Ladies of the Jury

Wow, I think I almost need to introduce myself... sorry I haven't updated in so long, but here you go.

Last week Regan and I were both ladies of the jury. Me, for real, at the Ada County courthouse where I was called up for jury duty. I, of course, got put on the jury. I've had jury duty 3 times in my life. Twice I was on a jury, and once I was on bed rest and was excused. Anyway, it was interesting, and short, both of which I was glad of. We finished it in one day, although we stayed until 8:30 at night to do so.

Regan was also a Lady of the Jury in her ballet recital of "Alice in Wonderland". She made a much cuter juror than I did. She did a great job. I took video, but I can't get Blogger to upload any of it, so you'll just have to imagine it. Here she is with her flowers that Jeff gave her after her performance. She is such a ballerina. She loves ballet. We've tried to get her interested in soccer and t-ball. You'd think she'd be interested, Jeff and I both played sports. But, no. She loves ballet, so, we do ballet. She has one more class this week, then we break until September. Tell me she isn't so cute!

These pictures are from Regan's fieldtrip that I was able to go on. They got to walk down to the local Albertson's store to learn about healthy eating. It was fun. The highlight was definately when they took the lobster out of the tank and let the kids pet him...her...it. That is the back of Regan's head moving in, cautiously for her turn to pet it. Also, a group shot of everyone at the service-deli. FYI, the visors are color coding for the adults. I was in charge of the blue group. We were, by far, the coolest group. (Sorry about the pictures, I think Blogger is acting out against me for staying away for so long...)

Why Blogs Fail

I've realized that blogging, for me, is essentially doomed. When I actually have interesting things going on, I have no time to actually blog. When I have extra time on my hands to sit down to blog, nothing interesting seems to be going on. Alas, I am tired, and I am going to bed. What, you ask, do you have to look forward to hearing about when things slow down and I actually catch up on my blog? I'm glad you asked...chew on this for a few more days...a new bathroom, I hope, a new bike trailer, and hence sore legs and backsides, Mothers' Day (yes, I know it was almost a week ago), a visit (tomorrow) from my parents, a ballet recital on Saturday (Regan, not me...and no, not Jeff either), and lastly, me fulfilling my civic duty by completing jury duty. I was actually seated on the jury, so, said duty has been fulfilled for a minimum of two years...details to come...

The Luckiest Mom/Wife Ever

Lately I've been thinking about how lucky I am. I really do live a charmed life. Two great kids that make me smile and laugh. A husband that continues to love me in spite of the craziness that I sometimes create and/or embody. Something about Jeff that I have noticed lately, is how willing he is to give the girls time. Sometimes as he is literally walking out the door to work and they ask him if he'd like to color/build a tower/read a book with them. If I were in that same situation, sadly, I would probably say, "I would love to honey, but can I do it when I get back, I'm just walking out the door." Not Jeff, he always sets his bag down, sits down and gives them a few minutes before he leaves. I know that is something they'll always remember. Their dad ALWAYS has time for them. He is so great. My kids are so great. I must be living someone else's life, someone way more deserving... :)

My girls picked these for me today and said they were for Mothers' Day. Aren't they beautiful! What girl doesn't love to be brought flowers (even if some of them did come from the neighbors' lilac bush...)

Jeff isn't only the greatest dad, but he is the handiest guy I know. My car has been running badly for around 2 years. It chugs. All the time. When we're driving, when we waiting at a light... No one ever seems to know what's wrong with it. Jeff has tried fixing the things other mechanics have suggested, but nothing seems to work. A month or so ago, Jeff stumbled across some website that talked about a problem Mazda's can have with chugging...long story short, Jeff has fixed my car! It took a couple days, A LOT of hard work and late nights, but it works. At one point there was more of my car on the ground in the garage than under the hood. He fixed the problem, and put every nut, hose and wire back in its rightful spot. It runs like a dream. Did I mention how great my husband is?

No-TV-Week

Today is day one of No-TV-Week at our house. If our family agreed to turn the TV for seven days, and read instead, Regan gets all sorts of fun stuff from her school. For every 10 minutes of reading (or being read to) she gets a raffle ticket she can put in her choice of raffles next week. The prize that really got her, though, was that if you stuck to it and didn't watch any TV, she gets a couple throws at the dunk tank during her school field day. Sitting in that dunk tank, will be her her brand new principal, Mr. Phillips. Regan just starts giggling every time she thinks about him falling in to the water. I guess she really likes him, or really doesn't, depending on which way you look at it... Anyway, in preparation of the week, we made a list of alternate activities, and Regan made us all a sign which sits on the entertainment center:

I'm not too worried about the girls, since they actually don't watch very much during the day, but what will Jeff and I do in the evenings after the kids go to bed?! Talk?! :) Wish us luck. Thank heavens for DVR, I'm afraid I'd be a little less-supportive if it meant missing House and The Office...

Don't Be Silly!

Tonight was Pioneer Elementary's Read Night and Art Showcase. It was really fun. Pioneer is an Arts Magnet school, so they do a lot of art projects in class, as well as a weekly Art class where they explore different artist techniques, etc. All the teachers had every inch of the hallways covered in the students' artwork. Regan was excited to show us her water colors, pointillism project, etc. Then, for Read Night, there was a book fair, a used book sale, and a table set up to sell Judy Cox books. She is an author from Ontario, Oregon that writes the Mrs. Millie books, among others. Ever since we started going to the city library, we have loved the Mrs. Millie books. I never even looked at the author information, and had no idea she was (relatively) local. Regan and Hadyn were so excited to meet the actual person who wrote their favorite book, "Don't Be Silly, Mrs. Millie". She was reading a couple of her beginning reader books, and signing books. Here are the girls with Judy Cox:

She was really sweet. Regan was excited to learn that on top of being an author, she is a kindergarten teacher. Very cool. If any of you want a good book to read to kids that will have them laughing, check out her books!