Wombat's Easter Birthday

This year, Wombat's birthday (April 24th) fell on Easter Sunday......so I threw him a party on Saturday!   It was to be a backyard bonfire and bbq, but the weather did not cooperate, so we just moved everyone indoor and grilled in the garage.  Though we had several last minute cancellations for the holiday, it was still fun and about 20 people stopped by for food and games, which made Wombat happy.  We had just enough meat for everyone (including D's famous burgers and some chicken shish-kabobs) and several friends stayed until 2 am playing Mario Party and You Don't Know Jack.  Here are some highlights from the weekend:

First, we had Good Friday off from work, so we had time to color eggs before the party.  Some of them were organic brown eggs from a local farmer, so we added vinegar to make the colors brighter.

I think they turned out great:

Then Wombat found time to assemble our new nursery furniture.  It's coming together.....huzzah!

The tree in our front yard decided to bloom right before the party with pretty pink flowers:

The food....believe it or not, I actually prepared some of it!  If you know me well, you know that I'm not a huge foodie, but every once in a while, I'll find a good reason to do it :)   Anyway, since I love potatoes, I was very excited to provide a potato topping 'bar' below:

Another of my favorites:  rice krispie treat nests with candy eggs!

Some more goodies:  finger foods and the chocolate confetti cake.  

Some quick party pics!

Dorian loved watching the Trailblazers making a pretty amazing comeback to win during the party.

Some helper elves:  Thanks for bringing brownies mom and Ron!  

Aaron, Amanda, and Izzie:   The party wore Izzie out pretty quickly haha.

Jack trying to get a rise out of sleepy Izzy:

After hosting some good friends overnight, we got to sleep in the next morning and make it to Easter Brunch the next day around 1.   Forgot to take pics at mom's, but here are a couple from dad's:

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!  Happy Birthday, love!  

Floods, Tornados, and Hail, oh my!

This is what our lovely homestead looked like last night, while the animals obliviously played in the yard, ate grass, got muddy, and dropped treats through the cracks in the porch, necessitating help from Wombat:

Lovely chairs, all in a row....a little flooding down the hill.....otherwise serene.

Bad kitty!  You're eating the wrong plants!

Wombat fishing out a treat with a long kitchen spoon......Jack watching intently

Jack won't be eating any more treats on the deck.  Wombat is well on his way to being a great dad!

Here is our backyard this morning:

The steam got a little out of control, overflowing into our yard :(

This chair magically picked itself up with a branch and wedged itself between two other chairs and a bush.  Previously, the chair was to the left, as seen above wombat's back 2 pictures up. 

The craziness of floating from the lower left corner without upsetting any other chairs.  

The storm also blew our new basketball hoop over backwards into the lawn, but the birdhouse nearby remained in the tree.  

Atticus surveying the damage.

Jack taking advantage of a fallen stick.  Otherwise, nonplussed.  

Old Town Nuptials!

Wombat and I were honored to be invited to the wedding of a good law school friend, Tony B., this past weekend, in Alexandria, VA.  It was a Sunday morning wedding, followed by a delicious brunch, of which I'm ashamed to admit I forgot to take a picture.....however, here are some other great highlights:

Tony's arrival with Shawna, complete with top hat, gloves, and cane haha.

The little flower girl, Brenna, who is responsible for bringing her two godparents together.

Tony dancing down the aisle

Shawna doing the same, with her gorgeous red pumps

A short clip of Tony's vows, in rhyme!

Exchanging the rings

First kiss!

Delicious red velvet cupcakes!  They fed each other the two covered strawberries on top, awesome!

And they lived happily ever after!  ;)

Thanks to our other law school friends, Tony A. and Danielle for letting us stay with them in Alexandria on Saturday night!   It was great to catch up with good friends :)  

Spring Days

The past couple weeks have been nice enough to spend time outside after work!  Here is how we spent some of our time:

 Stopping to smell the flowers

 We found an egg that fell from it's nest :(

Assembling wombat's new bball hoop 

Jack found some important components

Huzzah!

Resting in his bed after a long evening outside

My first little publication!

For Law Day in Lancaster, Ohio, I was asked to join the local committee and draft a short article.  Here it is, as published on the Lancaster Eagle Gazette online blog:

LINK

It is also scheduled to print in the May 1st Sunday paper, so look for it if you're local!  I'm pleased with it, even though it's short and relatively broad for estate planning purposes.  I hope it encourages people to review their plan before it's too late.

It's a.......

GIRL!   

Our baby looked amazingly wonderful at our 19 week ultra-sound last Thursday!  She had 10 fingers and 10 toes, 2 kidneys, 2 ears, no cleft palate, a normal size head, clear spine, 4 chambers in her heart, 3 distinct umbilical cords, and 3 lines --> female parts!  She was also much more active than I could have imagined; although I feel her kick throughout the day, I clearly had no idea that she was constantly waving her arms, turning around, hiding her face, and opening her mouth.  It was so unbelievable to watch her and know that we created this beautiful baby girl.  It's a good thing our doctor provided tissues.  


We're strongly leaning toward naming her Amelia or Amélie, with either Beatrice or Mae as her middle name (both are names from our grandmothers).  I love that it's a classic name, has 3 syllables (to go with our short last name) and the natural nicknames are also all agreeable and pretty (Amy, Mel, Mia, Lia, Abby).  Amelia/Amélie are also feminine and could imaginably belong to a President someday, right?


I'm also thrilled that we don't have to worry about circumcision, and I get to dress her in adorable girlie outfits (but not too frilly and pink).  I realize girls will likely be more expensive in the long run.....but they are also more likely to remain open and connected emotionally over the long run.  So yay!   Wombat is just as happy, even though I'm sure he'd love a boy someday too.  We'll try for one next time!  


*ETA:  Just found out the results of my Quad Screen blood test -- results are all normal, meaning the baby is not at a higher risk for Down's Syndrome, Spina Bifida, anencelphy, or Trisomy 18.  No chromosomal abnormalities detected = good news.  


~~~~~~~~~


Since finding out the gender, I've wasted no time in finally allowing myself to buy clothes and other decor for the nursery!   Here's what the weekend has produced so far:

Very Hungry Caterpillar Quilt (Wombat's favorite Eric Carle book)

 Retro Bag Sleeper and Matching Hat on Sale from Zulily

Wall Abacus from CB2  - purchased with leftover wedding gift cards :)

Matching Wall Animal Prints from CB2 on sale!

Diamond Mobile from CB2 on sale! 


Can't wait to get the furniture assembled and begin working on the fun details!