Amy Wenzel is a very talented photographer from Grand Rapids, MI who’s blog I follow regularly.  Earlier this week, following an unlikely sequence of events, Amy’s husband David found out he has developed a mass in his brain.  Please keep the Wenzel family in your thoughts and prayers.

You can read Amy and David’s incredibly moving account of this past week’s events on each of their blogs, starting with Amy’s post on Monday.

A couple of weekends ago we finally got around to hanging the swing in the tree in our front yard.  G-Man has suddenly become very fond of getting pushed in it.  And the higher he gets pushed, the better.  I swear, the kid has no fear.  We’d call him Evil Knievel if he weren’t so darn cute.

We’re in the process of signing up for the 22nd annual Vince Lombardi walk for cancer.  This year’s event is being held on June 13th at the Milwaukee County Zoo.  We’re going to miss the convenience of the walk starting in our own backyard, but it should still be a good time.  One can never go wrong with any event touting free beer!

As they are every year, GE Healthcare is a major sponsor of the event.  To show our support for cancer research in our community, our finance department (aka Shutter Momma), has authorized me to donate $5 for every comment received on this blog post by this Sunday at midnight.  Just leave a comment in response to the following question:

What is your favorite charity or non-profit organization?

On top of the contributions our family will be making to this year’s event, GE will match any contribution over $25 made by an employee.  So what does that mean?  10 comments received on this blog post will translate into $100 for cancer research.  What could be easier?

So leave a comment below this post and show your support.  Or better yet, join us on June 13th at the zoo!

Final note:  Comments on this blog are moderated, which means it may take a while for your comment to be approved and posted to the site.

We’ve been taking a lot of head and shoulder portraits lately, trying to get a good one for babytalk.com / Good Morning America’s cutest baby photo contest.  This isn’t the one we submitted, but it is the most recent.  When G-man smiles this big, you can see all 7 of his teeth.

This past Memorial Day weekend we made our annual pilgrimage up to Grandma B’s house in Lake Tomahawk.  On the way, we stopped at the lake for a day to celebrate the greatest, most bestest day of the year…the day we put the boat in the water!  In previous years, we’ve had some limited success with the boat’s annual launch.  One year I forgot to put the plug in the boat…only realizing my mistake when the boat was half full of water.  That also happened to be the same year I connected the battery backwards and fried a diode (or maybe it was a capacitor?) and disabled the boat’s electrical system.  You realize how much you rely on the boat’s electrical bilge pump at a time when the boat is half filled with water.  But this year, the entire operation went off without a hitch.

We had some great weather all four days up there, and G was able to bust out his new swimming pool and swim trunks.  Here are a few from his first dip in the pool.

He loves to put his rubber duck in his mouth while splashing in the bathtub.  Turns out the same holds true for the pool as well.

Two years ago today Shutter Daddy and Shutter Momma were joined in holy matrimony.  Of course at that time, we were known by more pedestrian names of Ryan and Erin.  It’s funny, we even call each other momma and daddy now.

Happy anniversary sweet pea!  I love you so much.

Photo courtesy of Ken Cravillion Photography.

This past weekend we went up to the lake to celebrate Mother’s Day with momma and grandma.  The weather on Friday was beautifully warm and sunny.  G was itching to get into the water, but the lake was way too cold yet (as mommy and daddy can attest from putting the pier into the water).  We instead had to settle for on-shore activities such as hiking to the bend and back, playing on the swingset, and competing in some spirited games of cornhole.  These two photos are from Friday’s lunch out on the woods-side deck.

Happy 3/4 birthday buddy boy!  Before I met your momma, I didn’t know a 3/4 birthday was a celebratory occasion, but now I know it is

We tried taking some sun flare shots tonight.  I definitely still need some practice, but we never throw away shots where G-man is looking at the camera and flashing his brilliant smile.

Why does daddy’s idea of bathtime center around activities not involving bathing?  Quite simply, it’s because one of the most important lessons a father must bestow upon his son is the art of the shampoo mohawk.

I first looked at this photo and couldn’t believe how old our boy looks.  Only 8 months old and already he’s growing up too fast.