My Kind of Town

JD had a legal education conference in Chicago last Thursday and Friday which Morgan and I accompanied him on. We stayed at the Fairmont where the conference was held. When we arrived, we received an upgrade to a suite with great views of Millennium Park, the Museum Campus, Soldier Field, and the Yacht Club.

We woke up Thursday morning to beautiful Midwestern fall weather - cool and crisp. While Jonathan attended his meetings, Morgan and I went out to explore Millennium Park which I had never seen before (it opened in 2004). The Park was so cool. Below are some of the pictures:

Cloud Gate (or known to resident Chicagoans as "The Bean") -
It's a three story steel sculpture meant to resemble
a drop of mercury hovering at the point of landing.

The butt crack of the Bean replete with reflections of the city's skyline.

One of two 50 foot LED towers-turned-fountains.
Faces of resident Chicagoans are projected on them and change every five minutes.

The faces play on the gargoyle theme and spout water from their mouths
right before the towers change to the next face.

Thursday JD joined us for lunch in Millennium Park and then ducked out of his conference early that afternoon to stroll Michigan Avenue with us. That night we enjoyed Chicago-style pizza at Pizzeria Due (the kid-sister to Pizzeria Uno).


Friday my sister Kel and her boyfriend Jess came up to the city to hang out with us. This was the first time we met Jess, and he received our stamp of approval :) He and Kel even watched Morgan for two hours while JD and I went on an architectural tour of the notable buildings along the river. Unfortunately, it was drizzly so the tour wasn't as wonderful as it could've been. That night the four of us enjoyed even more Chicago-style pizza - this time at Pizzeria Uno. And no, I don't ever get tired of it!

Friday night SIX inches of rain from Hurricane Ike drenched Chicago. So after all that hype in San Antonio about Ike, they saw not a drop of rain and we, in Chicago, got six inches. Go figure. Saturday morning we drove into Dwight (my hometown) and celebrated Morgan's first birthday (which was that day!) with my parents, Kel & Jess, my grandparents, and several of my aunts, uncles and cousins. It was a super way to celebrate Morgan's big day! I was so glad we were able to share that with them. Morgan loved eating her own personal birthday cake made by my Grandma. However, she decided to "blow" out her lone candle by snuffing out the flame with her palm.

Grandpa and the Birthday Girl

The rain poured all day Saturday and more Saturday night. Sunday we made a quick visit to my Grandma Walsh (where we also visited with my Aunt Jill) before braving the wet roadways back up to the airport. What a whirlwind!

All in all, it was a great trip. I love Chicago and I love my family. Maybe that's why Daniel asked me upon returning home, "So are you guys moving to Chicago?" Some days, I wish...

Being family

I love my parents ... and I especially love when I get to see them since it doesn't happen as often as I'd like. It's particularly hard for me now that we have Morgan. I want them to know her and her to know them. Each time they see her she has changed so much. So we have to treasure each of these opportunities we are together.

Can't you just tell she adores her grandparents?

ONE

Yep, that's right - my sweet baby girl is about to turn ONE. I can hardly believe a whole year has passed already; I've never had a year go by so fast in my life. And what amazing transformations and growth a baby goes through in a year. Morgan is no longer a baby but a little girl! My little girl :)

While there are still have a few more days until Morgan's actual birthday, we threw her birthday party this past weekend while my parents were in San Antonio visiting us. Jonathan's parents were SO gracious to host it at their ranch (and even more gracious when over 40 people showed up when we promised them it would be more like 25-30). Thanks Dad and Mom!

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and the temperature was not too hot such that we could enjoy the beautiful Hill Country scenery. Dad even had a tractor pull going transporting people around the property - most wanted rides to the fish pond where some were fishing.

After a tasty fajita dinner, the real fun began - cake time! Of course, it wouldn't be a party without one of Kara's stunning cakes. The impressive part about this was I told Kara to decorate Morgan's cake however she wanted - and, no joke, she came up with exactly what I would have requested! It was SO beautiful and totally yummy. As you can see, Morgan's first experience with refined sugar was a very positive one. And she only got a little messy.

Here are a few party pics for you to enjoy -


Special thanks to everyone who helped make Morgan's party turn out so great and to all who helped her celebrate, including:

• Dad and Mom Schlueter for opening up the ranch and hosting us all.
• Both Moms for their great work in the kitchen.
• Jonathan and both Dads for their work at the grill and running food in and out of the house.
• Jen for watching Morgan while we all ran around like chickens with our heads cut off.
• Dad and Mom Walsh for traveling down from Missouri for the party.
• Kara for making a beautiful cake and taking all the pictures so I didn't have to.
  

