Halloween here we come!

I got Wyatt's costume a few weeks ago and ever since we got it, he's been so excited. As you can see, he is going to be Brett Favre for Halloween. (He actually picked this out on his own--not by my prodding--but I am pretty proud that he's a Packer fan!)


This is the face I see many mornings, either coming into the kitchen (if I'm already awake) or more often, next to my bed. As I open my eyes, I see this big helmet with bright blue eyes inside asking, "Is it time to wake up?"




Of course, while eating breakfast, we have to have the helmet right by us!


And when we are ready to go to sleep with blankie in hand, we still must wear it! I've tried several times to tell Wyatt he can sleep with the helmet next to him--sometimes I am successful in my attempts and other times I'm not. You'd think it would be pretty uncomfortable!

5-1

Yes, my Green Bay Packers are now 5-1! And I was lucky enough to be there in person to witness their 5th win of the season. (yeah, yeah, i know i didn't post anything about last week when they lost--i'm just trying to forget about it.) My sister-in-law Cammie had two tickets and asked if I would go with her--OF COURSE! Plus, it was her birthday on sunday, so it was even more fun. Our day was complete with free tailgating, free food and drinks, great seats, and great company! We woke up at 5:30am in order to get up to Green Bay with enough time to tailgate and walk around before kickoff at noon. As we were walking towards the stadium, I ran into my mom's cousin (luckily I recognized him b/c I haven't seen him in probably 10 years). I just thought I'd say 'hi'--but he quickly grabbed us and said, "Come on. I'm on my way to meet Joe McCarthy, coach Mike's dad". So before I could even introduce Cammie, we were racing through the parking lot with my mom's cousin (Gary) and his friend..who we still hadn't met at this point. But we ended up meeting Coach Mike McCarthy's dad, brother, and cousin! So here is a picture of Cammie and I with Joe McCarthy (his son looks just like him!)

After all this, we said goodbye to my mom's cousin and his friend and headed back towards the stadium. On our way, we ran into this beautiful woman collecting donations for a local food pantry. I went to give her a donation and noticed that she had a Donald Driver jersey on (for those of you unfamiliar with the Packers, Driver is one of the wide receivers on the team). I asked her if she was Donald Driver's wife and she said yes! So of course, we asked if we could have our picture taken with her! And here we are with her and her beautiful little girl Christina.

All this before the game even began!! We finally made it to the stadium and of course, we had to have our picture taken in front of Lambeau field with the statues of Coach Vince Lombardi and Packers founder 'Curly' Lambeau in the background.

And what trip to Lambeau would be complete without a picture wearing cheeseheads? Notice the large stack of cheese behind us. I don't care who you are, no one can look good in one of these!

The game began and the weather was great for about 20 minutes. It was in the mid-50's and overcast! And for Lambeau Field, anything over 30 degrees is warm! But of course, it began to rain towards the end of the first quarter. Luckily, we had rain gear with us (thanks to my mother in law) and stayed dry the entire game.


We had such great seats. We were in the end zone about 8 rows back, so we felt like we were right in the middle of the action (at least when it was on our end of the field). Here are a few pictures of Brett Favre--probably the closest we'll ever be to him!


Favre in action......not sure how the rest of the photo came out blurry except for him, but it looks pretty cool!



And here was the final score....17-14 Packers over the Redskins. And of course, Favre was on the jumbotron right as i took this picture. Could it get any better?

Cammie and I had such a great day! We even made it on the jumbotron twice!!! And I have to say that I could not have enjoyed such a fun day without the help of Matt. He watched the kids all day on sunday so that I could go, even after he worked all day on saturday. What a guy! Hopefully I'll be able to post more about the success of the Green Bay Packers!

Weekend in St. Peter

We got to spend last weekend with friends of ours in St. Peter, MN. Both Drew and Jen went to undergrad with Matt and then Drew and Matt were in podiatry school together. They've become great friends of ours and we are so glad they are done with residency and no longer in D-town!! Hopefully we'll be living even closer to you guys next year!

Wyatt and Kael patiently waiting for breakfast

They thought they were so funny in their Daddy's shoes

The two cutest (and chubbiest) little girls

Proud Dads

These two had so much fun playing together
Just those looks make me nervous!

