Beach Day

This is a trial. Never done this photo thing. Here are some pics from our beach day. YAYYY! I'll do more later too.

Fun friday

Today has been a fun day. Jason took the day off since this has been a long week in sooooo many ways. We began the day with dropping the kids off at their schools, and then headed to Dr. Car. My car is hopefully coming off life support and able to function on its own. We'll see.

After Dr. Car, we went to lunch with Kev, then Kev and I went on a playdate. Yup, for both of us... mom time and Kev time, Juliana joined later.

The picture below was taken on wednesday. The school at an ice cream social/art show. We didn't stay for long, but we stayed long enough to have a scoop of ice cream and to see Juliana's artwork.

Thunder rolls

Welcome to my personal hell for today! Yup, that's right, I'm feeling sorry for myself! I get to walk to/from preschool and Juliana's school in this stuff. I'm guessing tennis will be canceled. I DEEM A RAIN DAY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS! (I do know I'm being whiny. In my little bubble, I am entitled to do that once in a while.) OH CRAP, THUNDER and LIGHTENING! I'm loving it now!!!!!!!!

Stay Cool

I hear it has been super HOT HOT HOT in the east coast! It's actually pretty nice here, gorgeous actually, but I don't wanna rub in the 64 degree high with gentle breezes. Haaaaaaaa! Before I get too far into gloating, check out this picture taken last summer. It wasn't taken in our hometown, but it was not so far away. That's right, 113 degrees at 4:10pm... YUCK! So, I'll keep my gloating to a minimum, or maybe not. :) Stay cool.

Bundle of joy!

Today brings exciting news for one of my absolute FAVORITE blogland families....

Carlynn Kay was born today to Suzie and Ron! Carlynn arrived this morning, and I am sure is in her mommy's arms right now being smooched as much as humanly possible. Carlynn has a big brother Cooper, although Cooper can not be there to wear his "I'm A Big Brother" t-shirt. He passed away two years ago, 2 days after his birth.

Suzie and I kind of made a joke a couple weeks ago that we are BBFF (Bloggy Best Friends Forever)... haaaaaaaaaaa! I've never met her, but I know one thing for sure, she is one fantastic mommy! Congratulations! Carlynn is such a lucky girl.

I'd share her blog with you since it is on my sidebar (Missing Cooper, My Journey), but she made it private a few weeks ago, so you could not access it anyway.

Not so laughable

I thought I'd stay on the laughable theme... haaaaa, or NOT!

Car died, again! Pulled into parking spot at Kevin's school and poof, it decided to conk out. I'm listening to Rent at the moment to make me laugh, 'cause this whole thing is not funny anymore. It's getting expensive and frustrating. Oh and one more thing, RAIN until thursday too. CRAP, ughhh!

Jury people were rude on the phone today. I thought they'd giggle about it, but nope. Maybe I just like to giggle, unless it involves my car. ((giggle))

More laughable moments

Another laughable moment of the week...

Yesterday while I was driving home from some errands, my car began to struggle. Of course, my engine light came on immediately. Grrrrrrrrrr! I came home and told Jason (since he was working from home). We both kinda looked at each other and thought, "It's that time". So he made a phone call to the dealership for me to have it fixed.

Fast forward to this morning. Juliana and I get in the car and head to the dealership. We had an 8:30am appt, so we dropped it off. I was told I'd get a phone call within about 10-15 min with an estimate of repairs, so we headed to a super cool park nearby. After an hour or so, we headed back to the dealership. I had a full attitude in tow... nooooo, not Juliana (this time), but ME. I said something like, "Ummm ma'am, I had an 8:30 appointment and my car is still in the same place over an hour later. Can I speak to someone?" She picked up the phone and said the car was done. My attitude lessened, but I couldn't imagine that it would be done so early, and what about the darn estimate phone call?!?!?

The mechanic comes to tell me that the car is fine. Apparently my ipod thingy for the car triggered the car computer to go whacky. I don't get it, but as long as we don't need to buy a new car, I'll go for it. Sooooo, that non-fix event was $149.99 to hook it up to the computer. Ughhh, oh well. I had to laugh... again, so did Jason.

Other news... we've just been busy doing kid stuff. Juliana had a concert last night, girl scouts this week, soccer, tennis, last PTA meeting of the year, Kev's OT appt, Kevin n' Daddy had root beer floats at school for a daddy day outing, and other things too.

