TV obsession

Tyse is obsessed with the TV. There is no denying it. I am usually really good about monitoring his tv time and limiting it to certain times and shows- obviously since I have resumed my permanent position on the couch it has increased some. However-I think it is HILLARIOUS the things he chooses to watch. He still loves his PBS shows- Super Why, Wordworld, etc. But what is it about Cyberchase that is intriguing to a 4 year old that has no idea what a fraction is or how to multiply? That is just one of those things. But the wierd things he LOVES to watch? His new favorite show- American Gladiators. He and Kent are a bit obsessed with it. I thought I would use this to our advantage and try to get him to limit is dinner eating time to less than 45 min. by telling him that he needed to eat dinner and we needed to have family home evening before we could watch American Gladiators that started in 45 min. I should have known better. Anything that limits the amount of time he has to do something is completely crippling! It doesn't matter if it is 5 minutes or 5 hours- he cannot function once a time limit is imposed. Anyway, he didn't get to watch Gladiators on monday evening and I have heard about it ever since. His newest fight- Why does it have to be on mondays? Don't they know it is family home evening and there isn't time to eat and do both?
The next new show obsession- the Cosby Show. I guess that comes genetically because I have seen every episode only about a million times and I still like to watch it, but it is funny to see him think it is funny.
And lastly- Deal or NO Deal. He walks around asking me if things are a deal or no deal all week, and when the show is on, he sits on the couch yelling- "EIGHTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS! WOW, THATS A LOT OF MONEY. DEAL? DEAL? OR DO YOU NEED MORE?" How corrupt is that? I swear he really is 4 going on 24.

Kent's Birthday

We just celebrated Kent's birthday! It was exciting to get things ready and have Tyse be excited and helping me pick out presents and things for him. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and father for our boys. We had a small family party on the actual day, and then Kent had told me that he really wanted to go snowshoeing. Well, Me and snowshoeing don't really go hand in hand at the moment, so I was able to set up a snowshoeing afternoon with Doug and Dave for the next day while the girls watched the kids at shay's new house. I think he had a great time and now has added snowshoes to his neverending wish list.

Kent has been so busy helping me around the house and working late hours, fixing dinner, doing laundry, taking care of the boys, and all this that he definitely deserved an afternoon away. I wish we could have gone together, but I am sure he had just as good of a time with the boys. I love you, Kent! Happy Birthday!

Sledding with cousins!

The day after christmas our boys (kent included) headed outside with the snow-deprived cousins from southern california to do some sledding. It was so fun to see the little ones all bundled up and sliding down the hills at grandmas- here are some highlights!


Emitt LOVED the snow this time, and he loved sledding as well. The things dads can get away with that moms feel guilty about... is this safe?

Tyse loved the sledding and kept going and going- in every different fashion he could come up with.

Tyse also has a love for snowball fights- I think this one ended in his first ever whitewash. Again, the things dads get away with!

What a great day in the snow!

Christmas at grandma's

Christmas has come and gone, and it was such a wonderful event that it really is almost sad that it did finally end. Luckily, santa found grandma paula's house even through the snow. Tyse was VERY excited that it was snowing so badly- he was sure that Santa would have a GREAT use for rudolph and his nose since we had trouble making it 20 miles in our car. I swear- an hour and 20 minute long drive to highland was the LAST thing on emitt's christmas list! Thank goodness for bags of pretzels!
Tyse really got excited about santa's visit (and Kent did as well) so they left oranges for santa and carrots for rudolph- since when do you leave ORANGES for Santa? But he ate them nonetheless, and Santa's "reindeer" named Red really enjoyed the milk. Tyse also left a letter, to which santa replied and made christmas morning very exciting for the family!
On Christmas Eve my brother and his family came in from California, so any thougts of an early bedtime were dashed completely! They didn't get here until about 9:30 that night, and Tyse was so excited to play with his cousins. So, poor santa didn't make an appearance until very late... 3 am!
The fun thing about having cousins in the same house on christmas morning is that you have no idea really which gifts are for you and which are for your cousins- something that didn't get worked out until all of the gifts made it to their final destinations!
We felt so lucky to spend time with our family and friends and to enjoy the season in such wonderful company! What a wonderful holiday for memories!

