Wedding Week So Far...

Morgan and I have been spending this week up in Springfield, Missouri helping to prepare for my sister Kel's wedding. We actually haven't done much helping at all - there's been a lot more visiting with family and friends.

Early in the week two of my best friends from college (which is also in Springfield) drove into town with their kids so we could all get together. It was awesomely fun, but friendships (like life) take on a different dynamic once you have kids (and we all three do). Consequently, our get-together became more of a playdate at JumpMania. The kids all had a great time and wore themselves out literally to the point of tears. Thankfully later that night after all our kids were in bed, we were able to reconvene for a little adult conversation ... and to pretend we were young again!



There's also been a bit of March Madness action going. It's one of our family's favorite times of the year as we have our annual competition. Sadly, our Illini did not fare so well in the first round. Nonetheless, the competition lives on! So far, I'm not doing too bad.



There've also been a few opportunities for Morgan and Maddie to get together which hasn't happened since Christmas. Maddie has learned to walk so that has made playing together much more entertaining to watch :)

Maddie giving Morgan a "kiss" in their matching jammies.

Blasted blog!

I have to admit I'm growing weary of my blog. I desire to be like so many of my faithfully blogging friends, but frankly I don't have that interesting of a life nor do I have that kind of time. Well, I guess technically I could make the time in the evenings once M is down to bed, but I just don't want to. By that time of the day, I'm tired and want to relax. Isn't that okay? And... since I started Facebook, I haven't wanted to come back to my dusty ol' blog. It symbolizes effort and commitment where Facebook is more like a drive-thru - you're in, you're out, you're on your way. Instant gratification for me and all my Facebook "friends".

But for those faithful few who keep checking in on me (or more likely - my cute daughter), I'm here blogging for you with the randomness of my life of late. I'm warning you; it's lame...

1. What I LOVE Right Now.

Seriously, this stuff is A-Freaking-Mazing! What is it you ask? It's like a miracle dishwashing solution for anyone with hard water. We replaced our dishwasher about a month ago after suffering through many long months of its lackluster performance. However, I was pissed when the new dishwasher seemed to not do much better. About that time, it dawned on me that our hard water was a potential culprit for all the spots and splotches on our "clean" dishes. In doing some research to test my theory, I came across LemiShine. I found it at Walmart for like $2.50. I gave it a whirl, and my dishes (which have a rough finish to them that doesn't clean easily) looked like they did the day I bought them. Brings a tear to my eye even still. I've used it several times since and still rave at how my dishes look. I'm telling you JUST TRY IT if you have hard water!

I told you my life is lame ... and revolves on simple pleasures. Oh, and no, I don't regret buying the new dishwasher ;)

2. What I HATE Right Now.

Yes, it's true I have a complex over this book series. I feel like something must be wrong with me because EVERYONE else I know (and whose opinions I respect) LOVES this series. I just don't. I can't stand it. I read Twilight (Book #1) and hated the first 17 chapters of it (these chapters were mostly about budding teenage romance). The last seven chapters were the only ones worth reading (the ones containing a good vs. evil battle) but still didn't vindicate the rest of the book. I decided I'd start New Moon (Book #2) in hopes that things would get better. Nope. After three chapters, I could see it was going to be more of the same and stopped reading. I will probably watch the Twilight movie when it comes out on DVD later this month to see if I like it any better than the books, but I will likely not finish this series. Plus I have a few good friends (Twilight groupies) who said they'd fill me in ad nauseam on the rest of the story over dinner or coffee - a prospect which sounds infinitely better than wasting more hours of my life on these books. There are just too many other more worthy reads on my list.

So what's my beef with these books you ask? No, it's not the vampires; I don't care about that. Let me see if I can enumerate some of the reasons...

a. The pathetic teenage love story. It's so over-the-top and melodramatic. It's the whole "My Life is Nothing Without You" mantra that makes me want to stick my finger down my throat. This is the same reason I dislike Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. I know, again, this makes me weird. And yes, I was a teenager once, but honestly I don't think I ever acted this way over someone I was with. If you knew me back then, please correct me if I'm wrong...

b. The female lead, Bella. The author wants the reader to believe this girl is supposed to be intelligent. Um no. The girl is so irrational in her thought processes and actions that there's just no way. A friend of mine from high school (who enjoyed the series) summed Bella up well: "Bella was so whiny if she had been in the same room as me I would have slapped her."

c. Poor writing. I appreciate that these are Stephenie Meyer's first published books, but her writing did not overwhelm me. And I can forgive a lot for the sake of a good story.

