Real Milwaukee | November 9, 2026

Well, suddenly breakdancing isn't the most embarrassing thing athletes have ever done. Out of $25,000, folks, you banked $9,000. I don't know. That money will go through to the next round, but one of you will not. Who just set their personal worst? It's time to vote off the weakest link. In this opening round, oh gosh, the strongest link was Sean, who answered both questions correctly and banked $3,000 for the team. Ryan and Nancy were tied for weakest link, each missing a question and banking nothing. And Johnny Weir thinks the pit takes place in the state of Chicago. Who will be the first cut from this prestigious team? The voting is complete. A new episode of Celebrity Weakest Link premieres tonight right here on Fox 6. Eight world champion athletes are competing for $1 million for charity. We'll host and executive producer Jane Lynch is joining us live here on Wake Up. I mean, what can we expect from tonight? Just the clip alone, I'm already laughing. Yeah. First of all, they're world-class athletes, so they know how to play a game. And one of the things that was great about this group of athletes is that they played as a group, which is when you're playing the weakest link at the highest level, you're playing as a group. You're banking when the opportunity comes up. You're not asleep at the wheel. And they know how to perform under pressure. So it was a really well-played game with some really good mistakes, too, which is always fun. Are there ever any strategies that surprise you as host? Because I know a couple of weeks ago, what was it? Carlos Peña Vega turning on his wife just ahead of the final round there. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you watched the show so much that you remember that. Yeah. Well, in this that that surprised me. But in this show, what I loved about these athletes is that they really, really knew how to bank because a lot of people don't get that. And they actually eliminated strategically. Like, I can't remember who it was, but someone was playing really well. And, you know, Johnny did not want to play against her and they. You know, booted her off. Yeah, you got to use strategy when it comes to celebrities. For you, you've hosted other, you know, game shows before. How fun is this one for you to kind of get to be mean? You get to be shady to these contestants. Oh, it's fun. It's a lot of fun. And, you know, also at the same time, as much as I'm, you know, insulting them and telling them what's wrong with them, I do my best to, you know. We set them up for success so we keep it really relaxed and we keep it very friendly of course until I'm hurling insults at them but it's really important for them to be able to focus in spite of the fact that the clock is ticking and the lights are flashing and the music is ominous and America is watching them it's really important that they feel like they're in a safe space to just relax so I try to do that like off camera that's not something you'd see. Yeah. Are you channeling your inner Sue Sylvester at all when you're hosting this? Yes. At all times. In fact, at all times in my life, too. In fact, I might have become one with Sue Sylvester over the years. Of course, for those watching, Sue Sylvester was the character Jane played in Glee. You did such a great job in that show the way that you do in this show. I remember growing up watching The Weakest Link in my living room with my family. What's it been like for you guys to get to kind of bring back this show these last couple of years? Well, you know, I watched it too. I love it. I'm a big game show fan. I grew up watching. All the game shows that were on during the day, I would fake sick and stay home from school, you know, just to watch Baffle and Password. I mean, that's how that dates me. That's it. That's it was still in black and white. So I loved it. And I always loved like the great the great hosts like Rayburn and Alan Ludden and Richard Dawkins. I loved watching them, you know, how they handled the... The, the contestants and how they, you know, fielded the game. And so I learned a lot from them. Well, I definitely would say you are now in that category of excellent game show hosts. And we are so excited to tune in later on tonight for this new episode, seeing all of these athletes compete in celebrity weakest link. Thanks, Jane. Thank you. All right, that was awesome. I know, that's a cool show. I really wanted to chime in there. Didn't you want to chime in? Yeah, I know, I know. I wanted a piece of that interview. I know, getting to chat with Jane. Jane. See, when you have kids, you're going to understand that Jane is also the prominent sergeant voice in Wreck-It Ralph. And she plays an over-the-top kind of person like that. Maybe she's bringing that in. I would love to see that in that show as well, if she were to bring it in. I think it would be tons of fun. I just think it's such a fun job. Like if you've ever watched the show, like she really I really will hand it to these celebrities when they say something Yeah, and in what other job do you get to just be like, well, that was idiotic, like it's just great. Yeah, and then her roles in like Best in Show, Best in Show, and I mean, there were so many. 40-Year-Old Virgin, I think, was another one that she was hilarious. And now we're looking at a Glee reboot. It announced that, so I know a lot of, you know, people my age, Kramp, are very excited for that. She's getting to a whole other generation with that, too, with Glee Lovers. Oh, absolutely. Awesome. All right, fun interview. Yeah, you know what's awesome, guys? We are counting down to the house. Holidays! Yes! Of course, so November 29th is the ideal day for setting up, you know, your tree and any other decorations. That's because it's the first Sunday of the Advent calendar. But one of our co-hosts over here got a little bit ahead of the game. Oops, sorry, way before the 29th, but a little bit later than normal. We usually go November 1st, the day after Halloween, and there we go. She is up, and she's glorious. I love your star. It's beautiful. The star was the focal point so long ago. When Christy and I bought the tree, the star was the first thing we put on top. The train. And the train as well. It's a nice G-scale train at the bottom there. It cooks. It sucks. But the wooden star top, it takes over, if you will, and it's not too heavy. Yeah, it's all gold ornaments. They're all ornaments that we've had over the course of the last, like, 15 years or so. Wow, beautiful. So I have questions about the tree. Yeah, go ahead. It looks great. Is that garland already, it's like a lit up garland going on? I love it. It looks vibrant. Yeah, so that was an addition this year, that swirl. I love it. Yeah. Thank you, because it was... It was one strand of lights. And I was like, how are we going to incorporate this into it? After we put it up, we're like, we need three more of those. It gave a good, no, I like the single. But it's a different vibe, right? It gives a good pop going around. It gives a different look to it instead of just all the same. And it twinkles. