Congratulations Dr.

Today was the day! I got to skip out of a few lessons and go to the dissertation defense. I had never seen his dissertation printed out and was wondering why his committee had these huge notebooks. Well... his dissertation was around 500 pages. He did great and I am now the proud wife of a doctor. The joy of being done with school brings tears to my eyes. Congratulations!

Finally Spring!

We went to the library tonight and got some new Sesame Street videos. Emmie is entranced by "monsters" at the moment. What ever happened to Grover? Did he retire or something?

I am procrastinating making dinner. I need something quick and easy and I am hoping that I will receive some kind of inspiration while I am sitting here but mostly hoping that Brenden will come home in the next few minutes and make us all something.

We haven't been up to much lately but here are a few pictures of Em for all of you who live far away. We don't want you to forget what she looks like. This is her Easter dress that Grandma Jody made while we were visiting in AZ. It was a big hit at church.

It has been really nice outside although you wouldn't know it from Emmie's fleece. It was just starting to rain.

I can't get this to go landscape so you will just have to turn your head to the right. Since it has been so nice out it is time for sandals! I figured Emmie needed some color on her toes. It is a light pink... she isn't even 2 yet. Maybe for her birthday we'll break out the red.

Wordled Diss

I wordled the main text of the diss.

Check it out.

Bath smiles

Me: Emmie...smile for the camera!

Me: Come on! Smile for me!

Me: What kind of smile is that?

Me: OK... there we go. Thank you.

Easter

We had a very nice Easter this year. In years past we have gotten together with friends but this year it was just us. It was really nice having Brenden around. He has been slaving away in his office for days and days living off of saltines and soda. So when Emmie and I saw him on Sunday we both looked at each other and said, "hey, I remember that guy!".

Brenden and I hid (use this term loosely) Easter eggs for Emmie to find on Easter morning. She did great and found each egg. The Easter bunny even left her a basket...with bubbles in it! Brenden said the Easter bunny told him to grow out his mustache for me. I know he is probably embarrassed that I am sharing this but he said the mustache was for me so it is mine to share, right?

I know what you are all thinking... did you have ham for dinner? No. Brenden has a very low ham saturation level so we ate a roast with potatoes and Brenden's famous gravy. It was delicious.

Waffles.

Growing up in my house there were 2 kinds of people. Maple syrup people and chocolate syrup people. My dad made waffles with chocolate syrup for us every Saturday morning. Sometimes on a special day we would add strawberries and whipped cream. Yum. My brother Gregg was a maple syrup fan and I never understood why. Who could pass up that delicious chocolate?

Tonight Brenden was working late so Emmie and I were on our own for dinner. Since he was gone I decided to make waffles with chocolate syrup, strawberries and whipped cream. Now I have to admit, I have made chocolate syrup only a handful of times and it has not yet reached the perfection of my dad's. Brenden hasn't given me many opportunities since he is a maple man.

Now although Brenden prefers maple, I will not have any child of mine choose maple over chocolate so I need to start Emmie off early. I kept asking her, "do you like it?" and she would respond, "nummy". I think it was a chocolate victory.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

from

Brenden

Julianne

and 

Emilia

The New Bun in the Oven

Here's the first picture.  Looks like early October will be momentous!