It's Christmas Already!

The kids came in our room at 4:30 a.m. Christmas morning, thanks to an over-eager Spencer who woke everyone up at 4:00. I told them they had to wait until 6 but after about a half an hour, it was obvious they were not going back to sleep so we all went downstairs around 5 a.m. As you can see, it was still pitch dark when the kids attacked their presents. Here they are showing off their first presents from Santa. 

Rachel shows off her new skiing coat



Spencer loves his Harry Potter lego set



Courtney and Caitlin love their newest Barbies

Silly picture with Spencer's big sunglasses, a present from Rachel.  Every year, we take the kids to the dollar store to buy presents for each other.  They always enjoy giving each other presents and playing with them after they get them.



Goofing around with Daddy after all the presents are open!





Christmas Eve 2010

Cute girls pose in front of the Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve



Isn't it a pretty scene?

This year, we gave away our falling apart 12 foot tree and bought a live tree.  It's been years since we had one in the house.  It smells so good!  Caitlin loved the tree this year.

We also fixed our fireplace.  It's been broken for a couple of years so it's been really nice having fires.  Courtney and Caitlin love to sit by the fire.

This was Courtney's original angel costume.  I convinced her she needed to wear white.



But not before there was a lot of goofing off with her sister!



Spencer has been wearing this Santa hat everywhere, even to church and school. 

Brother and sisterly love

Sweet!

As usual, our family recreated the first Christmas.  Rachel was a wise"girl," Spencer a shepherd, Caitlin a sheep, Courtney an angel and Paul and I played Joseph and Mary.  For the first time, we used a doll for Jesus instead of a kid.  It made things a little easier.

Here's the angel coming to announce Christ's birth to the shepherds watching their flocks by night.

What a sweet angel!



The shepherd, sheep and angel come to worship the baby Jesus




The wise"girl" arrives bringing gifts



Opening their Christmas pajamas

Spencer, Caitlin, Rachel and Courtney pose in their Christmas pjs

Spencer, Caitlin, Rachel and Courtney on Christmas Eve.  Aren't they adorable?

Our New Family Picture

Merry Christmas from the Madsens

Another Year has flown by as they all tend to do.

So here’s another holiday poem from the Madsens to you.

This year our kids got smarter and grew taller.

We parents got wrinkled and tried not to holler.

Rachel, our oldest, has now entered her teens

With its focus on friends, fashion, and wearing skinny jeans!

She tickles the ivories, bows violin, starred in the spring play,

Loves basketball, soccer and swim team. . . school and sports fill her day!

Spencer’s baseball season ended with a cast—what a bummer!

But he recovered to race in the pool by the middle of the summer.

He wears a cub scout uniform now that he’s eight

He loves playing guitar and soccer: as goal tender, he is great!

Caitlin and Courtney (5) entered kindergarten this year.

At school and at home, they give us reasons to cheer.

They love swimming, trampoline jumping, going on hikes

And now they have mastered riding two-wheeler bikes!

Now here are a few cute quotes by our kiddies this year

As you can see, we’re not the only funny ones around here.

Kerri: "Stop blow drying your hair. You need to eat dinner before you leave. What's more important?"
Rachel: "My hair."

Caitlin: "You smell really good today."
Rachel: "Like what?"
Caitlin: "Armpit."

Kerri (while quizzing Rachel in preparation for a social studies test): “Who was the first female Supreme Court Justice?”
Rachel: “Sandra Day O’Connor.”
Kerri: “Right. She recently retired.”
Rachel: “Really? But her picture is black and white.”
Kerri (laughing): “Who appointed her?”
Rachel: “Ronald Reagan. Wasn’t it like in 1948 or something?”
Kerri: “No, Ronald Reagan was president when I was a kid in the 80s.”
Rachel: “But why is her picture black and white?”

Kerri: "What are you watching on TV?"
Courtney: "It's Pot Pie." (It was Popeye the Sailor Man.)

Caitlin: "Mommy, your eyes were open during the prayer."
Paul: "How do you know, Caitlin? Were your eyes open?"
After a long pause. . . Caitlin: "I could hear her eyes blinking."