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so it's a twinkly garland like that. So a lot of people online were not loving the fact that we put a tree. Oh, they're brutal. I was going to say, you will not get any judgment from Derek or myself. I was supposed to put my Christmas tree up yesterday. I only got the stuff out. So that was probably my task for today. But don't you love when you're going through like the ornaments, all the memories that flood back? Yeah, there's something so special about like, oh, I remember when I got this one every single year when you set up your tree. There were so many of those and we didn't put them all up on the tree. Actually, Charles did most of the ornaments himself, aside from the ones that are the top third of the tree. But he pulled out the ones that were sentimental to us. And we were going to put them on the Charlie Brown tree, which is a smaller one we keep in a different room. But we just didn't put that one up. But there are a couple of ones, some Lego ones that he made. They're ones that, oh my gosh, in kindergarten, This is a genius idea, too. And if you have like a younger kid, a toddler, take ribbon, like Christmas ribbon, stretch it the length of their body, basically the height, and then wrap it up in a coil and put it in a ornament. Yes. And then keep that and then pull it out every year and see how much they've grown from year to year. I love those. Yeah. Those are the sentimental ones that I feel like really make a difference. Thank you, Lawrence. You got the vibe, right? You guys were listening to music, just going down memory lane, and just getting into the spirit of the holiday. Yeah, we had some Christmas music on, too, which also lasted about 20 minutes until Charles kept on saying, skip this song. Oh, my God. But it was, yeah, it was fun. And for all those people, I understand. You know, we haven't even carved the turkey yet. But look, if it makes you happy, then just lean into it. And that's what it does. Someone once said to me, Thanksgiving is a day within the Christmas season. And I loved that. Because we can still celebrate Thanksgiving. Like, I love being with my family at the table and having a feast. But that doesn't mean my tree can't be up in the other room. Something about the ambiance, too, of the lights. Or if it's real, of the smell. When you come home, it's a sense of comfort, you know, of the season. It was kind of weird, though, because we had the apple. Pie candle lit. It didn't really match the Christmas. The balsam. Was it balsam? Balsam. Yeah, balsam fir. So, but thank you for everybody that appreciated it. Yes. We loved it. We loved it. And with that energy, shall we start the bubbler? Yes. Let's do it. More holiday talk? Absolutely. Good? Yep. You know it because this is actually the final week for the 2026 WeEnergies cookie book distribution. We Energies tells us they've already handed out more than 100,000. copies and they expect to hand out more than 200,000 before they are done. So if you have not picked up yours yet, you have three more chances this week. We Energies will be at the Waukesha County Expo Center tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. That's actually today. They're going to be there today. And then tomorrow, they'll be at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex in Franklin from 9 until 1. And on Wednesday, WeEnergies will be out at the Washington County Fair Park. That is also from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You, of course, can also download a digital version of the cookie book on the WeEnergies website. I like that they do the digital version, too. Because sometimes I don't know where I place it. the actual book, you know, but it's nice to go back even like a couple years, a couple decades for some, to go back to those recipes. We pulled that out the other day on the show. There are some really good recipes in there. And they're doable. I feel like for me, I love to cook, but baking's a little bit intimidating for me because I feel like you have to be so precise, you know, but I feel like some of those recipes are doable and there's something for everybody. I always like the one with the Hershey Kisses in the middle. Oh, those are so good. Like the Do you know what this little peanut butter is? Yeah. Those are so good. They are good. This past weekend, a lot of people showed up for this, and rightfully so. Over the weekend, the community gathered to honor and recognize those who served our country. Saturday's Veterans Day Parade in downtown Wauwatosa celebrated military families and active-duty National Guard and Reserve service members. Organizers say the parade also aims to raise awareness about the challenges that veterans face, including mental health, PTSD, and finding employment. And they say that they want the patriotic celebration to inspire We're the next generation to follow in the footsteps of those making the ultimate sacrifice. Go out and serve your country. Do what you can to help people. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the armed forces. I mean, it can be in police forces. It could be as teachers. But just go out there and serve your community. I like that. Special guests at Saturday's parade ranged from local law enforcement to the fan favorite dancing grannies. There you see them right there. Energetic as always and in sync. They never miss a beat, do they? I love that turnout for them. Something about visually seeing all that support, too. I'm sure that's going to... And seeing it be children, you know, and knowing that they're learning how important it is to thank those who have served our country. Yeah, it's beautiful to see that. And, you know, Fox 6 proudly salutes our nation's veterans and the organizations that serve them every single day. We believe that our veterans deserve to live with dignity and independence and not on the streets. That's why we are making camo our cause and support and honor of U.S. Vets campaign. You can join us by making a donation and wearing camo this Veterans Day. Learn more by scanning the QR code on your screen now or go to go. Fox slash U.S. Vets. You can donate when you visit that website. Certainly an important cause there. Should we talk about the Green Bay Packers? It was a pretty good day for them yesterday. I think vibes are probably still high in Green Bay as the Packers dominated the defending AFC champion Patriots Sunday, forcing four turnovers and putting up 45 points on the road. The final score, 45-27. Next up, the Pack are going to take on the Minnesota Vikings Sunday at Lambeau, another game you can catch right here on Fox 6. I feel like they're turning it around. I know it wasn't the best start, but, I mean, beating the Patriots, I don't know if this stat is accurate, but I think it's been since 2002. It's been a while. That they haven't won against the Patriots? Against the Patriots. And Leroy Butler said on Friday, if they could win this game. They were going to be set up for the rest of the season. Okay. From his words. There we go. Let's make that a reality. We saw that with Andrew in the morning when he was out at that amazing event. Yes. He also said that Andrew was his favorite. Did you hear that? I mean, Andrew's my desk mate, so of course he showed me the clip, to which I said. It could be interpreted that Fox 6 is his favorite. He might have used the same line on me five years ago. He is awesome. He is so good. Such an attribute to the community, but also as a spokesperson for the Green Bay Packers, Hall of Famer, all of it he gives back. He's got such a great story behind it. And still so personable, too, in sharing his story with people. I love it. Absolutely. So cool to see. Also, this is cool to see. Free programs and services for individuals with Down syndrome. Nicola is giving a tour of Gigi's Playhouse. That's coming up next. Welcome back to Real Milwaukee here. Get ready for some fun and free programs for individuals of all ages with Down syndrome. That's right. Nicola is at Gigi's Playhouse, Milwaukee, checking out their space. Hey, Nicola. Yeah, hey guys, good morning to you. We are here live at Gigi's Playhouse in Fox Point. They serve individuals who have Down syndrome all over the Milwaukee area, all ages. I mean, this is just such a neat place. I'm so grateful now to be joined live by their executive director, Josh Soba. Good morning to you, Josh. Good morning. Thanks for having us. Oh, thank you so much for being here. Okay, so for folks who Having a child with Down syndrome, maybe they know somebody who does. What do you want them to know about Gigi's Playhouse and what they do in our community? Sure. So we've been here over 10 years providing really impactful programming for children, adults with Down syndrome, or other development or cognitive disabilities. And really what we do is try to help spread awareness about what it's like living with Down syndrome. And one stereotype that I would say is true is people with Down syndrome are just the happiest people in the entire world. Sure. They can be stubborn, just like everybody else, but they're just the happiest people to be around. It was just Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October, and so we're just trying to spread the word about what we do here at Gigi's. So there's a lot of impactful programs, and it's all 100% free. And it's helping with the mind, whether it's LMNOP or tutoring and some of our most impactful programming to the body, which is just... Because a lot of people with Down syndrome have trouble just sitting up straight. And so development gets delayed because they're just focusing so hard on sitting up. So we have a lot of physical therapy and get GG Fit programs to help children and adults keep that and maintain their physical. Which is wonderful. I was just looking at your website. I mean, you guys serve hundreds of families in the Milwaukee community, which is so wonderful. And all of that is out of this space here. Guys, just take a look at this place. It's gorgeous, right? I'm loving the colors. You have so many facilities here, too. So tell our viewers at home what goes on in these little tutor rooms here. So these are some of the more impactful programs that we have. We have over 30 programs that are based on therapeutic tendencies. So this is math and language tutoring and speech therapy and throughout Their whole life, communication is a barrier, so we really try to help, and it's free. It's complimentary to the therapy that they might be receiving in school or at a clinic, and this is just helping them to be able to communicate through sign language. There's music therapy. It's all about trying to be able to communicate. Yeah, for sure. I think our next guest is ready to communicate right now. We've got Ali and Elise in the playroom here. They are one of the families that visit Gigi's Playhouse, so I'm so excited to talk to them here in about 20 minutes or so. But yeah, it's just it's so neat to see. Just again, the range of services programs you provide. We were talking earlier too about a need in the community is definitely that kind of after high school life, right? Like what does adulthood look like? And the kitchen here kind of comes into play You're saying you all have life skills programs for folks. Absolutely. So after high school, it can be a challenging transition time for people with Down syndrome. They've been in school their whole life and now it's do you go to college? Do you live out on your own? Do you get a job? And Gigi's tries to help with some of those skills. So Gigi's Kitchen is one of our more popular programs. It's helping children, teens, adults learn