Picnic!

Big news: Nathan finished his dissertation yesterday! Hooray! It's a big accomplishment, and let me tell you, he worked long, hard hours. Twice last week, he went in at 9 or 10am and came home at 6pm the following day, having worked through the night and through another work day. He got about 3 hours of sleep the rest of the nights (and I'd say he'd only been getting 3-6 hrs/night for the last few weeks). I told him I didn't know what he was running on, but it sure wasn't sleep!

His defense is this coming Wednesday. That will be a big day to celebrate, but yesterday was significant, too. (It was also my mom's birthday--Happy Birthday, Mom!)

One of the top reasons I am glad that this hurdle is behind us is that Nathan can now spend more time with us, and we wasted no time getting started. I let him sleep until 11 this morning, then I woke him up and told him we were going on a picnic. We went to a park near our house and really enjoyed ourselves. Today was one of the first beautiful days of spring that we've had--a bright, sunny, 70-degree day.

Miss Jane hung out on a blanket next to me.
(Thanks, Aunt Meredith, for making such a great blanket!)

Baby toes and Daddy toes

The field we were sitting in had dandelions strewn across it. Typical of his Texan self, Nathan said, "They're not bluebonnets, but they're nice."

Noah had a nice time running around and exploring. That tree trunk was inspected thoroughly.

Nathan and the kiddos

Mommy and Jane