My heart is broken

One of the great losses of living in Texas as a displaced Midwestern girl is the absence of one of my favorite foods - sweet corn. Having grown up in Illinois with the majority of my relatives being farmers, I was able to enjoy sweet corn in many forms for several months of the year. In fact, we would eat it until we were sick of it ... and then eat it just to get rid of it.

Since I left, my awesome aunts now go to the effort of shaving it off the cob, freezing it, and then pulling it out at Christmas time for me since it is the one time of year they know I will be home to enjoy it. It has become one of the things I look most forward to at Christmas dinner!

I like sweet corn best right off the cob. I enjoy the process of husking it, preparing it, and then buttering and salting it to perfection. Ask Jonathan; I'm a pro. He even has me doctor up his ears (corn that is) :)

Now I know you Texans will try to tell me I can get corn at HEB. And let me tell you NO; it is not the same. NOTHING can replace the perfect sweetness and juiciness of Midwestern corn. Yes, that's right, NOT everything is better in Texas (contrary to your indoctrination).

So here's my great sorrow ... it seems my beloved daughter does not share my passion for the most wonderful of all vegetables. I have twice now tried to feed her a baby food called Sweet Corn Casserole, and both times she has acted like I am forcing her to eat nails. Granted it doesn't look too good and I sure as heck am not going to taste it to see if it resembles the sweet corn I love. But really? I guess that's what I get for birthing a daughter who is a true Texan. I can only pray she will some day see the error of her ways. (Sigh)

We are Family

This past weekend JD, Morgan, and I ventured up to the Ozarks for the first "full" Walsh family meeting. Steph and I were finally able to meet each other's kids. It was an incredible feeling to have all nine of us together - sharing meals, conversation, and life. We didn't do anything special but just enjoy each other.

My niece Maddie is SOOO cute! She's blond-haired, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned, taking after her dad Matt (or my sister/her aunt Kelly :). It really is crazy how much she and Morgan look like their dads! But while the girls may not look alike, their cries sound amazingly similar - to the point where Steph and I each would double-take to see whose child was crying.

At one point during the trip, Steph observed how our playing together with the girls was reminiscent of our days as young girls playing with our dolls ... it was so true! Maddie and Morgan seemed to enjoy being together (as much as babies can). They will definitely be more fun to watch as they grow.

Here are a few photos so you can share in my reminiscence of a truly memorable weekend:

Grandpa and Maddie

Steph, I, and our "dolls"

"Trust me Maddie, I'm four months older; I know these things."

The girls checking each other out

Morgan smiling at Aunt Steph

Enjoying the spring blossoms with Grandpa & Grandma

Feeding Aunt Kelly the spring blossoms

With two babies involved, this was the best picture
with Grandpa & Grandma we could get.

Bluebonnet Memories...

... though maybe not all good ones :) My friend Kristi and I decided that our Texas babies should have bluebonnet pictures for their first spring. However, the lack of rain has made bluebonnets hard to find in our area. So after much searching, we were assured that the Wildseed Farm in Fredericksburg both had bluebonnets and would allow us to take pictures of our girls with them. So we packed up the Jeep and took a quick afternoon trek up to the Hill Country.

However, once we arrived we were told by several employees at the Farm that the bluebonnet fields were inaccessible to the public. After some pleading and finagling, we were allowed to go back "for five minutes" - which is not nearly enough for two babies who required coercion to look at the camera and smile. Ironically, some of the better pictures we got came from a small patch of bluebonnets found out in the parking lot!

After leaving the Farm, we also found a few small patches in front of the Frederickburg sheriff's office. Audrey (Kristi's daughter) thought it would be fun to try to pick the bluebonnets ... which made Kristi hope wouldn't land us in jail :) So 115 pictures later, we packed it up and headed up - a little frustrated with our experience and with fingers crossed that we had at least one good picture of each girl.

However, Morgan decided our experience was not yet "memorable" enough. She decided to SCREAM (not cry) the entire trip home to San Antonio - yes, that's right, for a hour and fifteen minutes! My friend Kristi is a saint for putting up with it. Audrey seemed to be in the best spirits of us all - she just laughed at Morgan's fit :)

So enjoy the fruits of our labor...

Audrey curiously inspecting the bluebonnets

Kristi & Audrey

This was just the beginning of the crying...

I [Heart] Grass

...particularly my grass right now because it is green! In San Antonio, you have to enjoy your lawn when it actually looks like a lawn and not a barren desert wasteland of brittle straw. What makes it even more spectacular is that it's freshly mowed. That was done for the first time this season yesterday afternoon (and was LONG overdue; I had to bag the grass after just one pass around the backyard!).

I have to admit, I really do enjoy mowing my lawn. I did it as a job while I was a pre-teen for some elderly neighbor ladies and wasn't a huge fan then (imagine that...), but it has developed into something I actually had to fight this year to do. Last summer we had a neighborhood college student and a lawn service taking care of that duty while I was big and pregnant. So Jonathan actually had to tell both of them that we don't need them this year. Bottom line: I'd better live up to my claim to "want" to cut the lawn or else I am going to be the one groveling for them to come back :)

I seized the opportunity today after church to snap a few pics of Morgan (on her seven-month birthday) on our beautiful lawn. It's not Masters quality grass like I'm seeing on TV right now, but I will enjoy it nonetheless! As you can see, M likes the grass too :)