Happy Birthday Matt!!!!!!!!!

Today is Matt's 30TH birthday!!!! And he made me promise that I wouldn't throw a surprise party or do anything to embarass him. (The hospital Christmas party is this evening and he wouldn't go with me unless I promised I wouldn't do anything there either!) I really didn't like having to promise this, but it's his birthday, so I obiliged! (Plus, I know he really wouldn't like a surprise party.) So instead, I'm just notifying everyone via our blog. I'm sure he'll hate this too, but hopefully he'll forget about it once he reads the rest of the blog.

30 Things I love about Matt (in no particular order, b/c each of them is what makes him who he is):

1. his faith

2. his cleanliness

3. his athleticism

4. how supportive he is of me

5. that he loves "chick flicks"

6. that he's a great provider for our family

7. his loyalty

8. his smile

9. his arms

10. his butt---nothing beats the hockey butt!

11. he still tells me i'm beautiful everyday

12.he still opens every door for me

13.he hates video games and doesn't get why people like them

14.he doesn't do "fantasy football, baseball, hockey" etc.

15. he loves spending time with his good guy friends

16. he puts his patient's needs first in his medical care

17. He's willing to fight for what he believes in

18. Is the only one in our family with green eyes--i'm hoping at least one of children will get them

19. his sense of humor

20. his sensitivity to other people's feelings (he's much more aware of how other people feel than I am, and I am so grateful for this)

21. how close he is to his dad, grandad, and grandpa

22. his desire for excellence in every area of his life

23. his love of everything "christmas"

24. he would rather dress up anyday than wear sweatpants

25. he puts our family first--always

26. he has made me a much better person---just ask my family!

27. believes that my job is the most important job in the world and tells me this often

28. tells me i'm a great cook (even though I don't think it's true! but it's so sweet)

29. he's constantly trying to improve himself in every area of life

30. he spends time every morning before work reading the Bible and praying

I love you babe! Have a great 30th.......I'll be there in a few years! :)

Buckeyes

These are the Buckeyes.....Matt and Wyatt's favorite Christmas cookie/candy. Both my mom and mother-in-law made these when Matt and I were kids and I've combined a bit of both recipes to make my own version. Matt even asked last week when I was going to be making these as, apparently, it doesn't really feel like Christmas until these are made. And since I have a cookie exchange to go to this week (and was asked by several people if I'd be bringing these), I spent much of yesterday in the kitchen making over 100 buckeyes. They were all done when Wyatt woke up from his nap yesterday and he was SO excited to have one. Of course, his eyes got HUGE when he opened the refridgerator and saw several cookie sheets full of them. We limited him to one after his nap and then of course, he and Matt had a few after dinner.
So that was yesterday.......This morning Sadie woke up first and I brought her into our room to feed her. Matt, Sadie and I were laying in our bed when we heard Wyatt's infamous steps as he got out of bed and went to open his door. But we didn't hear him open his door and several minutes had gone by. I looked at Matt and said, "Didn't you hear Wyatt get up?" To which Matt replied, "I thought so....maybe he's just playing in his room"....something he never does! Playing on his own is not one of his strengths......if there is anyone awake, you can bet Wyatt will be up as well. About a minute later, our door bursts open and Wyatt is holding a buckeye in his hand, "Can I have one Mommy?" he asks, with the biggest grin on his face. How could we say no?
We just looked at each other and smiled.....Wyatt has certainly figured out how to work the system! I guess a double batch of Buckeyes is only enough for my husband and a 2-year old......I fear in 10 years I may be making over 500 of them!!!!!!

SNOW.....finally!!!

One of my favorite things about this time of year is the snow. I can't get enough of it! We got lots this weekend and then on Tuesday is snowed all day and dropped another 2-4". Wyatt couldn't wait to play in it, so we headed out during Sadie's nap on Tuesday to do some shoveling and cleaning off the cars (I can't wait for a garage!). Nothing is better than having a white Christmas--let's just hope it stays cold so that it doesn't melt!

