The Chefs

"I hope she doesn't blow it."

The girls love to help Daddy cook (yes, Daddy does most of the cooking in this household).

In the picture to the right, we are making grilled pork chops. Daddy has a terrific recipe for barbecuing them that makes them turn out very moist and flavorful.

The girls actually love this dish, but they really love to make it because you get to "paint" the marinade on. They take turns and both think that the other one sucks at doing it. Here, Hayden is clearly not satisfied with Ellie's level of work. I personally think Ellie shows great form here but that is beside the point to our first born.

Of course they love to put on their aprons and help out. This apron that Ellie models for us on the left was a gift from Aunt Shelley and it is so cute.

One day, Savannah realized that it would be good for them to have their own kitchen. So she went to her favorite kids toy food spot, Melissa and Doug, and ordered one up.

When it came in the building was more than Daddy had bargained for (we're talking a Christmas level of building), but it was a super cute kitchen and the girls absolutely love it. Ellie especially loves taking cookies out of the kitchen and saying "hot". Hayden likes to be a server and take people's orders. She did this prior to the kitchen getting here and we could order whatever we want be it milkshakes, cheeseburgers, pizza, you name it. We lived large when it came to pretend meals.

Now that she has a kitchen with food, albeit fake, we aren't so lucky. Conversations go like this:

Hayden: What would you like to order? (with paper and pen)
Daddy: I'll take a cheeseburger please.
Hayden: We don't have cheeseburgers.
Daddy: Oh. Well, I guess I'll have some cake.
Hayden: We don't have cake either.
Daddy: Pizza?
Hayden: Nope.

She's actually perfected the annoyed waitress look.

Now I just jack with her. A recent exchange went this way:

Hayden: What do you want to order, Daddy?
Daddy: I'll have a milkshake.
Hayden: We don't have milkshakes.
Daddy: What?!?!? It says you do on the menu! (I pull out a random piece of paper with random writing on it and hand it to her. Her face was flabbergasted as she looked at the paper trying to understand why the menu said milkshakes when they clearly didn't have them)
Hayden: (distraught, but she regrouped solidly) Well, I don't know who made this but we don't have any. How about orange juice or Diet Coke?

To her credit, the next day she had a full menu that she scribbled on a piece of white paper. I was not allowed to order anything off the menu. This was difficult considering the menu was a bunch of squiggly lines.

Daddy: I guess I'll have the spaghetti.
Hayden: DADDY!

Like Mommy

Are we as pretty as Mommy? Absolutely.

Little Olympians

"Oh say can you see..."

Hayden was very excited for the Olympics (she had to be in this house). We watched the Olympics every night and Hayden's favorite thing to watch was gymnastics. She would actually get mad at NBC when they didn't show it (poor Bob Costas).

So I decided it would be fun to give them medals. So they ran around, then did some somersaults and handstands (so to speak), and then they were presented with the medals (old running medals and a charity event medal).

Who knows, maybe some day they will win some Olympic medals for real? Where will the Olympics be in 2026 and 2030?

See the Wolach medal ceremony below...

First Day of School at Rancho Solano

For a while we've known that the school system in Arizona is not as strong as we would like. Thus, we wanted to get our kids into private education at some point. We never thought it would be so soon until Cyrus Patel had a chat with us and explained the advantages of giving the child a head start.

Cyrus had recently worked for a company that ran several private schools around the country ("ah, so that's your angle, huh buddy boy?" (of course said with accent of a 1920's Chicago comic thug with a cigar hanging out his mouth)).

He said that Rancho Solano was a great school so we decided to investigate further. After learning more we went on a tour of the school, did some more research, talked with our parents, and decided to take the plunge.

We were worried that it would be a tough sell for Hayden but we decided to sell it to her by accentuating the positives and explaining all the amazing things she would be doing. It worked and she was excited, despite the fact that she had some amazing friendships at daycare.

Savannah bought several pieces of the uniform to create many different combinations. It is amazing how grown up she looks in the uniform with a backpack.

On the first day we packed her lunch (something else that is new since daycare included lunch), loaded up her backpack, and set out. Mommy said goodbye at home and Daddy drove her.

She was excited on the way and not nervous. When we arrived at the school, we pulled up to the gate, she got out, and was led to her class. It happened much quicker than expected and she was such a big girl. No crying, no screaming for Daddy. She had bought in and was doing her thing.

We are so proud of her.

Afterwards she was excited to go back for day 2 and ever since (a week later) she is always excited to talk about her work and what is going on at school.

We have also attended a "Curriculum" meeting at  the school (kidless) as the teacher went over all the things they will learn. This really re-affirmed the decision in our minds as we were blown away by what a 4 year old will know at the end of the school year. All in all we are very happy and so is Hayden.

Trip to Texas

In early June we flew to Texas to spend a long weekend with Uncle Ash and Aunt Afton. We did so much that weekend and we had SO. MUCH. FUN.

They have a cute house, two sweet dogs, live near the beach, and were just as excited to see us as we were to see them. We started in San Antonio and then drove to Corpus Christi for the rest of the weekend. We went to the beach, the aquarium, the boardwalk, an 80s cover-band concert, and visited with family.

Enjoy the pictures!

Trip to Texas

I look like Mommy!

It isn't the worst thing in the world for her to want to be like her Mama, is it?  Okay, okay - she's a little young but I thought it was so cute that she found this little rhinestone, put it on her nose, and proudly announced that she looked like me!

Blow on it - it's HOT!

Big Kid Bed

We decided that it was about time for Hayden to get a "big kid" bed. She has been in her toddler bed for the last year and a couple of months ago we started trying to get her to sleep through the night in just underware. She was doing really well and only had a few accidents so we found a new bed and made the switch. She and Matt put it together and she was so proud and excited.

The background of getting the bed was a little ridiculous and involved three separate visits from the furniture store delivery truck but once we got the bed put in and Hayden in it we knew it was worth it. Our first baby is growing up.

Ponytail

We were getting ready the other morning and Hayden told me that she could make her own ponytail. What?!  So, I watched her once and then immediately asked her to do it again so I could take a video.

Our Sweet Girls