Enough of my rant. I still love all my Twilight-entranced friends and hope they will tolerate me despite my perhaps-too-loudly-and-avidly-stated distate for Twilight :)

3. What Is Going On In My/Our Life Right Now.

A few highlights:

• Morgan turns 18 months on Friday. I can't believe she's already this old...
  
• My youngest sister Kelly gets married in a week. M & I will head up to be with her and the rest of the family next week in preparation. Jonathan will join us for the wedding weekend.
• I've been able to expand my legal practice in the past few months.
• JD & I booked tickets for a four day weekend in NYC to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Grandpa & Grandma Schlueter are going to watch M!!

Well, my friends, that's all I can think of :) Hope that satiates you for another month or so ... until I get inspired to write again!

Hi....Hi....Hi

Yes, we still exist :) 2009 has been busy so far. I can't believe it's February already! In fact, I've already taken my first trip of the year - a baby-free weekend to Illinois for my sister Kel's bridal shower. It was so nice to not have Morgan sitting in my lap during the flight. I forgot how relaxing it could be just to sleep, read, or listen to my Ipod. My awesome husband made the weekend possible, and it sounds like he and Morgan had some quality daddy-daughter time together while I was away. Our next trip will be in March for Kel & Jess' wedding!!

Morgan keeps growing and developing. Just the other day I said to Jonathan as she was pushing a car around the floor making "vroom" sounds, "She's not a baby anymore." Sad :( However, on the up side, she is a blast nowadays. She is full of sparkling personality and goes everywhere in what Jonathan calls mini-high-speed with her chunky little belly leading the way! She is becoming increasingly verbal and communicative, and I love to hear her little voice. Here's a sample (though not very verbose):

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm a sucker for that funny ballcap on her. And look at all the hair she's getting! It's at the funny unmanageable stage where you can't really do much with it. However, the color is very similar to mine as a little girl.



And since it's been so long and you've been so patient, here are a few bonus shots:

Poor Girl - I just like her in hats!

What you're REALLY supposed to do with a bubble wand.

Oh and for my Twilight-addicted friends who've been waiting with baited breath to hear how I liked Book 1, I finally did finish it. The last seven chapters (which mainly comprised of a good vs. evil battle) vindicated the first seventeen lackluster ones. In the end, I decided that I am just not into teenage love (read: infatuation) stories. They make me sick. I just want to scream, "Get a grip. Oh wait, you can't; your hormones make rational thought impossible." And I'm sure being a vampire doesn't help either. So I'm taking a Twilight break and am reading something else for now. But I may still go back and finish the series just to have plot closure :)

World Peace or....

At least now I know what's important to God.

Snack Time at Sasha's "Pad"

While I was getting lunch ready yesterday, Morgan decided to kill time by hanging out with Sasha. Sasha usually isn't too tolerant of Morgan sitting on her mat; thankfully, she was distracted by her bone this time. Of course, by time Morgan got up, her fleece pants were coated in white dog fur. Awesome....

Hmmm....Can I try some of that?

In other pop culture news, I have relented and am reading Twilight. Normally I am not a fan of anything in the Fantasy/SciFi genres. However, I was persuaded to read Harry Potter a few years ago and was very pleasantly surprised. So the buzz over this book by people whose opinion I respect got the better of me ... well, that and Kara showing up and handing me a copy of it. I'm about half way through it, and I have to be honest, I'm not getting all the fuss so far. In fact, at this point, I'm annoyed with both main characters who seem to have no depth or substance to them and the extremely adolescent teenage love story. I hope it gets better or I don't think I'll be wasting my time with the other three books in the series (unless I feel the need for some plot closure :). I guess I'll be losing a couple friends after this...

