Locks of Love

I chopped it! I've been growing my hair out for some two or so years, and I figured I needed to go shorter for residency. I've also really wanted to donate to Locks of Love, but I never had the patience to grow my hair long enough. In all, I donated around 9 inches. Here's the new do:


Also, as an aside, we won't have internet access again til June 4th. Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone, and God bless our troops!

Quote of the Morning:

Jake grabs plastic spoon and knife at breakfast
Jake: I need a knife and a spoon.
Me: Really? What for? (He's eating a granola bar and toast)
Jake: For cutting and... spooning!

Swearing-In Ceremony at the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Thanks to a lovely little Wisconsin policy, graduates of the two Wisconsin law schools (UW and Marquette) do not have to pass the state bar exam in order to be admitted to the bar. So right after graduation weekend, on Monday May 24th Ryan was admitted to the bar!

Entrance to the Courtroom

Hey Badger (we're the Badger state, so a golden badger hangs out above the courtroom)

The Bench (yeah, don't you love it when I drop lawyer lingo? ;))

Here comes Ryan! He's small, but he's there!

Chief Justice Abrahamson leading the swearing in proceedings.

Awesome picture of Ryan taking the oath

Justice Prosser, for whom Ryan interned last fall. By all accounts he is just a stand up guy. Coolest thing during the swearing-in: the Justice says "We've benefited from Marquette's excellence by having interns and law clerks from the university work with us. In fact, I see one of my former interns today, Ryan Parsons."
Awesome picture with Justice Prosser. I almost got busted for this one by the woman who keeps things running at the court, but the Justice happily obliged so she couldn't say no.

Ryan and his pal Dean Kearney after the swearing in.

Ryan and his proud parents

The new attorney with his proud wife :)

View of the Capitol Building from outside

Roll call!

Isn't he dashing? ;)

Signing the Supreme Court Roll

Ryan Graduates from Law School

After three years of hard work, Ryan graduated Summa Cum Laude from Marquette University Law School. That means he's in the top 1% of his class of just over 200. Great job honey, I'm so proud of you! :)

Nifty decorative banners

MULS faculty

Dean Kearney, awesome guy. Ridiculously brilliant. Has been absolutely instrumental in Ryan getting his clerkship and his job offer from Foley.

Ryan getting hooded at the Hooding Ceremony. Check out those honor cords! ;)

A handshake, a diploma, and congrats from the Dean. Hooray!

Happy Birthday Ryan!

On May 19th my wonderful husband turned 27! Man we're old. I wanted to throw a surprise party for him, but between my inability to keep things quiet and his generally nosy nature, the surprise wasn't meant to be. However, we still had a great time with his law school friends. It was a great turnout considering it was 2pm on a Wednesday, but then again these folks aren't working. Thankfully, every guest at the party has a job, which is saying a lot given the current legal job market.

Anyway, Jake was very excited to help decorate. He also decided the cake should be a baseball cake since Dad loves the Brewers. In an effort to not spend an arm and a leg, we made our own. We also had sliders and a LOT of beer (thanks law school friends!). It was great to get to hang out with the law school folks before the graduation festivities and busy-ness kicked in. Below are a few cake pictures:

This is quite literally the first time I've ever written anything in icing.

Bird's eye view

Pseudo-fancy border ;)

A Couple of Silly Guys

Playing Together

Since Ben is pulling himself up to stand at everything, Ryan decided to bring up this oldie-but-goodie from the basement. It really is an awesome toy; it's made by Leap Frog and is this really cute interactive music toy table that plays music. Jake always really enjoyed it, and now Ben does too.

Here's Jakey showing Ben the ropes.

Playing music together.

Ben having a blast playing like a big boy with his older brother :)

Look what Ben can do...