The Wilke Report

On Sunday we went to my friend Carly’s house for her daughter Sydney’s first birthday party.  As usual, Carly made wonderful food, including some baking the cake and making the ice cream.  Here are a few pictures from the party.  They put out a kiddie pool for the little ones.  Sarah was soaked.  Too bad we did not have bathing suits for the girls.

She had a blast playing in the water.  Although she never figured out the water guns.

Emma was running out of steam by the end of the party.  It was past nap time by this point.  She did get a little nap on the way home though.

Sometimes I am amazed at how big she looks.

Carly, Chris, Sydney, and the homemade cake.

Sydney with the little wooden doggie we gave her.  Isn’t she adorable?

Unexpectedly, I got to take Emma to swimming lessons today.  Susan’s car broke down last night, and I stayed home to help out.  Watching Emma at her lessons is a lot of fun.  When we first showed up, she sat inside the gate by a couple of other girls.  One of the teachers walked up and said, “ok girls lets go” …and she didn’t go with them.  That wasn’t her class, but to me they looked like the right age.  The class she was with has two big boys in it, a couple years older than Emma.  The class with the first set of girls spent there day on the steps in the shallow water.  Emma’s class spent their time in the deep end.  (It felt pretty cool being the daddy watching Emma with the big kids.)  She was not as good a swimmer as the two boys, but she has a couple of years to catch up.  I knew there had been some confusion with which class she was in at the beginning of the session, and this is where they ended up putting her.  She did a good job, and had a good time with her teacher, Patrick.

They started the class working on their dives.  The biggest boy was doing them standing up, Emma is still working on hers from her knees.  She needs to get better at pushing off the side of the pool with her foot, and straightening her body as she dives.

By the end of today’s class, he had her doing the backstroke without help.  Her first few tries, she sat up as soon as he moved his hand from under her and she sank.  After a while, she was making it a few body lengths before stopping.  He also had her try elementary backstroke, which I had to ask her what he had called it, because I didn’t know what it was.

I had a great Father’s Day yesterday.  It was a perfect day.  Nice breeze.  Relatively calm water, but not flat.  Chris and I took Emma out on the lake.  He put the Opti on his Whaler and I sailed the Sunfish out.  I gave Emma a ride on the Sunfish, and she wasn’t to keen on it.  It’s been a long time since I’ve sailed a dinghy, and I felt like I was all arms and legs on it.  Not the smoothest sail she could have had, but not too bad.  She thought being on Grace was more fun.  If I take her out again any time soon, I need to figure out how to tack without us bumping into each other.  After that we tied the Sunfish up to the whaler, and played around in the lake.  We had the Opti in the water, and she kept getting in, and we would push her away.  She would steer going backwards, and when she ran out of line, she would climb out, and swim back to the whaler, and then want to do it all over again.  After a while Emma and I got in the opti, and Chris towed us around with the whaler.  She had a great time trying to steer the opti behind him.  Figuring out how to work the tiller.  Chris took some pictures, and when I get copies of them I will post them.

After playing in the lake we went to Southern to play in the pool, and have some lunch.  Pearce and his clan were there.  It couldn’t have been a better day.

Susan took Emma and Sarah to Zoobilation last night. A free to members event at the Audubon Zoo. Grandma and Grandpa went, so hopefully there are some more pictures out there, but this is all I have so far. This was taken by our friend Christy, who was there with her daughters Kate and Norah.

I have finally come to the end of 2008.  This next post will include the last couple of pictures from 2008, as well as some pictures from a New Year’s Eve trip with Pearce and his family to their farm in Mississippi.  We had a great time visiting with them, and enjoying our weekend away.

Bath Time, December 28, 2008

Emma and Susan made snow men out of Ivory soap powder and water.

Emma had a great time jumping on the trampoline with Kate and Norah.

There was also a soccer ball to play with.  It got kicked off and on the trampoline, as well as used in a more standard fashon.

Pearce, Susan and I took the girls to a little playground one evening, and had a great time.  Here is Kate coming down the slide.

I thought this was a particularly interesting shot.  The little tunnel was missing the top board.

Emma on the See-Saw

We took a ride in the trailer behind Pearce’s four wheeler, and then a walk down to the river.  It was a beautiful spot.  Emma had a great time trying to skip rocks.

