John's Christmas Day

John finally gets it! On his birthday in November, he really did not like opening presents. After the paper was off he'd get really excited, but refused to open anything. Here he is, opening his first present this year:

Now I know why they warn about zuzu pets and hair! I guess it's a good thing he got a hiarcut on Christmas Eve!

Happy Birthday Mom!

We pulled off the greatest surprise for my mom's birthday! We had to plan ahead for months and then we couldn't even tell her how excited we were. During November, mom visited each of our families in CA, TX and CT, and we didn't even slip-up and tell her about her surprise! It was so hard to keep it a secret! I couldn't even write on my calendar for fear she would see it.

Jeff, Kristie and I were all able to fly in to Salt Lake on Friday night and celebrate together for a whole weekend. It was just like being a kid again! We went to some of our favorite places, went shopping, ate some absolutely fantastic food, and thoroughly enjoyed being together! We even went to visit our old house -- it was so fun to find Jen taking very good care of it.

It was such a great time -- I don't know if we'll ever be able to top it!

Lunch at the Cheesecake Factory

My parents came out to visit for Thanksgiving, and on the way to the airport we all stopped at the Cheesecake Factory. I just love this picture of Maddie and my parents. Happiness. Just happiness.

Maddie's Photoshoot

Maddie will be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. To prepare for that, yesterday was picture day. We put her hair up in rollers, painted her nails and had a florist prepare a bouquet. I feel like I went all out! But, I'm pretty thrifty, so I decided to take all the pictures myself.

We went to Harkness Memorial Park down on the beach. Luckily we had a beautiful warm day. I feel totally inadequate to taking pictures sometimes. I feel like I have no understanding of light and the use of my surroundings. I try to be artsy, but my style is much more harsh. I like close facial shots where you can look into a person's eyes. So, here's my basic attempt at artsy. Luckily, Maddie is just strikingly beautiful. I feel like I could look at her picture all day. Guess I'm a prejudiced mother!

Here's a bunch for you to see:

OK, she's not praying, even though that's kind of what this one looks like. She was having a hard time opening her eyes in the sunshine. So, I had her take a couple with her eyes closed. I just think it's such a pretty picture, even if it somehow feels a bit hokey.

By the end she was just freezing! She was such a good sport. The best light was when it was freezing cold and she just kept going.

Do I love the pictures? Yes.

What am I most proud of? That the dress is still spotless despite spending the afternoon at the beach. That's a major accomplishment!

Happy Birthday Sydney!

Maddie and her cousin were born 11 days apart -- and today is Sydney's 8th birthday. We love her so much we thought we'd sing to her -- Happy Birthday Sydney!

The Big Pig

Jared starts the "Big Pig" tomorrow -- wish us all good luck!

He'll be gone more than he's home for the next few weeks.

Got Game?

There has been no coaching for my amazingly athletic little boy.

Just some serious natural skill.

Now, if we parents would only learn to take pictures that actually include the club!

Bath Time

Recently while giving John a bath, I was reminded how similar he and Maddie look. The picture of Maddie is from when she was about 3-years-old, so about six months older than John is now. I think if you took away Maddie's beautifully distracting curls, the pictures would be even more similar.

I tried to get John to have a similar facial expression so that the comparison would be more realistic, but getting a decent picture of John's face is almost impossible. He gets so worked up in front of the camera! This is a better example of the experience:

Girls Day Out

Maddie has been working for almost ten months to save up her money for the American Girl Doll named Felicity. It's shocking what my daughter can do when she's determined! She finally had enough money about a week ago, so we made reservations and arrangements to head to one of their stores for an adventure.

When she woke up this morning, Maddie said, "Mom, I think this is going to be one of those days I remember for the rest of my life!" (What pressure for a mom!)

We made a special trip -- about 120 miles -- up to the store in Boston with our good friends. It was such a fun day! Maddie had a great time looking at all the clothes, dolls and accessories. She found her new doll and couldn't wait to hand over her money. The clerk was really cute and told her that she'd get the doll out of the box because she's just been waiting for a hug for ages. Maddie wouldn't let go of Felicity for anything! She hugged that doll as tight as could be all day long, and is still hugging her in her sleep right this moment.

We shopped around for about 90 minutes, then had lunch in the Bistro. It was such fun -- the food was fantastic too!

It was definitely a day I'll remember. My daughter is just an amazing person with such a sweet disposition. She makes everything we do more fun just because she's there. Love ya Maddie!

Fireworks at Sailfest

We went to the annual Sailfest fireworks in New London.

A friend invited us to their 'secret' viewing spot. It was perfect for us -- easy to get in and out and without a large crowd. The kids had a place to run and play while waiting and we didn't have to worry about them getting lost. Lovely!

It was especially fun to watch John enjoy his first fireworks. What a cute kid!

