Family pictures

On Easter Sunday, we went for a drive around the area. It was so gorgeous to see all the green coming out and trees starting to bloom. We decided to go to the same place that we went last Easter and took family pictures.

We went to an old church with a cemetery behind it and a pretty hill with lots of flowers spread over the hill. Lucy had fallen asleep on our drive, so we decided to wake her up to take pictures. That was an obvious mistake. She was not in a very good mood for picture taking.

I remember last year being so easy getting some great pictures of the girls and our family. A 9 month old sits still a lot better than a 22 month old.

This year was not as successful in the picture taking, but was still a fun little excursion. I broke out the snacks in our "emergency" kit from the car and had a little picnic in the grass.

I love Leland's blue eyes in the cracker picture. Lucy's face peaking behind the flower in the picture above right is pretty cute. I also love the picture below of the girls and I.

Here is my favorite picture from Easter last year. I can't believe how much both of the girls have grown up over the last year.

Easter Egg Hunt

The Law Families club hosted a Easter Egg Hunt and Picnic lunch last Saturday. We even had a visit from the Easter bunny! The kids there ranged from 10 months - 2 yrs old and none of them cried while sitting by the bunny. Not all of them sat with the bunny by themselves, but I thought for sure that one would cry or be upset.

There were some dark clouds looming that we almost took the party inside our house, but I'm so glad we didn't. We had such a fun afternoon outside. The kids hunted for their eggs and played on the playground. We have had such a fun year with Law Families and have been able to do some really fun activities. Our kids have all been such great friends, we sure are going to miss everyone when we all spread across the country over the next few months.


Lucy and the Easter Bunny.

Lucy loved collecting her eggs. She had so many eggs in her basket that as she walked some would fall out, she would pick them up, start to walk, then they would fall out again. It was pretty funny. I finally convinced her to just leave some on the ground for others.

I'm surprised that we were able to get such a good shot of all the kids that were there. Not all are looking, but no one is crying and they all sat still.

On the slide are Lucy's BFF's Anna, Jace, and Ty. It's nice that they all have such easy names because she can say all of them. She loves these kids so much. She has seen them at least twice a week every week almost for 9 months between playgroup and nursery at church. It has been so much fun to watch them grow and play together.

If you are wondering why Leland is not in any of the Egg hunt festivities, she got to go to a friend's birthday party all by herself. She was so excited that morning, she could barely stand it. The party was for a little girl in our neighborhood who is also in her preschool class.

Leland helped me make this butterfly t-shirt for her present. It had a big butterfly on the front and a small one on the back. It turned out pretty cute and Leland was so proud of it.

The girls

A few weeks ago, my friend Abbie took some pictures of my girls. She did a great job. The girls were a little hard capturing together, but did better on their own. Lucy just wanted to run around, but she still got some really cute shots. Check out her website here.



I love Lucy's curls and Leland's facial expressions.

Abbie took this picture of Chuck and I at Barrister's Ball in February.

Happenings

Our life is about to get pretty crazy with the end of law school approaching, the job search intensifying, and we are about to enter our 2 months of back to back birthdays. Here are some things we have been up to lately, so I do not get too far behind.

Last week was the 3L Banquet for Chuck's graduating class. It was a nice night of dinner and toasts with friends. One of the wonderful things about being at a small school is feeling so a part of everything. I love going to events with Chuck at school to see his friends that he spends so much time with and how much he enjoys it.

Chuck was one of the few people that were asked to give a speech/toast. Most were jokes, poems, and such, but Chuck's speech was very sincere and from the heart. He did a great job and it made me tear up as I listened to him talk about how much we have been welcomed into this law school community as transfers and as not your "typical" law student. He said "as a 32 year old Mormon, with a wife and 2.8 kids." We have made some great friends over these last 2 years and I'll be excited to come back for Law reunions and see them all.

