End of the Semester

 It's the end of the semester at UNL and I'm looking forward to seeing Steven more after he gets through these pesky finals. He had his 2nd and final orchestra concert of the semester last weekend. They played Brahms 2nd Symphony and he was amazing.

Here's a picture of the musicians leaving the stage at Kimball Recital Hall.

Steven's mom came to Nebraska for the 2nd time and was able to hear his concert. We took her to Omaha, Fremont, and tried to hit many of the sights in Lincoln. In my opinion, there's still plenty to show her. I mean, we didn't even make it to Hooper! If you don't believe, just take a visit yourself. We're hospitable people :)

And the Copley picture. He wasn't into taking pictures that day, mainly because he got his haircut and it was ridiculously cute and I had the camera in his face all day. 

Passover

The eight-day festival of Passover is celebrated in the early spring, from the 15th to the 22nd  of the Hebrew month of Nissan. It commemorates the emancipation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. And, by following the rituals of Passover, we have the ability to relive and experience the true freedom that our ancestors gained.

A Passover seder is a service held at home as part of the Passover celebration. It is always observed on the first night of Passover, and in some homes on the second night as well. On both nights, the seder concludes with a dinner. Participants use a book called the Haggadah to lead the service.

"Hagaddah" means "the telling," in Hebrew and it contains instructions for the seder, blessings and the Passover story.

The word "seder" literally means "order" in Hebrew. The name comes from the fact that there are 15 parts of the ritual service, all revolving around the upcoming Passover dinner.

The focal points of the seder are:

1. Eating Matzah

2. Eating Bitter Herbs- to commemorate the bitter slavery endured by the Israelites.

3. Drinking 4 cups of wine or grape juice (plus orange juice! in our family) - a royal drink to celebrate our newfound freedom.

4. The recitation of the liturgy of the Haggadah, that describes in detail the story of the Exodus from Egypt. The Hagaddah is the fulfillment of the biblical obligation to recount to our children the story of the Exodus on the night of Passover.

(the text was written by my Mother-in-Law)

Here's some pictures from our Seder

we finally got to use our wedding gifts!

A New Roof

We needed to get our roof redone (something we knew going into this whole house thing) and being the beautiful spring that it is, we were able to make that happen. Here's a picture from taken from the guest bedroom. We were watching them drop the palettes off. By the way, my nephews were visiting during this and the big crane was quite a hit.

This is our beautiful tree in the front yard. These white blossoms only lasted a couple weeks. It's now all green.

Steven and Copley were quite happy with the roof results. They must be doing some kind of celebratory dance that the pounding had ended.

Copley is quite a good helper. He's helping me pick up roof debris. And he's mostly enjoying the fixed fence. He has a new found freedom in the backyard.

A Little Gardening

After waiting for that last freeze to happen, I gave up and bought my plants today. It was a blistering 82 degrees, not the Nebraska spring we're used to at all. I'm sure we still have a chance for a blizzard, but my little plants will just have to deal.

These are some shady little ones for the planter. I love the pink ones!

Here's my recent HyVee purchase. Those two plants on the left will start to grow over the side and get all tangled up in the bike. That's the hope!

Mr. Gnome Husker got some company today. I bought 2 planters at Hobby Lobby and it was 50% off all the pottery. Quite a steal. There are two ornamental grasses in the back that will hopefully shoot right up and give this some height. I'm so glad I went to Earl May and actually found someone with some knowledge. They led me in the right direction and showed me a lot of choices. What I was shocked at was the total bill. I haven't planted anything in my life and holy cow, it was pricey. But I think the finished product is worth it.