how to cook, learn independence, confidence, life skills. And then we have other job training programs programs and other things to help them with that transition. Which is wonderful, too. That's a really nice kitchen. Yeah, I love how everything's labeled. I need that in my kitchen, for sure. Awesome. OK, so for folks at home who are watching who are really interested in the work that's being done here, what does the first step look like? Because again, you guys offer so much. Like, how do you kind of, when you get a new family, how do you kind of zero in on what the needs might be and how to meet them? Right. So I just received two phone calls this morning asking about our programs because it's, you get a lot of information at once when you have a child with Down syndrome. There's all these different things not sure what to do and at every stage of life you need more help and different different help and so what we do is give us a call we have programs here we have satellite programs and that's one area we're trying to improve is get into other areas because we have people coming from Oconomowoc from Kenosha from West Bend all over the place coming to here for programs but now we're doing satellite programs out in Tosa we work with Carroll College Marquette UWM we're trying to go out to where the people are who can't get to our location and Or we have upcoming, like, holiday programs with Santa and Christmas parties. And so we're just trying to be able to help as many people as possible and really help them throughout their lives. Oh, yeah, for sure. And I really am so impressed, too, Josh, with how you kind of harness the community here, the resources that surround us, whether that be, you know, UWM, Marquette. You really have, like, the full gamut of resources. And, again, these are people who come here to provide free services for Gigi's Playhouse families. Yeah, so we're a non-profit and all of our programs are 100% free, but that's only possible because of groups like Greater Milwaukee Foundation, WISPAC, Bader Philanthropies, and volunteers. All of our programs are run by volunteers. We have a small but mighty staff that help make sure the programs are being run and it's a safe and familiar place, but it's all done through volunteers. So we're looking for new families to come down, we're looking for volunteers to help with the programs, and we're looking for help with donations. Wonderful. Okay, well, speaking of donations, coming up this Saturday, I understand you guys have a gala. Yep. You said there are still tickets available. Just contact you for those? Yep. Call our office if you still want to come or sponsor the event. It's going to be an awesome event. We're going to showcase programs. Ollie's going to be there. We're going to have the Milwaukee Ballet is going to do a performance with some of our participants. It's going to be down at the Milwaukee Marriott. And if you can't make it, we have an auction that's going to go live with awesome packages. Brewers package with tickets and a Felix shirt. Thank you so much. Kind of all of the fun things that they've gotten to do here. Now they're just playing in the playroom. He's so cute. That's coming up here in about 20 minutes. Such an amazing resource for the community, yes. All right, Nicola, thanks. We'll check with you in just a bit. Well, coming up, sneaking some learning into the holidays. Judy Cohen is here with some simple activities for students. Coming up next. Well, chances are families will be spending a lot of time in the kitchen around the holidays, and Judy Cohen is here from Lakeside Educational Services with an activity that'll keep kids talking over, or yeah, I guess they're going to keep them talking over the Thanksgiving break, right? We have a bunch of days over Thanksgiving, and they get bored easily. Yeah. But the one thing I want parents to know, the best gift you can give your child for any holiday is a whiteboard. A whiteboard. Oh, Oh, see this? This is fun. These should be at your house with white, with dry erase markers. Phenomenal. Okay, first thing we're going to do. This goes on my Thanksgiving table, and the big word on here is thankful. Thankful. All right. We are going to take the word thankful. Yeah. And we're going to make as many words using these letters. Oh, boy. In 30 seconds. That's why we have our whiteboards. Okay. You can do this with any word. Okay. All right. Are you ready? Yeah. Are you going to do it too? Or just me? No, you don't have to do it because you know already we're going to do this. I didn't know we were going to do this. Derica, you should get over here. There's a competition going on. All right. You just let me know. All right. I will. All right. Are you ready? Yeah. Go ahead. Go. Okay. As many words as you can. They have to be words though, not just a combination of letters. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's not as easy as... I'm glad I'm not doing this. Go ahead. Keep going. Think about it. Because you're on the spot. Oh my gosh. The dart. The dart. There you go. Now you got it. Ten seconds left. Uh... By the way, parents, kids love doing this, and they love competing against you. Is Han Solo? Han Solo. That's not it. All right. I got three. Done. That's one percent. That's a horrible outing. So. All right, so show everybody what you did. Show everybody what you did. Okay, well, I got thank, fat, and tan. And that's fine. That was only 30 seconds. That was 30 seconds. But I also got Han for Han Solo. I don't know if you probably won't allow that. I'll give it to you. You're going to give me four. Okay. Okay. See my brewer hat? It's got... Hershey Kiss is a... Yeah. So for every word you get correct, you get a Hershey Kiss. I'll take one. Okay, perfect. Absolutely. All right, we're moving on. Yeah. Now we're going to math. All right. So I took the word, and think if you can see this, I took the word turkey, and I cut it up into letters, and each letter is going to have a number. Okay. So I did some of these already. Yeah. You would take the letters. Again, I'm using my brewer hat. Okay. Okay. Pick a letter. Okay. Roll a dice. Wow, there's a lot involved here. I like this. This is a game. What's the number? Two. What letter? T. I'm going to put a two under T. Gotcha. All right. Pick another letter. Another letter. Roll the dice. A U. All right, what number? Six. Uh-oh. Big numbers. All right, so now I have put all the numbers under the letters. Yeah. All right, we're going to mix up these letters because now we're going to make adding equations. Okay. You can do multiplication if you want. Yeah. But they're going to change every time. They're back in my brewer hat. Pick two. Pick two. All right, there's one, there's a K, and there's a U. K and a U. K and a U. According to our chart, what is a K? K is seven. And what is a U? Six. So your child would write this equation. Okay, and that's a plus sign right there? And that's a plus sign. I just want to make sure it's not a multiplication. I like to say it. It's got to be in between, Judy. You almost had me going there for multiplication. We could do multiplication. So that's 13. 