Magic Kitchen

Anna received a kitchen from the family for her 2nd birthday.

I'm stuffed!

I've had brownies, hot dogs, bananas, chicken legs and waffles coming at me non-stop. Can I say that when I grow up I want a kitchen like Anna's. She puts stuff in the microwave and it comes out perfectly every time. I've also sampled a cucumber from the oven that was just delicious. If you're really hungry she's got an ice cream cone recipe that comes off the grill that's really quite unbelievable. She's a little Betty Crocker so if you're in the mood for an orange or some french fries that have the slightest hint of PVC come on over.

My Baby

My baby Anna girl is two-years-old today. It's 5:01am right now. Two years ago at this time I was trying in earnest to hang up the new curtains I'd gotten for the living room. My mom, who was at our house for Isaiah, kept saying she could do it but, apparently I felt I could climb all over the furniture to get the curtains "just right" all by myself. I believe you call that nesting people. My husband, trained after the 9 months of hormones, just stood there saying nothing at all.

Then it was off to the hospital for c-section #2. At this point I'd add all the gory, I mean beautiful, details although I shall spare you all and say my baby Anna was born a few hours later.

Anna Victoria Rolli is named after my two grandmas. My dad's mom, Anna Kaiser and my mom's mom, Victoria Novak. I'm glad it all worked out as she is definitely an Anna Victoria. I heard somewhere that boys are more challenging to raise when they are younger and girls are more challenging when they get to be teenagers....not so much. Isaiah was quite the easy boy and Anna, well.... she's a pistol but, I love her to pieces. I can't even believe the sassiness that girl can dish out.

I will say I appreciate her taste in food. When asked what she wanted to eat for her "2 party" she said, hot dogs, grapes, deep (dip/ketchup) and beans (baked beans). You can't get any easier than that. I'm going to the store with my dolly this morning to get her "2 party" food. Since she picked such an easy menu for us to make I might even let her get strawberries at the farmer's market today. It is her party day after all. Enjoy your June 28th today.

Because haiku apparently is contagious, here goes:

She's my best little girlfriend
I love her so much
Thank you God for our Anna

Potato, Po-tah-toe

We have a hilarious book at our house called Diary of a Worm. It gives us a glimpse into a little boy-worm's life and the trials and tribulations that go along with being a young worm. Children in this day and age refer to one's thoughts recorded on paper as a journal, not a diary. As a result, Isaiah repeatedly asks me how to pronounce the title of this book.

Today as we were getting ready for our day Isaiah proudly told me he is reading Diarrhea of a Worm. Excellent!

Please Please

Two requests for the day:

Dear fellow YMCA attenders,
Please do not dowse yourselves with vast amounts of cologne before visiting the Y. Some of us are having a tough enough time breathing through our cross training workouts without the added chemicals. Thank you!


Dear male VW Bug owners,
Please do not go topless in your bugs as it appears you've nothing on at all. I'd hate for you to be the cause of an accident due to rubbernecking. Thank you!

Why'd I Do That???

I signed my favorite boy up for summer school. I was thinking we would try it this year and see what he thinks. If Isaiah didn't really enjoy it then we won't sign up next year. I'm thinking he'll have fun as he'll be taking a cooking class, a gym class and a music class. What little boy doesn't like to eat, run and make noise?

I didn't realize, however, that I would not like the summer school experience. Last week was our first week of summer vacation and we all had lots of fun. I'm really bummed that I have to bring him to school AGAIN for two weeks. I know it's just in the morning but still, I'm bummed.

I have one hope that maybe in his cooking class he'll make food with lots of vegetables. If so, I'm home free because I know he'll want no part of summer school next year if they make him eat healthy food.

Oh Dee Toilet?

The kiddos and I are going to the state park today to meet some friends and have a picnic. As I was getting ready this morning I thought to myself, "Should I put perfume on?". (I don't usually wear the stuff unless it's a special day. Because of the heat I've been taking showers before bedtime and so now I don't feel as refreshed in the morning, thus the perfume question.) Anyhoo, I decided against the perfume as I realized I'll be wearing the signature mama fragrance of summertime: Eau de Sunscreen underneath a light floral scent of Essence of Bug spray. Question answered!

Give Us Our Daily Bread

Pastor Larry had a super sermon on acknowledging and submitting to the fact that God provides everything we need. We graciously, sometimes not-so-graciously, accept what God gives to us. Larry based his sermon off of the Lord's prayer. He repeatedly said, "Give us our daily bread." He also mentioned other verses that referenced bread. There was also a great little story about how the king, or queen, of the castle provides the roast beef dinner that is set on the dinner table. Or so we think.... Anyhow, there were lots of food references made during the sermon.

Just as Pastor Larry is wrapping up his message Isaiah turned to Matthew and said, "Papa, I'm real hungry."

I'm so glad Isaiah was listening to the message!

Welcome Home

I grew up here in this lovely town of Hudson. My mom and dad moved to town when I was three and we've been here ever since. Originally both my parents are from Milwaukee. My mom, dad, sister and I were the only ones from both families that lived way up in Northern Wisconsin. We usually spent holidays and birthdays with just the four of us as it wasn't always practical to drive the over six hours to Milwaukee. (when I was real little the interstate was only 55mph....yuck) I think all four of us just got used to not being around extended family more than once or twice a year.

Well that started to change five or six years ago when my cousin, from Waukesha, met and married Greg from Mahtomedi. Courtney and Greg now live in Hudson with their two little girls and my two kiddos and Court's two kiddos get to grow up together. We even play together every Monday. This is still such a surreal experience for Court and I since we were mostly just pen pal cousins due to the distance we lived from each other. Very cool!

Guess what??? It gets better! My mom's doing some research on my dad's side of the family because we're hosting a Kaiser family reunion later this month. Grandpa Kaiser (my dad's dad) had great-grandparents that were part of the German Settlement that lived in this area and they are even buried in the German Settlement Cemetery off of Co. Rd. N here in Hudson. All these many, many years and nobody from the Kaiser family had any idea. Can you say ironic? It turns out all these years we thought we lived so far from home, Milwaukee, and my great-great-great-grandparents made their home here in the mid 1800s. As my nearly two-year-old would say, "Whoa, baby!"

Apparently my parents didn't move away from home, they moved back home! Welcome home Kaiser family.

Whew!

Man oh man! I had no idea how busy life is for a kindergartener during the last couple weeks of school. I think I just sat down yesterday afternoon after a two week whirlwind of end-of-the-year functions. There were kindergarten graduation ceremonies, parties, teacher gifts, various items that had to be sent to school for the afore mentioned activities and I'm pooped.

My little boy is now home ... yeah ... finally! I really missed him during the day, Anna did too. She sometimes would tell me in a very angry voice, "No Miss Wald Eee-ah, my Eee-ah." Translation: No Miss Wald's Isaiah, my Isaiah.

I've got my little helper home. Anna's got her bestest friend home. Happy summer to everyone!