Dusting off the old blog

Sorry folks, I know many of you probably wondered if I survived my 30th birthday since I haven't posted since before then. I did indeed survive. In fact, courtesy of my wonderful husband, not only did I survive, but I did it with style. He (with some help from his family) threw me an awesome surprise party at Carino's. I was completely surprised, and it was a lot of fun. In addition, Jonathan gave me a beautiful necklace to commemorate my milestone birthday.

Since then, life has just been busy - a good busy mostly. Thanks to you faithful blog-checkers who have continued to stop by looking to see what I was up to. I hope to be better about posting updates in the coming weeks. I already have requests for more Morgan video so I'd better get busy. So don't give up on me ... and never fear, I haven't had the 30 mental breakdown some experience :)

I'll "talk" with you soon. -B

Girl's Got Skills

In just the last week, Morgan has learned to "share" when asked, point out where her head is, and clap her hands! It's all so amazing to me. We worked with her on both the sharing and pointing out her head but the clapping she started all on her own (granted we did a lot of clapping in celebration of the first two achievements so maybe she learned by example).

On the flip side, Morgan also has perfected the art of protesting loudly when something is taken from her that she really wants and how to ignore me when I say "no" :) When I told my sister Steph this, she wisely stated, "The ignoring skill is really a sign of maturity. She'll practice that one for the rest of her life." So true...

For now though, I'm going to revel in her positive accomplishments. Here's a little clip so you all can share in my excitement:



And sadly, the countdown is on. I am now one week away from turning (gasp) thirty....

Mmmm, Mmmm....Good?

Yeah, seriously. I'm not sure which part of this recipe is my favorite ... the "Be sure lymph glands are removed" in ALL CAPS or the cavalier "Cut off front and back legs" or the gentle prompting "If you haven't tried this, don't miss it." Wha...?

In case you're wondering, I found this recipe in a compilation cookbook at a garage sale this past week. The cookbook was assembled by a group called the Woman's Exchange (which I've never heard of and now translate to read "Redneck Biddies") out of Memphis, Tennessee in 1967.

My sister Steph is a fan of these compilation cookbooks so I decided to flip through this one despite its age (and other warning signs). I didn't see any knock-out or even particularly repulsive recipes to influence my purchase decision until I got to this one! I figured for 50 cents I had to add it to her collection. I just hope Barbecued Raccoon doesn't end up on her Thanksgiving table this year (thankfully, we celebrate Thanksgiving down here so I don't have to find out :).

P.S. I personally think the best source for raccoon is the side of the road contrary to Mr. Johnny Jacobs. (And why is a dude in the Woman's Exchange anyway?!?)

I'm a Slave.

That's right, I'm a slave to my planner. I can't live without it! My mother has always had one, and I always wondered about its necessity growing up. And now here I am ...

Funny thing is I never used one while I was working, but now that I stay at home I find I need it. The inherent problem with planners is that they show you just how much time you have left to fill. And so I try and try to make sure all my minutes are utilized, and when someone asks if I can, my planner seems to say, "Sure you can; you have space on Wednesday afternoon." It's really a killer!

Instead what I really need is to schedule time to rest and spend time with those I care about. As I was in my car today listening to one of my favorite sources of inspiration, Sara Groves, her song "Just One More Thing" played and reminded me about keeping perspective of my time. Below are the lyrics; I particularly love the chorus. The emphases added are mine.

There's always just one more thing
There's always another task
There's always I just have one more small favor to ask
And everything is urgent and everything is now
I wonder what would really happen if I stopped somehow

I'll be there in a minute
Just a few places to go
You wake up a few years later and your kids are grown
And everything is important
But everything is not
At the end of your life your relationships are all you're got

(Chorus)
And love to me is when you put down that one more thing and say
I've got something better to do
And love to me is when you walk out on that one more thing and say
Nothing will come between me and you
Not even one more thing

There will never be an end to
The request upon your time
It's your place to stand up and tell the world
You've got to rest awhile
And everything is important
But everything is not
At the end of your life your relationships are all you've got

And love to me is when you put down that one more thing and say
I've got something better to do
And love to me is when you walk out on that one more thing and say
Nothing will come between me and you
Not even one more thing

That being said, one of the things noted on my planner this week is helping out with our church's Vacation Bible School. The theme is Veggie Tales' The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.


This is definitely one of the more worthwhile things I've chosen to spend my time on! If I'm going to invest my time and energy, I'd like to put it into something that has potential to have lasting effect - what better way than to plant the word of God and the love of Christ into a child!

Hope you all find the time (or make it if you have to) this week for those you most value in your life or who could be benefited by just a little more of you in their lives :)

**And for those of you who haven't listened to Sara Groves yet, I'd love to lend you her CDs!