The honey badgers visit

My good friend Steph stopped by on Sunday with her little twin girls. She was staying in Hudson for the weekend with her in-laws and it was so great to get to see her. She and I went out Friday night after all our kids were in bed and then she stopped by on Sunday with the girls, Elleanor and Claire. Wyatt's first question was, "Where's Charlie?", Steph's 2-year old son. I thought it was sweet that Wyatt wanted to see Charlie, but he was spending some time with his grandpa.

It's hard to believe but the girls are now 7 months old, despite still only weighing like 13 lbs. They are so stinkin' cute!! These tiny little bodies crawling all over the place and pulling up to things! My kids loved having them, especially Sadie.

(Elli is in the bright pink, Claire in the lighter pink)

Even Blake kept asking to hold them...and he did really well with them...that is, until I was holding one of the girls and not him!!

Sadie loved every minute of it. She even went and got several toys for the girls and asked Steph if the girls could come up to her room with her.

We had a great time while they were here, even though it was short and a bit chaotic. But that's pretty much how our lives are right now!!

Halloween....for Mommy and Daddy!!!!

Saturday night we went to an adult costume party in our neighborhood. We went with two other couples as the cast of Gilligan's Island.....

Ginger, Mrs. Howell, and Mary Ann

The skipper, Ginger, the millionaire and his wife, Mary Ann and Gilligan

The kids all wanted in on the picture!

The outfits turned out pretty great, considering we decided on our costume ideas just 4 days before. Thank goodness for Goodwill and Savers, who provided all our costumes!! (my dress was the only gold dress at Goodwill and was my size and only $8!!!)

Pumpkin Carving

We carved our pumpkins on Saturday and have a great time...

Not sure what Blake was attempting with the bucket for the pumpkin 'insides'

(Sadie called it her 'throw up bucket' since this is the same size bucket I use for that...lovely)

Wyatt's first year carving his own completely on his own

Matt's creative 'sideways' pumpkin....it wouldn't stand up so he carved it on it's side

Playing catchup....does it seem like I am always doing this?

Yes, I seem to be perpetually behind and never really feel like I am caught up on everything. But as my good friend's mom always tells her when she feel like she just doesn't have it all together...."you don't. and you never will. So don't waste your time and energy feeling guilty about it. You never 'arrive' in life. It is a constant state of learning stretching, changing and growing--and none of those involves peace. We can only create peace with how we approach those things...with hope, gratitude and optimism." And giving ourselves LOTS of grace! Because boy do I need it!

And this sweet face brings so much gratitude to me....despite the clear unhappiness he is experiencing.

And my beautiful sweet Sades...I am loving this age with her....can she stay 4 forever?

Wyatt is doing so well in school. We just had our first parent/teacher conferences last week and he is doing great. His teacher has even moved him up to an accelerated math program and I am so thankful. He LOVES math and just seems to 'get it'. It's like it just clicks for him and it's so simple in his mind. Matt and I are so thankful that his school has not only a gifted and talented program (which doesn't start until 2nd grade) but also accelerated classes in just about every subject for the kids that need extra challenges. And his teacher teaches the accelerated math, so he really enjoys that. But she also had noted in our conferences that he has such great handwriting.....

He brought this home from their science unit last week. With it being Halloween, it was fitting that they learned all about bats.

Last Sunday we watched the RWC (Rugby World Cup) Championship game. It's held every four years and this year New Zealand hosted (where my sister and her husband live). It's a really big deal to just about everyone else in the world, but since rugby isn't a very popular sport here, no one really knew about it here in the states. We have been following it a bit and when we found out that NZ was in the final against France, we had to watch. They placed in on NBC on a tape delay (live was 3am!) and we watched Sunday afternoon right before the Packer/Viking game. Wyatt was such a trooper....he watched most of it and really got into it. It was difficult for Matt and I to watch, however, since we didn't understand a thing that was going on and we are both used to understanding the basic fundamentals of most sports. The exciting part? NZ WON!!!! Their national team is called the All Blacks and they won the world championship. Wyatt has a poster in his room of the All Blacks that Rob and Lindsay sent him and he recognized several of the players and was pretty excited to wear his jersey to school the next day, despite the fact that none of the kids had any idea what it was all about. We saved the recording and are planning on watching it with Rob when he and Lindsay come next summer for the entire month of August!!! YEAH!!

