Progress....

Yes - this would be progress. They poured the footings today. Sounds like they will do all the foundation first of next week and the framer wants to have it framed by the end of the week. That could be really crazy. We are doing a wrap around deck on the front and I wanted to gloat (hehe) about what a beautiful view we are going to have sitting on the front porch. Really, I am not gloating but besides an actual laundry room and official office, this view could be one of my favorite features of the house. Busy weekend, ball games tomorrow and baby blessing on Sunday! At least we can enjoy it with good weather!

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures...

I love this little picture. Yes, I think he may be a red head! I am really thinking that he is beginning to like his belly. He gives smiles every once in awhile! He is growing so quickly!
This was Macee and Peighty at Macee's final dance concert. We can' wait to see Peighty running around in a little tutu!!
This is Mick, Matthew and Macee at her recital. Thanks for the flowers Carrie and Matthew!!! You can tell how pleased Macee is in this picture! Nice face MICK!!!
This is Ellee and Murphy. Ellee is 3 weeks older than Murphy. They are going to be good buddies. Either that or get into alot of stuff at grandmas together!
And this is my McGwire saying goodbye to me. He was soooooo excited to get out of this house and go down to Cleveland to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Oveson!!! He was hilarious. We kinda had to talk Maddog into going (he is a homebody) but McGwire was ready and rarin to go! Thanks mom. The boys love being at your house! No big plans for the weekend. I am mother of the year and didn't make my kids go to school today or tomorrow! I should remind myself that summer get's long enough, I should make them go every last minute!!! Baseball games Saturday and oh ya, we do have big plans... Murphy is getting blessed. Duh, not so smart!!! That is just me these days. Chow!!!

Week in Review

Okay - so Mays is now 18 months old and this would be the first time I have ever taken him to a studio to get his pictures done. Mother of the year. I was too cheap to buy the CD so these pictures are pictures I took with my digital camera of his pictures I purchased. I know - cheap, but I don't have a scanner either (something I definitely need to invest in). Anyway, thought I would share. My favorite is the one clear down at the bottom. Still haven't figured out how to move these pics around (if anyone has suggestions!) My mom thought he looked so happy but actually he was very grumpy. The only thing that made him smile is he had a baseball and every time he would throw it to me we would clap. He would clap with us and smile! Hence - his hands being together in each pic! Love the boy!

This is what 1 pm church does for our family. My boys are such nappers and Mays was not home long enough to get him out of his church clothes before he layed on the couch and sacked out. I was trying to have McGwire skip his nap (if not - he is up all night) so he was helping me in the kitchen cut strawberries. He layed his head on the bar and this is the result.

I loved the above pictures. The Madsen house must be boring. All the boys are playing either GameBoys or PSP and Macee is playing with Bub's phone. He is the best kid. Macee has a HUGE crush on Bub and instead of being a stink to her, he is totally awesome to her. He let's her play with his phone all the time. I think he is probably about sick of her changing his screen saver to her picture though!!!

I love Bub's expressions. I look at these pictures and it's makes me laugh. Eric told Carrie the other day that he would hate for Matthew to have to be the first butt he kicked for chasing his daughter. HEHE!!!
This is precious Murphy sleeping in his bouncer. Don't let it fool you. He doesn't really sleep in his bouncer. This was a fluke!

This is my favorite pic of Mays. This is the smile that makes me happy daily. This is the smile I have to remember every time I am cleaning dish detergent or shampoo off my floors!

That is all for now. Don't tell Eric (he will find out - he does read the blog) but him being home has really put a cramp in my blogging. I am not complaining, I would much rather have him around than keep up in the blogging world! We were planning on having the usual Birthday party for Mick at Eric's stadium but they were hosting the 4A or 5A State Tournament so we decided at the last minute to have the team come over after their games on Friday and just hang out. What an awesome group of boys. I really do love each of them. I kinda laughed because they are all so competitive that at times they fought like girls but they are such good boys. We are blessed to be a part of this team. Mick has made so many wonderful friends and so have we! Sorry - no pics. It was was too crazy!

Happy 10th Birthday Mick

Wow - My Poor Mick.....

