We love visitors!!!!

This past weekend, our friends Ryan and Jen and their daughter Elle came to visit us. It has been a trip we've been trying to coordinate ever since we moved to La Crosse, so Jen and I figured they better make the trip before we are gone! Jen and I worked together in Des Moines, IA and were also in Bible Study together--and it just seemed like we did everything together. Matt and I even lived with them right before Wyatt was born since our lease was up on our apt. and we were going to move right after Wyatt was born. Thankfully we have stayed very close, despite the distance between us. Jen and Ryan were blessed with the much anticipated birth of their first child, Isabelle (Elle), in May and we were excited for them to all come visit.

Saturday morning in jammies....Don't these girls look alike? Jen and I have always thought so, but even when we were out for dinner on Saturday people asked us if the girls were cousins!

I think Wyatt was feeling a bit left out with all the picswe were taking of the girls, so he decided to be a part of the action.

Smiley girls!

I had to put this picture on because over the weekend, I noticed that I am definitely a mother of a boy learning to be a mother of a girl. Jen would brush Elle's hair every morning and several times a day, put cute bows in her hair, and even called her diapers "panties". Poor Sadie is just looking at me in this picture, brush in hand, like "Mom, couldn't you just take a few seconds to brush my hair? Elle's mommy does it?"

I think Elle was a bit worn out from all the action in our household--Sadie keeps up by drinking Starbucks! What else would you expect from my daughter?!

To quote Jen, "Sadie, what time is our pedicure...I'm so relaxed from our spa bath I may need to take a nap first."

So pretty!! Notice Sadie's bow...I'm workin' on it!

Once again, Wyatt felt left out with all the pics of the girlsbeing taken, so he wanted in on it....he looks so grown up in this picture! I can just see this face when he's about 17yrs. old getting prom pictures taken!

Again to quote Jen, "Elle, you have a little too much blush on your cheek; let me help you out"

The girls!!!

It was so much fun to have Ryan, Jen, and Elle and we can't wait to get back to Des Moines to visit them again--and Wyatt is looking forward to seeing Cheerio as well!

The "Party"

This post may be TMI for some of you, so proceed cautiously. But as I mentioned in my previous post, we started potty training last week and it was not received with a warm welcome. Wyatt wanted nothing to do with the potty and refused to even sit on it. If I did get him to sit on it, it wasn't without crying and kicking and anything else you can imagine. This went on for several days and I was so frustrated! It brought me to tears a couple of times as I hadn't left the house and envisioned the rest of my life inside the house with the kids, watching Wyatt like a hawk trying to get him to just sit on the potty (rational thinking had obviously gone out the window by this point). But any of you who have endured potty training know how difficult it can be--or maybe you are just one of those lucky parents whose kids essentially did it on their own (if you are, I don't want to hear about it). Anyways, we finally got Wyatt to sit on the potty and were doing pretty good with #1. However, #2 was a whole different story. He would just hold it in for days--his tummy would hurt, he wouldn't eat much, and he just wanted to lay in bed with his blankie. Then, when he couldn't hold it any longer, he'd have an accident and just go in his pants. He was terrified of going #2 on the potty. And I didn't know what to do.

I talked to several friends of mine looking for ideas and one of my friends told me that her son was the same way and they told him about the "poopy party". Yes, the "poopy party". So we tried it with Wyatt. We told him that down in the potty, there is a poopy party. And if we go poopy in the potty, the poopies can go to the poopy party. But if we don't, they don't get to go to the party and they'll be sad. Well, with Wyatt's imagination and love for playing 'pretend', the "poopy party" stories got REALLY interesting.

We were sitting on the potty one night trying to make the poopies happy and the conversation when something like this:

Wyatt: How will the poopies get to the party?

Me: We'll flush them down and then they'll go.

Wyatt: I think they want to drive a car there.

Me: Sure, they can drive a car there.

Wyatt: Which car will they take?

Me: They can take our Jeep.

Wyatt: I think they want to take Ryan and Jen's car. (these were friends of our that were visiting)

Me: Sure.