Once Sadie woke up, she joined us outside and loved going for rides in the little baby sled! I don't have snowpants or a snowsuit for her yet, so I bundled her up tight in a blanket. She was quite the trooper in such cold weather when you aren't moving around much.

We had to come inside for a hot cocoa break (and to warm up) and the kids were just cracking me up! Sadie, as you can see, was so smiley--as usual. But they were both playing so well together and it was so priceless to watch them interact.

You choose the subtitle for this picture.....the possibilities are endless!!

Back outside for more fun!

I took this picture of the kids and I but had to turn the camera upside-down to reach the button to take a picture (as you can tell by the date on the top left!) But the picture actually turned out pretty well.

Wyatt and his friends Jackson and Caleb....they had so much fun sledding and falling in the snow. And thanks to Matt's mom for Wyatt's great mittens--his hands were so warm and dry, as you can see by the sleeve on the mittens that go all the way up his arms. I wish I had had these when I was a kid! No more cold/wet hands!

We stayed out until it was too dark to see anymore and had to come inside. But it is supposed to be cold for awhile, so I'm sure we'll be back outside tomorrow!

Last chance

I am so behind on posts, but I am attempting to catch up. The kids and I took advantage of the warm weather (40 degrees) last week and went outside to play. And I'm sure glad we did since we are now burried in snow. But the kids loved being outside and being able to "ride bikes". This was the first time Sadie "rode" on this toy (one of the neighbors) and she loved it. She even figured out how to kick her legs and move. But of course, she was more enamored by Wyatt moving around!

This face is so precious! Her eyes were locked on Wyatt the entire time. I was standing right by her taking this picture and she didn't blink once! The kids had a great time and although sunset is now around 4:30pm, we were able to go out for just a little bit and enjoy the weather.

EXHAUSTED!!

We had a great Thanksgiving in Madison, but I can honestly say that I have never seen our kids this exhausted! We got to Madison on Wednesday evening and returned last night. Of course, we had to get our tree yesterday as well, so we squeezed in a trip to the Christmas Tree farm to cut our tree down and set it up last night. Tonight we'll be decorating it, but I had to post these pictures of the kids! They are beat! This picture was taken today at about 12:30pm. Wyatt has NEVER fallen asleep in our living room and loves his bed. But today, after eating his lunch, he went into our family room and just fell asleep. I was actually on the phone when he got up from the table, so I went to check on him since he was so quiet and found this! So precious.

More posts to come once we recover!

I hope he always feels like this......

The kids and I went to Madison for a few days and got home on Saturday night. Matt was working late, so dinner got pushed back. I put Sadie down for bed and then Matt, Wyatt, and I ate dinner together and here is the conversation that took place.

Matt: Wyatt, do you want to have another baby? Would you like a brother?

Wyatt: Yes. Is it in Mommy's tummy yet?

Matt: No, not yet.

Wyatt: Where is it?

Matt: It's in heaven. Wyatt, do you know who lives in heaven?

Wyatt: We're livin' in heaven.

It was so sweet. And as the title of this post says, I hope he always feels like this.

When did this happen?

This is a picture we took of Wyatt when he was about 9 months old. The tree next to our house seems to lose it's leaves last, which is great because I usually think about taking pictures in the leaves much too late and this one gives me that last opportunity to take some. Today we went outside to take some pictures under the same tree.And this is the picture of Wyatt I took today.....almost 2 years to the date after the picture above was taken. I can't believe it! It seems like it wasn't that long ago that we took the picture above. Everybody says the time goes so fast and to enjoy every moment, but when you are in the middle of the baby and toddler years, it seems like it will last forever. Will I ever be able to eat a meal without cleaning up a mess, feeding someone else while eating my own food, or having someone ask me if they can eat what's on my plate? I love having kids, but there are some things I doubt I'll miss. And then there are days like today when I just can't believe how fast the last 2 years have gone---and there's no getting them back!

