--Scoot by the competition with fat-free milk!

We went with the choclate chip pancakes and strawberry smoothies. Yummy! (And convenient that I didn't choose juice or sausage since they were all frozen solid, nor fruit salad since that was pretty limited too).

I sure have great kids! (We also took pictures to send to Grandma, and so you can see that as well as great kids, I have cute kids too).