Wyatt: Mommy, go ask Ryan and Jen if the poopies can borrow their car.

Me (leave bathroom to go ask): Yep, they said the poopies can borrow their car.

Wyatt: OK

yet after all that, NOTHING! Then the next day as we were trying:

Wyatt: The poopies are still sad.

Me: I know they are. How 'bout you make them happy and send them to the party.

Wyatt: They aren't ready to go yet.

Me: Why not?

Wyatt: Because they are eating mac 'n cheese first.

Me: OK

STILL NOTHING! This continued for quite a while. And then it happened!

Wyatt: Mommy! Mommy! The poopies are happy! Come see them!

Me: Wyatt, I am so proud of you (tears welling up in my eyes--out of pride and relief!). Great job!

Wyatt: Daddy, come see the happy poopies! They are all ready to go to the party. Come see.

(You can imagine how excited Matt was to look at the poopies! Need I say more.)

Wyatt (as we are flushing the toilet): Bye-bye poopies! Have fun at the party!

I'm sure there are some things about the poopies that I have already forgotten, but it seems they have become members of our family. I suppose we will have to address that at some time, but the success of the poopies going to the party far outweighs anything else we have to deal with. And you should all know that many of you have been mentioned in our house in reassurance that all big people use the potty. We have listed all our relatives, many friends, hockey players (even some specifically by name from Uncle Ty's team), and anyone else we can think of. So know that you have all been a part of this arduous process. I'm hoping it'll be easier with Sadie!

Sadie's random tricks

I know it seems like I've been posting about Sadie a lot, but it seems like she just keeps learning new things. Almost everyday, I read her this little book about babies learning to eat (Wyatt's favorite when he was her age) and now she will grab the book and bring it to me to read to her. If I'm not able to read it to her, she'll turn the pages on her own and point to her nose and chin, just like I do when we are reading it. It cracks me up.

She has also learned to "talk on the phone". See below.

And here, she seems to have missed her ear!

She loves playing under the kitchen table. However, if she sits up under the chairs, she hits her head and cries like crazy! Hopefully she'll learn soon.I had to put this picture on because Sadie's hair is now long enough to but a barrette (sp?) in it---notice the little green barrette on the left!

This post is all about Sadie, but the last few weeks of my life have been all about Wyatt. We have been in the throws of potty training (hence the lack of pictures) and I'm hating it! So frustrating. But Wyatt is doing pretty well now and each success is a huge accomplishment. I have to say that I haven't felt so much pride as a mother until the first time he went in the potty.....who knew that the highlight of my life right now would be peeing and pooping in the potty! But it certainly is.

What happened to that smile???

As I have mentioned in past posts, Sadie has always been so smiley. However, in the last week or so, she seems to have discovered a different side of herself...or she's just experimenting with different faces (i'm hoping it's the latter of the two).

When she's not pleased with something, she doesn't hesitate to make "the face", as Matt and I call it. She makes this face to anyone who does anything she doesn't approve of....and with a face like this, it doesn't go unnoticed!



It's not crying.....just a look of disapproval that could just kill ya!
And I have to say, that it only took me a couple of days to get all these pics......there were many more faces made, I just didn't have the camera ready for every one of them. Hopefully our smiley Sadie will return soon!

Who's the hockey player?

As you have seen from previous posts, Wyatt has been the newest hockey player in our family. However, it seems Sadie has decided to give him a run for his money. I'm not sure if she'll actually play hockey, but she's definitely mastered the look!!
Sadie has had her bottom two teeth for almost 3 months and I've been waiting for more to come in. And they have--just not in the order I was thinking! She has gotten one of her front teeth, still waiting on the other front tooth, and then her first incisor--and that is what you call the 'hockey player' look!
Sadie is 9 months old and is moving EVERYWHERE!!! She is crawling, pulling herself up to anything that will support her, and walking around holding onto any wall or structure that she can! She says "mama" and "dada", waves whenever we say 'bye-bye', 'hi', or 'night-night'. She holds the phone up to her ear when she picks it up and loves books and her dolls. She is still so smiley and cuddly and brightens our days!