Thank goodness for the timer function!

A few things we learned over the weekend:

1. Caramel isn't made with just sugar and water

2. Two year olds feel free to tell people they need haircuts

3. Apparently it's rude to comment on how long a baby has been awake

4. It's best to not let kids touch the art in an art gallery--it may be 'priceless' art

5. Taking 4 kids all under 3 years old to a restaurant is a bit crazy, but worth the attempt

6. Rocks hurt when they fall on your nose

7. The more rolls on a baby, the better

8. Moms are rarely in the pictures

9. It's so refreshing to spend time with such great people

Family Pics

I'm sure you are wondering why this post is titled family pics since that's all I put on our blog. But these are actually professional pictures! While we were in Des Moines last month, a friend of a friend offered to take our family pictures for us. She's got a great little studio in her basement and charged next to nothing (which is great for families like us who usually wouldn't have the money to have pictures like these taken). She did such a great job and I wanted to post just a few of them on here so you could see how talented she is (and how cute my kids are!). If you are in Des Moines in the near future and would like your pictures taken, let me know and I will give you her info.

She even got both kids to smile at the same time---how talented!!!

Apples Here We Come!

One of my favorite things about the fall is going to an apple orchard. It's one of the reasons why I could never live in the south, because I just love this time of year when the weather gets cool, the leaves start to turn, and the smell of apples is in the air. We had two trips scheduled to go to two different apple orchards in the same week. So we decided to do both! The first orchard we went to with some of the women in my Bible study and their kids. We had a great time and the rain held off for us! Wyatt loved the pedal tractors and he and his friend Drew played almost the entire time. As you can see from the pictures below, the two of them can get into a bit of trouble. They were peaceful watching the chickens and goats for awhile until they realized they could reach through the fence! And then the real fun began! But they loved the hayride and getting to eat the apples that they were able to pick from the tree all by themselves.

Then we went to our second orchard two days later with the other resident wives and their kids. We tried to get some of the boys to all sit on this bench and take a picture, but we quickly realized that getting four boys to sit still is nothing short of a miracle (and a source of frustration for the moms).

Wyatt and his two friends, Jackson and Caleb, sitting on the rocks. This was right before some of the boys began throwing rocks and Wyatt got nailed in the head! (Although Wyatt was the victim this time, he has often times been the culprit!)

Becoming 'Better'

This morning as Wyatt and I were eating breakfast, he asked me what we were going to do today. I told him we had Bible Study this morning and then we were going to the park with all the kids from Bible Study to play and have lunch.

Usually the conversation ends there and I assume he begins thinking about seeing the kids at Bible Study. But today, he asked me, "What do you do at Bible Study Mom?" I didn't give it much thought and just said, "I learn about Jesus."

Wyatt then looked at me and said, "That will make you better, won't it Mommy?"

I was so taken back and looked at him and said, "Yes it will. Where did you hear that Wyatt?" I was so amazed that he said this and I was wondering where he learned this. He didn't really understand, in his little 2-year old mind, what I was trying to get it. But then he said, "I learn about Jesus in Sunday School too, Mommy, and He's going to make me better."

It was so precious to me and was such a great reminder that everything I do as a mother has an effect on my kids. I am so thankful for the people who serve in the children's ministry at church and for the impact they have on our kids' impressionable minds. But most of all, I am thankful for Christ and that He does 'make us better' as Wyatt put it.

4-0!

For those of you who doubted, well, shame on you! Yes, my Green Bay Packers are undefeated and I couldn't be happier. Being born in Green Bay and raised in Wisconsin, I've always been a Packers fan and the recent years have been a bit difficult. But after beating the Minnesota Vikings yesterday, we are a pretty happy household. I enclosed some pictures of the kids proudly sporting their green and gold. Wyatt was claiming all day that he was going to be Brett Favre when he grows up--which would be fine with me since Brett did break the record yesterday for touchdown passes thrown!
It is quite humorous to see the differences between boys and girls...even with Sadie being only 6 months old. Wyatt watched the entire game and even went up to the TV at one point when Brett Favre was on the screen and said, "Brett, look at me, look at me!" Sadie just sat there, watching my Dad, Matt and Wyatt watch the game. And this was the expression on her face as she watched them....so precious!

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.