Everytime he has a birthday I get so sad. Mick is the oldest and I cannot believe he is 10!! It just seems like yesterday... I know - we hear it all the time but as a mother it is so true! Mick has been one of the biggest blessings in Eric and I's lives. Eric was so ready to be a dad by the time we had Mick. I don't think I changed a diaper for a week. Mick spent countless hours on his daddy's chest as a baby.

The great responsibility of being a parent, holding this little baby and knowing what was ahead as far as raising him correctly... This is what really made us re-evaluate our life and the way we were choosing to live. After Mick was born was when Eric and I made the decision to go through the temple. Mick was about 6 months old and I can remember before we went just having wonderful dreams about sitting across the alter with my husband and having them bring little Mick into us all dressed in white. Well, Mick had a different idea of how it should be. Mick had cried the entire time he was in the nursery at the temple because he didn't have a familiar face there. He had finally cried himself to sleep when they woke him up to come the the sealing room. I can still hear him screaming at the top of his lungs throughout the temple. We seriously had to hold him down by us to get him sealed. Oh, well - all the same.

Mick has a huge responsibility as the oldest of 6. But if you ask him, he would have 6 more. He loves his brothers and sister to death. We have always expected alot out of Mick and he has always rose to the challenge. He is not a quitter. He is a hard-nosed kid who loves to laugh. We are so proud of Mick and the young man he is becoming. Mick - we love you bud! Happy Birthday!

Mick E Madsen 5/22/98

<

Going Private

Okay - I too am joining the rest of ya'all and going private. I struggle with this also but... Eric thinks it's definitely best for our family so... if you are a fan of our family blog please leave a comment with your email and I will send an invite so you can keep up with our family; which is hard... sometimes I have a hard time keeping up!! HEHE!!! I love blogging and I love the fact that people might like our blog so please don't be shy - leave your email! I will probably be doing this in about a week so.... until then....

I have really lost it!!!

Really quickly, for those of you who I have mentioned that we will be blessing the baby on June 8th, I have lost it. My grandma (thank you grandma) just called to see what day I was blessing Murphy and I told her the 8th. She asked why I wasn't doing it on the 1st. Okay - duh!!! I had in my head that Mick played in Idaho the first weekend in June, thus we would be blessing him on that Sunday, not realizing that the June 1st was a Sunday. Needless to say, we will be blessing him on June 1st. Sacrament at 1 pm and dinner following!

Pizza Party!

So Friday night, we had Matthew, Wacky and Bo come over while Carrie and Jason went to a ward auction. Carrie was so worried about leaving all 3 of her boys with us but I have to tell you, they had a ball! They arrived and immediately got swim suits on. They turned the sprinklers on and jumped on the trampoline forever.

After a bit, we went in and they each made their own pizzas. The little boys thought this was so cool. They ended up dumping the entire bag of cheese on the bar and scrapping for the last of it. Mick and Bub got a little carried away as you can see. I am surprised that they actually ate their entire pizza's!

After dinner we went down to the park and the older boys played basketball and the little guys played on the playground. My kids, including Macee (she thinks Bub is hot) had such a great time! We cannot wait for our next get together!

Friday Night Party!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Lydell

Today is Grandpa Lydells' Big Day. I know that Grandpa is a fan of our blog and will be checking to see if we have anything new going on! I think he turns 21 today right dad? I love you, the kids love you!!! Happy Birthday to the best daddy ever!

The Murph Man

Thought I would share my chubby baby with the world. He is so fun and fat!!! I can't believe he was oh, so little just a few weeks ago! Not much going this week - I have to say, I LOVE my in laws. My dear mother-in-law called yesterday and asked if she could come get my kids Saturday! Are you kidding me! My plans are to go to Mick's ballgames, by myself (it really is a treat for me) and then really scrub down my house. I know that doesn't sound fun but you don't know how much I really am looking forward to it! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Weekend in Review

Okay - so sorry for all the pictures but I really did have to be picky and pick out my favorites. I should quit taking so many pictures. We spent Saturday at the ballpark and Sunday home with family. It was a nice mothers day except my hubby was out of town.


So this cute picture is of the Christensen boys. How cute are they. I love Jaxon sporting his Yankees Jersey! I love Bo too but I am a big fan of theYankees stripes!

This is Khloe and Murphy. I think of him so small and yet he looks like a giant compared to her.

