A little early birthday celebration

Earlier this month, a friend of mine (Anna) from our small group at church asked if Sadie and I wanted to join her and her daughter Britta (same age as Sadie) for a little birthday outing for the girls. Britta's birthday is at the end of February and Sadie's is in March, so the timing was perfect. Anna thought taking the girls to "Build-A-Bear" would be fun and I knew Sadie would love trying anything new (since we had never done one before). We went on a Sunday afternoon and the girls had so much fun together. 

Before we got to the store, I reminded myself that this was all about Sadie and I needed to dial down my desire to help her pick out what I thought would be best. Let's just say I had to continue telling myself this the entire time we were in the store. 

On the right of this picture, you'll notice all different kinds of stuffed animals that you can choose from. And some of them are really quite cute! I took this picture as the girls were examining all the different options in the bins in front of them (which seem somewhat lifeless since they have no stuffing in them yet).

Sadie's choice? A rainbow bear! What else would you expect from Sadie? Love that girl! 

The girls then each selected a heart to put into their stuffed animal (Britta chose a white kitten) and took them over to the 'filling station' as I called it. You can see the woman holding Sadie's bear while the pedal under Sadie's foot allowed Sadie to choose how much or how little stuffing she wanted in her bear. 

I took this picture of Britta filling her kitty, but love how it shows Sadie hugging her bear so tightly. She literally hugged that bear that tight for days!

Colorful Sadie and her colorful bear!

Giving their animals and 'air bath'

We then let the girls each pick out an outfit for their animals. This part took the longest as there were so many options for them to choose from. Sadie finally decided on a cheerleader outfit that she thought looked like a Green Bay Packer cheerleader! 

The store had specifically designated a little area called 'The Dressing Room' for the girls to dress their animals in.  It was basically a table with a mirror on one end so the girls could dress their animals while watching in the mirror. Once the animals were dressed, they enjoyed 'showing' their animals how pretty they looked!

The final step was selecting a name for their animals and getting the birth certificates. Sadie chose the name 'Jessica' for her bear (I always find the names she gives to her babies/dolls/animals so interesting because I have no idea where she comes up with them!)

One last picture with Jessica (yes, Sadie had put a hockey tatoo on her face earlier in the afternoon at Wyatt's hockey tournament so that always makes for some great pictures!)

The girls, their animals, their boxes and some hungry tummies!

But before we grabbed some dinner, we let the girls do one ride--the giant swings! (Poor Anna ended up going backwards the entire time, but it made for a great angle on the pictures! And yes, Sadie did have shoes on...I just had to hold them so they wouldn't fly off)

And oh yes, the moms had some fun as well!!!

We ended the evening with dinner at Rainforest Cafe, another first for Sadie and I. Sadie wasn't crazy about the random 'storms' inside the restaurant, but by the end of our meal, she had gotten pretty good at reminding herself that they weren't real and we weren't going to get wet. It was a great afternoon/evening spent with friends and we were so thankful they asked us to join them on their special birthday outing. (And you can bet Jessica is still snug in Sadie's bed each night, right next to her American Girl Doll McKenna.)

End of another season

Hockey season has officially come to an end in our household...Wyatt had his 'end of the season' tournament and our rink is also melting. No more hockey for a little while now. Well, actually just about a month until the AAA team he tried out for starts (but thankfully that's just for 6 weeks in the spring with 2 tournaments and then another tournament in August, just to get ready for the season). I have to say that this season Wyatt seemed to really take off. He is on the younger end of the SuperMite program (all kids are 2nd-3rd graders) so he improved quite a bit. But he also seemed to develop a newfound love for the game and couldn't get enough of it. He was so excited when he found out he made the AAA team and is already asking when practices start. 

At his last tournament, I realized I hadn't taken many pictures this season so I did my best to make up for it!

The kids' favorite part of the tournament was getting to go on/off the ice and sit on the real benches, like the big kids do. (Usually they just sit on these little foam dividers that divide up the rink into thirds.) 

Watching his teammates so intently...

During the tournament, only the head coach is on the bench with the kids, so Matt got to run the scoreboard with a little help from Blakers.

Another favorite part for the kids

But I would have to say that the coolest part for Wyatt was having his good friend Titus come cheer him on as well as our neighbor/friend Gracie!

What picture of 6-8 yrs old would be complete without bunny ears?!

(L to R Onyx-Titus' little bro and also Sadie's classmate, Titus, Wy, Grace and Sadie)

Blake wanted in on the action but only as a player! Can't wait until this kid can start playing!

Wyatt had a great season and it was fun to watch him develop as a player. He love defense and emulates his Uncle Ty with almost every move. (Thankfully Uncle Ty is a great example for Wyatt to follow and if you ask Wyatt, he'll tell you that he's going to play for Bethel when he grows up.) He isn't the most aggressive or fastest player out there--at least not yet--but he may be the smartest player. He is great at reading different scenarios on the ice and has great passes. His desire to watch and really observe high school, college and pro hockey has definitely paid off and he 'gets' the game. Looking forward to many more years at the rink!

***Wyatt has mentioned during the past week of March Madness that he'd like to play basketball, which of course I love to hear! But when I tell him that it's during the same season as hockey, he says, "Mom, I don't mean on a team....I just mean I want to get a hoop out front and a basketball and shoot." Okay buddy....maybe I can still rope Sadie in someday! I have a feeling Blake is more cutout for hockey or wrestling!"***

Moments

As a mom, there are a few moments in my kids' lives that I have vividly remembered or stopped to try and 'take it all in'. One of those was the night that Wyatt prayed to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. We were living in Columbus and Wyatt was only 4 years old, yet he seemed to really understand what he was praying (as best as a 4-year old can). In our house, we talk a lot about Jesus being the Lord of our lives and having the Holy Spirit living within us once we make that decision. Sadie has also accepted Christ, but obviously Blake hasn't yet. We were sitting upstairs in our loft area, where we usually have family prayers and talk a bit before we put the kids to bed. And during Lent, we have been using this Lent Calendar I got from another blog I read (you can check it out here). As we were reading Day 5, Wyatt read, "Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. John 11:26". We were discussing what this means with the kids and Wyatt's concern immediately turned to Blake's future--"Mom, Blake isn't saved yet! What happens if something happens to him?"
This then lead to a whole slue of other questions, but that's not what I wanted to write about here. What I found interesting was when we started to talk to the kids about when they had accepted Christ. And although I can distinctly remember when it happened, I wasn't sure they did. It was so touching for Matt and I to hear Wyatt recount the night when he accepted Jesus in incredible detail--he could tell us where we were all sitting, what the room looked like, the time of day, even what toys were on the floor at that moment! It amazed me as I thought back on that night in our tiny apartment in Columbus--a difficult year marked by struggles and exhaustion--but also a year that changed our son's life forever!
Wyatt told us all his memories of the night when "the Holy Spirit came to live inside of me" and it was no less powerful now than on that night.
And although I realize that a child that young can't fully comprehend what following the Lord means, we continually pray that Wyatt would live out his decision to follow Christ and thus far in his life, he has. It has been a privilege to pray with him this year for specific things we have seen that he needs to work on and to witness how the Holy Spirit has been working in his heart. When it comes to matters of faith, Wyatt loves to ask questions and discuss what God's Word says and for this, we are so thankful. He and Matt have really enjoyed going to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) together on Monday nights and working on their lessons each morning together. And we pray that this pattern of being in The Word would stick with him for life. So thankful for this guy and blessed to be his mom!

Funnies

On Sunday after church, we went over to our friends, the Schmitt's, house for brunch. (We went skiing in Utah with their son and daughter-in-law). Steph and the kids were up in Hudson for the weekend while Bill was at a conference, so we enjoyed a wonderful meal with Tom, Laura, Steph and several other members of the Schmitt family (daughter-in-law Margit and grandson Paul, daughter Mary and her husband Elliot). Lots of fun was had by all--as always--and we cracked up watching the kids watch Nemo 3D on Tom and Laura's bed after we all ate (to buy a few more minutes of peacefully adult conversation).

Another little funny---after Matt got me a Vitamix blender for Christmas, we both started blending a lot and making smoothies for breakfast. The kids love trying Matt's (not mine--they refer to mine as 'swamp gas' since it's green!) so one day I told Sadie to take a picture of her smoothie 'stache and this was what I found on my phone a few days later!

Blake loves when I make meatballs. It's one of his favorite meals, but when we recently were eating them, we noticed that Blake calls them 'meatbulbs'. We tried correcting him at first, but Wyatt and Sadie found it hilarious! So know our entire family calls them meatbulbs--just a little Sorensen thing!


Another Blake funny---He woke up one day from his nap all sweaty and said to me, "I woke up all watery!"

And a few insights into my kids' personalities....
We were talking about what the kids wanted to be when they grow up and Wyatt shared, "I don't want to be a professional skier".
My response was, of course, "why not?"
To which Wyatt replied, "Because I don't want to get hurt" (we had recently watched Lindsay Vonn's horrible crash that tore her ACL and MCL and she had to get air-lifted off the mountain.
Yep, that's how my son's mind works.

Yesterday the kids were all playing a game with their stuffed animals. At one point some 'bad person' was attacking them and they needed to get to safety. Wyatt insisted that they had to save themselves first in order to be able to save the animals, while Sadie couldn't believe that Wyatt would try to escape without taking the animals with him. They ended up getting into an argument over who should be saved in this type of situation and I didn't interrupt them, but instead listened to each of them give defense of why they thought they were right. I never did interject my opinion, but instead took a mental note of the entire conversation-- how each of their personalities really came through in that conversation.