Another first

Max is the first of the boys to loose a tooth, although Henry is running a close second! Luckily Elizabeth was able to pull it out without too much fuss and certainly much, much less than our firstborn, which would sometimes take hours full of crying, screaming and drama!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I love cookies. Nothing fancy, my favorite are chocolate chip cookies, really good ones too. I found this recipe, made it, and now it is my favorite!

2 1/8 bleached all-purpose flour (about 10.5 oz)
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (salted butter has been known to work too)
1 cup brown sugar (7 oz)
1/2 cup sugar (3.5 oz)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla
1-2 cups chocolate chips (I use 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet)

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in chips.
Form dough into balls, pull apart, turn dough 90 degrees so rough part is up and put back together. Place on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheets. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month-shaped or not).
Bake, reversing cookie sheets' positions halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes (start checking at 13 minutes-these cookies really so need longer baking time than most average cookie dough recipes). Frozen dough requires an extra 1 to 2 minutes baking time. Cool cookies on cookie sheets. Serve or store in airtight container.

*I really do weigh my ingredients. The original recipes says to use about 1/4 cup dough to form a cookie, while this makes a great big cookie, I do make smaller ones about the size of a meatball.

My "potty trained" boy

Alex turned 4 on Monday, the 14th. He still insists on using pull-ups when he needs to go #2. He wears underwear throughout the day and night and does fine. Only when he has to go #2, does he put on pull-ups by himself. I did take away the pull-ups a few months ago, and he used his pants. I figured when he is ready to use the potty, he will do it on his own. Last night, he woke up twice and changed into a pull-up and did what he needed to do (he had the runs). He then woke me up to change him.

We all are looking forward to the day when we can tease him about this situation. Right now he thinks it is completely fine. I will definitely have a celebration when he finally uses the toilet to go #2, but I am really proud of him. I think any kid who takes responsibility like that in the middle of the night deserves to be potty trained!

PS: He insisted on decorating his birthday cake with Gummi Bears! I don't think it turned out the way he imagined.

Breakfast

Yesterday Elizabeth fixed homemade chicken noodle soup. She cooked the chicken herself, made the broth and even went to the trouble of making homemade spaetzle! As most of you mothers probably already know, kids don't always appreciate the trouble you go through to fix a healthy, homemade dinner.
Max had an absolute fit. It was so bad that I had to send him to his room and told him he'd have to eat the soup for breakfast and then for lunch until his bowl was empty. I had to do that with Sophie once when she was that young and by lunch she gobbled up the noodle meal she couldn't stand the night before. To my surprise Max asked for his soup before 9am already and to my even bigger surprise, Alex asked for a bowl, too! Who said chicken noodle soup is not good for your soul?

Summer Catch Up

I thought I would catch up on some of the things we have done during the summer.

Tante Sabine came for a visit. We are fortunate that Sabine comes since it will be a while before we will be able to travel to Germany. The kids love her "magic bag", it always has the best gifts inside. She is our German Mary Poppins.

We went to St. Louis and Nauvoo this summer with Tante Sabine. It was a lot of fun and I wish we had a couple of more days. I guess that is the best vacation, when you want it to keep going. The kids had a great time at the top of the arch. Alex still has a hard time putting it together that he was at the top. Thank goodness for pictures!


Nauvoo was spectacular, the whole atmosphere was peaceful and beautiful. It reminded me of the feeling on Temple Square, and I realize how blessed I am to have served there. Now I really want to take the family to Utah. Henry is not the biggest fan of musical theater, but he did like the children's shows. Sophie loved learning as much as she could. Alex loved touching as much as he could. Max loved to ask questions about everything.
The kids also spent six weeks in swimming lessons. Henry loved it, Alex loved/hated it. Max only had three weeks because of his broken collar bone. Sophie participated in the Pirates swim team at the Kedron Aquatic Center again, and had a lot of fun. After five summers, she told me she wants to do art camp next year, though.