Final Christmas Post--I promise!!

So here are a few random things from our time in Madison over Christmas that I wanted to include on the blog.



1. Our beloved Camry finally bit the dust. It was 15 years old with almost 200k miles--it was the first car Matt and I had when we were first married (and our only car for 2 years). It has been a great car, although we weren't too shocked that it was done for. There have been a few signs that this was inevitable---there were no door handles on the outside of the car on either of the front doors (we had to get in the back seat and reach up front to open the doors---a whole lot of fun when you are carting around 2 kids), the key to open up the trunk no longer worked, the hood of the car wouldn't stay up on it's own and had to be held up, the fuse that ran the interior lights and radio in the car had to be removed every time the car would be sitting and not used for more than a day or so or else it would draw the charge off the battery and the battery would be dead, and the A/C didn't work unless you were on the highway where the air flowing over the engine could keep it from overheating. So, the final repair on this was almost equal to the value of the car and we opted to donate the car instead. We donated it to Rawhide--a great organization that uses vehicles, boats, trailers, and other things to help train troubled teenage men some life skills while helping them become responsible young men. But before we signed over the title, we took a few pictures and I'm sure, someday, our kids will be shocked that we drove such an 'old' car, as I was when I saw my parents first car.




2. A few days after Christmas, we took Wyatt over to the Kohl Center to see if we might be able to see the ice rink that the Wisconsin Badgers play on. We were lucky enough to be there during a practice in preparation for the weekend tournament and we got to sit and watch one of the visiting teams practice. Wyatt was in awe of these guys and just sat and watched them with Uncle Kyle.
Wyatt was so into each drill they were doing. And the guys on the team were so great---one of them came over by the glass and flipped a puck over the glass to Wyatt. Wyatt carried that puck around with him all weekend and we still have it here at home. His eyes got so big when the player flipped the puck over the glass and I, as a mother, was so appreciative to this young man for taking the time to notice my son and for setting a great example for him. I hope that when Wyatt grows up, he still notices the "little" ones that are constantly watching what he does and that he sets a good example for them.




Finally, we were able to go sledding a bit at my parents house. Actually, it was just Matt, Wyatt, my Dad (Pops) and my sister Mary Jo. But they had a great time, as you can see here.

Christmas Recap Vol. II

Wyatt only asked Santa for one thing this year---hockey skates. Anyone who asked him what he wanted for Christmas got the same answer, "skates". We were in the mall doing some shopping before Christmas and I asked Wyatt if he wanted to see Santa. He wasn't interested in sitting on his lap, but he did want to go say 'hi'. So I walked up to Santa with him and watched as his eyes got HUGE! He was almost speechless. But when Santa asked him what he wanted, he said, "skates". Santa said, "Would you like anything else?" and Wyatt said, "Nope, just skates".

We went to my brother-in-law Ty's hockey game a few days before Christmas and Wyatt watched the game the entire time and wanted to do everything just like his Uncle Ty---skate, climb over the boards, get a penalty, score a goal, etc. So it was even more special that Santa brought Uncle Ty some new skates as well. Here they are....waiting to be found!

Wyatt was so excited that he wanted to put them on right away.....and since Ty put his on right away, Wyatt had to as well. As you can see by everyone else in the room, it was still pretty early. But Wyatt was on cloud nine!

Wyatt and Uncle Ty

The entire time all this was going on, Sadie was just walking around the table and eating her little crackers--doesn't take much to keep her happy!
The rest of us also had gifts to open, but Wyatt just wanted to walk around in his new skates and talk about hockey with Uncle Ty. Wyatt and Ty were comparing skates here.

My mother-in-law always makes something delicious on Christmas morning and this year was no different. She made monkey bread---a favorite of mine from when I was a kid! Matt, Wyatt, and Ty devoured a good portion of it---notice the skates still on Wyatt and Ty.

My sister-in-law Cammie spent a good amount of the morning with Sadie and gave her her first taste of monkey bread. Well......actually, it was a bit more than just a taste, but as you can see, Sadie was pretty happy!

