Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, we had a nice relaxing day at home. Well, that is after church and church meetings (I had to teach Sunday School on Mother's Day, how unfair is that?  Good thing I enjoy doing it.) After talking with family for a little bit, we went out on a family walk down to and around East Campus. It was nice to see some of the flowers, since we missed the spring ones since I was sick.

Why she is walking like that, I will never know.

Peonies.

Wisteria

Japanese Lilac Tree...the only lilac still blooming.

Having some fun dancing around.

The Complete History of the Old Testament in 10 Minutes

Sydney's school did an end of the year musical. Being a Lutheran school, it was the Complete History of the Old Testament in 10 Minutes. It took a bit longer than that, but it was cute.  Sydney had a blast performing and even enjoyed practicing for the performance.

I'm pretty sure she is either an Israelite here...I think this is Joshua and Jericho.

Midianites sleeping.

Canaanites stuck in the mud.

Philistines cowering behind Samson.

Law School Graduation

It has been three years, a few moves and callings, two miscarriages, thousands of pages of reading, hundreds of hours of studying, long nights, lonely days and way more money than I am comfortable thinking about, but Charles finally is done with school. I have never been so proud of my husband than I was today watching him get hooded and receive his degree(and he got it right there, so he really did graduate...he was thrilled to know that he didn't fail anything).

Waiting for the ceremony to start.

Getting hooded.

Charles Chamberlin, Juris Doctorate. (And you can call him doctor, if you choose)

Graduates

Kids (well, Charlotte was in Arizona with family)

Wives

(I would like to point out that I am in three and an half inch heels and still shorter than everyone.)

Charles' parents came out to see him walk.

Elisha was visiting their parents and braved the six hour drive here and back while thirty weeks pregnant.

My family

Update

Well it is now nearly the end of April.  How can we summarize the last few months?  In late December we learned that Valerie is pregnant; which was really exciting and nerve wracking.  We held off telling most people since we were concerned about telling people too soon and having something happen.  By February we couldn't really keep it from anyone who lives nearby because Valerie was pretty sick.  That month is kinda  a blur, hence no posts.  Finally March came around and we were prepared for a little bit of a reprieve, which did finally come, but not until half way through the month.  Thankfully Valerie was starting to feel quite a bit better and has since settled into a routine of only throwing up once a morning, every morning, just after she wakes up.  The second half of March was spent filling out Bar Application, at least that is how I spent it; not sure what the rest of the family did.  At the end of March, I turned in my Bar Application.  Then April set in, and the pace of finishing law school, looking for a place to move, and prepping for a new baby just hasn't let up.  However, this week we did get some great news.

So this is the profile of our next one; which is a BOY!  I considered posting undeniable ultrasound evidence of gender, especially since he would not cooperate for a good frontal facial shot but had no qualms with flashing the world.  However, I didn't want to be that Father.

Valerie had a very creative idea for telling Sydney she had a little brother, and, truth be told, she was a little worried Sydney would be disappointed that it wasn't a little sister.  Last week Sydney came up to Valerie and said, "Mommy, what we need to do is go buy a pair of baby shoes, boy shoes and girl shoes and then we will know if it is a boy baby or a girl baby."  So I don't follow the logic, but it made sense to her.  So after we left the doctor's office we stopped by Target, Valerie wrapped up the purchase in a box and we gave it to Sydney.

So yeah we are not going to name the little guy Woody.  Sydney was also really excited about a particular ultrasound picture:

The caption is what excited Sydney, "Wow, it's like he can talk big people!  How did he do that?"  It took a little bit to explain about digital editing of photos.

Anyhow here are a couple of other photos Valerie took to commemorate the occasion.

It has been an exciting month so far, and now I am off to study for what will hopefully be my last final ever!

Picnic and Fishing

We've had an abnormally warm spring this year, so for Family Home Evening we had a quick picnic and went fishing.  It was a little windy down by the lake and my allergies have been rather brutal this year, so we weren't out as long as Charles would have liked, but we had fun being out together as a family.

Egg Hunts

We always do Easter Baskets and egg hunts on the Saturday before Easter, but this was the first year that we failed to hide the eggs before Sydney woke up.  Thankfully, she was willing to snuggle with me while Charles rushed and hid the eggs and she was none the wiser.

Checking out her basket

Finding eggs

Later that morning, we went to a neighborhood egg hunt. Sydney had fun and found a few eggs.  She was most excited to see her friends and meet the Easter Bunny.

Easter Egg Dying

Just Dance

We babysat for our neighbors and Sydney and Lincoln had a blast playing Just Dance Kids 2. 

Jerusalem Dinner

For Easter this year, Charles and I wanted to focus a lot more on the life of Christ and what we thinks is the most important part of Easter. So, we took some time to talk about the things that happened in the last week of Christ's life leading up to his Crucifixion and Resurrection.  One of the things we did was have a Jerusalem dinner.  It's not completely authentic (some of us were having a hard time eating much of anything normal) and we didn't focus much on the passover this time, but it was fun to eat on the floor and talk about what Christ might have eaten and discuss the Last Supper and introduce Sydney to some new foods.

Nebraska High School Basketball Tournament.

Sadly, this is the best picture I have, but we went to the Nebraska High School Basketball Tournament with one of the Commissioners from Charles' work. Sydney had a great time watching and cheering for the game...too bad the team she was cheering for was on the other side of the stadium.  I had hoped that my old high school would be playing when we went, but it was still fun to go and remember ten years ago when I was in high school and would go to the tournament with the pep band.

Dress Up

Oh, the things Papa will do for his little girl.

Doritos

This picture is for my dad, who seems to have passed his love of Doritos and spicy food down to his granddaughter.  Here, she is eating the last of the crumbs of the bag that Charles bought for them to share.

Gaming

Family game night tonight. The Ladybug Game was definitely a favorite. Thanks, Grandma and Tata.

Duran Lunch Out

On everyone's last day in Bellevue, we went out to the Chinese Buffet for Dad's birthday lunch the day after his birthday since we "don't eat on Sunday."

Everyone, minus Charles and I, as we wouldn't fit in the shot.  Sorry your eyes are closed, Mom. And, look at that ham in the lower left corner. Where did she get that from?

How everyone really acts.

Scarfing down the cheesecake Dad got for his birthday.