Laughable!

I HAVE TO LET YOU ALL KNOW SOMETHING OH -SO IMPORTANT... I am so beloved by our judicial system that I got ANOTHER jury summons today in the mail. That's right, it came the same day that my check came for serving on the jury. I am tempted to get my mom to watch the kids in June when I have to report. Nahhhh, I won't, but it's tempting!

Worst Mother Award?

So yesterday was a pretty crappy day. It was a usual day to tell you the truth, but one thing stood out that made the day horribly shitty (yup, I said it, sorry!)

Around dinner time, my darling daughter was playing outside in our courtyard (an opening in the middle of our house that is fully outside). She kicked the ball over the roof, A-G-A-I-N! So, I told her she could not have dinner until the ball came down from the roof. In the past, the ball has taken all of 2 minutes to fall off. So, she gets ticked off, and goes outside. About 30 seconds later, a group of elderly ladies come waltzing by with their dogs and I see them chatting with Juliana. I walk outside because their body language seemed funny to me. One lady began telling me, "how dare you make your daughter stay out here all night without food in the cold?!?!? I'm going to report you!" HUH HUH HUH? What? At first I thought she was being sarcastic. I mean really, why would I leave my kid out all night long without food, and freezing. But then, when she said she was going to report me, I thought I was going to vomit. I actually said, "Whatever" and motioned for her to go away, and brought Juliana inside. Juliana proceeded to tell me that she told this lady all of that. OHHHH DEAR GOD! So, we had a discussion (again) about lying, and what happens to parents that actually leave their children outside alone, cold, without food, etc.

Needless to say, the damn ball fell down at some point during the time that we ate dinner, because before I did the dishes, I checked outside and there it was. I knew it would fall, and and I wish I could tell those ladies walking by that I am not such a horrible mother and to stay out of our business. I dunno, maybe if I was one of the ladies and a little girl told me those things, I'd react too. Who knows. I'm just bent out of shape.

By the way, did I mention that during this drama, I hear Shadow barking in a distance. I had no idea where he was. I thought while I was being lectured outside that he got out somewhere. I looked, and looked everywhere, and panicking. A few minutes later, Kevin comes running to me laughing hysterically, "Haaa, I locked Shadow in my room! I'm so funny!"

Wordless- Funny pic of the past

Sucked in again

I'm such a sucker for these things. I got it from Mom of Mayhem, I think that's the name of it. Maybe I'll change my name to that some day. I'll have to link her blog to mine. :)

FOODOLOGY

*What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch, or balsamic vinegar.
*What is your favorite sit down restaurant? It's a mood thing. Probably Cheesecake Factory.
*What is your favorite fast food restaurant? McDonalds, I guess.
*What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? bread. That explains A LOT!
*What are your pizza toppings of choice? just cheese, please.
*How many televisions are in your house? Two, but we only use the one in the bedroom on a very rare occasion.
*What color cell phone do you have? black.

BIOLOGY:
*Are you right-handed or left-handed? left
*Have you ever had anything removed from your body? wisdom teeth, gall bladder, rusty nail, and two babies.

*What is the last heavy item you lifted? No idea.
*Have you ever been knocked unconscious? Not really.
*Have you ever fainted? At work once.

BULLCRAPOLOGY:
*If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? noooo.
*If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I'm not sure.
*How many pairs of flip-flops do you own? Two, expensive brown leather ones, and cheap-o pink ones.
*Last person you talked to? Juliana.

FAVORITOLOGY:
*Season? Fall.
* Holiday? Christmas
*Day of the week? Friday.
*Month? October.

)*Color? It's a mood thing.
*Drink? Milk or water.

CURRENTOLOGY
*Missing someone? The old me. ( I love this answer!)
*What are you listening to? the dog licking his chops since he just ate.
*Worrying about? Soooo many things to list.
*Last movie you saw? It's been a while. Not sure.
Do You Smile often? I try.
*If you could change your eye color what would it be? I like my eyes.
*What's on your wish list for your birthday? A money tree.
*Does the future make you more nervous or excited? Terrified.
*Have you been in a Car wreck? a few.
*Have you caused a Car wreck? Ummm, yeah, once.
*Do you have an accent? Nope.
Plans tonight? NONE. I'm all alone. Poor me.
*Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? As a matter of fact, yeah.