Wyatt was watching a MN Wild game one night and we looked over to see Blake had gotten a pillow and laid down just like his brother....have I mentioned how much he adores his big brother?

Last week was Sadie's turn to be the 'princess' in dance class. Basically it means they get to pick the music and lead the class in one song. And boy did she love that!!

..and this was a 'dress' Sadie made with some wrapping paper one night. She has so much creative and a wonderful imagination that she clearly did not get from me, but I pray that I can continue to help cultivate it in her. I just love it!!

..more posts to come but I am getting closer and closer to feeling caught up!! Hang in there with me!

Patience

A few days ago I was in the kitchen and Sadie said to me, "Mom, why do you keep making that noise?"

me:"What noise, Sadie?"

Sadie said, "This noise" and gave a very heavy sigh

me: get that horrible sinking feeling that I am being a terrible mother and I didn't even realize my frustration with things was so evident...then responded, "Sadie. I am sorry. I didn't realize I was making that noise. I guess I just need to be more patient with things."

Sadie: "But didn't you pray to Jesus for patience this morning? I don't think he gave it to you."

Me: swallowing my pride yet again after feeling convicted by my 4-year old daughter, as only kids can do...."Well Sadie. Sometimes we need to keep going to back to Jesus to help us with these things. Should Mommy pray to Jesus again right now and ask for patience?"

Sadie: "yes"

So we did. I stopped everything and we just prayed in the kitchen that Jesus would give Mommy more patience. Having children is a very humbling experience and I am sure if Matt or anyone else had pointed out to me that I was making 'that noise', I would have responded defensively or given an excuse for my behavior. But when it's your little ones noticing, there is nothing you can do but realize that the Lord uses them in powerful ways to teach us lessons we need to be taught!

Look who's going to school!

Blake got this backpack as a gift from my good friend when he was born. The other day he pulled it out, put it on, and began telling us that he was going to get on the school bus and go to school.

Saying 'goodbye' to Daddy

We all played right along and said, "Bye Blake. Have a great day. Love you"

He got this big grin when I said, "Oh Blake! How was school today?"

3rd Annual Lundquist/Sorensen Apple Orchard/Pumpkin Patch Outing

Last weekend we made our annual trip with the Lundquists down to Hastings to pick some apples and pumpkins. The weather was great, the company fantastic, and the food was wonderful as well.

Ready to go!!

Sadie loved getting to pet all the animals...

Wyatt was content to watch Sadie pet all the animals

Kael and Wyatt

Fun times with the wagons....

Blake and Beckham

Sadie and Elli...every time these girls are together, they giggle uncontrollably! It's so precious!

...all fun and games until someone gets hurt!

..eating a few mini donuts on the way...

Wyatt and Kael were pretty excited about this find.

Portrait of fun times...

Blake first attempted this.....

..which quickly turned in to this...

...and then this.

The funniest thing about that gate is that it was next to a metal fence that looked like an electric fence. But Blake was playing on it and at one point even had his head stuck in between the wires, so Matt goes, "There's no way they would have it turned on with kids all over the place." Sure enough, Matt and Drew walked over to it and it was turned on. Thankfully the voltage was low, but I think Blake actually enjoyed the shock!

Wyatt was pretty excited to wear his cowboy boots that day.

Blake found some worms on this pumpkin....

..and then the girls came to watch them crawl!

Our finds....

Matt is pretty picky about the stems and always wants to find the best ones, so this is what we came up with this year. Can't wait to carve them all!

What a great day we had. We enjoyed a crazy, chaotic lunch at Panera and then went to a park for a few hours. The kids played, the parents enjoyed some warm coffee and conversation, and the little ones were exhausted. It was a great day and we can't wait for the 4th annual!!!