While we were on our ride, we found these flowers to put in Emma’s hair.

Christmas Day 2008.

We started with a small Christmas at home.  Here is Emma opening some dot paints.

These are Gears!  Very cool present from Great Aunt Dotti.

We got her a little gumball machine.  Once she emptied all of the gumballs we refilled it with marbles.  Most of the fun comes from getting something out of it, not necessarily chewing the gum.

Warm Fuzzy Gloves!

After our little Christmas at home, we went to Mamere’s house to celebrate.  Mamere got a new set of cookie sheets.

Soft hat and scarf

After a visit with Mamere, we went to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  Warm fuzzy jammies for Mommy.

A steering knob for Grandpa’s boat.

Mommy and Emma opening a present.

Emma and her new dress.

Soft fuzzy gloves!

Uncle Chris.  (I guess it was a warm Christmas Day.)

Grandma.

A fairy dress from Grandma and Grandpa

Uncle Chris and Aunt Lani gave Emma a wagon.  What an awesome present.

So Soft!

We always have fun with ‘Holiday Poppers’ on the dinner table.  They have a little toy in the middle and a paper crown.

I don’t remember the occasion, but somehow I managed to make it to one of Emma’s gym classes on November 25, 2008.  Looking back at these old pictures she looks so young.  It’s amazing how much she has grown.

She spotted me.

I really like this one.  Almost looks posed.

I wish this had come out a little sharper, but it was too cute a smile to pass up.

This is after she finished a pull over with a lot of help from Mommy.  Now she has them mastered all by herself.

Awww…  What a cutie!

Finally spent some time doing some editing, and got another folder taken care of.  These pictures are from September 22, 2008 – December 11, 2008.  Hope you enjoy.  (Even if they are ridiculously old.)  It’s amazing to look back at these, and see how much Emma has grown and changed.

This first set is from the Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival.  We have a great time going, although we really don’t get to see the boats.  We spend most of our time in the kids area, and then for lunch head back across the river to eat on my friends, John and Jeanne’s, boat.  After lunch, we watch the race that is the finale to the down and dirty boat building contest.  I don’t have any pictures of that race, but it is a great time to watch.  The competitors have the weekend of the festival to build their boats, and then they race them on the river.  One leg under sail, one leg paddling.  October 19, 2008

The Insectarium had a tent set up.  Emma and Susan are looking at an Australian walking stick.

For Halloween, we have been going to the Monster Mash, which happens on a weekend right around Halloween.  It is a great day for kids to celebrate Halloween.  Here Emma is in her costume taking a look around a fire engine.  October 25, 2008

Emma dressed as a ballerina for Halloween at Toddlearn.  (The preschool she went to last year.)  October 30, 2008

Emma at the Pumpkin Patch, when she picked her pumpkin.  October 30, 2008

Emma and Susan carving her pumpkin.  We let Emma draw the face on the pumpkin that we cut out.  October 30, 2008

So proud of her handy work.  (I don’t think he is going to scare anyone away.)

Checking out her candy after trick or treating.  October 31, 2008

We went to the Baton Rouge State Fair, and Emma got to have her first funnel cake.  November 1, 2008

Emma wearing Daddy’s boots.  November 13, 2008

Emma’s first time bowling.  November 26, 2008

SNOW!!!  What a great morning.  This is the first time Emma got to see snow.  I spent a couple of hours playing with Emma before I headed in to work.  Truly amazing to see our neighborhood covered with snow like this.  December 11, 2008

She was still in her Pajamas when I first brought her out to play.  Mommy changed her into more appropriate clothes after she got to see a little snow.

This is looking from my driveway across my front yard, and across the triangle by our house.  Just amazing to see this much snow.

I think Susan may have been more excited than Emma.

I never thought we would see enough snow to try and build a snowman.  In all of my life here, I have never seen this much snow.

One of the parents from Emma’s class gave us this recipe after Emma’s birthday party. We finally made them tonight. Be careful when you make them that you don’t eat them all in one night.

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

You can mix these incredibly easy, fudgy cookies right in the saucepan. When
freshly baked, these thin cookies have crisp edges and chewy centers. You
can make them with either Dutch process or natural unsweetened cocoa powder. We mixed our Dark Dutch Cocoa and Black Cocoa from King Arthur Flour, just like we do in our hot fudge.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter
7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine
flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over
medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will
resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add
flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches
apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. (We did not use the cooking spray, but our cookie sheets are well seasoned, and food rarely sticks.)

Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3
minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

Emma and Sarah went for checkups today. Emma for her five year checkup and Sarah for her nine month checkup. Emma is 42 1/2 inches tall and 40 pounds. Both of which are right at the 50th percentile. Sarah is 29 inches tall and 15 lbs. 8 ozs. That puts her in the 90th percentile for height and 5th percentile for weight. Weight wise that is getting better. There was a point where we were worried because she did not appear to be gaining weight fast enough. There does not appear to be anything wrong with her, and over the last month she has gained at a good rate. Hopefully Sarah can get up to a more average weight. Especially given her height.

We had Emma’s birthday party yesterday at Northshore Gymnastics. She asked for a chocolate chip cookie cake, so we took our favorite basic chocolate chip cookies, and made a cake with that recipe. I decided it was worth sharing, so here you go.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Packed Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup Butter Softened
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 12 oz. Bag Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and
vanilla. Mix well. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients. Add
dry ingredients to creamed butter and sugar, and mix. Add chocolate
chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake
for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before
moving from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix batter the same as above. Spoon into
deep pizza pan or jelly roll pan lined with parchment, about 1/2 inch
thick. Bake for approximately 30-40 minutes. It should be golden and
somewhat firm. The cookie bar recipe we looked at said that a toothpick
inserted in the center should come out clean.

The parchment slides around a lot as you spread. If you have a good way
to keep it still, let us know.

We had extra batter left over, so we cranked the oven to 375 after the
cake was done, and baked a tray of cookies.

Yummy!

It has been ages since I tried to get caught up posting pictures to the blog.  I have put some new pictures up since Sarah was born, but I have  a huge backlog of pictures from before she was born.  Amazingly enough, it looks like the last time I posted was after our Orange Beach vacation in 2008.  So here goes.  This first set is going to have some pictures that my dad took.  One from a visit at his house, and a few from a trip to the zoo for Zoobilation, with Susan and Emma.

You can tell this is an old picture, Emma was in her stroller.  She was three when they went to Zoobilation.

Susan said they took a picture of this mountain lion because it appeared to be staring all of the kids down.  Almost like it was stalking prey.

She always has been a climber.

Sarah just turned five months.  It seems I forgot to post the stats from her four month check up on September 1st.  She was 25 1/2 inches tall according to the nurse.  Susan thinks they under measured, and when we measured at home it looked more like 25 3/4 inches.  Even at 25 1/2″ she is very tall for her age.  If she keeps this up she will be 6 feet tall.  She was 12 lbs 9.5 ozs.  Her head circumference was 15 1/4″.  She has had a couple of immunizations, and has had no adverse reactions.  She cries when she gets the shot, which is different than Emma, but she does calm down quickly.

We introduced rice cereal and oatmeal cereal over the last few weeks, which hasn’t gone very well.  She seems to love the taste, and gets excited when we serve it to her, but she has gotten sick the last three times we have tried to give it to her.  We can’t figure out if we are not getting the bottle/pump sterile that Susan is using, or if she is having a reaction to the food, or what is really going on.  It is heart breaking to know that something we are doing is causing her to get sick though.  We have taken a break, and are going to start trying to figure out what the cause is so we can try to introduce the cereals again, and then move on to other foods.

Emma and I made brownies this evening.  Unfortunately, I pulled them out too early, and had to put them back in the oven after they had cooled.  They seem to have survived my overzealousness to make sure they weren’t overcooked.  If you want some dark, rich brownies, give these a try. We are still working on the time, 35-40 minutes may be better.  We’ll post again when we get it figured out.

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbs. salted butter
• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• 4 ½ oz. bittersweet chocolate
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• ¾ cup flour
• 2 Tbs. black cocoa
• ½ tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter 8 inch square baking pan.
• Combine butter, chocolate and sugars in a saucepan over low heat.  Let cool.
• Mix eggs and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
• Whick cooled chocolate mixture into egg mixture.
• Mix flour, cocoa and baking powder together.
• Fold flour mixture into batter.
• Add chocolate chips.
• Pour into greased baking pan, and bake for approximately 25 minutes. (?)