This is the beautiful bouquet of flowers that McGwire picked me for Mother's Day. Yes, I did say pick. After bringing them in the house to me I proceeded to go outside to see that everyone of my tulips had been picked. He had help from his little cousin BreElle! All I could do was smile. How can you get mad at the kid?

The above picture would be McGwire cleaning up his art work! I have never had a kid draw on the walls so this was new to me. Wow - this kid was really on one this week. Green marker everywhere! Up and down the stairs, all the way down the hall... he even colored the door knobs. I partially blame myself because this was during nap time and I was sure everyone was sleeping. I was busy blogging so I hadn't checked for a bit! Anyway, thank goodness it was washable marker. He cleaned up everything!

Breakfast at the ballpark - compliment of Wendy's. Need I say more!

Maddux walking Bo????? Dawn had her puppy at the ball park and while the other kids were playing with the dog, Maddux thought it would be fun to use his leash to pull Bo around.

Chloe reading her princess book to Macee. I thought this was sooo cute! She really was telling Macee a story!

So - there you go! Sorry so sporadic. I didn't figure out how to upload more than 5 until I had already uploaded the first batch and I didn't want to redo because we all know how long it takes to upload the pictures! We had a good weekend. I officially start back to work tomorrow. I say officially because I haven't quite ever stopped! It will be nice to get back into a routine. I hate the thoughts of missing my afternoon nap with Murphy on my chest and all the other boys laying around me. That was kinda nice! It is nice that I am home and will get to take breaks for feedings and so on. Murphy will probably spend most of the day in my office in his bouncer anyway. He doesn't cause too much trouble yet!

Awesome Day!

I know to most of you this picture will mean nothing but a pile of dirt! But to our little family, it is the beginning of our new home! We are sooooo excited to see that we now have a hole! YAY!!! It will be nice that the house is so close so I can go take pictures ever so often!

Another awesome thing we welcomed today was my sisters new precious Khloe! Janet is tough. From arrival to delivery was less than 45 minutes. She arrived at a 1 and they didn't think they would keep her. Her water broke and within 5 minutes Khloe was here. No time for any type of meds or heaven forbid - Epidural! Poor thing! I don't know how she did it. She looks totally Oveson - that little button nose!

I didn't even make it to the hospital from my house! She is a trooper and the baby is gorgeous! Yay - Murphy has a new playmate!

Khloe Grace born 5/9/08 4:30 am 6 lbs 11 oz

Tribute to Coach

Thanks to our good friends, the Christenesens this is what McGwire put on the morning of the big game (BYU vs. UVU)! This is the first time this shirt had been put on in our home. Of course we don't OWN a BYU shirt but Jason decided to sneak it in a bag of PJ's Carrie gave to the boys. Anyway, I told him he couldn't wear it and he asked if he could call Eric and ask his dad. Eric just giggled.

Anyway, besides the fact that we had a great win against BYU that night it was just a great evening! What a tribute to coach Gardner. There was a record crowd and he had several past players there to honor him. Hopefully in one of the pics in the slideshow below you can see how there were several guys down on the field. They were past players or men that had coached with Gard in the past.

It was a great night. I told Eric it was weird to think that the next home game he would be the head coach.

Farewell Coach!

You are a Pirate

If you want to hear the music you can scroll down on the right and pause my playlist. Might make it more enjoyable! BTW - it is not me screaming! It was all the other dance moms!

Rat Race....

Let it begin.. Saturday morning...
Alarm set for 6:30 - snooze it twice (Murph hadn't slept at all)!
Woke Macee up and did the hour makeup/hair prep for dance competition. Luckily Mick had stayed at a friends house the night before (thank you!!) so I didn't have to worry about him. Grandpa Dave was heading down to pick up Maddog, Gwire and Mays so at 8 I woke them up and got them dressed and breakfast.

I had to pack a couple diaper bags.. one for Grandma and Grandpa Madsen and the other for me and Murphy for the dance competition. Sent Macee with my sis to Kearns high school for the dance competition (thanks Janet) and went to Micks' first ball game at 9:30. Left the ball game at 10:30 to make it to Macee's first dance at 11:00. Hung out at the last dance competition (did I mention LAST !!! WOO HOO) until 3:30 and then drove to Syracuse to pick up the boys. I did have about an hour to visit with Vicki's parents, Grandma and Grandpa Callister, Martha, McKayla, Tyson and Melissa. We don't get to see them often so that was nice.

