Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Daddy Daughter Dance

Thursday night was the annual Daddy Daughter dance and Sadie has been looking forward to this night for weeks (well, actually since last year)! Matt got her a corsage and she was excited to be able to wear her flowers all night (although she came home a bit disappointed when the pink roses started to turn brown the same day). They had lots of fun and I know Sadie will remember these dances for the rest of her life!

She had a pretty specific idea of what she wanted her hair to look like....two french braids into a side pony!


What a blessed girl to have such a wonderfully Daddy who loves her like no other!
(pic from my phone with her little jacket on)

Enjoying winter

As I said in a previous post, we have been getting lots of snow and we are SO thankful for it. We are also so blessed to live less than 10 minutes away from Afton Alps and have been enjoying lots of family time out there. A few pics documenting some 'firsts'....
Blake's first chairlift ride

Blake is doing a great job learning how to truly carve on his skis and can direct himself perfectly....still no desire to stop and he always tells Matt he wants to go straight down the hill. He can ski almost any run at Afton now--I am just thankful he's still on the ski trainer so Matt can stop him. He loves it and asks almost daily when we can go again.
This last Saturday we met up with our good friends from church, the Statemas, and two of their boys. We all had a blast and the kids had so much fun skiing together.
Sadie has come A LONG way this season and is now confident enough on her own to turn back and forth down the mountain, gain a little speed, and even ride the chairlift by herself!!! (see the last picture)
On the lift (so hard to look when it's sunny!)
Wyatt wanted to snowboard again this Saturday--he has been doing a great job and we are so proud of him for wanting to try something new, but he realized how hard it was to keep up to everyone when we all skied together and I think he may be sticking with skiing for now.
Sades on the lift, all by herself!!

We've also been doing a fair amount of sledding and one day when Matt was out of town, I took a few videos to send to him....this was my favorite...Blake flying down the hill face first and Wyatt laughing hysterically!!


Family pics

I am trying to get a few things posted that were supposed to be done in 2012..I am about to order my last blog book from 2012 and wanted to get these in that book. Check out this link to see our family pics from last fall.

Monday, February 25, 2013

100th Day of School

This is what Wyatt wrote on the 100th day of school this year.
Clearly Wyatt needs to work a bit on slowing down and spelling his words (he gets 100% on every spelling test but if he rushes, he just sounds words out phonetically). Matt and I found his comment about 100 sisters to be quite funny...'it would be to much'. 

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Dates

Matt and I have been trying to make a more concerted effort to go on dates with our kids--the one-on-one time is so valuable and it gives each of our kids an opportunity to really be themselves instead of competing for our attention or reacting to their siblings. 
So when I asked Sadie what she thought we should do together, she immediately asked if we could go to the pottery store and paint something. (We did this once last year and she still talks about it).
So after church last Sunday, we went out for lunch together and then to the pottery place. I did my very best to control my Type-A personality and let her pick what she wanted to paint as well as how she wanted to paint it. (I'm sure some of you can't understand this but it was VERY tough for me to hold me tongue!)
She picked out a high heeled shoe and then also a bow to glue on it. (Confession: I did ask her what she would do with a high-heel painted shoe and she quickly replied, "Put all my lip glosses in it!" so I went with it).
Here she is coloring the bow
You can see the high heel shoe on the table in this picture...but she loved being there so much that she wanted to keep adding things to the shoe just so that we could paint more. I really didn't think we could add much more so I let her pick out a small magnet to paint---she picked this sun hat and took as much time as she possibly could to finish it. Honestly, she LOVES this place!
And I had to take this picture quick--So thankful for a daughter who LOVES color of all kinds and brings so much beauty to everything around her.
Do you think she had fun?
She really didn't want to go home to the boys but we had to get back so Wyatt and Matt could go to the WILD game that night for their date.

I just got a call today that our pottery is done and Sadie is beyond excited to go pick it up! (It's kinda nice that our date is kind of two-in-one since we get to go back and see our finished product!)

