Summer Reading Program

Our library has a summer reading program for preschoolers. It is a little game board of activities, most of which we normally do anyway, and when you finish a section you get a small prize and some coupons. It is a good incentive for me to make regular trips to the library. This year I felt like we really scored with the coupons.

Free doughnut at Dunkin' Donuts which just happens to be in our Wal-Mart and made a great good behavior incentive!


4 tickets to a minor league baseball game. We all had a good time! There were also coupons for free kid's meals at Chick-Fil-A. I was going to take a picture, but our meals in restaurants are so intense and chaotic that it didn't happen.

For the final prize, each child gets to choose a book to keep. I was proud of Aliza for telling the librarian how to spell her name for her certificate. Aliza and Josiah read their books as soon as we got home.
I love reading and would be thrilled if my children grew to love books and reading too.

Circus

Here we are at the circus. Being business owners we were sent a bunch of ticket coupons to put by our cash register. I gave some to friends and it worked out that we were all able to go together.

Aliza was outrageously excited to go to a circus. She really enjoyed every minute. There was one clown act that included a loud pop and the car breaking in half. That drew some tears, but she recovered. It was hot, really, really hot. We all had sweat dripping off of us. Aliza and Josiah's hair was wet. Josiah wanted to sit on my lap and it made me even hotter and more miserable.

We couldn't understand what the ringmaster was saying so I'm pretty sure we left at intermission. No one in our group had any hesitation about leaving. An hour was enough. I think another hour and the children would have been pretty antsy.

(I have lots of blog material. I just need to do some writing!)

Resourceful

When you need two hands to push and you don't want your sister to have the ball, just put it in your mouth!

Failed by Technology

I've been summoned for jury duty for the month of October. Jury duty is something that someone has to do, but how about the people who have jobs that will pay them for doing their civic duty not pregnant, stay-at-home Mom's who have a whole lot planning to do on extremely short notice to line up child care and early morning transportation to child care.

Tonight I filled out the required juror qualification form. I decided to file the form online. I figured it would be quicker, easier, save me a couple cents and since I'd be asking to be excused I could then receive correspondence quickly through email.

I went to the website. Filled about the basic information. Clicked the required Save button. Filled out Questionnaire 1, clicked the Save button to be able to fill out Questionnaire 2, clicked Save. At this point the form was submitted and the dialog box reminds you not to send a duplicate paper copy to the court. At this point a new option appears that you can ask for your dates of service to be postponed.

I clicked on that. The page comes up with 3 drop down boxes. Reason for Postponement ( I chose the Caregiver-Child option), County of the Court you have been summoned to and, finally, a drop down box of months to choose for your postponement date (only 6 months from your original summons date).

There was no text box to submit an explanation. If I had filled out the paper copy I would have been required to submit a letter along with the juror qualification form where I could have outlined my situation and asked to be excused or at least have a long term postponement. I had no way of knowing that I would not be able to do this online. I fully expected to have the opportunity to write an explanation in a text box. In this instance it would have been better, by far, to do things the old fashioned way-- filled out the paper, put the stamp on the envelope, and wait for a return letter.

After a long deliberation, while staring in disbelief at the computer screen, and an after 10pm phone call to Chrissy that made her think something was horribly wrong, I decided to request to be postponed to April 2011. At that point I will havee 3 children, one under a year old. When I am summoned then, assuming they grant the postponement, I will fill out the PAPER form and write a letter.

Surely, the court has no grounds to deny the postponement when I chose one of their options for postponement. I'll believe it when I see it though.

Double Date

It has been literally years since I have had a one-on-one meal with my grandparents. Now that they live here, they invited us to go to dinner with them. I called it a double date. =) We thought it was a good chance to leave the children with their Grandma and Grandad so that we could have a nice meal with my Gramma and Grandad. I think that no matter how old I am, my grandparents will spoil me. They took us to Ray's Shanty for shrimp and then to Island Creamery for ice cream. I ate every last bite of food. I think all that food put my baby to sleep. I haven't felt much movement since the meal.

PS. I'm 26 weeks today. The shirt does not do justice to my belly.

Our Poor Neighbors

I'm not sure what our neighbors thought last evening when Jeremy pulled his drum set out of the shed (where he has been storing it for several years now), set it up and allowed Aliza and Josiah to experiment. The children had a ball. Aliza, so much so, that she needed to stop for a Band-Aid for her open blister.

I thought it was great fun. Here are short clips of each of the children playing.

