Time to Party

Sunday was Chase's 3rd Birthday party for my side of the family. It was the highlight of the weekend. Chase was happy to see everyone, but the cake was all he could talk about. "When do we get to eat the cake?" The cake arrived at 11am, but we didn't dive into it until 2pm. Three hours is a long time for a little boy to wait, but he was very patient. We had a lovely cook out. My brother grilled the steaks, Grandma made a Mexican lasagna, a fruit salad, corn on the cob, garlic cheese bread, a roasted chicken, bbq baked beans (which were a meal in themselves), mashed potatoes and Aunt Pat brought a fresh salad. We all ate way too much, except Chase. He was too excited to eat.

After lunch all 18 of us piled into the cottage to watch Chase open his gifts. He received some new Thomas gear, clothes, a t-ball set and a slip 'n slide. We are looking forward to putting that on the hill in the backyard. Then it was time for cake, however a thunderstorm was moving in, and we needed to clean up outside. We all went out to put stuff away. Ten minutes later Aunt Cheryl comes to me and says, we need to get inside and sing Happy Birthday to Chase. He is sitting at the table just looking at his cake. So we all went in to sing to him. He successfully blew out his candle and gobbled down his cake. He then proceeded to ask for another piece. I had to give in and let him have one. After all he had been so patient. He didn't even stick his fingers in the frosting!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

I was awakened this morning by my new niece, Hanna. My Grandfather describes her cry as a wild turkey. It was definitely along the lines of the bird family. Never the less I didn't mind. I was able to meet her for the first time. She is really precious and so small. I had forgotten how small babies are at first. She is all about eating, sleeping and pooping. Wow, can she poop. She went through four diapers in about 5 minutes! Oh the joys of parenthood. I have some pictures that I will try to post soon.

It is incredibly windy today, so the pier did not get put in today. However, it was perfect for kite flying. This was Chase's first experience and it wasn't what I hoped for. I was really excited and thought he would enjoy it. My mom and I got the kite up and then had him hold it. Well, as soon as the kite was up he was bawling. "I want my kite back, I want my kite." Apparently he thought it was going to fly away, since it was up in the sky. The whole kite attached to the string, and the string is in your hand didn't account for much. He wouldn't stop crying until we brought the kite down. I think he believed it was going to fly away like his balloon did. So I guess we will put kite flying off for another year.

We played croquet tonight. Most of us hadn't played for several years, so it was a hoot. My brother was all about hitting your ball, and then trying to knock it out of play as far as he could. So by the time the first game ended, I was still trying to hit the stick on the other end of the playing field. Well, then my brother comes up with the brilliant idea to play for money. The first person to win collects from all the other players. Each wicket is a dollar. So if you still have 7 wickets to go through, that is how much you owe. At first I was hesitant, but then I realized that half of the people playing were drinking, and their skills were not getting any better. I had a really good chance of winning. I was on a roll, and I took the lead early on. I was on the second half of the course, and only had 3 more wickets to finish. Then the call for supper came. It was 7:30 and when Grandma says it is time to eat, you drop what you are doing and go. The intention was to finish after dinner, but then it started getting dark and not everyone was up finishing the game. So needless to say, I lost out on at least $20 bucks!

Off to the Dairyland State

It has become a tradition for us, (does three years in a row constitute a tradition?) I am going to say yes. We packed up the truck and headed north to Lake Winnebago. We actually hit our deadline of being on the road by 4pm on Friday. However, an hour and half later we were stopping at the Tanger Outlet Mall. It always takes us so long to get out of Iowa. Eric found a new pair of high top sneakers, and I got a new pair for $10 bucks. What a deal! My feet have grown since I have been pregnant. So now my 6 pair of tennis shoes I have don't fit! After our 45 minutes detour, we were back on the road. Chase wanted no part of sleeping, since we were going up north to have his birthday party. He didn't want to miss a thing. However, the sleep fairy finally came at 9:45pm. We arrived safely at the lake by 12:20am. Overall, I thought the ride went fast, but Eric felt differently. He had been up since 4am, so he was bushed.

Pictures

Well, it is that time of year again. Chase is about to turn 3, thus I wanted some pictures of him. I decided to go with Target and splurge one last time before the second child arrives. After that it is JcPenny's and Wal-Mart! I am happy to report that this year Chase was excited about getting his picture taken. Last year it was like pulling teeth, we had to do everything and anything just to get him to smile. Last night he was more than happy to ham it up a bit. Although after about 5 minutes, he was more interested in playing catch with the football, or kicking the soccer ball that he had just had in his pictures. After the photographer promised to give him some stickers, we were able to finish up. Ahhh, behold the power of stickers! You can see Chase's pictures at www.target.photoreflect.com Type in Agans, click on my name and the password is: 2848880. I was hoping they would be back by his birthday, but I have to wait until the 17th of June, bummer.

Nicknames

Chase has entered a new phase. He likes to give family and friends nicknames, and they seem to center around food. These are the people that have been renamed. Dad is taco, Mom is sausage, Chase is blueberry, the new baby is watermelon, Aunt Miranda is pancake, Aunt Meagan is donut, Jody is cheeseburger and our babysitter Julie is cucumber. You can't say he isn't creative!