Lucy has grown up significantly in the last month - physically and socially. She grew out of her church shoes in a matter of 2 weeks. She wore them to church one week, then last Sunday I literally could not get them on her feet. Most of her 2T pants are high waters on her, good thing we are approaching shorts weather. I have put her hair in pigtails a few times lately and it makes her look so grown up to me.

Leland and Lucy are becoming such great sisters. I love watching them play and interact with one another. They get so excited to see each other after taking naps or being apart during the day. They play well together most of the time. The other morning they had been watching a show and I come out front to see them cuddled up together on their little couch. Usually Lucy sits in the little couch and Leland in on the big couch.

Since most of my girlfriends will be gone for the summer, we had a baby shower last week for my friend Heidi and I who are both due in July. It was a fun evening and we made onsies like the ones we did a few months ago for other new mommies. Thanks girls!

We have had such a great year with our TNLC. It's been a great group of friends and we have had a lot of fun. I'm going to miss TNLC so much. The planned one night a week that I have to go out with the girls and have fun. Chuck has been so supportive and recognized how important it is to me to have that time with my friends.

We have had some nice Spring weather off and on lately. Every chance I get, I take my girls to the park. They LOVE the park. Lucy yells "Slide!" whenever we drive past, which is every time we leave the house since the park is at the end of our street.

I love watching them run themselves ragged. Lucy has no fear at the park and loves going down the slide head first. I love this picture of Leland and the excitement on her face.

Camping - Totally worth It!

This weekend we went camping at Douthat State Park. We went as a campout for the W&L Law Families club. We had 4 other adults and one child camp with us one of the nights. We had A LOT of fun despite all the craziness that happened. Here are some of the highlights with a few pictures:

• Chuck packed the car and roof rack in the rain.
• He set up an awesome tarp roof so we could still "enjoy" dinner and a campfire in the pouring rain.
• The girls loved playing in the puddles and getting soaking wet and muddy.
  
• It rained ALL night long and most of the morning.
  
• Lucy woke up at 5am ready to play. Saying "Outside! Water!" over and over.
  
• The weather took a drastic turn from what was forcasted all week and there was a high wind advisory with 30-40 mph winds.
• We had to take down the great tarp roof Chuck spent forever putting up the night before, so it wouldn't get ripped off the trees.
  
• My pregnant body having to pee at 4am enabled me to see the most gorgeous starry night I have ever seen in my entire life. It was the first time I was grateful to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I would have missed it otherwise. I woke Chuck up and made him get out of the tent to see it too.
• During the windy night, something must have hit our car windshield and we have a big crack on the side.
  
• We found a C&O Railway Museum in Clifton Forge. The girls loved the model trains and the real train we could go inside.
• We ate lunch at Chuck's favorite mexican food place, San Juans. He says it makes him feel like we are in San Diego and not in the mountains of western Virginia. I know lunch at a restaurant while camping is a little hypocritical, but it's his favorite and we were so close we couldn't not go.
  
• Saturday was the first day of the fishing season. We were ready to go with all the die hards. Although we were not waiting at the edge of the lake at 7am when you couldn't start fishing until 9am. (Chuck's first cast got tangled in his motor. We really should try to fish more.)
• Saturday ended up being pretty hectic and tiring, so we didn't fish as much as we would have liked and did not catch anything. Chuck and the girls did go on a few boat rides.
  
• We had a great picnic with 7 families and our kids ran themselves ragged at the playground.
• Lucy fell in the lake. She fell in from the edge of the shore while throwing in sticks. Chuck and I both were just a few feet from her. She fell flat on her face in about shin deep water and was soaked from head to toe. I felt like the worst mother ever. I had to step in the water to pull her out. As I was drying her off and changing her clothes, between sobs she would say, "Oh No! Water!" (picture on the right just minutes before she fell in.)
• I've done 7 loads of laundry in the last 36 hours and our house and car still smells like campfire.

Despite everything, we love going camping! It is such a fun family memory and worth all the effort we go to for just a short trip. The girls absolutely love it and Leland has already asked me when we are going again.