He's here!

We were not expecting Stephen Gabriel for another three weeks, but he decided to spend Christmas with us. What a great Christmas present! He was born Dec. 18th at 11:32 a.m. He weighed 5 lbs. 5 oz. and was 18.25" long. Damien and Amaya can't get enough of him. They just love their baby brother. He is such a little angel. We are so blessed to have him in our family.

Catchin up!

Alright, so I've kind of slacked a bit, but it is the holidays and life gets a bit crazy, I'm sure you all understand, right? I am so happy to say I am done with my Christmas shopping, so I can now relax.
Let me catch you all up on the Madsen's life in Texas. Since I wrote last we have been having some fun, and not so much fun.
The fun... Riley's parent were here for about a week last month and they kept us really busy. We went to a wild animal safari and had a blast! The animals came right up to our window and we were able to feed them. The kids liked the Zebra's the best. That same day day we went on a glass bottom boat tour where we got so see all kinds of fish and plants. It was a busy day! The kids loved spending time with their grandma and grandpa.
The not so fun... Since Damien started school, he has brought home many different viruses. Last month he had strep, bronchitis, and the flu. We had to put him on breathing treatments for about a week. Thank goodness we didn't catch any of this. Thanksgiving was not so much fun. We thought Damien was feeling better, so we went to breakfast, but he started feeling sick again, so we had to spend the rest of the day at home.
This is our first Christmas in our new home and we are loving it. Since it doesn't get really cold here, we try to light our fireplace every chance we get. It was cold the day we decorated our tree, so we turned on some Christmas music and lit a fire. That really put me into the Christmas spirit. This was also the first year for us to put Christmas lights on the house. Riley really enjoyed that, and it looks great.

Our new car!

We are finally a two car family! After living over a year with one car, we decided it was time to get a second, especially before the little one comes. We bought a Land Rover with seven seats. It is so nice to have all that extra room. It was so clean until Riley decided to take it into the dirt. Since I get to drive it all the time, I guess he needed to have his fun with it.

Happy Halloween!

We were so happy to have Grandma/pa Madsen spend the week with us and stay through Halloween. Riley had to work all day, so it was great having their company.
Damien was superman and Amaya was a ballerina. It's so funny how they change the second they put those costumes on. Amaya wouldn't stop dancing in circles, and Damien ran around as if he was flying.
We had so much fun trick or treating, at least Amaya did, Damien fell asleep in the stroller about 20 minutes into it. Poor kid. He gets exhausted after a long day at school. Amaya was quite the entertainment. She dragged us all over! She would yell "trick or treat!" over and over until someone would open the door. She was so scared of two little kids who were dressed up as Gremlins. We kept running into them. She kept saying, "those kids are sooo spooky". She wasn't scared of anything else, even the creepy witch handing out candy in her driveway.
I hope you all had a Happy Halloween. I wish we could have seen all your kids in their costumes. Send me pictures if you can.

Happy Birthday Amaya!

Our big 3 year old! She was so happy to finally get her pony's and pink 'magic school bus'!

Best buds!

I love it when they get along! They knew they were being cute, too. "look at us! Take a picture!" Not long before that, they were fighting over my belly. Amaya wanted to sing 'Twinkle twinkle little star' and Damien wanted to touch it. We improvised and gave each of them half. That worked for awhile until both of them wanted to touch my belly button! Only 2 1/2 months left of this!

My growing belly

I guess I haven't been really good at keeping this updated. Nothing exciting has been going on with us lately. I did just realize I forgot to mention, for those of you who don't know yet, that our family really is growing. I am now 6 months pregnant, due Jan. 7th. We were thrilled to find out we are having another boy! Everything is going really good with the pregnancy. The kids are so excited and are always mentioning the fact that my belly is getting a bit large. Amaya is always telling me "it's so huge!" She also thinks her belly is growing too. Damien draws pictures and talks about his baby brother all the time. He is excited for when he can teach him to play soccer. Both the kids sing to him every chance they get. They think the baby is coming out of my belly button, because it sticks out so much.

Damien's first soccer game!

Today was Damien's first soccer game. He loved it! He was so proud of himself when he made a goal. This was his first time ever playing soccer. Even though they weren't playing to win, the parents kept score. His team won! We had a blast watching him play.

Our life in Texas!

I finally entered the world of bloggers! What a great way to keep in touch and to let y'all know how we are doing here in Texas. Okay, I haven't mastered the Texas lingo yet, and you probably won't ever hear me say y'all, just thought I would give y'all a feel for where we live. Since I'm really bad with writing in a journal, this is also for me.
We have already been here a year. Time has gone by so fast! We really like it here and are adjusting pretty well. I miss having family around sooo much, but I am glad we have been able to make some good friends. The kids are doing great. Damien started Kindergarten and is loving it. He is up and ready for school before I ever get up, even on the weekends. He still can't understand why he can't go everyday! Amaya is growing up way too fast. If you ask her what her name is, she will sometimes tell you "Cinderella ballerina". She is always dancing around the house, and she does it so gracefully!
Riley is working a lot, but loves what he does. He's not completely happy for who he works for, but he's hanging in there. I am just so proud of him for all his hard work!
Well, here's the beginning of my blog. I'll try my best to be consistent with it.