A splash of our weekend

Yesterday, my sister-in-law had her final baby shower. My nephew is the most spoiled baby EVER! I just may be the biggest offender of spoiling him already, and I'm darn proud of it too. Here are a few pics from the shower at my mom's and Lizzy's house (two locations).

Grand with Laura (and her newest grandson too)

Juliana and Pricilla.

Giving Baby Cristian some lovin', as always.

FINALLY...

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY TAYLORE! My gorgeous niece is 9 years old today.

Back on track

Ok, so without giving too many details via the internet, I'll fill you in on the case in which I have been sitting as a juror. The person on trial was accused of bringing a firearm to a birthday party. The firearm wasn't just a regular ol' handheld firearm, it was rather large to say the least. The gist of the case was that one person saw the defendant with the firearm, alerted the authorities, person discarded the firearm, firearm was recovered, and the rest is history. Since it was only one person that witnessed the event, and that person lost track of the person with the firearm for about 20 seconds, there was reasonable doubt that the same person arrested was the same person with the firearm. (That's just a brief synopsis, certainly not the whole story.)

I was one of three on the jury that completely thought the DA proved the case. I still believe he proved the case. Unfortunately the law states that if there are two possible scenarios, and one leading to innocence, you must go with not guilty as the verdict. So, after 5 hours of deliberations, we did just that, not guilty.

I will not give exact details, even though I am able, but the reason why I was so emotional was because I know (and so does everyone else), that this person did IT. There was just a 20 second gap in time that the witness lost track of the person, which did not make it an open/shut case. I also was emotional because the event took place at a place where my children have been, and where I will probably continue to bring my children... although, I won't bring them there for a loooooooong time. This place is a place where families flock every day of the week. It's just a scary world out there. I hope this person is able to get back on track, whether he/she truly is guilty or not guilty. The verdict really does not matter anymore, I just hope the best for this person. I really truly do.

I can not wait to get back on track with our daily routine. Ughhh, it has not been easy at all.

Verdict is in

I never ever realized how exhausted and emotional I would be with this case. It's over, which is a fantastic thing, but I hate the damn verdict. I'm free to talk about it, although I'm not ready to. Another day.

I'm done and can not wait to get back into a routine.

Lately

Mom is gone. Daddy has decided to work two days from home. I keep wondering if he realized that working from home also includes going to the soccer field, Children's Hospital, preschool, elementary school, and these days, the car mechanic too.

I'm totally hoping that life will return to "normal" soon. These schedule changes are NOT easy for the kids, and certainly not on us adults either.

That's (more-or-less) the life of us lately.

Ughhhh

Damn car died. Had to do it while my mom was picking Juliana up from choir practice. Ughhhh, why why why now?!?!?!?!?

Weekend --continued--

More pictures of Juliana's First Communion on saturday.

Juliana with her BFF Elena.

Auntie Meara said she wouldn't miss Juliana's special day. It means so much to me when my friends are so important in my children's lives. Words just can not explain. Of course, Juliana doted on Auntie Meara quite a bit.

My brother Patrick, me, my mom, and of course, Juliana.

Grampy, Daddy, Nana, me, Uncle Kyle, and of course, the two kiddos too.

Our visit with Nana, Grampy, and Uncle Kyle was short, but sweet. They arrived about noon on May 6th, Jason's birthday. Even though the visit was short they were able to spend Jason's birthday here, First Communion, and even all day on Mother's Day. They left late last night to head back to the other coast. I did not snap any other pictures during the visit. We were too busy eating, playing tennis, taking walks, riding bikes, or organizing for the little events going on this weekend. We had fun though.

My mom does not read this blog, but if for some freak chance she will, I want the world (or the 8 readers of this blog) to know that NOTHING would have been done without her last week. It was because of her that the kids were taken to school, picked up, taken to tennis, soccer, and Lord knows what else they did. It was because of her that the gathering after First Communion was so fabulous. And it is because of her that during this loooooooong trial for jury duty, that Jason can still work, and neither of us have to worry about the kids whatsoever. She is giving up a mini-vacation to Mount Rushmore with friends to be with us this week. Ok, so South Dakota doesn't sound all that interesting, but I know it is a place she has always wanted to go, and she's giving it up for us. THANKS MOM!!!!