Of course, I had to take a picture of Sadie in the same pose as Wyatt was in 2 years ago. Yes, they do look a lot alike, but Sadie is much 'girlier' and her head and is nowhere near as big as Wyatt's was (thank goodness for her!) Still, looking at the pictures of the two of them, there's no denying they are related!!
Wyatt had so much fun raking up the leaves and showing them to Sadie. He's really starting to embrace being a 'big brother' and being able to show Sadie everything. Of course, he still doesn't seem to understand that he can't just rip a toy out of her hand whenever he wants. I have a feeling things are going to get very interesting in our house once Sadie becomes mobile. She can slowly move around, but once she gets a bit quicker, I could have quite a few disputes on my hands!

What a Great Day!

I am writing this post to help myself be more thankful for the little things in life. I would say that I am a pretty thankful person, but it always helps to reflect on the little things that make my day! I suppose that my "great day" really began last night. Matt and I got a babysitter and went out together for the first time since our anniversary in June. It's really sad that it had been so long. Many people hear that and say, "Yeah, we don't like to leave our kids with babysitters either." But in fact, we love babysitters! It's just the cost of them that keeps us from getting one more often. We have decided that our "date night" is pretty much nonexistent these days and it is something that will definitely change once residency (and now fellowship!) is over. Matt and I went out for dinner AND a movie!!! We saw "Dan in Real Life" and it was great!

It was funny yet serious, pretty clean, and had great acting. If you are a fan of "The Office" you know Steve Carell is a great actor. But after seeing this movie, we were even more impressed with him. I would definitely recommend this movie. And the funny parts were 'laugh out loud' funny.


My great day continued into the night. As many of you know, we have had the worst time trying to get Sadie to sleep at night. I thought that if we did the same things with Sadie that we did with Wyatt, she's follow in his footsteps. But of course, as anyone with more than one kid knows, each child is different and I am learning this daily! But back to my great day, Sadie slept through the night without having to eat once!!!!! We did get up twice and go in her room just to try and calm her down, but she cried for a few minutes each time and then went right back to sleep. Anyone with young kids knows what a huge difference sleep makes! Especially when it's been 7 1/2 months since we've gotten any good sleep. So when I woke up to hear Wyatt this morning and realized I hadn't fed Sadie, I was overjoyed! I felt like a million bucks.

And the morning continued in the same fashion. The kids were both in great moods, smiling and cooperating! Sadie had the biggest grin on her face from the moment I got her out of bed until she went down for a nap. She was so happy and content. And Wyatt was as well. When I usually tell Wyatt it's time to get dressed, we have a near meltdown. But today, he answered with, "Okay Mom." And this continued all morning.Things in our household were so peaceful it was eerie. So I began to take pictures to document this morning as it may not happen again for a LONG time!





Here were the kids playing quietly in the family room while I was eating some breakfast and Matt was reading the paper. Matt and I were actually able to carry on a full conversation with each other across the table--uninterrupted! Might I just add that neither of our kids are very quiet, so just the volume (or lack of it) in our house was astounding.





Then as I began to clean up the kitchen, Wyatt asked if he could help. He is usually a great helper, so this wasn't too out of the ordinary. But here he was putting the soap into the dishwasher. He was just so cute, all dressed and ready for church, helping me clean up the kitchen. Usually on Sunday mornings, we are running late and the kitchen never even gets cleaned up until we get home. But thanks to Wyatt, we got it all done before we went to church and we even got to church on time (another thing I have to document since it rarely happens!)























When we got home from church, Matt decided to get his hockey gear all ready for tonight while I made lunch. (Men's open hockey on sunday nights) Of course, Wyatt LOVED getting to play with all Daddy's hockey gear. He tried everything on and wanted Matt to hold him to up the mirror so he could see himself. (Here he is wearing Matt's shoulder pads over his Brett Favre jersey--in honor of the Packers playing the Vikings today, in which they won, of course!)




This picture is just priceless. Matt was trying on his helmet and Wyatt tried on another one of Matt's helmets and they were talking to each other with them on. Of course I would think it would be easier to have a conversation without a hockey helmet on, but this is one of the many reasons why a boy needs a Dad. It's great to see how Wyatt looks up to Matt and wants to do everything he does. At dinner the other night, I was watching Wyatt while Matt was praying and noticed that he folded his hands and bowed his head, but was looking at Matt's hands during the prayer and trying to fold his hands the same way. He spent most of the prayer trying to do everything the same way Matt was and it was just one of those priceless moments that I am so glad I was able to see. And I am even more thankful to be married to a man who I think is a great role model and example for Wyatt. If Wyatt grows up to be just like his Dad, he will be an unbelievable man of integrity and faith. And this is something I pray for everyday.