We went with Aunt Maryann to Columbus, Ga. They have a couple of free museums that were just fantastic. The Columbus Museum of Art was very interesting and the kids had a blast in the children sections. The National Infantry Museum at Ft. Benning was a hit with the boys. It was packed with so much information and great displays, we will definitely have to go again.
Through all the chaos of the summer break, there were moments that I hope stay with me forever.... Henry and Max running up to Anika's house to play with her while Sophie has piano lessons. They still have that young child run, when you lean forward and run as fast as you can in anticipation of what lies ahead. They had some water gun fights, the kind where you wear your swimming suit because you get completely drenched. I love hearing the laughter during these times. Alex running after the boys, wanting to be as big as they are. All three of them say he is their buddy, he is their definite favorite. I loved when I would walk into the family room and see them on a couch with Sophie reading to them and listening attentively. The three boys love to practically sit on top of each other as they watch TV. I hope they are always that close. I love hearing the music Sophie plays on the piano. I have to stay in another room, she doesn't like to play if she knows I'm listening. I guess it is a tween thing.

It was a good summer, not too busy. The kids are back in school and I am waiting for things to slow down. Somehow I think when they finally do slow down, that means the kids will be gone and I'll wish for this all over again.

Ribollita

What we had for dinner tonight, thanks to Gina and Elizabeth. Era squisito!

Pizza made @home, almost like the original!

I kept reading these articles about making pizza at home under the broiler on one of my fave websites. Yes, you read correctly, in the oven under the broiler!

I decided I had enough of lusting after other people's photos of pizza on the internet. After work I called Elizabeth and asked her what she had planned for dinner. Once I told her my plan, she was up for it. I stopped by Walmart and picked up a cast-iron skilled for under $20 and a pizza stone for under $10. We have both at home, but Elizabeth would never let me use your treasured cookware under the broiler under +500 degrees. Also picked up some other ingredients (Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough, Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes, Shredded Mozzarella Cheese but also Queso Fresco in lieu of "real" Mozzarella).

On the way home I decided I would try the pizza stone tonight, rather than the skillet. I made a round pizza first, but quickly realized that the pre-made dough cutoffs are not easily reshaped. So the next package I simply cut into 4 rectangles. Using the broiler method it only takes about 1.5 to 2 minutes per pizza, so you can quickly whip up the next fresh pizza while everybody is eating the first one.

So here are the simple steps:
- Place pizza stone under the broiler on high for at least 20 minutes before you place your first pizza on it.
- Puree the diced tomatoes. Place in a small pot on medium heat and add oregano, some salt, a pinch of sugar and some garlic powder. Let it simmer.
- Cut dough in rectangles and stretch it out as thin as you can on your floured counter. Place the dough on a floured sheet or even just a piece of cardboard (you want it to easily slide off right onto the stone).
- Add some tomato sauce, some other toppings, we used shredded ham and some cheese. Important: Less is more! This is Italian pizza, not American! Use less sauce and toppings than you think you need.
- Sprinkle a little olive oil and oregano on top to finish it off.
- Now quickly open the oven, use two oven mits in one hand to pull the stone out a tad and slide the pizza pie on it. Push it back in and watch closely. The pie will cook in less than 2 minutes and it will burn if you don't keep an eye on it.
- Once the cheese is bubbling and the crust is just beginning to char, pull the stone out quickly using two oven mits in each hand and slide the pizza off onto the counter. Place the stone back into the oven to reheat.
- Leave the pizza sitting for about a minute or two to cool off just enough. Add some basil and Parmesan cheese if you want. Cut into slices and enjoy!
- Start on your next pizza!

Next time I will try some different toppings. I fondly remember eating Tuna and Onion pizza in Italy, but there are also just freshly cut tomatoes and real mozzarella, topped with olive oil and oregano. I'm also still eager to try out the skillet method, although I don't think it will be vastly different from using the pizza stone.

Sophie called it the ugliest pizza she has ever seen, but everybody agreed that it was also the best tasting pizza we've ever made at home! To me it was the closest to real Italian pizza I've had in a long time.

Ancestors!

Tonight at dinner:

Max: Do I have ancestors?