Paul to the girls: “This is my beautiful wife. She's also your Mommy."
Courtney: "And you're her broom."
Paul: "You're right. She's my bride and I'm her groom."
Courtney: "Well. . .it sounds like broom."

Spencer: "Taking showers is against the boy code."

Spencer (after he was told he had to straighten his room before he could have friends over): "Is my room clean enough?"
Rachel: "No, there's a big mess/junk pile over there."
Spencer: "That's the place I keep junk and messes."
"A place for everything, everything in its place" takes on new meaning with that statement!

Rachel's Christmas Concert

The twins and I loved going to Rachel's chorus and orchestra concert.  Rachel played beautifully and the choir music was lovely.  She sang high soprano in a double trio in the concert and sang flawlessly.  We were proud of her!  These pictures didn't turn out very well but I took them from the balcony so I can't complain too much!

Rachel playing violin during the orchestra part of the concert

Rachel singing with the chorus



Rachel's Birthday, continued!

Rachel was very excited when a package arrived in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa!

Oh yeah!

Yay!  A Bright Pink BYU Sweatshirt!

And she models it beautifully!

We Have a Teenager! Happy 13th Birthday, Rachel!

Rachel's birthday was a busy one.  We began our morning with a visit to our ward Santa Breakfast.  Unfortunately, Santa was in the hospital so one of the Dads dressed up like Santa.  Of course, our kids recognized him right away.  The first thing they said was, "That's not Santa, it's Bethany's Daddy."  I explained to them that Santa was sick and Bro. Telle was filling in for him so Santa could get better in time for Christmas.  Courtney asked, "What's wrong with him?"  I answered that I didn't know.  Caitlin said, "I know what's wrong with him. . . He eats WAY too many cookies."  I thought that was so adorable.  Maybe Santa should eat Rudolph's carrot stick this year!

After the breakfast, I took Rachel and her friend Lexi to the mall to get Rachel's ears pierced.  She's been waiting to get them pierced until she turned thirteen.  The day finally arrived.  Rachel was nervous but the piercing went smoothly and now she has jewels adorning her ears.  After that, Rachel and Lexi hung out at our house while Paul decorated the outside of the house and I made cookies for the party we were going to that night.

It was Luminary Night in the neighborhood.  Everyone puts out luminaries and it's very beautiful.  To help make it even more festive, the DiRenzos invited neighbors over to enjoy cookies, cider and hot chocolate and visit around their fire pit while the kids played Christmas carols on their instruments.  Rachel brought her violin and with several neighborhood friends, serenaded us with beautiful music. 

When we returned home for the night, Rachel blew out her candles and opened her presents.  It was a full and special day with our now teenage daughter!

Rachel's been waiting until she turned 13 to get her ears pierced.  Here she is waiting for the big moment at the mall!

She had both ears pierced at the same time!



Here she is, ears pierced and sparkling with her new earrings!

A better view!

She spent the afternoon hanging out with her friend, Lexi

After we went a Christmas party at the DiRenzo's house,
Rachel blew out her candles and opened her presents.

New York, New York!

On Black Friday, we took our kids into NYC and explored the city. 
Here we are in Times Square.

While eating luch at Cosi, we made S'mores right at our table.





The Famous Radio City Music Hall

The boys loved the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center Plaza

This is a Lego replica of Rockefeller Center.  Pretty Cool!

The girls outside the Lego Store.  We were happy to escape the store without being trampled!  It was soooo crowded that we left Paul with Spencer and Taylor and took the girls to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Our family at Rockefeller Center

The girls outside of St. Patrick's

The girls with Cara, Dale and Maddie! 

Friends for life!

We ended the night in FAO Schwartz and enjoyed shopping in the biggest toy store in the world!

NYC Nightlife

The next day, we left the kids at home with Rachel to celebrate Cara's 40th birthday, New York Style. 

We saw Mama Mia on Broadway.  Cara's a big fan of Abba since she served her mission in Sweden. 
At the end, the entire audience was standing up, clapping, singing along and dancing. 

After the show, we went out to dinner at Frank's DiNapoli, a delicious family style Italian Restaurant. 
At the end, they brought out our canolis with a candle in them for Cara to blow out. 
We're so glad Cara came and celebrated her big birthday with us!