No One Told Me About This.......

As many of you mothers know, there is a world of information that no one tells you about before you have children. Today I had an experience that would fit into this category. For those of you who are mothers, hopefully you can relate. And for those of you that aren't.......well.......let's just say that kids are the greatest thing in the world but you may find yourself doing things that you never could have imagined as a result of becoming a parent! So, my story........I was in Sam's club (the closest thing to Costco in La Crosse) with Wyatt and Sadie and it was just before lunch. I thought we'd be able to get our shopping done there and home in time for lunch. But as we entered the store, Sadie decided she wanted to eat and eat immediately. Wyatt then thought he'd make it known that he was also hungry as I'm sure he feared I had forgotten about feeding him (because that has happened SO many times before). I decided to get a pretzel for Wyatt and a piece of pizza for myself and then I'd feed Sadie. (Thank goodness for the huge carts at Sam's that Wyatt can comfortably sit in the back of and eat his pretzel). But of course, there are no decents places to nurse a baby in any store (other than the lounge at Nordstrom's in the Mall of America), so where else do you turn but the bathroom. So here I am, with two hungry and cranky kids and a huge cart, rolling into the bathroom at Sam's. Thankfully, the handicapped stall was open and I rolled the cart right in. And this was the scene--Wyatt sitting in the back of the cart eating his pretzel, I'm sitting on the toilet breastfeeding Sadie with one hand and eating my pizza with the other hand. I just had to laugh as I sat there. Wyatt looked at me and said, "Mom, this is silly!" And to top things off, the toilet had one of those automatic flushers--need I say more! I never would have thought, a few years ago, that this is where I would be with my life. But here I am and I do love it! I have become quite creative in my days as a mom!

Summer Recap Vol. IV--The Last One

We ended our summer with a trip back to Des Moines, IA were we spent our time as a newly married couple and Matt continued in school. We have some GREAT friends in Des Moines and love going back to visit everyone. No matter how much time has passed between visits, we all seem to pick up right where we left off. And Matt and I were talking on the way home about how great it is to know that all our friends in Des Moines are still the same! We just love it. However, it seems like each time we come back there are more little ones running around! When we left Des Moines, all of our good friends and Matt and I had just had our first child--all of us within just weeks of each other! And of course, two years later, the second editions have arrived!

The picture below is (l to r) Sadie, Addison, Bella, and Judah. Each of these babies have older sisters that are the same age as Wyatt......Judah and Wyatt are the only boys!

Kenyan (Judah's sis), Kenna (Bella's sis) and Wyatt.......trying to get these kids to sit still is nearly impossible! We tried taking a picture of all the older siblings sitting behind their younger siblings but I'm not sure what we were thinking. I don't think I even got one picture with all 8 kids in the same shot! But we had so much fun hanging out with everyone and can't wait to come back....we know all of you guys in Des Moines are praying for a job for us there!

Now just a few more pics from the end of our summer. This picture was just a few weeks ago and Sadie's smile is just too precious! She really just adores her big brother and it's so amazing. She can be crying and fussing at me and then Wyatt walks up to her and says, in his best 'mommy impersonator voice', "Sadie, it's okay." and she just lights up and smiles. And she doesn't laugh for anyone the way she laughs for her brother. As a mom, it's so great to see. And then there are the moments like today when he was swinging his hockey stick and I thought it would just be a miracle if Sadie survived!

This picture was taken in Madison when we went home for Labor Day weekend. My sister Lindsay and I took the kids to the Farmer's Market early on Saturday morning and it was a gorgeous morning. Wyatt loved being able to run around the capital lawn and Sadie could sit in her Bjorn all day long. I can't wait to be in a city with great farmer's market someday!

Summer Recap Vol. III

We started August off with a trip up to Stormy Lake (in northern Wisconsin). Matt's family has been going to Stormy Lake ever since his mom was a little girl and they usually spend a week or two up there. However, this year Matt's parents bought a place up at Stormy Lake and the family couldn't be happier that we can all go up whenever we want!! Much of the summer was spent doing work around the cottage, but we all planned to go up the first weekend in August to celebrate Matt's parents' 35th wedding anniversary. We had a great time with Matt's parents and siblings (Cammie, Kyle, Tyler, and Mollie). The weather was perfect and we had a great time skiing, laying out, eating, and celebrating Matt's parents.

Matt's mom had these sweatshirts made for all of us...even little Sadie, although hers looks a bit like it says "Torm Lake"

The purpose of the weekend was to celebrate Matt's parents' 35th wedding anniversary. And hopefully they enjoyed the weekend as much as we did. Obviously Matt and his siblings are all here because of their great marriage and as Matt's wife, I, too, am so thankful for their relationship. They have a great marriage and are a wonderful example to all of us kids of what a Godly marriage looks like. Matt is a wonderful husband and I know he learned much of what he knows from watching his father be a wonderful husband to his mother. We love you guys and are so thankful for the legacy you have left and will continue to leave.

We went out for dinner on Saturday night to celebrate their anniversary. It was a great time as we don't have the entire family together all that often other than holidays.

Wyatt loved making sandcastles and playing down at

the water. He and Grammy played in the sand all morning one day.

