First piano recital

The kids had their piano recital during the last week of school also. Grammy was here helping pack boxes, so she was able to come along and hear all that the kids had learned from their lessons this year. They were both quite nervous (as one would expect) but they did awesome and neither of them made one mistake. (And Wyatt even had to play with his brace on his thumb!)

Wyatt's teacher had asked him to 'compete' in a piano competition earlier in the month. At the end of the recital, we found out that he had won the competition for his level! We all had a good laugh because the piano seemed to come so easily to Wyatt and he was quite good at it, but just didn't love it. He was really holding out hope that we would eventually let him play the drums! We will have to see...

Our support group

The beginning of the end….our goodbyes started about a week before we moved with dinner with our small group. Man am I thankful for these couples! I can't even put into words what this group meant to us over the last year. We joined their small group about two years ago when we started attending Faith Community Church in Hudson. And what was intended to be a small group/Bible study between 5 couples quickly progressed into a 'support group' as we all called it, to help us get through the struggles and stresses of life. We shared life's burdens with one another--and it definitely lightened the load to know that although none of our struggles could be taken away, we weren't alone in walking through them. We prayed for one another, shared our fears and ideas, dreams and goals and disappointments. I am so thankful for these couples (as well as the Bangtsons, who moved to Wausau a year ago) and felt refreshed with every moment we spent with them. They will be missed dearly!

(l to r, Todd and Anna Holter, Matt and I, Zach and Nikki McCabe, Josh and Kim Agrimson)

Season-wrecker

The first broken-bone in our house. Wyatt broke his thumb fielding a grounder that took a weird hop and got him right on the end of his thumb. Of course, we thought he'd be fine and told him to just ice it and sleep on it. He went to school the next day but when he got home and was still complaining about it hurting, Matt had me bring him in. Sure enough--broken. Of course I still thought he could play in his baseball game that night, but the PA looked at me and said, "Oh no. He needs to rest it and stay out of baseball for the next two weeks."

WHat?!?! We would be gone by then and moved to IL. Poor guy was so bummed. But he still went to his games and cheered his team on!

Memorial Day Weekend

After Ty's graduation, we headed up to Stormy just for two days to get everything ready for the summer and enjoy a weekend of rest before the craziness of the move set in. 

This makes me smile.

College Grad

Uncle Ty graduated from Bethel University and it was a bittersweet day for all of us. We have had the privilege of having Ty live with us several summers and he has been a great role-model for our kids. We will definitely miss getting to watch him play hockey for Bethel, have him over for meals and to do some laundry or just to hang out and talk about life. We were blessed to be able to live in the cities while he was in school there and it'll definitely feel weird to not have him stopping by occasionally. 

But we are so excited for what the Lord may have planned for him next, whether he ends up in podiatry school or chiropractic school. It's an exciting time but also a bit sad to see his time at Bethel end. He had a great experience there and also had a great impact on many students. And he may not be the last Sorensen to graduate from Bethel--Wyatt still talks about wanting to play hockey at Bethel someday so we may be back in about 9 years!

What would a picture with Ty be without a silly one?!

Track 'N Field Day

Track N Field Day--probably one of the best days in all of elementary school, right?! Thankfully the kids had great weather (even a bit too hot if you ask me). Blake and I dropped by to cheer the kids on for a bit and take a few pictures before we joined them for a picnic lunch.

Sadie and some of her fellow 1st grade girls in the 50-yd dash

This picture perfectly exemplifies Sadie--always smiling and having fun, regardless of whether she is winning the race or losing. She just loves being with people and enjoys the entire experience--and I love that! She isn't bothered by losing and it has no effect on her enjoyment of the day. And as a result, she ends up surprising us all and doing quite well because she just goes out there and tries her best and doesn't worry about winning or losing or anything else!

Sadie got 4th place out of all the girls in 1st grade!

Then we walked over to watch Wyatt and the 3rd grade boys

The older kids did the 100M on the track, which they all thought was pretty cool.

Somebody thought he was a 3rd grade boy…..

And he took off with them at the sound of the gun! 

Don't think that falling behind deterred this kid…..

Then we popped back over to check out what Sadie was up to. And now someone seemed to think he was a 1st grade girl.

Smiling yet again!!

Blake was made for track n field day. 

It was a really fun (did I also mention hot) day for the kids. Needless to say, they all slept really well that night!

Blake's turn

Blake has also been doing gymnastics all year and had his final class the same week as Sadie's meet, although his was during the day so he didn't get to have quite the same audience. But he got a medal and I took the obligatory picture.

Gymnastics Meet

I have to start by saying that Sadie is such a great sister. She patiently endures many practices and games of her brothers' activities and rarely complains. And of course the activity she most enjoys, gymnastics, has only one 'meet' at the end of the year for her to showcase all that she has learned and have her family come support her and cheer her on. So this day was a big, big deal for her!

Sadie and her 3rd cousin Livi

(we think it's 3rd cousin---Livi's grandma and Sadie's grandpa are first cousins)

They loved being in the same class together

Warming up--Sadie's perfected the splits! Ouch!!

Sadie's biggest fans!

I didn't get a good picture of their actual routine, but Sadie and Livi did their floor routines together and did a great job!! I love this picture of the two of them waiting for their music to begin.

So proud when she get her medal! I think she could have stood there all day long while people took pictures;)

Sadie, you are a great example of someone who doesn't give up when things are tough. It took you nearly two years to get that cartwheel down, but you never quit and never complained. You just kept working hard and looked forward to every practice you had. And you always did it with a smile! We are all so proud of you.

Baseball season in full swing

This was Wyatt's first year of kid-pitch baseball and we were fortunate enough to have a great team! One of the dads of a fellow hockey teammate offered to put a travel baseball team together, comprised of all hockey players, which allowed the kids to not only play baseball with all their friends but also allowed the games/practices to be scheduled around spring hockey! (Kinda ridiculous, but it was nice to not have conflicts!)

We had a really long winter and all of their practices were indoors until their first game, so the learning curve was pretty high once we got outside and started playing real baseball.

My nerves definitely got the best of me, watching Wyatt out there on the pitching mound!

And a few pics of Blake hanging with his buddies--all the younger brothers of Wyatt's teammates. These boys had lots of fun but were also known to get in to a bit of trouble. Here they were bringing a small tree over to show us--we never did determine if it was already broken or if they had broken it out of the ground.

Blake loved hanging with the 'big boys'

So much fun watching these boys get so excited and cheer one another on!

And once again, Blake finds his way to the gear!

(Doesn't matter that he has church clothes on--he can still fill in as catcher anytime)

A few things that seemed noteworthy…..

One of Sadie's goals that she shared at New Year's with our family was that she would get a 100% on a spelling test. She is a great writer but is very much a phonetic speller. And I would also say that I think the spelling words she had were pretty tough for a first grader (a good thing, but also makes it harder to get a 100%). But let me just say that since she had to work pretty hard to get this, it was that much more meaningful!

I took a picture of Wyatt's homework one day because as I looked at it, I remembered the conversations I had with him where he expressed his anxiety about coming into a class where they all knew how to write in cursive and he didn't (since the public schools in Woodbury no longer taught cursive). I didn't hear a lot about it during the school year and saw his work occasionally. But for whatever reason, as I pulled this out of his folder the other day, it hit me and I was reminded of how he had overcome his fears and 'come from behind' to learn something new--and to do it well!!

Career Day at school---we have a future teacher and NHL player

And this picture was taken while I was setting up for our garage sale (my first ever)--Blake took it upon himself to put on some of Matt's hockey gear. And when I saw this face, it was so impossible to get upset with him:)