My in-laws gave Wyatt and few more "hockey" gifts. My mother-in-law had saved Matt's first hockey jersey from when they lived in Indianapolis (Matt was 5 yrs. old when he started playing). Wyatt was thrilled to have his own jersey--just like the big guys. His favorite number (Brett Favre's #4) has been replaced by #3! And he also got his own stick that Ty cut down to be the perfect size.

Throughout the morning, Wyatt would pick up his skates and go sit by Uncle Kyle and say, "Let's check these out Kyle". So Kyle obliged and listen to Wyatt talk endlessly about the sharp blades and how fast it would make him go. As you can see by Wyatt's face, he was quite serious.

Sadie got a little ride-along toy and loved it! As you can see by this picture, she has taken to smiling with a "crinkle nose", as we call it. I can rarely get a picture of her smiling without it! But it's hilarious and makes everyone laugh. My sister Lindsay made the exact same face when she was younger, so we know where Sadie gets it!

Once we got all the gifts opened, Wyatt wanted to go skating with the boys. Matt, (along with his Dad and brothers Kyle and Tyler), took Wyatt down to the pond behind my in-laws house. It's the same pond Matt taught his brothers to skate on and it was special for him to be able to teach Wyatt there as well. I have some video from them skating, so I may try and post that later.

Christmas Dinner with Matt and his siblings...Matt, Mollie, Tyler, Cammie, and Kyle

I had to include this picture of Sadie--she LOVES to clap whenever you say, "Good job Sadie!". And she was doing it endlessly as she held the attention of the entire Sorensen family at the dinner table the next night. And of course, the "crinkle nose".


We had a great time at my in-laws and it was a very special Christmas, not only for Wyatt, but also for Matt and I and Sadie (her 1st Christmas!). Especially since we don't know if we'll be able to return to WI to see family next year.

Christmas Recap Vol. I

I haven't posted much about the Christmas season, so I am backtracking a bit to get caught up. Sadie started crawling during this Christmas season, so it made for an interesting time in keeping the ornaments on the tree. As you can see by the progression of the pictures, Sadie sees it as a challenge to get ornaments off of the tree--and she's thrilled when she gets one off.

I had to include this picture I took of the kids right after one of the first snowfalls because they were so enamored by all the snow. And Sadie was so proud of herself, standing up next to her big brother--as you can see!

We spent a few days leading up to Christmas with my family and it was fun to have us all at home. Wyatt was so excited about Santa this year and, as you can see by the picture below, wanted to look for Santa with my sister Lindsay. Luckily, he doesn't realize that they don't have a chimney and it's just a gas fireplace. I'm sure someday he'll realize this, but for this year, he was just so excited about trying to see if he could see Santa.

My sisters and I---I used to give my sisters' piggy back rides when we were younger, but this attempt was a bit more challenging! We always have so much fun when we are together, and this year was no different.

Sadie--my precious little girl!

Wyatt had so much fun on Christmas Eve morning opening all his gifts. Here he was opening up all the John Deere tractors he got from Pops.

Wyatt also got a Buzzlightyear pez dispenser from Santa and Sadie found the candy. She was pretty quiet while we were opening gifts and didn't realize that she wasn't just chewing on the wrapper, but she was actually sucking on the candy! No wonder she was so upset when we took it away.

My parents got Sadie her very own toy, but as you can see here, Wyatt wanted to operate it. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind to much as she's used to Wyatt being all over her.

After a long morning of gift opening and food, Sadie was exhausted! She is such a cuddler and loves to be held, so my sister Lindsay really enjoyed being able to hold her while she slept.
We finally got a family picture taken of us right after Christmas Eve service at church. This is always my favorite church service of the year, and this year we let Wyatt sit with us during the service. He loved the songs and especially the portion of the service when each person lights their candle and sings "Silent Night".

We had a great time at my family's house. We headed over to Matt's family's late on Christmas Eve, but would return to my family's house later on in the week.