The last time we bought Susan some coffee ice cream, it didn’t seem as good as it used to be.  I decided to make some from scratch.  Here is the recipe I came up with:

1 cup whole milk
1 1/3 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup dark brown sugar (packed)
6 oz water
5-6 Tbs ground coffee
2 eggs
1 egg yolk

1. Mix coffee and almost boiling water, and let steep for 20-30 minutes (I use a french press.  If you do not have one, you will need to pour the coffee through a filter to remove the grounds.)
2. Mix eggs, egg yolks, and dark brown sugar in a large bowl.
3. Mix milk and cream in a sauce pan and bring almost to a boil.
4. Slowly pour 1 cup hot milk mixture into egg mixture while stirring briskly.
5. Mix egg mixture and coffee into hot milk.
6. Cook until the mixture starts to thicken, stirring constantly over low heat.  It should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
7. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic wrap touches the top of the mix.  This will keep the mix from forming a skin.
8. Place in the refrigerator until completely cool.
9. Freeze according ice cream maker instructions.

I folded about a cup of broken up Oreos in after I took it out of the ice cream maker.  It probably could have used a cup and a half.

Sarah rolled all the way from her back to her stomach today. She has been getting close for a while, but has not been able to get her arm out from underneath her body. Today she did it. She isn’t happy for very long once she is on her stomach, but it was exciting while it lasted.

Totally unrelated…Susan puts Sarah down in Emma’s papasan chair sometimes, particularly when we are tucking Emma in. We decided she looked cute in it. (And yeah, the camera in the blackberry is crap)

Emma started at a new school on Wednesday, and they wanted a picture of her for her cubby (easy), and a picture of our whole family for the bulletin board (not so easy, somebody has to hold the camera).  Over the weekend I pulled out the flashes, set up a backdrop, put the camera on a tripod, and we did family portrait.  Here are he results.

First a couple of Susan, Emma and Sarah while I was checking on exposure and positioning.

What a ham!

Then Emma wanted a turn with the remote.  As you can tell, I was checking my position, and didn’t have the delay timer turned on yet.

Now we have the timer going.

Hey, Susan, you have to hide the remote.

Emma, when you hide the remote, let’s not put it under your dress.  We can tell you are hiding something.

That’s better.  Good job Emma.

Ok, all done.  Time for pictures of just Emma.

And maybe a friend.

I want to see the picture!

I know it is a little late, but Susan wanted me to create an ‘Official’ birth announcement.

Just a short note to say that Sarah rolled from her tummy to her back today. \o/ She still hasn’t figured out how to roll from her back to her front. She does roll to her side from her back.

After much procrastination, here are some pictures from the beginning of May through the end of June.

We took some pictures of Sarah in a pretty dress before we left the hospital, hoping to get something like we got of Emma when she was born.  They didn’t come out quite as well.  Here is one we did like.  May 4, 2009

Emma loves holding Sarah.  She is such a great big sister.  May 11, 2009

Mamere and Nannie came over for a visit.  The only picture I got of Mamere where she didn’t blink I was focused on the blinds, and Mamere and Sarah were blurry.  oops…. May 16, 2009

Sarah getting some tummy time on the Boppy.  May 24, 2009

Sarah has a hold of Emma’s finger.

This is Sarah’s first bath.  It took a really long time for her cord to fall off.  One of the nurses told us that using alcohol on the cord wasn’t necessary, that it would fall off either way.  We didn’t realize that it meant it would take an extra three weeks.  Emma wanted to help, so we gave her a bath at the same time.  June 8, 2009

She brought her bath doll in so she could give her a bath as well.

Sarah has not been a big fan of the bath.  This is about as calm of a bath as we have ever had.

One morning I went to get Sarah when she woke up.  Susan wasn’t up when I got back, so I put Sarah in bed with her.  It didn’t last long, Sarah was ready to eat.  That blue thing is a sock on Sarah’s hand.   June 12, 2009

Mamere, Sarah and Nannie  June 13, 2009

They are always so cute together.  June 16, 2009

Susan and Emma went shopping, and Emma got this great sailor outfit.   When I got home from work, she had to put it on to show me.  She was so excited about it.  I wish I had the camera out when she first came running in the room.  Her face lit up the room.  June 19, 2009

Emma and Sarah on the Boppy.  June 25, 2009

The girls having a chat.

