Breaking the Law

...before it breaks me. I finished the third class in my Master's degree today. I hit send on my final term paper and promptly celebrated with an orange soda and some tacos. (Man, I miss beer...) Anyway, I really liked this class and my professor. It was Nonprofit Law and, being that I've long flirted with law school, I knew I'd like it. I even did all of the reading, including the tomes on nonprofit law written by the American Bar Association. The better news is that my classmates tell me that law is the most feared and most difficult class in the degree. If that's true, I should be able to finish the Master's with little problem, just time. Is my nerdiness becoming? Do I look more lovely in the dim glow of a musty library? Want to be on my trivia team? Oh, yeah.

July 4th Weekend - Babies and Sunshine

Cabin rules: Let the kiddies get as dirty as they can all day, then scrub 'em up good in the outdoor tub before bed :) Lukas, age 1; Miranda, age 3; Tobin, age 1: Each with an assigned parent.

Six months pregnant! It's the first time in my life that I'm not a bit self-conscious about how I look. What better time to finally break out the yellow polka dot bikini? Lots and lots of suncreen was neccassary, however.

Early summer in the garden

Our big and beautiful Black Walnut tree, after having a year off from nut production last year, is back with a bumper crop this year. The tree goes in three year cycles. Amy and I have been researching the best way to harvest, cure and store the nuts this year. We'll have to fight the hoard of squirrels that flock to the tree for them. They like to sit up on the lower limbs and throw the walnuts at passing humans. Seriously. They are cantankerous little bastards.Columbine

Hosta, astilbe and a rock cairn I don't know what these delicate little yellow flowers are called, do you? I like to find out...
Heliotrope
Verbena

We have a lot of purple plants for some reason!

Iris

The Belly - 21 weeks

Photo by Nataraj

Love and Baseball Weekend

What we call "Love and Baseball" is our unofficial anniversary. We celebrated this year by traveling to Wisconsin to see friends in Madison and the Twins in Milwaukee. We were nearly thwarted by the horrible flooding and road closures and what should have been 9 hours of driving turned into something more like 14 as we circumnavigated the state. The Twins won and there was blueberry pie at the Norske Nook at the end, so it was still a good weekend for us.

Twins vs. Brewers at Miller Park in Milwaukee 6/14/2008

Twins won 9-4 in 12 innings

GREAT game!

Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails

Well, well. Babe is 20 weeks along in gestation and we had our half-way point ultrasound today. Looks like we have a healthy little boy in there!

Fist headed to mouth, sucking his thumb already!

Obama at the Xcel Center

Nathan and George were able to go. I had to miss it due to my law class. However, my professor, who is a PhD in Political Science as well as a lawyer, was late to class because he had done several interviews with local media regarding the event. So, at least I got to discuss it with my class! Here's the note from Nathan, in case you didn't see it!

Long line...And worth it. George and I started in Rice Park.

Check out the full line here: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/news_cut/archive/2008/06/just_get_in_line.shtml

20,000 people inside the Xcel and another 15,000 who didn't get in watching on the big screen outside. Quite the deal.

-Nathan