In a year unlike any other, it seems the Esquibel family is having more fun than ever.
The Madison family — Matt and Caitlin, plus nine-year-old Reagan and eight-year-old Brody — is making the most of this unusual time, whether it’s getting out to explore or getting creative at home.
Matt, who works with his wife at Signs by Caitlin, a DIY wood sign-painting business, shares more!
Where are you and your wife from and what brought you to Madison?
I grew up in central Missouri, and went to college in Kansas City. In 2007, I moved to Madison with a buddy on a whim, like you do when you’re twenty-three. The first time I ever stepped foot in Wisconsin was when I drove in hauling whatever I could fit in my small sedan. Caitlin had just finished at UW-Platteville and was making her way to Madison. I had heard Madison was a party town and would be an awesome place to be a young professional with absolutely zero intention of getting into a relationship. I met Caitlin within weeks of moving here, we married in 2009.
What are your favorite things to do together as a family?
I think we’re a good balance of going on adventures and fun family nights in. This year has been so different for obvious reasons but I think has brought some awesome changes. In previous years we’ve loved taking advantage of all Madison has to offer: the farmers’ market, Concerts on the Square, the Memorial Union Terrace and all the activities that are typically happening downtown. We’ve loved that Madison always has something going on.
This year we had to change it up and it’s been awesome! We started making our way to some of Wisconsin’s natural wonders: Devil’s Lake, Governor Dodge and our annual trip to Door County. We outfitted the family with bikes and started exploring the local trails. Finding new ways to get out and get active has certainly been a silver lining in this wild year.
We love our time in too! We always try to have a family dinner at the table, though sometimes that’s easier said than done in our crazy life. We love board games, movie nights, Xbox battles. I’m a total Disney, Star Wars and Marvel nerd, so I’ve made it my mission to put Reagan and Brody on that path. So far, so good.
What is a typical fall weekend like for your family? And how are you approaching the season this year, when so much is different?
Fall is our favorite! We go all in on holidays. In August, when it’s still ninety degrees out, I have to hold Caitlin back on breaking out the fall and Halloween decorations. Most of our fall traditions are outdoors, so we’re hoping we don’t have to change it up too much this year. Our weekends are filled with corn mazes, apple orchards and pumpkin patches. This year we may replace some of our Madison downtown activities with some state park visits during peak tree color times.
Thanksgiving week is probably our favorite week of the year. We spend two nights in the Wisconsin Dells and come home on Thanksgiving day. On Friday we go cut down our Christmas tree and spend the weekend decorating. Fall is one of the busiest times of year for our business so taking that short break to keep that family tradition is really special.
Please tell us about Signs by Caitlin! How and when did you start the business?
Where to begin! In fall of 2014 we had two toddlers, I was working seventy-plus hours a week and also finishing up a degree as a full-time student and our son Brody, nearly two at the time, had just been diagnosed on the autism spectrum. Caitlin was home with the kids, overwhelmed and needed an outlet, so she went in the garage, threw on some headphones on and painted a sign on some scrap wood. Proud of her work, she posted a picture on Facebook and someone offered to buy it. It snowballed from there! Beyond being an amazing outlet, Brody was her primary motivation for pushing forward. Her sign sales were what allowed us to keep Brody in the intensive therapy he needed.
In March of 2016, Caitlin ran her first public DIY sign painting workshop. It sold out overnight. She reached out to other venues and started running public and private workshops through southern Wisconsin. By that September we decided to go all in. I quit my job for us to make a run at entrepreneurship. Today we have over forty instructors running workshops throughout Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois and operate out of a product facility in Verona, Wisconsin. We also made a major pivot as a result of the Covid pandemic. We are shipping DIY kits straight to homes nationwide. It’s been an awesome activity for families all over the country who are finding new ways to spend their time!
Your photography is so inspiring! Can you please tell us more about it?
Thank you! That’s so kind. It’s been an amazing creative outlet for me and a wonderful way to capture our family. Though I’m not opposed to a staged photo here and there, I love catching the real moments, the chaos, the authentic parenting moments. This past year has provided a ton of those! Beyond that, Wisconsin is too beautiful not to capture, so it’s rare that I’m out and about without my camera close.
What do you hope your kids learn from seeing you and your wife do the work you do?
I hope they learn that there is no substitute for hard work. In entrepreneurship it’s important to not overthink the work and just get started. You can adjust on the way. I often hope they’d take this attitude into cleaning their rooms.
How do your kids inspire you?
They amaze me daily. They both are just the most caring, kind and loving kids.
Reagan teaches me how to think like a kid again. To imagine without limits. To shamelessly sing and dance regardless of ability. To create without rules. She just turned nine and she’s already showing me better ways to do things that would have never thought of. It’s just amazing (and a little heartbreaking) to see her grow more independent.
Brody is the hardest worker I know. After his autism diagnosis, he basically worked a full-time job from the age of two. Thirty-five-plus hours a week of intensive therapy for four straight years. He made such amazing progress and is currently thriving in the second grade. I’m just totally blown away at what he’s accomplished.
There’s never enough time to do everything, so what do you prioritize as a family? What do you always make time for?
Life is especially wild in business ownership. There’s stretches where we just have to have our head down and get the work done. Through all of it we almost always find time to have dinner together as a family and be truly present while there — TV off, phones down. We also try to set aside time where we really just turn off from work for a day trip or a weekend getaway. There is definitely times where we feel like we could be doing more.
What are the most important things to teach your kids?
There are always the greatest hits: being kind, caring, compassionate, hardworking, empathetic. Beyond those, I hope they learn grit. The ability to get knocked down and recover. I hope they learn to embrace failure and find ways to adjust and keep moving forward. I want them to know that just because you aren’t at one hundred percent that doesn’t me you can’t give one hundred percent.
– Katie Vaughn
Photos by Matt Esquibel.
Katie Vaughn is the editor and co-founder of Northerly. She is a University of Wisconsin-Madison and Stanford University-trained journalist with experience as a writer, reporter, editor, blogger and author. She lives in Madison with her husband, daughter and son, and is always up for an adventure.