more Madsen

Only a few months old

Pre-School

Stuck!

13 years ago

13 Years ago today, this is what I was doing! Oh, he was a beautiful baby!

Madsen Nicholas: Weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces

We were so young and clueless!

He was 2 weeks old in this picutre.

Today

Here we are 5 years later! We have baptized 2 boys with the third baptism just months away. We have had 2 babies, one a very pleasant surprise. We have had 2 kids finish elementary school and 2 kids start their school years.

Madsen has been ordained a Deacon and serves as the Deacon Quorum President. He is days away from turning 13! Sully has survived surgery and learned valuable lessons in honesty and is looking forward to being ordained a Deacon in February. He is our only kid to earn all 4's on a report card. Declan has gone from a little boy to a fun big kid. He is turning 8 next month and looking forward to his baptism. He will be in 3rd grade. Cannon was born 5 weeks after we moved here. He is such a character! He will be starting Kindergarten in the fall.

Matt has finished his post-doctoral fellwoship and now has a real job! For the first time in our 14 year marriage, we are not affiliated with a university! He has served in the Young Mens presidency, Cub Scouts, Primary and now as the 1st Counsleor in the bishopric. He has gained some weight and lost some hair!

Waverly has been born and adds such a sweetness to our family. I have served in Relief Society, Primary and Young Womens presidencies and gone to girls camp more times as an adult then a girl! I have run my first 10k and looking forward to my first half marathon. We have loved the beach and missed real mountains! We have become accustomed to humidity and lots of oxygen!We have out grown our house that once seemed so big and look forward to buying a new one, some day! We have made great new friends. We have found the place we hope to never leave. The past five years have been very busy and fun. We have experienced much and look forward to so much more to discover out here!

5 years ago...

Today is our 5 year North Carolina Anniversary. Here is the moving van that took us from our little home in Colorado across the country in 4 horrific days. I was way pregnant with Cannon an driving the van with 3 boys. It was such a long, slow trip. I had a hard time staying awake while I was driving. I was following Matt and he could not go too fast. Every now and then I would fly by him and tell him I would meet him at at the next rest stop. We spent the 4thof July in a little town hotel, I don't even remember what state we were in. When we finally reached Sheila's house in Ohio, I had had it and the boys had had it. It was such a welcome relief to stop and visit and eat real food. We still had one long day ahead of us.

When we finally reached NC we were welcomed by 25 people from our new ward waiting at the house to help move us in. My feet were so swollen and my huge body just ached. I was so happy to see so many helping hands and meet new friends.
This is how we looked back then. The boys seemed big but they were so little. Matt and I were young too! Quite a bit has changed in the last 5 years.
I thought we would come out here, do the Post-doc thing for a few years and head back west where things are normal. Now we love it out here and hope we never have to leave. The boys have grown up and of course we have added Waverly. Life has been very good in North Carolina.

O-R-E-O

This was Waverly's first Oreo cookie. She really liked it. I gave her little bites and she would open her mouth like a little baby bird waiting for more. It is not the cleanest food to eat, but she is washable! I love her sweet little smile of chocolate bliss!

Academic Awards

The boys had another successful school year. They all received awards. Declan was given the Principal's Award. Each teacher picks the student who is the best, ok, maybe not their choice of words, but the one who follows the rules, does well academically, is friendly etc. Declan was one of his teachers favorite students. She often told me that he is a model student and she would tell other kids to watch Declan and do what Declan does.

Sully received both the Principal's Award ( barely, see What a tangled web we weave post) and the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. I sorted all the kids school work I have saved over the years and Sully received the Principals Award every year except 3rd grade. Pretty Good! He got all 4's on his final report card for Elementary school. We were pleased. He laughed at the letter from President Obama, not believing that he wrote or signed it. We saved it any way.

Madsen was on the A-B honor roll each quarter so he got his certificate for that accomplishment. He did a great job. He has been on the honor roll every quarter of middle school and rewarded at the Academic awards both years. Only one more to go!

Here is Cannon getting his "way to go, you finished Joy School" certificate. No fancy pre-school graduation here! He was happy and we had a fun picnic with his friends to celebrate. I think his biggest accomplishment of the year has been learning to read. He does a great job and is so excited to go to kindergarten.

Helmet explanation

Cannon and Declan like to put the Bumbo chair on their heads.

Strange as it may be, they are welcome to do this... to themselves!

Guilty or innocent?

This is what it is supposed to be used for! Waverly sits in it to eat!
One of her naughty big brothers was trying to put the chair on her head when I heard Matt telling them not to. (see quote of the day post)

Poor girl! It will be amazing if she can make it through these brothers with out any serious damage!