The tree is put away...

...but the warm feelings of a fabulous Christmas season spent with our awesome families remain. We have so many great memories of this holiday season! Unfortunately, I didn't capture nearly as many of them as I would've liked on camera (and after seeing the ones I did catch, I'm wishing for a better camera or better knowledge of my current camera). Nonetheless, I've attached a few pics for your curious eyes.

As you may have read in my last post, our Christmas celebrations were kicked off by a family flu. So much fun... As a result, our Schlueter family Christmas was postponed to New Year's Day. Thankfully, all three of us felt fine as we left for Chicago the Monday of Christmas week. We spent two days up in the Windy City where we enjoyed single digit temperatures, falling snow, beautiful holiday lights, Chicago-style pizza (twice!), and, of course, family!

Christmas Eve was spent in a Hyatt Hotel in one of the suburbs. Kel and Jess joined us there, and we celebrated our Walsh family Christmas (minus the Polites' who were with Matt's family). Christmas Day was spent at the Kilmer Farm with a crowd of 37 people (all family!!). It was so much fun to be back with everyone after taking last year off. The day after Christmas we were able to visit with Grandma Walsh, and then Saturday we dealt with the nightmare that was Midway Airport (long story...). On the upside, we made it home on our originally scheduled flights and Morgan was angel!

My cute little family

Morgan and Daddy enjoying one of their favorite toys - Legos!

I swear you can bribe my daughter with a box of raisins these days.

My adorable niece Maddie

Matching Cousins

New Year's Eve we headed up to the Schlueter Family Ranch and celebrated that holiday with Dad & Mom Schlueter. No New Year's is complete without Mamma Mia and smore's :) (I must admit I now find I keep singing Abba songs). I was also proud of the rest of the fam - everyone actually stayed awake for the New Year this year!!

New Year's Day, Jen & Brian and Grandpa & Grandma Schlueter joined us at the ranch for our belated Christmas celebration. We had a great lunch of honey-baked ham, rolls, mashed potatos (I made 10 lbs. worth - it was a bit much), and a chocolate trifle. Then it was onto the gifts! By this point in the season, Morgan was a pro at opening gifts and went to town on her packages and everyone else's. Jen & Brian were the givers of this year's tacky gift - a pastel pink, prelit, four-foot Christmas tree! Sadly, I don't have pictures. Brian claims if we had had Christmas on the originally scheduled date, we wouldn't have received it since he found it in a post-Christmas sale. Darn flu...

Happy with Grandpa & Grandma

Teaching her right...

I love the bows!

Hope you all enjoyed your holidays as well! I look forward to seeing you in this new year. Like Kara, I refuse to make resolutions because I hate to be disappointed and am too realistic to think I might actually keep them. Accordingly, I don't make any promises to get better about blogging more frequently. If you really want to keep tabs on me, join Facebook . I'm on there all the time!

Christmas Emotions...

Santa Torturing Morgan

While I normally love this time of year, I must confess that this year's preparations for my favorite holiday have left me feeling frazzled. Part of this may just be that my entire family is currently recovering from a nasty flu or stomach bug and we leave for Illinois tomorrow. All of the "things" - shopping, gift wrapping, baking/cooking, decorating, writing cards, celebrations, and other "obligations" - have served to steal my joy on a few occasions this Christmas season. I'm hopeful that our travel up to Chicago (which is currently buried in snow and enduring single digit temperatures) will go smoothly and that once I'm with my family, I will experience a fresh wave of joy.

I don't think this was what God had in mind for me... or for any of us as we celebrate the reason for Christmas: the coming of his Son to save us from our sins. After this holiday season ends, I need to sit down and re-think what I did wrong this year and what can be cut out next year so that I don't miss out again next year. Particularly as Morgan gets older, I want her to know the true joys of Christmas ... and get to experience it with joyful parents!

All that being said, I wish you, my dear friends, a Merry Christmas filled with joy recognizing the blessing we have in the Son who came to bring our salvation! I value each of you and am grateful for the friendships you have blessed me and my family with this past year.

With love,
Barb

Morgan's Christmas Portrait