13, but your child's going to do this. Okay. And every time he gets it right or she gets it right, a Hershey kiss! Wow, that's a lot of chocolate there. That's a lot of chocolate. We're going to need for them to come back down to Earth after all this chocolate. We have four days with them, some five. Thank you. That's the math game. I love that. And you could do this with three digits, so you could pull two letters at a time. Yeah. I love that you're incorporating the whiteboard as many opportunities as you can, but also bringing the holiday into it. This is a lifesaver. No matter how old your student is, algebra, calculus, writing, spelling, you name it. All right, last one, and I think it's, excuse me, one of the most important. I took a recipe and I blew it up. Oh, okay. Okay. Reading a recipe incorporates so many different skills. Parents are really not aware of it. I love that you're going to bake or cook with your student, but read. Why do I say this? Number one, it has fractions in it. It has abbreviations in it. It has words that your child may not be familiar with. And it has directions in it. And one of the things that we always work on is executive functioning skills, which is organizational skills. So you read a recipe with your child. You do these directions as it comes. And then you say, what if we don't have salt? What are we going to do? Well, we have to add it, find it. So what are we going to do? We're going to do something. We're going to make a substitution. Oh. Okay. They need to know how much is one cup buttermilk? What happens if you don't have buttermilk? Right. You're going to go and find a way to make it because you can at home. Um, what would happen if we needed to double the recipe? Oh, my goodness. What would happen if we doubled it? If we needed one cup of cornmeal and we doubled it, what would we need? This is much more than just baking. Right. This is reading and following directions, taking your time, organizing your thoughts. It's a recipe. Yeah. And also it's slowing down during the holidays to be with your kids. In a uniquely different way, too, which I think is fun because the end result is something you get to try together. And when they try something that they've created and learned about, they're more prone to have it again. And in my family, they know that if I'm going to bake something. They better have something else. Something else just in case. Just in case to substitute. So you're saying that the easiest cornbread with honey butter recipe is not the easiest? Is that the answer, Judy? I'm going to tell you straight out. I've never made this one. Okay. I make a much easier one. But the whole point is I love reading it. I do it with... My kids, when they were littler, my grandchildren, we love doing this. My gosh, what a great idea. I love this. Get yourself a whiteboard. Whiteboard. Cut out some letters. Get yourself a giant die here. Absolutely. And roll and have some fun. And you can use little die, too. It doesn't make a difference. It's having fun. But think about the skills, because I'm all about the academics. Yeah. Think about the skills your child has. I love the ideas you always give them to us and help us with those tough years when it comes to education. And for more information, we can go to? Lakeside Educational Service. LakesideEducationalServices at gmail.com. I respond to every email I receive. There you go, Judy. We appreciate the time and have a happy, gobble, gobble. We need to be grateful for the good things. There you go. More Fox 6 Real Milwaukee coming back after the break, guys. I think we're going to stop. Happy New Year. Girl. Welcome back to Milwaukee, everybody, where we are taking our show on the road to Fox Point at a very special place, Gigi's Playhouse. Now, this is a wonderful facility and program that serves, gosh, around 600 families in the Milwaukee area with their wonderful programs that are specifically catered towards individuals who have Down syndrome. And we are joined live now by one of the families who comes here, Elise Nisi-Ruby and her darling son, Ollie. Elyse might look a little bit familiar to Fox 6 viewers because I was so grateful We're so grateful to do a story with you for World Down Syndrome Day. And now here we are talking about Gigi's. Yes, one of our places, favorite places to go ever. We've been coming since Oliver was like three months old. So how did you find Gigi's? I have a mutual friend, her daughter has Down Syndrome, so she told me about it. She utilized the speech services here. Perfect. There you go. So I ended up coming to one of the classes, the Gigi Fit class for infants. And there's retired physical therapists, occupational therapists that just definitely help with giving another opinion on things that would help Oliver with developmental things. So we've been coming ever since then and we just love it. Oh, I mean, how could you not? I always follow. So I should mention Elise is is can we call you a Down syndrome influencer? Sure. I feel like so her handles at all these mom advocates and she's super connected with other moms. Yeah. And just in this whole community. But I can imagine that this was another just venue for you to connect with other families who are kind of walking the same road. That's been so so helpful to face-to-face meet with other parents who have kids with Down syndrome. Some of my closest friends now are people