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day, I had a chance to volunteer in Wyatt's classroom for their class party and of course Blake joined me. My friend Dixie and I were in charge of making the kids' 'strawberry floats' which consisted of strawberry pop (which I didn't even know about!), ice cream, Twizzlers for their straws, cherries and whip cream---lots of sugar but they looked so festive!
Wyatt loves when I come into his classroom but he also loves having Blake around and he did a great job of including Blake in his class. 
They got to watch the Charlie Brown Valentine's movie and Wyatt immediately gave up his desk chair for Blake and sat on the floor in front of him.
Wyatt basically squatted down next to his friend Noah so that Blake could sit in his desk and watch the movie. It was so sweet and I have to say that these two boys (Wyatt and Blake) have had a special bond ever since we brought Blake home from the hospital. Blake used to sit in his bouncy seat and his eyes would follow Wyatt around the room regardless of who else was around and what was going on. And to this day, Wyatt is always looking out for Blake and including him on things even with his friends. At times I feel bad for Sadie because she is sometimes left out but I am mostly thankful for the bond these two share and hopefully will for the rest of their lives.
Do you think Blake enjoyed 'being one of the big kids'?
Since Sadie's school is only half-day, they didn't have a real party but a few activities. When the kids came home with all their candy and crafts, I found this and couldn't help but be thankful for how Sadie clearly feels about her Uncle Ty. She is always excited to see him and I am thankful for his willingness to give Sadie a limitless number of hugs---her love language is definitely 'physical touch' and she loves hugs. Ty knows this and always welcomes her endless requests for hugs! Clearly it means a lot to her as well!

A little slice of life

We have been doing quite a bit of this lately.....


due to all the snow we have been getting (but we definitely are NOT complaining. After last winter, we are even more thankful for every inch of snow we get!)
And I seem to be finding Blake in the oddest places lately....
For whatever reason, he will often climb under tables and lie down...and he'll do it anywhere....our house, restaurants, stores....if he can fit, he'll go there!

Wyatt had a chance to play goalie at one of his games recently. The kids all look forward to trying it out if they want to, mostly I think because the gear is the coolest! He definitely is a defensive-minded player and pays a lot of attention to how goalies position themselves, so I thought he might be pretty good. He did a great job and his team tied their first game and won their second game. Yet despite the favorable outcomes, he said he didn't have a desire to play goalie again because you just 'stand there in one spot and don't get to skate around'. (And thank goodness because being a goalie is EXPENSIVE!!)
Sadie still loves her babies--I took this picture at a stoplight one day when I turned around and saw three of them with her! Sadie always brings several things into the car with her so I don't always pay attention to what they are, but Wyatt is quick to comment about all the 'stuff' Sadie leaves in the back seat of the car that makes it a mess..everything from food to markers to crayons to flashlights to purses to notebooks to her 'diary' to babies and their car seats....Phew, that's a lot to keep track of!
My in-laws came up to the cities to watch Uncle Ty play in one of his last games this season and the kids loved watching from this angle

Speaking of lots of snow, we finally got some great packing snow and made ourself a snowman!
Last week our friends Steph and Bill (who we went on our ski trip with) took off on another fun getaway to Arizona for a few days and their kids stayed with Bill's parents up here in Hudson. Watching a 3-year old and 2 22-month old twins is a lot of work, so I invited Laura (Bill's mom, aka Bubba) over one morning with all the kids. We had a great time! Sadie loves to 'babysit' the girls and help them as much as she can and Blake and Charlie had a blast playing together!

Ellie, Sadie and Claire
This is Claire's smile--so stinkin' cute!
Laura took this picture and texted it to Steph---we were so happy to have them all over for the morning and the kids had so much fun! (Hopefully Bubba appreciated the break!)

Thursday, February 21, 2013

He's 8?!

It's hard to believe it's been 8 years since I became a mom....a lot has happened in those eight years and it was fun to go back and look at all the pictures of Wyatt from the last 8 years (and boy were there A LOT--typical first child, right?)!
Just a few...




And now having his favorite cinnamon roll at the Machine Shed for his birthday before school! 
Everytime someone has a birthday at school, Wyatt comes home and asks, "Why does everyone bring in cupcakes? I hate cupcakes!" Don't get me wrong, he loves carbs but he doesn't like sweets much and really detests frosting. So this was what he wanted to bring for his birthday this year--donuts from Dorothy Ann's Bakery. 

And unfortunately I don't have a picture, but after the kids in his class got all that sugar, his Auntie Cam had two dozen fresh and hot chocolate chip cookies and cold milk delivered to his classroom for his birthday. He was completely surprised and all the ladies in the front office said it was the best thing they have seen delivered for a student--a HUGE thanks Auntie Cam!! (Although I'm not sure how his teacher got any work done that day!!)