Our first snowman!

A few weeks back, grandma and grandpa madsen were visiting right after a big snowstorm. So- Tyse and Kent went out at 9 that night to build our first family snowman. Here is a picture of the creation:

Tyse was so excited and was sure that he would melt before christmas, and "be back on christmas day" just like the frosty the snowman song says. Well, luckily, he hadn't yet melted on christmas so I didn't have to get into all that explaining... thank goodness!

The Tree hunt

After Tyse's birthday party, we braved the 6+ inches of snow (and still piling up) and loaded everyone into the car to go find our christmas tree! It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to this new place we have never tried to go before, and it turned out to be the best place we have cut yet! Even though it was still snowing like crazy, the roads were really well maintained and we didn't even have to go off the highway to find a place to park and hike! The kids did great but after a while of hiking around, it was just getting too dark to see anyomore, so we loaded back up and went home, only to return the next morning to try again.
It was really beautiful and peaceful to be out in the woods when it was snowing so heavily, listening to christmas songs, and just being together as a family! We (I) have been really trying to simplify this season and not get so crazy about everything, and this was such a great chance to do that and just spend some time together without spending money or braving the crowds or anything like this. I am so grateful for a husband that likes to do these kinds of things with me, and is willing to pack up and do whatever I can't. What an amazing husband I have!
The highlight of the trip was when we tied the sled to Red the dog and then let Tyse sit in it and Red pulled him all over the road there. It was so funny! Tyse thought it was about the best ride he could ever try, and Red LOVES to pull and apparently LOVEs the snow, so it was great! The next morning was beautiful and since I hadn't been feeling all that wonderful, I sent Kent out tromping on the hunt and spent the time in the car getting the Kids all bundled up. WHen he thought he found the PERFECT tree, he came back for us and we all headed up to cut it down and haul it back to the car. Tyse's favorite part of the trip was trying to guess which way the tree would fall when Kent got through it, my favorite part was the simplicity of it all, and Kent's was finding the best tree we have ever cut AND watching Red run and play unbothered and unbridled. That was wonderful as well!

Tyse turns 4!

We finally got to the big day- Tyse turned 4! We celebrated with a party for neighborhood friends on the saturday before, and it was so fun! We had a batman party- I think he had that picked out since immediately following his train party last year- and we just did a VERY SIMPLE child's party. We played "Batman, Batman, Joker"...


Followed by "pin the bat on batman" and then went for the cake and presents. I haven't been feeling so great pregnant wise, so my sweet neighbor Kjersten made Tyse's cake for us and it was delicious! My other friend Angie hung out to help control the madness, but miraculously, 9 children under the age of 6 weren't very difficult! In fact, I would say they were all VERY well behaved and we had no problems at all. I wish my 2 kids could act as well every day!
The kids inhaled pizza and chocolate cake and I think had a great time!

It was so fun to see some of you that we don't get to see too often, and we missed seeing a lot of you- too bad (well, really HOORAY!) for crazy winter storms!
We also had a family affair on the actual day. I got a kick out of him because all day he walked around saying, "mom, an I 4 yet?" I would tell him he was, and he would say he wasn't because his body hadn't told him that he was 4 yet. It needed his chocolate cake to turn 4. After all that "you have to listen to your body to tell you when you [insert appropriate comment... need to go to the bathroom, need a nap, need to have more dinner, etc.]" it finally sunk in... just in time!
The new bike was a big hit and I definitely don't stand a chance of keeping up with him anymore!

We are so lucky to have such a sweet, strong willed boy in our family! He adds comedy and witty comments all the time to our lives and we LOVE hearing about his dreams, listening to his knock knock jokes, and enduring the power ranger cartwheel kicks! He loves to learn and has a new love of writing his letters and spelling things out. I can't believe he is old enough for that!
WE love you tyse!