Madsen's visit Texas

We began the summer with a full house. Riley's family (entire family) came for a visit. We kept them busy by taking them to some of Texas' most known and most fun places. We started off with a day at schlitterbahn (a huge water park smack dab in the middle of our town). The kids had a blast floating the lazy river with Grandma. They loved showing Grandma & Grandpa where they get to spend their summer.

No Texas trip is complete without a taste of the local cuisine...BBQ. That night we took them to a popular spot in town called Rudy's. They loved it, but our favorite is still Granzin's (another popular BBQ joint.

We spent the next day visiting Shamu (at Sea World of course). We fed the dolphins, saw some shows, and rode some roller coasters. It was so hot we decided to cool off by sitting in Shamu's splash zone. We got soaked! Next time we'll remember to keep our eyes closed and mouths shut. The salt water is pretty gross.

We were all pretty worn out by the 4th day, so we decided to spend a somewhat relaxing day visiting the Alamo and strolling along the river walk. This must have been the hottest week of the year. We spent a good amount of time in a local haagen dazs indulging in a fine dairy treat. With an ice cream in each hand, Grandpa especially loved it.

The next day I took the girls to the huge outlet mall in San Marcos. We shopped for 7 hours! I haven't shopped like that in a long time! It was a much needed break from the kids.

For their last night in Texas, we took them to the Adobe verde for an authentic Tex-Mex dinner located in the historic town of Gruene. The live music was awesome.

They Left for home Father's day, but we were able to spend that day with them at home. We had a BBQ and just enjoyed being together.

It was hard to see them go. We really miss everyone and can't wait to see them again.

Mother's day

To all you Mothers... Have you ever been out shopping with your kids when one or more of them decide to throw a tantrum right in the middle of the store? Have you been given the "control your kids" look, or "you poor mom" look? Here's a personal story that I hope will inspire you to make another mom smile when this is happening to her... It was allowance day and Damien wanted to spend his. He's been trying to collect all the Ben 10 figures and he knew exactly which one he wanted. Riley was working so I decided to take all three kids to Target to do a little shopping. Gabriel started to get a little fussy as soon as we got there. I looked for his pacifier and realized I left it at home. We went straight back to the ben 10's where they only had 1 left and it wasn't the one he wanted. So he decided he would look for something else. I knew this would take awhile considering how indecisive Damien is. By this time Gabriel was really crying. I knew we didn't have much time before his cries got even louder and his face would turn a light shade of purple. I kept telling Damien to hurry and pick something because we had to go. 5 more minutes passed and he still hadn't picked anything out. I told him we had to go and I would take him to Walmart tomorrow to see if they had any Ben 10's. He had it in his head he was bringing a toy home today and he wasn't going to leave without one. That's when his fit started. Gabriel was crying, Damien was crying and I had to get out of there! Damien started yelling "I know what I want!" I took him back to the toys and told him "2 seconds!" He picked out a transformer and we went to pay for it. Amaya, who had been behaving so well, decided she was hungry. She started to wine and say "I'm hungry!" over and over again. By this time I was REALLY stressed out. As I was loading the kids in the car a lady, about my age, came up to me and gave me a huge hug. As she was hugging me she told me that it was okay. She's a mom of four and knows how hard it can be. As she walked away she told me happy mothers day. I can't even begin to explain how that hug from a complete stranger made me feel.l. It meant so much to me and I am sure I will never forget it.

They're cute most of the time...

Sea World

We took the kids to Sea World Easter weekend. I wish I could say we had a lot of fun, but it was such a bad weekend to go. It was so packed! Our day was cut short after Damien got sick in one of the souvenir shops. The highlight of the day was seeing shamu. Seeing the kids faces light up made it all worth it.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! We hope you all had a wonderful day!

Our chubby little guy!

This is for all you who keep bugging me to update this blog. Truthfully, I had no idea there were so many people interested in reading it, so I better get crackin and update you all on the life of the Madsen's...

Gabriel is turning into quite the little chunk. He now weighs just over 11 lbs, more than doubling his birth weight. Surprising, since he spits up almost every time he eats. He loves to be held, which makes it hard to get things done (Like update blog). It's a good excuse, right? Even though I don't have as much free time as I use to, I think I am finally getting the hang of having 3 kids. Gabriel has brought so much joy to our family. Last weekend he got to meet his cousins for the first time. Gabriel and I flew to Boise Idaho to visit my sisters. We had a great time. He has never had so much attention. He got passed from one cousin to the next the whole time.

Damien celebrated his 6Th birthday yesterday! It makes me kind of sad to see him get so big, but yesterday he told me he will always be my baby boy (melts my heart). He also told me six year olds don't take naps... I was hoping nap time would last through high school.

Amaya has been very interested lately about the holy ghost? "What does it look like? Is is white? Is it mean or nice? Is it a boy or a girl?" She has been learning about the holy ghost at church, and watching a lot of scooby doo at home.

As for Riley and I, things have been going great. He is now the Pharmacist manager at CVS. He works quite a bit, but seems to enjoy it. I am so glad I was able to go to Idaho last weekend. I was ready for a break. I had such a good time with my sisters. We did A LOT of shopping, and I loved it. It was really nice catching up with them. I can't wait until I can see them again!

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.