Since we don't live near our families, our kids get to have 'friend parties' every other year. So this was Wyatt's year for a friend party. He thought quite a bit about it and all the fun places he might want to go, but when it came time to deciding who he'd want to invite, he looked at me and said, "Mom, I don't really like being around a lot of kids. Can I just have one friend and go up to Stormy Lake?" So that's what we did. And what a great observation about himself--he's just like his Dad and neither one of them enjoy big groups of people. Wyatt is friends with lots of kids at school but if you ask him who his friends are, he will name just one or two. Since I wouldn't be comfortable taking many kids with us for an entire weekend (and we don't even allow sleepovers except on very rare occasions), I was glad that Wyatt wanted to bring Titus (whose mom is my good friend Dixie). They were cool with it and the boys couldn't stop talking about it all week at school.
Since we knew we were going up north, my parents left gifts for Wyatt at our house (from when they had been here with the kids during our ski trip) and told Wyatt to open them before we headed up, since we wouldn't want to take them up with us. So the night before his birthday, he got to open his gifts from Nani and Pops. Do you think he was a bit excited?!

I don't know if I have ever capture excitement on his face quite like this!

And the big one....
Poor guy didn't realize that the newspaper was actually part of the wrapping and he started reading it to see what it said!!
Pops was pretty excited about this one--framed pictures and tickets from their time in Texas at the Formula 1 race. Wyatt loved it and promptly went up to his room with Matt to hang it up!
But what would a peaceful evening at home be without something going awry...like Blake splitting his head open on the corner of the wall!
(check out the blood still in his ear! It was literally gushing all over but once Matt got him in the tub and could wash it out enough to tell where it was coming from, it started clotting pretty quickly. Poor guy!)
So now back to Wyatt's actual birthday on Friday--we picked the boys up at school just after lunch and drove up to Stormy Lake. We arrived in the midst of a snow storm, which made for an interesting trip and navigating a driveway that hadn't been plowed, but the boys were so excited to get out and play in the snow. They played outside almost the entire weekend and had so much fun making up sledding runs and naming "Wyatt mountain" and "Titus hill". They did lots of sledding through the trees and thankfully there were no serious injuries! They LOVED dodging the trees with their sleds--I am just glad I wasn't out there to see much of that part of it!

This year Wyatt wanted a cookie cake--his requests for cakes keep getting easier and easier!
Grammy and Papa and Uncle Kyle and Aunt Christy were also up at Stormy to help celebrate with us.
A booklight from Titus--which he now uses every night and every morning to read with in bed.
Titus and Wyatt both reading the book Titus got him--hilarious to hear Titus say, "I don't even know what's in these gifts--my mom bought it all"
A collector hockey stick with all the WCHA teams on it (since this is the last year of the WCHA!)
Notice how quickly Blake came in and grabbed it!
A Minnesota Gopher hockey hat he had been wanting ever since going to a game with Matt back in November--let the record show that I was opposed to this but Matt keeps saying, "Our kids are going to grow up in MN Kris".....I draw the line, however, at cheering for the Vikings!
And yes, Blake quickly escaped all the excitement with Wyatt's new puck from Titus (Dixie) and his new stick from us!
Grammy and Papa got Wyatt another CARS2 Lego set since he loved his other one they got him at Christmas so much--but notice Titus, the ultimate Lego kid, already scoping it out!
And this pic is a bit blurry, but he finally got ski poles! He has been asking for poles for several years and Matt always told him he had to get better before he could actually utilize poles. You better believe he wanted to go skiing as soon as we got home!
Love the excitement on Blake's face as we started singing to Wyatt and he anticipated blowing out the candles with Wyatt.
A few more pics from the weekend---HUGE icicles to be found!
Jones Sodas at Soda Pops for lunch
Blake was entertained by the bubbles in his soda pushing his straw up repeatedly--it's the little things!
And giant burgers!!
What a great birthday Wyatt had--and in thinking about it, we spent less money than if we had done a friend party with lots of kids, Wyatt got to extend his birthday over several days, and we all had a great time! We love you Buddy and are so blessed to have you in our family! 
(We only have 10 more years with him at home--YIKES!!)