Easter weekend at home

We eventually made it through the two hectic weeks of Seth's pre-comps cramming, and he said the full day exam (last Thursday) went great. So that's a huge relief, and a big payoff. We wanted to celebrate, but well- I'm too pregnant and Seth was too beat. This is what he looked like for the next several nights.

He did celebrate with a long-scheduled trip to the tattoo shop we had forgotten about, and Finley was nice enough to bring him dinner. (An evening with his favorite tattoo artist to cap off several weeks of living at the library...? I personally would've let him starve. He's lucky Finley likes the burger joint down the street.) At any rate, this photo cracked me up. Finley seems to be saying, "oh, just having a burger with my Dad at the tattoo shop. Isn't that how everybody spends Thursday nights?"

Of course I had to whisk her home for bedtime before I got the chance to eat, and- rookie move!- left my untouched veggie burger on the stairs while I went up to start her bath. This is what I came back down to:

Because there is in fact no rest for the weary, this post-comps week is the week Seth arranged to be at West Point to prep for his next job, while I have a research paper due and a huge take-home exam. Not. Thrilled. But we were determined to have a nice weekend at home with the not-at-all-neglected little beast before the madness resumed and we did. Spring has sprung, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom- a magical time in DC. I had my heart set on dragging everybody down to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry trees, but the weekend got away from us and, as Seth and Finley pointed out, we do have cherry trees in our own front yard...

...and the not-as-famous and far less crowded Kenwood cherry trees right down the road.

Not to mention our neighbor's tulip tree, which is a big hit.

So we skipped the tourist throngs and stuck around Bethesda to recover, dye eggs, assemble the new crib (to Finley's delight, as she thinks it's hers), and check out the local blooms instead.

We did make it down south for Michelle's "Easter Saturday" brunch, at which Seth finally got to drink bourbon and beer (with Josh) to celebrate the completion of his comps, and Finley had the run of the place,

loved her first egg hunt (can someone tell me if these instagram links work for non-instagram users?), and even took a piano lesson from cousin Scott.

At home for Easter, she got her own Easter basket (a few of the Lindt bunnies made it all the way to the holiday, believe it or not),

and was coerced into a dress (if not good behavior) for church,

after which she got in another egg hunt (this is of her delight at discovering there were pieces of candy inside the eggs!)

and Easter brunch. She's finally big enough to color, even if she still tries to gnaw on the crayons, which makes it possible for us to stay long enough to eat most of our food, at least some of the time. We consider this a win.

Monday Seth left for New York, and I didn't have class which meant I had time to work on a paper, swing by work at the Pentagon (which I have been needing to do for weeks), and even sneak in a bike ride around the Tidal Basin, where I got to see the cherry trees after all- a hilarious and much-needed adventure.

And now we're slogging through the week, which promises to be rough but at least includes moments like the photo of the week above. (Finley was angry at us for something or other, so she gave us a dirty look, snatched up her Sunday school bunny ears and plopped them on her head, and marched into the kitchen without a backward glance.) I'm still cracking up about how indignant she looked, even from behind.