Me: Yes, you do. There is Anton Roggermeier.

Max: Who is that?

Me: That's my Opa, your great-grandpa.

Max: But it has to be a girl!

Me: ???

Mom: Max, it's ancestors, not aunt-sisters!

Some things only a mother understands!

Tumbly-Bumbly all the way down!

Late last night Elizabeth, Sophie and I were watching House Hunters together. The boys had all been in bed for about an hour or so. We heard one of them coming out of their bedroom. I immediately got up, thinking they would need help going to the bathroom. I step out of our bedroom and hear a noise, turn on the light, just in time to see Max tumbling down the stairs all the way to the bottom!

It scared the dickens out of me! I ran down, Sophie and Elizabeth close behind me. I grabbed Max, held him in my arms while he was crying and ran my hands over his body to see if I felt any bones sticking out. I don't even think he realized he had fallen down the stairs, he was still half asleep! No blood, no immediate big bruises, just tears! What a lucky boy.

We put him back to bed, after giving him some Tylenol, but he got up a few more times, crying about his shoulder. Sophie was very upset, with big crocodile tears she asked if she could tell him good night. This morning she told us she was going to feel really bad if he would have died, since she is so mean to him sometimes. Made us feel kinda good that she loves him so much, even when it seems that the teasing back and forth just never ends.

Long story short, after a visit to the Dr, X-Rays taken and seeing the Orthopedic, we found out he has a broken collar bone. Since he is so little there is not much they can do. We bought a sling for him and were told within a week or two he'd feel much better. For now he enjoys the attention and getting to skip his swimming lessons, but I'm sure he'll quickly realize that a broken bone during the summer is really a big bummer!

Welcome to America!

It's been a long time coming, but we finally completed my naturalization papers in January and sent them to USCIS the along with a big fat check for $675! I really think that if one has been here long enough to qualify for Citizenship, paying taxes and social security all along, it should be no charge, don't you think?

Anyways, the process went A LOT faster than we expected. We have friends where the same process took well over a year, but low and behold, within 4 months I was called in for my final interview. That's the one where they ask you some of those 100 questions to make sure you actually know what country you've been living in as of late.

Once that was done, the officer who interviewed me asked "Do you want to be sworn in today?" I replied in my best Scooby voice "TodAY?" He told me they had the last ceremony at 3pm that day and my paperwork should be done by then. I called Elizaebth to find out if she wanted to be there. "Of course!" she said. She scrambled, got the kids out of school early to get up to Tucker to watch me join this great Nation as a citizen.

Unfortunately the officer had told me wrong and the ceremony actually started at 2pm! Me and another 122 people took the oath at 2:30pm and Elizabeth and the kids got there just a few minutes too late.

That's also the reason there are no pictures of my raising my right hand and why I didn't post earlier. A couple next to me took some photos and promised me to e-mail copies, but haven't as of yet. So here are the ones Elizabeth snapped of me on that special day!

Truth be told, I almost feel a little bit cheated! That whole day felt kind of anti-climactic, with it happening so fast and my family not being there with me, especially the kids. Just after taking the oath they showed a video with pictures of immigrants, it made me think how my children and their children will refer to me as the first Roggermeier coming to the US! I really don't feel that different, but may be that's a good thing and only goes to show that I have already settled down here in the great US of A!

Men (Boys) of Steel

Somehow I don't remember having this much fun wearing new pajamas when I was little!

My Max!

Herb has set up a computer for the kids in the sunroom. Alex knows how to turn it on and get onto his websites by himself. I'm amazed at what he can do.

Henry runs home from the bus stop everyday so he can be the first one on the computer. Although Max usually has to wait, he does eventually get a turn.

On Monday, after being on the computer for about 30-45 mins, Max came into the kitchen. He said, "Mom, I need to love you!"

I asked if he needed a hug, he then jumps up in my arms and hugged and kissed me. He said, "Mommy, I was on the computer and I forgot about everything else!"

I said, "Oh, so you got sucked up in the computer?" He said, "Yes, but not literally!"