Money Mondays

Well every day just about I want to spend lots of money. And today I will start the grand tradition of posting some of the things I would like to spend money on. The tea collection for children's clothing is fantastic. They website is http://www.teacollection.com/site/index.htm and most of their clothes are mix and match- the great thing is that when they come out with a new line it goes with the old line. To the left you can see a set for $125.00 for a girl. It comes in sizes newborn to 24 months and usually beyond. they are called the Daily Tea collection, which is a play wear set of an upscale baby clothing line. The set on the right is for a boy and costs $105.00
One of my favorite things to do is fill up a shopping cart then close the browser window, so I feel like I am getting lots of things. Now you can see some of those things I do not purchase, but wish I could. I will try to include pictures and lots of links to help you see the original websites the items come from.
Man, baby clothes are one of the best things to buy.

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Rock Climbing Wall Update

I know that all of you devoted fans of Madsen Empire have been waiting to hear news about the fantastic garage rock-climbing wall. I have good news for you: the wall is half way done, and better than you could possibly have imagined. Although the pictures are out of focus and do not show the entire wall, this only emphasizes how giant the wall is, and how no picture, however artfully rendered, could possibly do the wall justice. It is 8 feet wide and 10 feet tall. I was able to get so much done because Janae lovingly donated hours of time to getting Danielle out of the house so she wouldn't freak out while I hammered. Also, thanks to Steve Minert for help putting up the entire underlying framework. Next on the agenda: get a crash pad.

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Cousin Ben's Blog

I saw my cousin Ben's blog today. http://bennkortney.blogspot.com/ I loved something they had which was just information from Ben's cute wife. so I will answer the questions on my blog

What is his name? John Mark Madsen
How long have you been married? 3 years, 3 months and someodd days.
How long did you date? not long. I guess 6 months- but we were engaged many of those months. Luckily we still go on dates.
How old is he? 25 or 15 if you ask shocked people in Philadelphia who find out he has a child
Who eats more? rude
Who said "I love you" first? he did
Who is taller? John, although I am bigger. Take that how you will John.
Who sings better? me. Ok maybe John.
Whose temper is worse? John's
Who does the laundry? I do.
Who does the dishes? JOHN! the most fantastic thing in the world- but I do them sometimes.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? we switch. I think I sleep on the right side most often.
Who pays the bills? I do
Who mows the lawn? Austin the Dog
Who cooks dinner? Baja Fresh
Who drives when you are together? John and I am a terrible critic.
Who is more stubborn? I am.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I don't think either of us excel at that.
Who proposed? John
Who has more friends? I think that more people like John but I have more friends because I need more people, and I like board games that take more people.
Who has more siblings? John, unless you count Paul's twin brother David we sold into white slavery.
Who wears the pants? I plan just about everything but John looks pretty good in all pants. I am not joking it's like he was the model and all clothing looks good on his body. disgusting.

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Etsy for Charity

Etsy for Charity has selected the GROW project for the monthly charity this month and I am so excited. I nominated it. Etsy for charity is a group of people who sell things on Etsy who donate the monthly proceeds to a charity. Each month the charity rotates. Members get to nominate who will be the charity and John heard about the grow project from school. He put me in touch with them and I have been trying to get people involved for a few months. I have had most luck on etsy and the people there seems so generous. http://etsyforcharity.ning.com/ Thanks to the votes of family members like Paul the charity won- anyone can vote.
I also nominated the theme of the month which was inspired by Claire. The theme is hop into spring. I thought of the bunny bookmark Claire designed when we were growing up that said "Hop into a book". Claire won a contest with that idea and I am not surprised. It is catchy. Members submit items for a contest and I submitted the burp cloth in this picture. I will let everyone know when it is time to vote for my burp cloth!
A little more about the GROW clinic can be found online at http://publichealth.drexel.edu/GROW/ They help children with failure to thrive and food insecurity. The average age of the children is 18 months and they usually don't know where their next meal is coming from. They need blankets and clothing and don't have money for basic needs. If you want to give them something let me know! Or you can buy something from etsyforcharity.etsy.com in the month of April.
I hope everyone has a great day- Thanks for your support!
Janae

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Company For Easter

Easter Celebration


Janet visited for Easter and she got her very own Easter Basket. It was nice to have Janet and John be able to search for the eggs I hid, and lucky for me they shared the candy. Danielle also found some "hidden eggs." which I filled with baby cheetos and put in plain sight in the middle of the floor.
I think Austin liked following her around when she got her easter eggs open, but not as much as he liked his own "easter egg" hunt where he got to go find all the dog treats that we hid for him. He was running around and wagging his tail. he also liked visiting Valley Forge and finally settled down to settle with our duck named Bunny. Easter is great! Danielle's favorite present was probably the pink ball we got her at the store. She threw it around the room and laughed.
Also today at church Danielle was really excited about walking around in the hall. She walked around almost the whole way. I think she has decided she is good at walking, and she certainly likes the attention she gets when she walks. She wore her pretty Easter dress from her great grandma Berg.

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Easter is a lot like Halloween.

Koala Baby and Bunny Baby
Danielle is a great baby and she was a Koala for Halloween. I think Easter is a little like Halloween. I guess no dressing up. And no door to door. And no skeleton decoration in the window. So the only thing they really have in common is candy. Danielle likes wacking the candy on the ground and shaking it to show us. Which is all find and good until she finds if she can wack the bag of famous amos cookies hard enough she can get it open. Then you have a baby covered in cookie. A happy happy baby. I just thought I should post the little Koala. This is from Jen's visit.

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The Easter Bunny

Easter
Danielle got to go visit the easter bunny for her cuter than ever easter pictures. She was so excited about the bunny, who really just wanted to escape from the dangerous baby. Also the beautiful dress is from her grandma sharp. She gets so spoiled by her grandma and I just love it. Danielle was really well behaved while she was getting her pictures taken and she loved the photographer. I can't believe those poor bunnies though. There was also a cute gray one. I can't wait for easter. I think I am going to hide eggs and have a hunt with John. Of course I will find the most candy since I am going to be hiding the eggs. Maybe. After the photos while we were picking prints Danielle walked back over to the suitcase and climbed back in. Then she started laughing her hysterical baby laugh. I think she wanted the bunny to come back.

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Philadelphia

Every time people come into town we visit Philadelphia together- I don't go until people visit but when Rachelle was here we went to the art museum. It was so fun and John and I are now proud museum members. So everyone can expect to be taken to the art museum when they visit.

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I never sleep

John is Mr Strong. He sneaks downstairs and does pull ups every night. The other day I was like- wow you are getting stronger. Then I discovered his secret working out. What a tricky man.
Also my nephew Fisher is a strong man- So I should design him a shirt.
Danielle always helps me with my designs- here she is helping me take photos.

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PHOTO MADNESS

So I finally got my photos from Costco. They put years worth of negatives (and lots of money worth) onto disks for me. And now I have lots of time to figure out how to use Photoshop. There are so many options and I feel like the learning curve is a little steep. Maybe I need a class. John and I are planning to take a class together and I am excited to go back to school.

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