On Wisconsin!

If any of you know me, you know that the University of Wisconsin is my alma mater. From the first day I stepped my foot on the campus, I knew I would live and die a Badger. I have always been proud of my school as it most often tops lists for it's academics to research accomplishments to it's impressive social life. The students of the University of Wisconsin work hard and play hard, but it's the graduates that can proudly say they played hard and worked harder. Admission into the University has been exceedingly difficult, but it's the high caliber of students that makes this public university such an outstanding establishment.
This weekend my nephew Adam, along with my sister Kelly took a tour of campus. The UW would be lucky to get a candidate like Adam, who is mature beyond his years. I cant believe he's already at the point in his life where he's deciding on colleges, but even more amazing is that next year at this time Kelly will the first of my siblings to experience an empty nest. Good luck with that one, Kelly. As we drove around campus and I pointed out buildings and landmarks, Kelly looked over to Adam and I'm sure this is what she saw......

This is the second year that we are involved with community shared farming with a farm called Driftless Organics. Basically we give them money and every other week we go to the farmers market on the Capital Square and pick up a box of that weeks harvest. Best part is our insurance company reimburses us for enrolling so it barely costs us anything and our refrigerator is stocked with fresh, organic veggies all summer long.
This week cucumbers (among other things) we in bountiful supply. We got both the regular variety and pickling cukes. There was so many of the pickling variety I panicked a bit then took a deep breath and made refrigerator pickles. I have never canned nor pickled before and I must admit I feel a little "Martha Stewartish" for attempting the feat. I'll let you know in 9 more days how they turned out but so far they are delish (and beautiful). I sliced some for sandwiches and cut the smaller ones in half. I brinded them seperately so that I could spice up the wedges to suit Chris' taste and leave the slices mild for lil Maudie. Here is the recipe I followed:

4 3-4 inch long pickling cucumbers
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. vinegar
2 tblsp fresh dill weed
2 tblsp + 2 tsp white sugar
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp pickling spice
1/2 tsp dill seed
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Slice cukes as desired and mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit at room temperature for a few hours or overnight (I doubled the recipe for each kind to cover the cukes completely). Sterilize jars (I put them in the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' setting). Add cukes to the jars and cover with brine, add tight lid and move to the refridgerator. Enjoy in 10 days. Will last a least a month in the fridge.

My petinuas are flourishing this year, thanks in large part to Maudie. She LOVES to water them and whenever she has one of her daily toddler breakdowns I know I can cheer her up by letting her water my flowers. Somedays she ends up wetter than the flowers but that's why we water them before she changes into her jammies at night.







Charlie has been a little fussy lately, I think he's having some issues with his plumbing. Perhaps it's gas from all the cucumbers I've been eating. I happed to catch him in a rare happy moment today flashing one of his heart melting smiles.

Official Announcement

I decided to post Charlie's birth announcement for all my cyberspace friends out there.

A few of you have also asked about the designer of the announcements. I took the photos myself to avoid copyright stipulations and chose this design from one of my fellow Etsians. Her name is Sara and she owns a shop called "Less Than Ordinary Designs" ( lukecommasara.etsy.com). I found the process incredibly pleasant. I sent her a zipped file with approximately 20 high resolution photos and purchased a premade design from her website. Within 24 hours she designed Charlie's announcement and emailed the proof. After a few minor changes she emailed me the final file and I sent it to Sam's Club photo for printing. The result is a designer announcent (invitation, card, save the date, etc) with a much less expensive price in a fraction of the time. The most difficult part of the process was deciding between the designs. FYI... she'll also design a custom card for no extra fee, now that's great service!

"I'm a ballerina pricess!"

We were honored when Pete & Erica asked Maudie to stand up in their wedding as one of the flower girls. Naturally we said "Yes" but in the back of our minds we worried that she would protest walking down the aisle or somehow ruin the wedding.... that's just what 2 year olds with attitudes do. The rehearsal only confirmed that suspicion. She gave everyone a little chuckle when she threw her hands up in the air and proclaimed "I'm a ballerina princess" when asked what her role was by the wedding coordinator. However, she stomped down the aisle in a fit of rage when asked to preform her duties.

I spent the next two days before the wedding planning a strategy and praying to heaven for divine intervention to help her down the aisle. After that I wouldn't care how she behaved. She could knock off a liquor store on the way to the reception and as long as she didn't ruin the wedding, I'd be proud.

Show time was approaching and I left her in the hand of Lucy's (another of the flower girls) aunt who apparently has a magic touch with the little girls. Chris and I took our seat in the front of the church. The processional started and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating. After the bridesmaids and groomsmen made their entrance there was a clearing and I see all three of the little girls making their way down the aisle. They were like three angels floating on clouds.

Somehow they fell out of formation and ended up in a single-file line, Maudie leading the pack. Lucy held up the rear, delayed from peering into each pew as she passed. They were absolutely adorable (from what I could see thru my tears). When Maudie reached the front of the church, she saw me and sweetly proclaimed "That's my mommy!" and continued walking. I was so dizzy with relief I missed Erica's grand entrance. When she crawled up on my lap she proclaimed "Fun, Mom. Do it again!" And I was worried...

She had the time of her life at that dance... she's a true party animal. The only time she left the dance floor was to grab chocolate off the candy table or get a drink of water. She believed Erica was her personal dance partner, mimicking everything she did and pushing off other that wished to dance with the bride.
I should mention that Erica was the most beautiful bride I had ever seen in my life. She was radiant and spectacular and I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I had flashes of her as a child playing dress up in my closet. In the blink of an eye we're watching John give her away. Makes me wonder how fast it will feel until I watch Chris walk with Maudie.

Congratulations Erica and Pete!

Maudie "Phelps"

This video is going to give my mother a heart attack, but I'd like to show off my talented little swimmer. Now, before you think that she is the next Micheal Phelps, I have to admit she is wearing a swim suit that has floaties built in. But still...she's 2! and she's swimming all by herself- a skill she developed in about 15 minutes and perfected in a day. We spend the majority of the last two days in the pool coming in only for lunch and a nap. She spent the time in the pool lapping like a golden retriever. I decided to give this suit a try after she got so upset with Jenna holding on to her in the pool. She kept yelling "my turn!" meaning she wanted a chance to swim alone. I warned you she was born with gills.
Charlie is doing great. He's such a sweet little boy, despite the fact he's going thru a growth spurt and wakes up every 2 hours to feed at night. All that feeding has sure attributed to the 3 pound weight gain in a little over a month. For those that are doing that math... that makes him over 11lbs now (11lbs, 4oz to be exact).
My niece, Erica, is getting married this weekend. I can't believe that the curly-headed bruinette that used to follow me around and drag out my dance costumes has grown so fast and soon will be starting her own family. Maudie reminds me a lot of the way Erica was as a little girl....shy with new encounters, feisty and vibrant once she was comfortable with you. I remember when she was 2 going on 16, just like Maudie is now. I only hope that Maudie grows up to be as kind, loving, talented and beautiful as Erica is now. She's sure to be a vision in white.

Here are some photos of our 4th of July in Horicon....

I learned today that getting a good photo of 2 kids is 100 times harder than getting one kid to smile. Chris and I took the Maudie and Charlie to portrait innovations hoping to escape with the $9.99 package of one adorable photo of the two kids. $100.00 and six mediocre poses later, we left completely exhausted (and broke).
I thought the photo below was pretty funny with both kids covering their face. I'm still looking for the perfect caption. Feel free to leave your suggestion in the 'comment' field.