I've met here and they have kids that also have Down syndrome and are the same age as Oliver. Here you go. Like that? And just being able to come here, connect, talk about hey what's he doing and you know all that is just so helpful and comforting. And I'll And Ollie made a friend, too. Yes. Yeah, he's bestie. Julian. Which is so wonderful. Yes. So, okay, so you guys do, you come here on the weekends mostly, so I should mention that they commute from Waukesha, which is awesome, but it's worth it for you. It's so worth it just to, again, have that, can you say hi, have that connection, and the Gigi Fit class where we come on Saturdays, connecting with the physical therapist, occupational therapist, sometimes there's speech therapists here, has been awesome, making those connections with other families, and then we also do the LMNOP class, which, that one helps with, like, getting him kind of ready for a classroom environment, circle time, story time. Learning some sign language, all those all those fun things. So the opportunities are like endless here, which is awesome. Yeah, you're saying, too, he really loves the music. He loves he loves the music. Which is so great because it's kind of nice for both of you to come here and kind of have those connections. I guess what is something you'd want other moms to kind of know about just how much these connections that you've made, not just here but also on social media, have kind of helped you? Yeah, I think just knowing that other people are walking the same path, have the same questions, maybe feeling a little bit like they're walking in the unknown, having each other really makes such a difference. And then also having this space to come together and have experts at your fingertips and for free is so, so huge. It's such a wonderful resource. You're saying to Ollie is a pretty packed schedule. He does. But it's nice to have other people too who, you know, you can also kind of bounce ideas off of because the more the merrier, right? Right. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And Ollie, I should mention, is a model. He is. You might. You might recognize him if you come to their Fox Point location because he's on the window, the window outside. Excuse me. How did you guys get to do? I mean, obviously he's very cute. So that I'm sure it was a parameter. But how did you guys get involved in that? So we actually did. There's a walk that Gigi's puts on every year. And we. Every team does fundraising, so we have people join our team, they pay to do that, and all of that funding goes to Gigi's, and we placed in the top five teams for fundraising this year, so that was how, you'd be so silly, how he ended up on the window. Well, there we go. And he's so sweet. Yeah, we were saying we've got to get him a contract. Yeah, great. Well, Elise, thank you so much. Thank you, Ollie. I know he loves playing with these, right? These are his favorite. These are his favorite. I mean. Well, wonderful. Well, Elise, thank you so much. Thank you, Ollie as well. You were a wonderful interview and guest as always. And yeah, that's Gigi's Playhouse. You can find them here in Fox Point. All their information is available online. And again, if you want to support them and their programs, you can do so this weekend. They've got a lovely gala that's planned for Saturday night. The auction is also live as well. If you can't make the event, you can still help that way. So yeah, thank you guys so much. I'll send it back to you guys in the studio. Put a smile on my face. Yeah, it sure did. Same here. It's so cool to, you know, meet a real family benefiting from all of those resources and opportunities. It makes a huge difference right here. Yeah. Very, very cool. All right. Well, now we're going to bring in Gina. We got to talk about some Hollywood headlines here. A local actress making their debut in Children's Theater Company's production of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas. All right. So, Gina, you had a chance to talk with her ahead of the performances. That's right. Alicia Vashoyer is her name and she is a real talent. You can see it for yourself. And I love hearing how someone gets started in acting. Tell everyone your background. Sure, so I'm Ellie Chavez Sawyer. I was born in Milwaukee and I spent my entire childhood there until I went to college. Did a lot of theater. Went to the University of Minnesota slash Guthrie Theaters BFA training program and just graduated a few months ago and now I'm sort of hopping between Milwaukee and Minneapolis doing theater professionally. Alright, I want to go back. How old were you when you first decided this is what you wanted to do? I was in high school. It wasn't until then. I think I was sort of not too confident in my abilities or, you know, the idea of making a life in this. It's not exactly an easy career path. So I was like, nah, I won't do that. You know, I'll do something normal. And then in high school, when I was, I went to Nicollet High School and I was doing Mamma Mia, the musical. And I was playing Sophie, and I remember one of my friends was like, what if you, do you want to do this for a career? And I was like, no, like what? Like how would I make that work? Like that makes no sense. And he was like, I don't know, he was kind of like, you could do this. And I was like, I could? That's good. And I don't know, the idea just took off in my head. I love performing. I love singing. I love piano. I love acting. I love Shakespeare. And I started to imagine, you know, maybe maybe this could be more than just a hobby. Maybe I could try for real. So I'm glad she took that leap, though. Look at the success. And she seems like she belongs, you know? That's right. Yeah. And you know what? You see something special in her. And, you know, I'm rooting for her. I want her to have a long career in acting. But she is doing something in Milwaukee. And she's going to tell you where you can see her perform. You're working, you know, you say it's a tough industry, it is, but tell everyone what you're doing. Yeah, sure. So right now, currently, I am part of, I'm one of four members of the Children Theater Company's cohort, sort of of young actors. At the beginning of their careers, and so I'm doing, right now, Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas at CTC. I'm playing one of the adult Whos, and I'm understudying Grandma Who. And it's been a ball of a time. I'm having a lot of fun. It's fun. And it's really great to be in a professional theater setting that cares so deeply about... Bringing up the next generation of theatre artists, and not just the kids, but also, you know, us younger theatre makers who, you know, they're giving us a lot of support this year, we get to do workshops, and we get to be in multiple shows here, we get to understudy, and to be part of such a big institution just a few months out of college. It's really nice to have this kind of support and, you know, stable work as a theater artist. So it's really special. You know, I interview a lot of young actors as they're starting out, actors and actresses. I don't think any of her is as articulate as Elisheva is. She really knows what she wants, and I would say put your money on her. She's going to really work in this business. Yeah, and you could definitely tell, you know, if this was just a little glimpse. I'd love to see her performance, so I'm glad we can have the opportunity. That's right. Thanks, Gino. See you soon. Thank you. Well, hey, coming up here on Real Milwaukee, we have simple ways to not show up empty-handed this holiday season, entertaining tips and tricks coming up. All right, welcome back to Milwaukee and work smarter, not harder this holiday season. Emily Williamson is here with some tips for your holiday entertaining, bringing with you once again, an incredible spread, which is great because it's going to be that time soon where we're getting invitations to all of these different holiday parties and work events. And you're right. We never want to come empty handed. Right. And you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen either. Right. Or a lot of money. Right. Right. And. And you make it easy because you're full of flavors, and I think you're pretty good for any occasion here. 100%. My goals today were to highlight some of the really great grab-and-go items we have at Pick and Save and Metro Market. I'm a registered dietitian, so I love to add some nutrition components in there, too. And let's talk about saving you money and time. So those are kind of the key messages. The first stop, let's go with Holiday Hostess Gifts. Yes, these wines are... Amazing. Under $10. Wow. 91 plus points on Wine Spectator. That's amazing. Whoa. Yeah. Bring that in. Don't hide baby in a bag because that is a starring show. Great scoring wine, great tasting wine, not a lot of money. The other hostess gift I love to recommend is do something edible bring something people are traveling from afar Yeah, these are some great options to have some fiber some protein have that on the table It's easy for people to grab and go the littles the adults all in between something for easy snacking I love that and sometimes like the major meal is taking a little bit longer Yeah, you have a little bit of a ganache in the meantime and it's healthy Right. Perfect. I love the flowers, too. You guys have such beautiful creations. It's a great host gift. So many easy creations, and you can always pair them with a gift card. The thing that I recently learned, you get four times fuel points every day, and you can get your gift cards with pickup. You don't actually have to go in the store anymore. Oh, nice. So if you are literally on your way to the party, you order a couple things for pickup, gift card can be one of those. Wrap the hostess gift in the car, you're ready to go. I love that. And double down and do it on a Friday. Right? Even better with those points. All right, so bring us to the spread now. I love this. So this is holiday snacking. You know, our Murray's Cheese Department has some really great options between that and the deli team. We've got some great options, and you can try them this weekend at our holiday show from 10 to... 10 o'clock, starting at 10 o'clock at all of our stores. But we've got some local sausages from the Driftless region here. This is a brand new Maytag blue cheese dip with a little bit of hot honey. So it's got that really nice complementary flavors there on a crostini. Our smokehouse dip, you can pair it with any chip. I chose the Casa Mercado, the ranch, because it's got a little kick to it. Nice pairing with that smokehouse flavor. We've got our traditional port wine that everybody loves. I love these rainbow baby carrots are like my shining knight in armor something like that that's so fun they're brand new and they're in the produce department and a couple of those really dress up a board yeah um and then they add you know again nutrition and fiber and all the things I also grabbed our red bags so these are pro these bagged produce are You know, imperfect. They're a little too small, something like that. They look great. Grab some great apples. It was $1.50 for the whole bag. Whoa. And then I used some of the apples here, and then I used it in the salad, too. So the thing is, you're just going to use those same day, but it's a nice way to add a little something and being gentle to your pocketbook. And I love how you have a good mix to the board. You have a little sweet, you have savory, and you have different mixes of cheeses as well. Something for everyone. We'll take a bite of this. And I think you've got, like, some new trendy items. Like, I feel like hot honey is all the rage right now. So, yeah, throw that on. And, you know, the crostini here, with the blue cheese spread. That's delicious. And, you know, if your love language is acts of service, we've got pistachios, so someone can shell pistachios for you. I'm just trying to, you know, help people get together over the holidays as well. I love it. And then you and I were joking beforehand, but this is kind of my kind of cooking here. You guys have some new options where it's all done for us. It's all done for us. You know, that's kind of my secret here. The night before, you're going to be cooking all day. You're prepping all the next day. It's okay. Treat yourself to a meal. We've got some great options ready to go. Paired it with one of our bagged salads. You know, again, adding a little bit of additional fiber and nutrition. I like to add