4 years old . . .

is hands down the best age for opening present reactions. I figured this out on Christmas when I watched Brooklyn open all of his presents and get so excited over every single one of them. I knew from my experience with kids that this kind of excitement over presents wasn't going to last forever (the "thanks mom" from a teenager just isn't the same . . .)

Since I missed the moment at Chrismas, only catching this blurry picture of the initial excitement:

I was bound and determined to catch the fun on video when Brookies birthday rolled around. I found the perfect present, and with the help of some family members, we were able to get it for him. Safe to say Brooklyn didn't disappoint with his stellar reaction:

I'm glad the entire good day cafe got to share in the fun :)

Half Way Done: The beginning of spring semester

Well I am officially half way done with law school and to me that is pretty exciting! On Monday I started in on what will probably be my busiest semester yet. Although I am taking really interesting classes that I think I am going to enjoy, I definitely have a lot going on.

Here is the break down:

Monday: Federal Judicial Externship from 8-5.

Although I haven’t had my first meeting yet (that will be on Thursday) I hoping to get 8 of my 10-12 hours per week on Mondays because I don’t have any class on that day. This is one of the things that I am most excited about this semester. I get to extern for a Federal District Court Judge, and that sounds like a lot of fun to me!

Tuesday: Evidence II from 10-12; Con Law Liberties from 1-3, working for LexisNexis from 3-6 and then Advocacy from 7:30-9:30.

Long day of class and work! Evidence II is with an awesome professor that is really engaging so that is fun. Con Law thus far is pretty dry, but we are talking about personal liberties so it should take a turn for the interesting. Working for Lexis for 3 hours means I have to sit in the lab and help those that need it. I usually can get a good amount of homework done unless we are tabling. Then comes Advocacy. My final required writing/skills class. This class teaches us how to be advocates in the courtroom, it should be interesting, but a lot of busy work.

Wednesday: Public Defenders Office from 8-5.

I am volunteering for the Public Defenders Office in Dakota County. This involves helping the lawyers by representing clients in pre-trial and bail hearings. Yes you read that right, I will be representing clients in court . . . it is going to be awesome!

Thursday: Advocacy 10-12, Judicial Externship 1-5, Criminal Procedure 6:30-8:30.

Another long day. This will be our large group advocacy class, so it shouldn’t be too much work. Then I will get the rest of my externship hours in the afternoon. In the evening I have criminal procedure, which is kind of self-explanatory (how the criminal court system works). My professor for this class spent last summer in a Rwandan jail (He was representing an unpopular person and they threw him in jail, eventually he was let go for medical reasons) so I think it should be really interesting and engaging.

Friday: Lexis Nexis 12-2, Con Law 2-3, Lexis Nexis 3-4, Criminal Procedure 6:30-8:30 (every other week).

This day will be rough when I have crim pro, but on the other weeks it should be a nice short day!

On top of all of that I will be doing one credit of research for a professor which will involve some really interesting work with the Southern Light-rail line and its environmental impact statement. I will still have the same law review duties as last semester (minus the long paper).

All of that to say that I am probably going to be MIA for most of the semester, I have to squeeze in studying and my family somewhere and so that won’t leave much time for blogging!