What a cutie!!!

I just couldn't resist posting some of these pictures of Sadie. Her smile is so great and contagious!



She sits with such great posture and seems so proud of herself. She loves playing with her toys and watching Wyatt--he can do just about anything and she seems amazed!




We were at my parents this past weekend and after we put Wyatt to bed, Sadie, my sis Lindsay, my mom and I stayed up and played for a bit. I feel like I rarely get to spend much time with just Sadie, so it was lots of fun. And she obviously loved it!




This was her "modeling pose". She just turned to look at my mom and she looked like she was striking a pose.
This picture was hilarious because she just looked at me as I was taking the picture, put her hands on her legs, and made this face! We were dying laughing just looking at the picture...thanks goodness for digital pictures!



The smiley girl.....mind you, this was about 45 minutes past her bedtime and she was probably a bit hungry as well. But whenever she's got undivided attention (code for Wyatt being gone) she just eats it up.

This last picture I took the other night as I was trying to get a picture of her first tooth (why I was doing this, I'm not really sure.) Anways, the camera bumped her in the head and she made this face---no crying, just the face. But it was too adorable to leave off this post! And she obviously doesn't smile all the time...just most of the time! Now if only I could get her to sleep at night!

Halloween here we come!

I got Wyatt's costume a few weeks ago and ever since we got it, he's been so excited. As you can see, he is going to be Brett Favre for Halloween. (He actually picked this out on his own--not by my prodding--but I am pretty proud that he's a Packer fan!)


This is the face I see many mornings, either coming into the kitchen (if I'm already awake) or more often, next to my bed. As I open my eyes, I see this big helmet with bright blue eyes inside asking, "Is it time to wake up?"




Of course, while eating breakfast, we have to have the helmet right by us!


And when we are ready to go to sleep with blankie in hand, we still must wear it! I've tried several times to tell Wyatt he can sleep with the helmet next to him--sometimes I am successful in my attempts and other times I'm not. You'd think it would be pretty uncomfortable!

5-1

Yes, my Green Bay Packers are now 5-1! And I was lucky enough to be there in person to witness their 5th win of the season. (yeah, yeah, i know i didn't post anything about last week when they lost--i'm just trying to forget about it.) My sister-in-law Cammie had two tickets and asked if I would go with her--OF COURSE! Plus, it was her birthday on sunday, so it was even more fun. Our day was complete with free tailgating, free food and drinks, great seats, and great company! We woke up at 5:30am in order to get up to Green Bay with enough time to tailgate and walk around before kickoff at noon. As we were walking towards the stadium, I ran into my mom's cousin (luckily I recognized him b/c I haven't seen him in probably 10 years). I just thought I'd say 'hi'--but he quickly grabbed us and said, "Come on. I'm on my way to meet Joe McCarthy, coach Mike's dad". So before I could even introduce Cammie, we were racing through the parking lot with my mom's cousin (Gary) and his friend..who we still hadn't met at this point. But we ended up meeting Coach Mike McCarthy's dad, brother, and cousin! So here is a picture of Cammie and I with Joe McCarthy (his son looks just like him!)

After all this, we said goodbye to my mom's cousin and his friend and headed back towards the stadium. On our way, we ran into this beautiful woman collecting donations for a local food pantry. I went to give her a donation and noticed that she had a Donald Driver jersey on (for those of you unfamiliar with the Packers, Driver is one of the wide receivers on the team). I asked her if she was Donald Driver's wife and she said yes! So of course, we asked if we could have our picture taken with her! And here we are with her and her beautiful little girl Christina.

All this before the game even began!! We finally made it to the stadium and of course, we had to have our picture taken in front of Lambeau field with the statues of Coach Vince Lombardi and Packers founder 'Curly' Lambeau in the background.

And what trip to Lambeau would be complete without a picture wearing cheeseheads? Notice the large stack of cheese behind us. I don't care who you are, no one can look good in one of these!

The game began and the weather was great for about 20 minutes. It was in the mid-50's and overcast! And for Lambeau Field, anything over 30 degrees is warm! But of course, it began to rain towards the end of the first quarter. Luckily, we had rain gear with us (thanks to my mother in law) and stayed dry the entire game.


We had such great seats. We were in the end zone about 8 rows back, so we felt like we were right in the middle of the action (at least when it was on our end of the field). Here are a few pictures of Brett Favre--probably the closest we'll ever be to him!


Favre in action......not sure how the rest of the photo came out blurry except for him, but it looks pretty cool!



And here was the final score....17-14 Packers over the Redskins. And of course, Favre was on the jumbotron right as i took this picture. Could it get any better?

Cammie and I had such a great day! We even made it on the jumbotron twice!!! And I have to say that I could not have enjoyed such a fun day without the help of Matt. He watched the kids all day on sunday so that I could go, even after he worked all day on saturday. What a guy! Hopefully I'll be able to post more about the success of the Green Bay Packers!