some of the extra apples or some of the easy cut veg on top of some of these things to just add a little bit more in terms of that nutrition realm. They're beautiful on their own, but you know me, I always like to add an extra vegetable. Yeah, I just like the variety here. I mean, you've got three totally different meals that we can just grab and go. Oh, yeah. And there's more. There's chicken with capatavi pasta. There's just so many options. I really appreciate how you guys have all of those options throughout. There's some like in a regular case or some that are. Frozen, but you do have things that are just kind of pick up and go because it's a lot. A lot of folks are still working during the holiday season. You want to be able to bring something of substance that tastes good, but we may not have the time to make it. Absolutely. And, you know, here's my other hack. We sell some great bowls in store, but if you go to your the store where. People donate stuff, and then you can buy them. Get some really great dishware. Yeah, we're going to thrift some dishware. And then throw one of these meals right in there. You don't care if you get the container back. It looks homemade. I'm here for you. That's such a good point. Because that is the presentation. But sometimes that's what's difficult about bringing a dish. You're kind of like, well, I need that back. So if you didn't need it back, that's so smart. And then it's a gift, too. It's a gift, too. I brought this, and you get to keep them. You're welcome. Yeah, absolutely. I love this. All right, so I also appreciate this. Is this pumpkins? Does it taste like pumpkin or just the shape? It is just the shape. Oh, it's just the shape. Look at that. So there's some really fun, like, holiday. Look at that. They're shaped as pumpkins. Oh, wait, I'm upset. How cute is that? I'm going to just drop, like, five of them. Do it. They're all over. So talk a little bit more about what's happening this weekend, because I think this will give folks a good idea, too, of how to plan what they're going to bring. Yeah, the open house. What's going on with that? So this is at all of our stores. It's our holiday open house. So come out Saturday between 10 and 5. Every pick-and-save and metro market store is doing this, and you'll get to taste some of these things, something like the smoke. Smokehouse Burnt Ends Dip. You'll get to try that. Say, yes, this sounds like a good fit for me. We're here to inspire you throughout the holiday season. Make sure that you have everything you need. If you're cooking from scratch, if you're semi-homemade people, if you're just looking for your holiday dinners, all of those options are available to you. So take a little time, pop into the store and see what inspires you. I love that you're having that because then it gives, you know, oh, I know the kids will eat this. So I know we'll eat this. This has a great It has a great little sweetness to it. But it gives you the cheese, and it has a little burnt end in there. That's absolutely delicious. And sometimes you see things in your store, and you're like, no, I'm not going to get it. I don't know what that tastes like. But you're giving folks the opportunity now to be like, I want it. So this is great. Taste it. Absolutely. Beautiful. And if you're not sure, you know, our Marie's Cheese Department, look for the red coats. Those individuals there, they're always inspiring me. I'm like, have you tried this yet? What would you pair it with? You know, so take the time and ask the questions. Our team is here to help. And Marie's has a lot of good, like, apple butters and things like that that could go with it. You guys have a wonderful selection. Thank you, Emily. Thank you. All right, we'll be right back. Don't you love that port wine? It's so good. It's so good. All right. Welcome back to Real Milwaukee. Our producer, Taylor, has a sick sense of humor because she gave me this story about mispronouncing things, which you don't know. I feel like if you can mispronounce something, I do. But this is the real question. When someone mispronounces a word, do you correct them? Erica definitely does, because you help correct me often. Because I would want someone to do it to me. Yes, yes. You know? I think it's all about how you correct them. Exactly. Are you laughing at them, or are you like, hey, heads up, it's this way. Because it's like, hey, I looked that up too, so. Yes. Just so you know. So, a list actually recently came out of the most mispronounced words in America, and Worcestershire sauce. I think you're pretty close. Worcestershire sauce. Euro and Dachshund, they topped the list. Okay. Okay. And then as far as the top spot in Wisconsin, that went to Punschke. Yeah. I think people say Patske a lot. I think that's a hard one when you're looking at it. It doesn't look like Punschke at all. No, not at all. So growing up... In New York, everybody still says gyro, even though there is like a huge Greek population. And if you want to say gyro, we would think it's a sub. So everybody differentiates and we still say, yeah. My friend's from Long Island and she always says it that way. Yeah, so here I have to say... A gyro. Yeah. Because if I was back home, people would not know what I was talking about. I like saying gyro. Yeah. I want a gyro. I could go for a gyro right off the side of Punschke. I know. There you go. Seriously. I know. The Worcestershire is the one that gets me because I always would say were, like a R, and shire at the end of it, so I know that I'm saying it wrong, but I don't really use it enough to care. That's the one I just say fast. You know, you're just like, Worcestershire House. Yeah, that's how that one goes. And dachshund, it's like, I know the word, but then when you see it, it throws you off. You're like, wait a minute. When you see the dachshunds, do you ever lean into the dachshund? You don't lean into it like that? When I see the little guys running, I just go, dachshunds. I just go, look at the wiener dogs. That's what I say. I'm not going to go, look at the dachshund. You know what? What other words are hard for you? For me, it's amphitheater. Every time I say amphitheater, it sounds a little like... Yeah. You know, right? Like you're a lizard. What is it? Amphitheater.