Big Brother Class

Saturday morning Chase and I attended a sibling class offered at Mercy. Chase learned how to properly hold a baby, how to diaper and swaddle. He was extremely fascinated with the diapering aspect. I believe he diapered and undiapered the doll at least 20 times. I told him he would feel differently about it, once there was poop in it! He also learned how to test all of his toys for choking hazards. He is going to take an empty paper towel tube, and any toy that slides through it, or can be stuffed into it needs to be put up. We also got to go upstairs and check out all the new babies. It was a really good class, and the best part about the class, it was free!

Texas Hold 'Em

Friday night I had my first experience playing the ever popular growing phenomenon of Texas Hold 'Em. Even though for the first 2 hours I didn't know what I was doing, I sure had a good time. I think it was all the talking we were doing, rather than concentrating on the game! I was the only one that had to buy more chips, but hey it kept me in the game. Then once I figured out what a flush was, I actually won a few hands! We all brought food to share. Jen baked some really good beer bread. It went really well with Marnie's articoke dip! The recipe is really easy for the bread.
3 cups self-rising floor
1 cup of sugar
1 12 0z beer room temp.
Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 1 hour. If you serve it with a dip, cut the bread into cubes for dipping. Eric enjoyed eating the bread with some butter.

I ended up going home with $8 less in my wallet, however having an evening of camaraderie and laughter was more than worth it!

Hessen Haus

Today for lunch, myself and several co-workers went downtown to the Hessen Haus. We wanted to try something new, and we all like german food! It is an old train depot, that has been remodeled. It is 83 and sunny today, so we ate out on the patio, and had a great view of the city. They have an authentic German menu. You can check it out at: http://www.hessenhaus.com/menu.html I wanted to try something I have never had, so I ordered the sauerbraten, which is sweet and sour beef. They served it with red cabbage and german potato salad. It was delicious. It would also be a lot of fun to go there and have a beer. However, I will have to put that off for a few months still! It is really hot, so I think I will pull out the sprinkler when we get home. Then Chase and the neighbor kids can run around screaming and laughing.

Cruisin' in the Jeep

A Lesson in Physics

This afternoon Chase had his first lesson in physics. He ran outside with his helium filled balloon. The string slipped out of his hand, and before I could grab it, the balloon was on its way up. He was crushed. Immediately big crocodile tears came rolling out. "I want my balloon back, I want my balloon back!" I knelt down and hugged him, and told him, "Now God will have a turn to play with the balloon." Unfortunately, that did not appease his distress of losing the balloon. So we got in the truck and headed to the store. I told him we would buy some balloons that mommy could blow up. This made him happy. When we got home I blew up the balloon. He noticed that this one did not need a string, nor did it float up towards the ceiling. I told him this balloon is filled with oxygen, which is what we need to breathe. The balloon he had earlier was full of helium, which is lighter than oxygen. I am sure this little lesson on the periodic table of elements went right over his head, but he did learn he has to hold onto a balloon that has a string and can float!

I'm an Aunt Again!

Hanna Marie Gruenwald arrived this morning at 2:27am. She is 7 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 1/2 inches. She came out screaming and has strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. I am told she looks almost exactly as Madilyn did when she was born. I guess we will have two redheads in the family! Everyone is doing very well. I will get to see my new niece in 11 days. We are heading up to WI for Memorial Day Weekend. Chase is excited about meeting his new cousin. He says he will be very gentle and kind when he holds her. He is going to be such a good big brother.

Rain, rain go away, come again another day...

Chase didn't understand why he couldn't play outside today. He was really upset by it. He was actually stomping his foot and yelling with a staccato inflection. It took a bit to calm him down. All he could think of was playing outside. When I suggested we go to get a hot dog from QT, that did the trick. However, once there he opted for the chicken taquito.

We then went to Eyeglass World to help Eric pick out new glasses. We had a coupon for 2 pair of glasses for $69.95. I was excited that this wouldn't drain the ole pocketbook. We are looking at all these glasses and I am seeing price tags of $219, $179 etc... Eric and I figure it is like car parts, they tell you this price, but they really only charge this much. So we pick out the frames and she is totaling the bill. She says, "$219 for the frames, $60 for the lenses and $20 for the tinting." I just about lost it. I said, "Your ad states $69.95, plus extra for tinting. " The lady says, "Well, I can show you those frames." She takes us over to a tiny wall, with about 20 frames. At least 10 were kids frames, 5 were woman frames and that left 5 unfashionable frames for men. It was such a joke. I knew we should have gone to Wal-Mart. I told the lady, I am not paying $300 plus for glasses. So Eric and I went around looking for cheaper frames. We finally found some, but they were still $130, but he really needed new glasses, he had just done his eye exam, which is free with a purchase! So we got out of there with 2 new pairs of glasses with tint for right at $200. I hope to never set foot in that place again. The guy next to us laid out $497 for two pairs. These people are out of their minds!!!

It Feels Like Summer

Yesterday felt like a real summer day. I picked up Chase from the sitter's and he was all hot and sweaty. I told him we would go home and he could play in the sprinkler. It was a joy watching him discover the pleasure of running through spraying water. He was laughing and squeling and just having a ball. The neighbor kids were out too. They invited Chase over to jump on their trampoline that also had a sprinkler spraying up through it. He had a blast.