Reunion Moments

Family reunions are odd things. They are so important and so awkward at the same time. I've always wished that I could have grown up in close proximity with extended family members and developed friendships with cousins, aunts, uncles and great aunts and uncles. Since that is not the case family reunions are, for me, a meal and social time with people I don't know and will only see at this gathering. Well, even more awkward are in-law reunions! This is my mother-in-laws family.

We made a weekend of it and stayed with Jeremy's aunt and uncle. They made us feel very welcome. Aliza and Josiah had several nature lessons with Great Uncle Darryl and enjoyed collecting acorns. I enjoyed attending church with them. That was a highlight for Josiah also as he got to play on the playground with a backhoe. He has talked and talked and talked about picking up wood chips with that backhoe.

Jeremy's grandpa enjoying the cute little face in the next picture.

Aliza playing softball. You should have seen Jeremy jump every time she swung the bat!

Aunt Betsy made chocolate covered strawberries. Josiah loved loved loved them. I have no clue how many he ate...and then he finished them off later that evening. He brought each one to me and asked me to take the "grass" off the top.

Aliza couldn't get enough of the trampoline.

Josiah made a friend. It was fun to watch them interact.

Look at that tired face. At this point she still wanted to jump on the trampoline, but all she could do was sit still on the swing.

Culmination of a "Pregnant" Day

A "pregnant" day must include three things: exhaustion, hunger, and tears. I don't have very many days that are as dramatic as today was.

I've been sleeping good. I have to get up for the normal bathroom breaks and "Mommy calls," but I fall right back asleep. This morning I felt so tired when I woke up. I wanted to stayed curled up in bed for the morning. It didn't wear off. Quiet time rolled around and I flopped on the bed ready for at least a catnap. It took the children forever to settle down.

We went to the store this morning. It was a short trip with just a few items to pick up. By the time we got to the checkout I thought I was going to pass out from starvation. I picked up a Kit Kat bar, hustled the children in the car as quickly as possible and had that candy bar inhaled before we were out of the parking lot. When we got home I ate a hearty lunch and felt much better.

Tonight I was catching up on some blogs that I read. A Mom had written a post on how passionate she is about parenting her strong willed child. My children have normal wills and I could empathize with her passion to parent well and wanting your children to know they are loved no matter what choices they make and how much discipline needs to occur in a day. Her sister made a slide show to Celine Dion's song "Come to Me". I used a whole Kleenx during that song and wanted to just curl up on the bed, face in my pillow and bawl.

The song captures my heart for my children right now. I decided that I wanted my childrens' faces on a slide show with the song too. So I spent my evening picking out pictures and using up another Kleenx thinking about my children growing up and hoping that they will always choose to come to me.



Pretty classic pregnant day, huh?

Makin' Bubbles

After seeing Daddy make "bubbles" Josiah is now inspired to make his own. I no longer ask if he needs to use the potty. I ask if he wants to make bubbles. He usually says yes and is successful. I just have to keep him from popping them!

Life This Week

• I have a cold that has left me with a very hoarse voice. Sounding funny and feeling my throat every time I speak makes me realize how much I talk.
  
• I must have looked (and sounded) very precarious at the grocery store. We ran into a neighbor and he helped us get out of the store and to the car. He even buckled Josiah in his seat.
  
• I'm potty training Josiah. I'll spare you the details. He is slowly catching on.
  
• This week I've been reading Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue. Whether or not I'm a fan of Sarah Palin, I'm a fan of small government.
  
• Aliza can cry and carry on for the longest time, whether she is hurt or scared of a thunderstorm. Recently I've started telling her, "That's drama. You are overreacting." She turns it off and can think of an appropriate reaction. Smart girl.
  
• I was informed today (by a Dr.) that Braxton Hicks start earlier each pregnancy. I have 4-6 every day already.
  
• My grandparents have just moved in with my parents. Next project for my parents will be to convert the garage into an apartment for them.
• I feel like I need to give breastfeeding a very strong attempt. I'm not sure I've got that in me.
  
• I know I'm part of a good Bible study when I think about the discussion throughout the week. Right now we are studying Captivating, by John and Stasi Eldredge.
• The other week at church Josiah sat beside me, looked at my eyes for a few seconds and said, "Mommy, eyes green." He is becoming quite consistent in identifying colors.
  
• My new (maybe crazy) goal: Play 9 holes of golf with Jeremy before this pregnancy is over. Now if I would have a chance to actually hit a few balls for practice maybe I would actually be able to do that...
• Wound of the day: Josiah was concentrating very hard on putting in the house, with his metal putter. He whacked my foot in the process of hitting the ball. NO MORE PUTTERS IN THE HOUSE!
  
• We had a strong thunderstorm during supper last night. At one point Josiah grabbed my arm, looked at me very intently and said, "You scared too, Mommy?"