Grammy and Papa got Wyatt his very own wetsuit and he thought it was pretty cool...just like Uncle Ty and Dad


Making smores around the campfire with Dad

Matt skiing..Wyatt was pretty amazed to see this and has been pretending to be waterskiing ever since we got home. He puts on a pair of Matt's shoes (since they are so big on him) and leans backwards while holding onto a belt hanging in the closet and pretends to be a skier. Then he falls and says, "Skier down!"
So excited to say "good job" to Daddy.

A FEW MORE PICS FROM THE SUMMER.......

One of my favorite pics of Matt and Sadie...

Aren't these t-shirts the cutest? My sis-in-law Cammie got them for the kids in Chicago at the T-Shirt Deli and they are adorable. They came in a white paper bag with a check stapled to the top, complete with a bag of potato chips inside and the t-shirts wrapped up like subs.

Summer Recap Vol. II

We had lots of highlights to our summer. Matt went on his annual guys canoe/fishing trip to the Boundary Waters. (For those of you unfamiliar with the northwoods, the Boundary Waters are a series of lakes between Minnesota and Canada.) Matt had a great time, as always, and really enjoys this time with his friends from college that we don't get to see all that often. Hopefully, though, we'll be getting back up to the twin cities and able to see these friends more often. Isn't it beautiful?

I also got to go on a trip of my own. I went with 3 of my friends (l to r Jessie, Nicole, and Stephanie) to Chicago for a girls weekend. It was nothing short of a miracle that we all found places for our kids while we were gone since all of our husbands are residents. We had a great time shopping, eating out (at places other than a McDonald's), and being without kids for a few days. We walked down to Lake Michigan (remember Steph?) after dinner one night and the sunset was just beautiful. Hopefully this can be a new tradition for us!
We spent a good amount of time in June and July celebrating the marriages of our good friends. Two of Matt's best friends got married this summer and it was so much fun as it was the same group of guys in both weddings. Erik and Angie Kuch got married outdoors in June and it was a beautiful ceremony---with a beautiful bride, as you can see! What a great night that was for all of us and we felt so honored to be a part of such a great day--a day we had all been praying for for many years!
And then Aaron and Gretchen Merritt got married almost exactly one month later and it was the same fun all over again. This dance was one of the most fun dances I had been to in a long time and we all had such a great time! We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and we can't wait to all get together again.
My sister Lindsay stopped by our place early in the summer to say goodbye for awhile. She spent the summer working with Campus Crusade for Christ at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. We had a great time with her before she left and we are so glad she is back. She had a great time in NZ and is planning on returning to be on full-time staff there next year.

This was one of my favorite pictures of Matt and Wyatt taken when we were at White Bear Lake in the twin cities. We actually lived on this lake right after Wyatt was born and Matt and I have some great memories from living there. The picture is so precious because it reminds me of just how fast life goes and how much can change. It seems like only a few weeks ago that we were living up there and I just had a little baby boy---when did he turn into a kid? And he looks just like Matt in this picture--I love it!
This is my favorite picture of the kids from this summer. We had just come home from church one sunday and we were waiting for Matt to come home from the hospital. Both kids were in great moods which doesn't happen all that often! (They both can be in good moods, but rarely does it happen simultaneously!) These are some of my favorite moments of being a mom!

Summer Recap Vol. I

We started our summer on Memorial Day weekend with a much overdue trip out to Pennsylvania to see Matt's grandparents. Matt hadn't been out to their place in 10 years and I had only been once (when I went with Wyatt and my in-laws last year). Our plan was to drive, but at the last minute we bought flights since the gas prices had jumped so high and it ended up costing us almost the same amount. And it's a good thing we flew, too, because it was so much easier with an 8 week old and a 2-year old. We had a great time and can't wait to get back. They live on lots of acres of wooded land up in the mountains and it's just beautiful!

I had to have the woman in front of us take this picture b/c it was just too priceless. We were on a tiny plane for our flight from Detroit to Erie, PA and the air conditioning was broken. To top it off, we had been travelling all day, Wyatt hadn't gotten a nap yet, and we had to sit on the runway for an hour (in the 100+ degree plane) waiting for something on the plane to be fixed! But the kids did remarkably great and as soon as the plane took off, everyone was out!


Gram and Gramp Sorensen have so many fun things to do.....3-wheelers, tractors, ponds, woods, etc.
Matt's Aunt and Uncle Doug and Kris also came out while we were there and it was great to spend time with more family. Sadie was loving all the attention from Gram and Gramp!
This is a pond that Matt's grandpa made on his own! Amazing, isn't it? It looks out over the mountains and we were even able to go fishing in it! Matt and Wyatt spent a lot of time here.

It was such a blessing to get to spend time with Matt's grandparents and our time went much too quickly. We are hoping to make our trip to PA an annual event. Hopefully we can see more of the cousins and aunts and uncles when we come out next!

Here Goes.....

I have been wanting to start a blog for awhile and I am finally doing it. This life with 2 little ones is a bit crazier than I had anticipated and I no longer have much time to talk on the phone or email all of you individually. Several of my friends have blogs and it's been a great way to stay in touch and feel like I am still connected to many of you, although it is a bit odd to talk to someone you haven't talked to in a year and yet know what they did yesterday. But the internet world is moving ahead full speed and so is my life....so I'm jumping on the blog bandwagon and we'll see how it goes. I have lots I'd like to get on here, so bear with me in the early stages of this learning curve.