A peaceful morning

First Communion is always a special day. This morning was fantastic. I took a lot of pictures, although I am exhausted, so I will write about the occasion sometime later. Until then, enjoy these two pics from Juliana's special day.

Happy friday

I am happy to announce that my "neice" was born this morning. I say "neice" in quotes because she actually is my step-sister's munchkin, but you get the idea.

HUNTER REESE

May 7, 2010

7 lbs, 13 oz

This makes grandbaby #10 for my dad! #11 due July 1st... my brother's baby boy.

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I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am so happy that I get to drop off my children at school today. I've missed out for 2 days, and picking them up too. I feel so absent from their lives and I can not stand it! No court on fridays, so at least I have that to look forward to while this trial is going on.

Oh yeah, Happy half birthday to meeeeeee! You can start singing now. Thanks. :)

Birthday n' more

It's a special day around here... HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY!

Quickly, here is the low down on what's goin' on. First, today is Jason's birthday. YAYY! In-laws are here, including Uncle Kyle. Last, I am juror #12. That's all I can say. My mom will be spending at least a week with us to care for the kids while I am in court. It'll be long.

My duty

Jury duty is definitely a duty. Living up to its name. I have to stay tight lipped... this will probably be a loooooong road.

Jason has tomorrow off, and friday too. Tomorrow is his birthday. I still haven't bought a cake, a gift, or even a card. Oh crap, I really suck at this wife thing sometimes.

Seeking help

I need your advice, help, council, two cents...

What should Juliana's first communion cake say? I don't want, "God Bless You" because that was her baptism cake. I don't want Congratulations, because that's just kinda weird for communion. Hmmmmmmm???

I've gotten feedback on a hair piece for her. I am not creative, so I am thinking of putting baby's breath in her hair with ringlets. Silly???

Finally, shoes. I can't find shoes that are fitting in with my snobbery. That's right, I'm a snob when it comes to my kids. The white shoes I've found are not cute at all. I just want something simple. The advice I've gotten so far have suggested looking into silver or light pink shoes. Hmmmm????

Comment pleeeeeease, I'm begging. I want feedback.

Monday sch-onday

I have a free moment while Juliana is at choir practice. Phewww.....

Yesterday, Jason worked ALL day long, so the kids and I cleaned the house quite a bit. To be more specific, we cleaned their bedrooms, changed them around a little, and cleaned closets too. Jason said to me on the phone, "Are you pregnant?" Haaaaaa, he says I have been nesting lately. Yeah I think I have. Saturday I was cleaning the kitchen like a crazy lady, I even cleaned the magnets on the fridge.

Anyway, about 6pm Jaime came over! Yayyyy!!!! The kids nearly swallowed her up, and talked her ear off too. We headed to Applebees for dinner. I'd call it yummy, but I'm not so sure since I kinda lost my appetite from having a not-so fab eating experience. Nothing bad really, just slooooooooooow service and water spilled all over the table (from the waiter, not my two hyenas). After dinner was some 911 drama outside, but perhaps I'll leave that for another post. We're fine, it was with a woman that fell outside. Blah blah blah....

Jaim and I, once again, chit chatted until close to midnight about L-I-F-E. Exciting stuff, huh?!? Jaim left this afternoon, and the kids already miss her. I do too. Hope to see you soon Jaime! xoxo. No pics since Kevin was a stinker and didn't want to take a last minute photo with her. Ughhh. My camera needs some serious attention. I've been neglecting her. :)

AND NOOOOOOOOO, I'M NOT PREGNANT!

Absolute craziness

Ohhhhhh dear, I'm headed into another week of craziness! Most of the craziness is the good kind o' crazy though. This morning is Juliana's last faith formation before First Communion, then this afternoon my fab friend Jaime is coming over tooooooo. All the way from Vegas baby, yayyy! Ummm, let's see, this week we have jury duty, communion practices, Jason's birthday, tennis, soccer, choir practice, girl scouts, surprise visit from in-laws (not surprise for me, but for the kids), First Communion, Juliana's weekly doctor appointment, Kevin's weekly occupational therapy appt, Shadow's minor surgery, ohhhh crap, I think that's all, but I'm sure I'm leaving out a few things. I'll check back to this post to make sure I am not late for anything or leave anything out. YIKES!

Yes, Shadow needs the minor surgery. The hematoma came back within a few hours of the procedure on friday. Fun fun fun... ughhhhhh.