Emma decided to read her Bob the Builder book to Sarah.  We had been reading it a lot, and she had it memorised, so she ‘read’ the whole thing to Sarah.  Very, very cute!  (Emma is wearing a “I’m the big sister” shirt with matching bow that a neighbor gave her.  Now we have 2 shirts, and she loves them!)

Sarah went for her two month checkup on July 1, 2009. Everything is looking good. She is 23.5 inches tall, weighs 11lbs. 2ozs., and has 15″ head circumference.

I have a bunch of pictures that need editing. Hopefully I will get to them soon. My evenings seem to be full of playing with/taking care of Emma, and I am not being productive once the girls are in bed.

I did buy Emma a plastic bat and balls recently, and she has been doing really well.  After watching LSU win the College World Series she was ready to give it a try. She has also been doing a lot of swimming. Grandpa has taken her to Uncle Chris’ since my last post, and she is now diving to the bottom of the pool to get things. She also started lessons this Monday. She will be going four days a week for four weeks. I can’t wait to see how she is doing after she finishes her lessons.

Here is a recent picture I snapped with my phone when Emma and I went out for beignets on Sunday, July 5.

Also I have been painting my house, which is quite an ordeal. It is no longer that awful brown color. I still need to have to trim done, and another coat of house color, but here is a quick pic.

Yesterday I broke down, and bought Emma a bike that fits.  I was hoping to find something decent on Craigslist, or the like, but no such luck.  I also bought new tires and tubes for my bike, which had rotted from many floods and lack of use.  This morning I finished getting my bike rideable, although it still needs some help.  I will need to figure out how to adjust the derailers to get it to shift a little smoother, but it is good enough for today.  Once my bike was ready to go, we got to go for a ride TOGETHER, without me running along with her.  She did great, although her stops need improvement, and she can’t quite get started without a little help.  One of these days I will get some pictures of her riding her new bike and post them.

No new pictures to post, but I had to share some of Emma’s weekend.  We had to big days.

On Saturday we were invited over to Uncle Chris’ house for a swim.  This was the first swim of the summer.  The last time we went for a swim was when we were evacuated in Texas for Hurricane Gustav.  She was doing great then, but everytime she tried to take a breath she would stop kicking, and she would sink.  On Saturday, without spendin a day in the water since last year, she managed to swim the width of Chris’ pool, while taking breaths the whole way, without any help.  Half the fun for her I think is ‘diving’ in.  Diving is really a glorified belly flop, just look at the Hurricane Gustav pictures.  She has swimming lessons starting in July.  One or two more days at Uncle Chris’, and she will be at the head of her class.

Today was a big day on her bike.  A neighbor gave us a bike that is a size too big (a 20″) about two weeks ago.  It didn’t come with training wheels.  I had to be the training wheels, and have done my best to only hold on when I need to.  Just enough to keep her balanced.  I think it actually worked better than having training wheels, because she couldn’t depend on me to hold her up.  I put a hand on either side of the handle bars to balance her.  When she was balanced and going I would not touch the handles.  When she started to tip I would let the handle bump my hand, and I would straighten her back up.  The last time we went out was a few days ago, and she was going about 15-20 feet without me having to catch her.  Today she took off like a bat out of hell.  I had to sprint to keep up with her.  She was a bit out of control, but that’s not a surprise.  The bike is too big, and hard for her to steer.  She doesn’t make very good sharp turns, but does ok on gradual ones.  Hopefully I can find a nice 16″ bike for her soon.

We went to the pediatrician today, and everything looks good.  Her weight is back up to 8 lbs.  She is on track to be back up to birth weight by the end of her second week, which is what is expected for a breastfeeding baby.  She measured 21 1/4 inches long, which is an inch longer than what they said at the hospital.  I guess we will have to measure ourselves, and see who is right.

While we were in the hospital for the birth of Sarah, Emma stayed with Grandma and Grandpa.  Here are a couple of pictures from her visit.

Every morning Grandpa has to stretch out his back, so he sits and reads the paper while he is doing it.  Emma joined him.

On Tuesday they brought her to the park at Koop Drive before they brought her home.  It looks like she had a good time playing in the sand.