Watch out, Owen!

Because Ben's going to get you soon!!! Take a look at this crazy man...

I haven't gotten it on video yet, but he has been doing this business where he gets up on all fours and then pushes back to sit up. One problem: he doesn't sit very well yet!

Good friends...

When Owen was a baby, we had been wondering if there was another baby in our building. Sometimes when we would go throw things out in the dumpster, we would see boxes from a bouncer seat or diapers that weren't ours. Occasionally, on nice days, we could hear a baby crying while out in the courtyard when Owen was with us and happy. One day, when I was outside with Owen, a man came up to me in the courtyard and introduced himself and said he and his wife had a baby, too, and that we needed to meet. Well, one day when Owen was about 6 months old, we went outside for a walk and finally bumped into them. There was a woman and her little boy playing on a blanket right outside of our building. Liane was the mom and Andrew was the little boy. He was one month older than Owen and they lived across the courtyard. Liane and I quickly became friends. It was so handy to have someone to call up and plan a play date or walk "in 5 minutes." As a mom, it is so important to have other mom friends!!! And, as a bonus, our husbands get along well, too. The rest is pretty much history! Here we 2 and a half years later... Owen and Andrew are best buddies. They're so close that they sometimes act more like brothers than friends! Well, on Friday they moved to North Carolina. Mr. Kevin (as Owen calls him) got a great job. We wish them the best of luck and are missing them so much already (though I told Liane the other day that it just feels like they are on vacation!) We know they will do great and make lots of new friends, but we just wish they were moving to DC instead!!! When we move, we'll only live about 5 hrs apart, so we are planning a reunion in October. Last week, to prepare for the move, we did something fun everyday. Here are the highlights...

Monday: Choo Choo Restaurant in Des Plaines




Tuesday: Greenwood Beach

I guess I only got pictures of the babies because the big kids were just moving too fast!

Wednesday: Eva and Colin's Basement


Thursday: am: Devonshire pool and playground


pm: Metra ride, followed by dinner at Nevin's and one last walk :o(

REALLY BIG WEEKEND

Last weekend was a REALLY BIG WEEKEND!!! Friday was Mike's graduation! We didn't actually go to the graduation, but we did go to hooding. And, Mike had quite an entourage...

See that whole row... My dad is down at the far end... All fans of Mike Walsh PhD...

The biggest (but littlest) fans of all!!!

Ben really enjoyed himself and was a happy and very good boy. And Owen, he was very happy to have 3 aunties to take him outside to run around and play...

Getting hooded...

And here begins our photo gallery of celebratory photos...

This is Mike's advisor, Dr. Mark Hersam

The Walsh Family (you may see this picture again in our Christmas card...)

The other Walsh Family

Mike and his grandparents

Mike with his in-laws... Grammy Marsha was very sad she could not make it. She had to work but was able to watch a podcast of Mike being hooded. I'm sure it was very exciting after her 12 hour overnight shift...

Mike and a little Frenchman

I think purple is Mike's color!

Super delicious graduation cake from Foodstuffs. We must remember to get the next birthday cake we need from there as it was so delicious!!! (Hint, hint!)

We went out for dinner with the whole gang and then came back home for some graduation pie (Mike's request!)

Saturday was another big day for the Walsh Fam...
Mike and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! We celebrated with bagels at Panera with the boys,

a visit to the rest of the Walsh Fam for swimming at their hotel,

a lazy afternoon nap with the Schieber's and Pierzchalski's at our condo (during which I snuck out to Jewel ALL BY MYSELF for the first time in months!!! Thank you Auntie Emmy and Uncle Jimbo, and Grandpa George!)

Ben's first peas (which he quite enjoyed,) Saturday night mass, dinner at Portillo's (Italian beef is Nana's new favorite meal!)

and an 8:00 show of Toy Story 3 in 3D. Owen stayed awake and he loved it. Ben tried desperately to stay awake to watch the movie, but ended up mostly eating and snoozing after the first 2o minutes. What a day!

Sunday was another crazy day!!! Father's Day!!!
And we were lucky to celebrate it with one dad, 2 grandpas, and 1 great-grandpa!




I just wish we would have taken a picture of the boys with all of them together.

We had brunch at our condo and said good-bye to the Walsh's.


Special thanks to my sister, the caterer, for all of the help and delicious treats!!!

Did you notice that Uncle Jimbo and Owen have matching shirts?! It is only a matter of time until they both show up wearing the same outfit!!!
Grandpa George had an early evening flight, so he got to accompany us to the Custer Street Festival. We affectionately call it the tackiest street festival ever. We had fun, none the less. Hope you enjoy this video of Owen and Grandpa jumping...