Drove back to get to Mick's last ball game of the day at 7:30. After that was over we drove Kira and Macee's other dance friend Cassidy home (to Orem) and came home at 11:00 with three little boys sacked out in their car seats! It was very easy to get all them to bed (HEHE since they were already to sleep). Even Mick, who doesn't seem to get exhausted, crashed on the couch while I was bringing in all the boys.

I finally laid my head on my pillow at midnight but no luck. I love my poor baby to death and I know that he is just miserable with his belly problems but I hope we get it figured out VERY soon. I can't continue going on 2 hours of sleep a night. Not complaining - trust me!! I am just a woman that likes my sleep. Anyway, we were very lazy today. I didn't even take the kids to primary because Mick was feeling a little queezy!

We are so excited about the big game tomorrow night. I am sure it will be the biggest game that has been at UV's field ever. I hope everything goes well for Coach and Debi. We will greatly miss their friendship. Anyway, I am putting a little video of Macee's "Pirate" dance on the blog. A few of you have been asking and it's not great because I couldn't get that close. Video cameras are not allowed and I kinda sneaked because my camera actually took the video. She is the cute little thing with white pantaloons and a white top with red in the middle. In the beginning, she is the second from the right! Hopefully I get better video at their final recital on May 27th!!! Until then, this is all you get! Have a good week!

Congratulations Aunt Emliee

So we wanted to give a little shout-out to Eric's baby sis, Emilee. She graduated from Weber State today. WOOWOO!! This is the only picture that I had of her from Christmas last year. (red eyes and all - sorry Em).

She is beautiful... inside and out! Everyone that knows Emilee loves her! She is a very unselfish person that would do anything for anyone - she takes after her mother! She is energetic and soooo young. She is the one that will always be in the middle of all the kids playing. When I feel going to grandmas means visiting with adults and having adult conversation while the all the cousins play in the backyard, it is Aunt Em that the kids always ask to play ball. She really is awesome! Anyway, we have joked about her being in school forever but amidst going to school she played college volleyball for 2 years, got married and had 2 beautiful little girls. So thata girl Em! We love you!

Solution for Sleep??? We can Only Hope!

So, after 1 month of not getting ANY sleep I broke down and went and purchased a bouncer. I had collected 3 bouncers over the years but when Eric went and got fixed after Mays I sold them in my moms yard sale - for probably like $5 a piece. Well, I was being cheap and WAS NOT going to go buy one for one more baby but my other boys slept so well with the vibrations that I finally decided that this item was "Priceless!" I will let you know if it was worth the money tomorrow! I also had a friend that suggested the blanket. It kinda reminds me of a straight jacket but Murph actually seems to like it. I am open to any more suggestions. My body is starting to get really exhausted.

In the midst of our 3 am feeding this morning I think I was having a little pity party for myself. My boss has always teased me that I could have hung out with the Indian Squaws because I just go about it and out comes the baby and then I just keep going about it. Well, not this time. I am so grateful for good family and friends that have helped pick up the pieces where I have missed! I really feel at times that I have lost it (some of you know EXACTLY what I mean)! I am not sure if it's because Eric has been away so much or just the overwhelming feeling of all these kids.

Most of my friends know I am not the greatest mom. Yes, I let my kids sip on my Diet Coke. Yes, we have an extremely late bedtime at this house (my kids are later gators!). Yes, Maddux probably knows more curse words than the average 12 year old. Yes, we are probably on the inactive list due to me not being brave enough to sit with all my kids through sacrament meeting alone and having this baby. Because I am at my whits end, my poor kids get yelled at more than they probably should. On any given day you would need to give me at least an hours notice to pick up all the toys and clothes of my floor before you arrived at the house.

Anyway, I could go on and on. People ask all the time, "how do you do it?" Just to clarify really quickly. I don't always! This week being one of them. Not everyone in the world is blessed to have a Shari! Shari is our nanny. I want to thank her so much for all her extra help. She is also on maternity due to the fact that I am not working. I have been doing a little here and there but she is awesome to just come take the kids for an hour or spend an hour with them - and not even get paid. What a great person! One day, she came and cleaned my whole house to suprise me. We all love her so much - Thanks Shar!

Anyway - Mays just woke up screaming which woke up Murph so I am off!

My New Stuff!