Weekend in St. Peter

We got to spend last weekend with friends of ours in St. Peter, MN. Both Drew and Jen went to undergrad with Matt and then Drew and Matt were in podiatry school together. They've become great friends of ours and we are so glad they are done with residency and no longer in D-town!! Hopefully we'll be living even closer to you guys next year!

Wyatt and Kael patiently waiting for breakfast

They thought they were so funny in their Daddy's shoes

The two cutest (and chubbiest) little girls

Proud Dads

These two had so much fun playing together
Just those looks make me nervous!

Thank goodness for the timer function!

A few things we learned over the weekend:

1. Caramel isn't made with just sugar and water

2. Two year olds feel free to tell people they need haircuts

3. Apparently it's rude to comment on how long a baby has been awake

4. It's best to not let kids touch the art in an art gallery--it may be 'priceless' art

5. Taking 4 kids all under 3 years old to a restaurant is a bit crazy, but worth the attempt

6. Rocks hurt when they fall on your nose

7. The more rolls on a baby, the better

8. Moms are rarely in the pictures

9. It's so refreshing to spend time with such great people

Family Pics

I'm sure you are wondering why this post is titled family pics since that's all I put on our blog. But these are actually professional pictures! While we were in Des Moines last month, a friend of a friend offered to take our family pictures for us. She's got a great little studio in her basement and charged next to nothing (which is great for families like us who usually wouldn't have the money to have pictures like these taken). She did such a great job and I wanted to post just a few of them on here so you could see how talented she is (and how cute my kids are!). If you are in Des Moines in the near future and would like your pictures taken, let me know and I will give you her info.

She even got both kids to smile at the same time---how talented!!!

Apples Here We Come!

One of my favorite things about the fall is going to an apple orchard. It's one of the reasons why I could never live in the south, because I just love this time of year when the weather gets cool, the leaves start to turn, and the smell of apples is in the air. We had two trips scheduled to go to two different apple orchards in the same week. So we decided to do both! The first orchard we went to with some of the women in my Bible study and their kids. We had a great time and the rain held off for us! Wyatt loved the pedal tractors and he and his friend Drew played almost the entire time. As you can see from the pictures below, the two of them can get into a bit of trouble. They were peaceful watching the chickens and goats for awhile until they realized they could reach through the fence! And then the real fun began! But they loved the hayride and getting to eat the apples that they were able to pick from the tree all by themselves.

Then we went to our second orchard two days later with the other resident wives and their kids. We tried to get some of the boys to all sit on this bench and take a picture, but we quickly realized that getting four boys to sit still is nothing short of a miracle (and a source of frustration for the moms).

Wyatt and his two friends, Jackson and Caleb, sitting on the rocks. This was right before some of the boys began throwing rocks and Wyatt got nailed in the head! (Although Wyatt was the victim this time, he has often times been the culprit!)

Becoming 'Better'

This morning as Wyatt and I were eating breakfast, he asked me what we were going to do today. I told him we had Bible Study this morning and then we were going to the park with all the kids from Bible Study to play and have lunch.

Usually the conversation ends there and I assume he begins thinking about seeing the kids at Bible Study. But today, he asked me, "What do you do at Bible Study Mom?" I didn't give it much thought and just said, "I learn about Jesus."

Wyatt then looked at me and said, "That will make you better, won't it Mommy?"

I was so taken back and looked at him and said, "Yes it will. Where did you hear that Wyatt?" I was so amazed that he said this and I was wondering where he learned this. He didn't really understand, in his little 2-year old mind, what I was trying to get it. But then he said, "I learn about Jesus in Sunday School too, Mommy, and He's going to make me better."

It was so precious to me and was such a great reminder that everything I do as a mother has an effect on my kids. I am so thankful for the people who serve in the children's ministry at church and for the impact they have on our kids' impressionable minds. But most of all, I am thankful for Christ and that He does 'make us better' as Wyatt put it.

4-0!

For those of you who doubted, well, shame on you! Yes, my Green Bay Packers are undefeated and I couldn't be happier. Being born in Green Bay and raised in Wisconsin, I've always been a Packers fan and the recent years have been a bit difficult. But after beating the Minnesota Vikings yesterday, we are a pretty happy household. I enclosed some pictures of the kids proudly sporting their green and gold. Wyatt was claiming all day that he was going to be Brett Favre when he grows up--which would be fine with me since Brett did break the record yesterday for touchdown passes thrown!
It is quite humorous to see the differences between boys and girls...even with Sadie being only 6 months old. Wyatt watched the entire game and even went up to the TV at one point when Brett Favre was on the screen and said, "Brett, look at me, look at me!" Sadie just sat there, watching my Dad, Matt and Wyatt watch the game. And this was the expression on her face as she watched them....so precious!