So this was my great day. And to top it off, as I alluded to earlier, the Packers beat the Vikings. Yet they didn't just beat them, they held them to a shutout! 34-0!

C-BUS, Here we come!!

Most of you are probably wondering why on earth we, as proud University of Wisconsin Badger fans, would have this picture of an Ohio State flag on our blog. (Oh, and of course it's not Ohio State, but THE Ohio State University.) And it is a bit painful to put it on our blog after this weekend's beating that we suffered at the hands of the Buckeyes. However, we are actually very excited to say that we will be residents of Columbus, OH beginning next summer. Matt was offered an AOFAS (American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society) fellowship at Ohio State and we are so excited! He'll be one of three fellows in their program and it is a 1 year fellowship. It's a huge accomplishment for Matt as AOFAS fellowships are almost always filled by orthopaedic surgeons (I think there have only been a handful of podiatrists selected across the country over the past 20 years). This comes after MUCH praying and seeking God's will in our lives and be willing to do whatever He wanted. And what a blessing this is!

We would love to hear any insight you might have as to life in Columbus or better yet, how to survive as a Wisconsin Badger fan!

Halloween!!!

So Halloween finally arrived and Wyatt got to wear his costume ALL DAY! We left the helmet at home, though, for fear that it may be used as a weapon (inadvertantly, of course!) We had lots of Halloween activies this week, so I'm putting pictures from all those in this one post. This picture was taken last friday at the party for all the resident's kids. We are blessed to have such a great community of resident families here in La Crosse and it was fun to have all the kids together. I think we managed to get all the kids in this picture....Wyatt is jumping off the step in the front and Sadie is sitting on the grass right in front.
Sadie was Snoopy--Wyatt's old costume--and thankfully she was able to stay warm!
This picture was taken before we went to the "Spooktacular" party on Saturday that the hospital puts on for all staff and their families. As you can tell, we had just woken up from our nap but couldn't wait to get to the party!
Here are Matt and Wyatt going down one of the many slides and 'blow up things' at the Spooktacular. We also got our picture taken infront of a pirate ship, while Matt and I both have real toucan birds on our arms! I may try and scan it in later, so you can check back for that picture. I thought it would be so much fun to get it taken (it was free, of course) but while I was holding the bird on my arm, I was beginning to freak out!

Wyatt giving Sadie a hug after dinner.
This picture was taken on Sunday--it doesn't really have anything to do with Halloween--but the weather was still warm enough for a bike ride and Wyatt had been begging to go for days. This was Sadie's first trip in the bike trailer and they both did great! Wyatt was such a great, protective big brother and Sadie was just talking the entire time!

Snoopy and Brett Favre in front of our pumpkins that Wyatt and I carved yesterday at the last minute!

When we got home, we dumped all the candy out on the table and began to eat. I have to say that Wyatt was so great while we were trick or treating. It was getting cold, so we said, "Brett Favre, you gotta run!" He ran for awhile and then stopped and said, "Brett Favre's hurt!" Matt and I were dying. And I think he's the only kid that asked to go home before we had gone to all the houses in resident housing!
Friends of ours gave us some extremely sour candy and this is Matt attempting to eat it---none of us were able to finish an entire piece.
And here is Wyatt making an attempt!
Sadie was cracking us all up because she would reach as far as she could, contorting her body, just to try and get a piece of candy. Matt was holding her here and she just would not stop going for the candy. At one point, she grabbed a placemat and all the candy on the table ended up on the floor.
We had a great Halloween and got lots of use out of Wyatt's costume. And I'm sure we'll still be wearing it until it's too small for him! Now we just have to deal with Wyatt wanting to eat candy 24-7. His first question this morning was, "Can I eat my candy?"