Saying Goodbye

Sorry, it's been so long since I last posted. Life has been a bit hectic of late. Last Thursday, June 5, my Grandpa Walsh passed away at age 81. A year and a half ago he had battled with and overcome cancer. However, it seems that fight left his body weakened and unable to fight off other smaller health struggles that had come upon him in recent months. Thankfully, he died peacefully and with family at his side. Although difficult for those he left behind, we know that he was ready to be free of the pain of his health problems and is without question in a better place!

While my grandfather was by no means a perfect man, we will remember the legacy he left for our family. In my younger years, my sisters, cousins, and I referred to Grandpa as "Petey-dink" - I think my cousin Julie coined the name, but I have no idea if it was for lack of being able to pronounce "Grandpa" or for some other reason. One of my favorite pictures of Grandpa is posted below - one Easter he laid of the floor and let four of us grandchildren use him as a jungle gym :)

Thankfully, Jonathan, Morgan and I were able to make the trip up to Illinois for his visitation and funeral. It was great to see the many who came to the funeral home to express their sympathies at our family's loss, their care for my Grandfather, and support of my Grandmother. We were also blessed to have a little time together with Dad, Mom, Matt, Steph, Maddie, and Kel as well as the Kilmer family (my Mom's side of the family) - even despite the circumstances, we are always happy to see family!

Thanks to everyone who was so thoughtful and supportive of me and my family during this time; it was greatly appreciated. Please continue to pray for peace for my Grandma, my dad, and his sister as they all work through the adjustment of life without Grandpa.

Grandpa & I

Easter 1982

Water Baby

Today Morgan experienced "swimming" for the very first time. My friend Kristi has a pool at her house so as part of our weekly playdate Audrey and Morgan took a dip. I was a bit skeptical that it would be a positive experience since Morgan cried through bathtime for the first four months of her life. However, I wasn't going to miss a chance to put her in her cute Gap swimsuit if nothing else :) Check out how cute she looks...

Thankfully, Morgan did really well with this new "first". As Kristi said, she seemed to enjoy herself about 80% of the time. She didn't have a meltdown upon entering the water which I totally expected. And once she acclimated to the water she road around in Audrey's inflatable turtle and allowed me to glide her around on her stomach in mock-swimming style. We were all entertained as she tried to lap up the water with her tongue like a dog. We think she must've liked the pool's saltiness.

So now that we know Morgan enjoys pools, bring on the summer!

The Twins :)
Nothing cuter than babies in tiny swimsuits!

Part of the 20%
[Disregard my blinding white skin]

Rockin'

So I'm totally shocked (and thrilled!) that David Cook won American Idol last night. As JD and I sat down to watch it, from the very beginning I kept saying, "I'm so sad David Archuleta won." Yeah, I'm an optimist :) Needless to say when they announced that Cook beat him, I was in awe. In our experience with AI, the teeny-bopper vote usually dictates the winner. I don't think that was the case this time around ... for which I'm really glad because if David Cook didn't win Jonathan said he wouldn't watch the show for a third [next] season (as he was pissed about Jordin Sparks winning last year).

Now I'll be anxious to hear what kind of music he puts together for his first album. As one last "hurrah", here's a little Cook action from last night:



By now you must be thinking that I'm probably going to go into withdrawl since Idol is over. Oh no! In fact, AI was just a warm up for my favorite guilty pleasure reality show of all time ... So You Think You Can Dance. SYTYCD for short :) I used to be ashamed to admit I liked this show, but no longer. Mostly because I've acquired a few friends who support and share my addiction. If you have never seen it and are a Dancing with the Stars or Idol fan, I encourage you to check it out. It premieres tonight on Fox. You might just be surprised to find you like it ... in which case you can join my fan club!

Morgan's Newest Skill

So this will probably be most exciting for our families who are too far away to see this in person, but we wanted to proclaim how excited we are that Morgan is now crawling! (Insert here: blubbering mom saying "My baby's all grown up").

Yes, yes, we know that this means we now have to start safety-proofing in earnest and get our running shoes on to keep up with her (for the next how many years?). However, she has started off slowly - just a few paces at a time - so hopefully that will buy us a little time as we prepare!

Here's a video of her new accomplishment. I haven't yet figured out how to edit so you get a little extra Morgan for your money :) Enjoy!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Mother's Day Moms!

Mom W and Mom S:
Jonathan and I feel so honored to have been raised by such wonderful, loving, God-fearing mothers! We know that who we are can be attributed to all the energy and efforts you invested in us. Your strong examples have shown us how to love God, our families, our friends, and those who God has placed around us. You also have modeled for us how to be good spouses to each other and good parents to Morgan. Thank you for all you have done - these simple words cannot begin to list it or speak of our gratitude! We love you so much.
Barb, Jonathan & Morgan

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom -Doesn't she look beautiful?

The collared shirt she is wearing eventually made it into our dress-up box,
and I ultimately wore it in college to a 50s-80s party :)

A Dedicated Aggie Mom (and Wife!)

Hooray for my first Mother's Day -
Being a mom is one of the best roles in life!

Five Generations

This past weekend the Schlueter family ventured to Los Angeles. My mother-in-law grew up there, and her family still lives there. Ordinarily, we pay a visit to that side of the family early each December for Granny's birthday; however, because we had a 2 1/2 month old this past December, we opted out.

As a result, that made this the first trip for 106 year old Granny to meet her great great granddaughter! That's right, Morgan makes FIVE generations for the Boston family :) Granny was so thrilled with Morgan (and I was thrilled Morgan behaved for her!). The two had a great time studying and smiling at one another.

Saturday we enjoyed a Mother's Day luncheon at Granny's Armenian church with several of the other members of the Boston family. In fact, the family was honored for having five generations by the emcee of the event (though she mistakenly counted me instead of Jonathan as generation #4). As you can imagine, with such a momentous occasion comes a lot of pictures! I've included a few for your enjoyment.

I feel blessed to be part of such a wonderful family! Granny is a truly amazing woman; she exemplifies what it is to be a matriarch. She is the pillar of her family and cares for each member of it in the way they need it most. Her loving smile and gentle care for us is so admirable. I see so many of these same qualities in my mother-in-law Linda and sister-in-law Jen - it obvious what a heritage Granny has passed down! We are eager to see her again this December for her 107th birthday :)

Five Generations - I'm the honorary fourth generation member

Five Generations of Boston Women
Clockwise from the top: Grandma "Red", Jen, Morgan, Me, Linda, Granny
Check out the inspiration for this picture here

Granny chatting with Morgan

Morgan studying Granny's face while holding her hands

Morgan's First Glimpse of the Ocean at Venice Beach

Jealousy

No, this isn't what it seems; Sasha did not urinate on Morgan. (If she had, she would be now be residing at the pound.) In fact, Sasha seems to really like Morgan - mostly to lick and occasionally smell. And Morgan really likes Sasha as well - which means I'm never getting rid of that dog! What's actually happening here is that Sasha is stepping over Morgan while the two were playing together on the floor. This just happened to be the shot Jonathan captured while snapping photos of their playtime. Lovely...

We returned yesterday from a quick trip with the family to L.A. for the weekend so stay tuned for a picture-filled account of our travels (once I have more energy to write it!).