It was a great evening out, the only drag was the humidity. It held the smoke in place so that it was hard to see the fireworks in the middle of the show. By the grand finale it started to clear out again. Beautiful!

Lessons learned from 11 days of jury duty

I was fortunate enough to get to participate in our justice system for eleven days over the last few weeks. It was a federal trial held in New Haven -- about 40 miles from my home. The case involved two police officers that were accused of violating an arrestee's civil rights for repeatedly spraying him with pepper spray while he was contained in a cell. You can learn about more about it here.

I learned some things that may help prepare you for jury service, should you be so lucky:

1. If there is an earthquake on your first day, prepare for future disasters. In addition to the earthquake, we had a tornado, the hottest day on record, a juror quit in the middle of deliberations, and a hung jury. All first-time experiences for our very distinguished judge.
2. Think long and hard before volunteering to be the foreperson. It gets more heated than you can possible imagine in that jury room! We were honestly concerned that some people might hit each other for a few minutes there! :) OK, so we worked through the emotional moments and had very interesting debates about the case. But, all my people and mothering skills were put to the test. A timer was the best solution to move things along! Also -- any note you write is preserved for all time as a court document, so I will be immortalized by my first request "May we please have a mouse." Brilliant!
3. A jury consists of all kinds of people. We had some interesting characters on the jury. You just never know what you're going to get, so be nice to everyone, but be prepared for unexpected emotional reactions in return. (Can you tell I'm trying to say something without actually saying it???)
4. Order all you want for lunch. The government encourages you to make sure you'll have enough to eat or drink while you deliberate -- 8-9 hours a day in a locked room. Order extra water -- every day. You won't be sad.
5. Be nice to your caretakers -- the Marshalls and the jury clerk. Our sweet caretakers made sure we had everything we needed. And when we were ready to explode, they'd take us out for a walk to let the tension pass. Thanks guys -- you were wonderful!
6. You won't sleep well during the trial. Every night I would toss and turn, thinking about evidence. I can only describe it like the heffalumps and woozles in Winnie the Pooh -- it just swirls around until it becomes a nightmare. I still hear the words "upon pains and penalties of perjury" in my dreams. Even though we finished two days ago, I'm still dreaming about it, worrying and dwelling on every little detail.
7. It's really hard not to talk about the case. Every night I wanted to talk about what had happened in court that day, but was bound by my oath not to do so. Now that it's over, I don't want to think about it any more -- I'm trying to purge it all from my mind. It's not working. I can still remember all the important time stamps on the video we watched. I'll always remember the steps of force a police officer can use, and on and on.
8. Sometimes, the evidence being presented gets boring. Invent mental exercises to keep yourself alert. I tried figuring out how much the trial had cost. I memorized different police techniques. I kept track of every person's shirt color from day to day to see if they wore the same ones. I tried figuring out who was related to whom in the gallery. And other such nonsense.
9. Be kind to your mother-in-law. She'll save your bacon! My sweet mother-in-law came for six days to take care of the kids. She cooked, cleaned, did laundry and took care of all of us! I never would have made it without her help. Thanks Sarah!
10. Be kind to your friends -- they too are wonderful! My kids have been passed around and around again. Good friends took the kids for 5-6 hours a day so that Jared could go to work while I was at jury duty. We wouldn't have made it without them either! Thanks ladies!

Bloggers Quilt Festival Entry Spring 2010

I totally posted this on the wrong blog! Ugh! Oh well, enjoy the quilt..... It should have been at www.lymericky.blogspot.com.

I love the bloggers quilt festival! It's so much fun to look at every quilt and get ideas for the coming six months.

Here's my entry:

I made this quilt for a friend having a baby boy. It was a really good project to try out new stuff. This was the first time I've quilted shapes using my machine. I was astonished at how easy it was to do--

• First I found clip art online.
• I printed it out and then cut out the shape.
• Using a water-soluble marker, I traced the pattern onto the fabric.
• Then I quilted the pattern using free motion quilting
• The stippling helps to give each design added depth
• Then I sprayed the markings with water to make them disappear

The quilt was pretty easy to put together, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process.

So far behind...

I'm so far behind on this blog! I can't even begin to catch up. But, if you would like to see all the photos from our recent trip to Baltimore, click here to watch the photobook slideshow -- you'll have to scroll down a little bit to see the whole thing.

This trip was definitely one of my most favorites. The kids were so much fun and we packed everything in that we possibly could. We saw great friends, but I didn't take a single picture of them. So dumb! We ate tons of great food. We did everything we could -- Port Discovery, Baltimore Aquarium, National Zoo, church, Ocean City and Assateague. Phew! We're still tired from all the fun!

Here's a couple of photos for those that don't want to watch the photo book slide show: