Jury Duty

This week was a fairly standard week, except for the fact that I had been summoned to Jury Duty on Monday. That though a few bumps into the plans, but overall, it was a decent week. We had warm temperatures and were able to get outside a bit too.

On Monday, I spent ALL DAY in Pontiac for my jury duty service. I did not get selected to be on a case, but I spent the whole day just waiting. I was called to enter a courtroom, but was not called into the jury box. It got close, they had excused person after person for various reasons, some of which we had no clue why. One thing that was interesting to me was that I had requested a postponement months ago due to the fact that I was nursing Soren, and this was as far as I could get it pushed. There was another woman there who was also nursing, and had requested a postponement as well, and this was as long as they would give her, and she was instructed to bring along her baby and a sitter. I think everyone there was astonished that she was not excused, and was actually selected to be a juror! I couldn't believe it. The judges were pretty nasty when it came to being excused for work or family issues, I was amazed that one of the lawyers didn't excuse her just to be nice and not suffer interruptions. Keira and Soren spent all day with Linda, and I should have some pictures to post later of their fun. They went to McClumpha and made hairbows for Keira.



On Tuesday we had a really busy day. Keira had a field trip where she was able to ride a school bus! She was so excited about being able to ride the bus. They just went up the road to see "The Music Lady" with the other preschool class from the district. Keira really enjoyed it. I had a presidency meeting while she was at school. At the meeting, I learned that my pediatrician's office had swine flu vaccines! Haley has the same Dr as us, and she received a heads up from her husband who is also a Dr in the same system, so I was able to get appoints for Keira and Soren to receive their first doses this afternoon! We were very well prepared for it to take forever again, because had to hit McDonald's on the way from Keira's school to the Dr, and of course, my order was wrong, so we actually had an extra sandwich in case we needed to be there for dinner as well as lunch. It went much better than Friday's visit, only taking about a half hour instead of 2 hours. Soren was able to grab a quick nap at home before I had to leave to attend a GOTR run and reception at running fit. I got in a slow 3 mile run with my girls around the Novi Town Center with Keira and Soren in the stroller. Keira really enjoyed running with the girls.


Keira didn't have a project at school today, but here are a couple projects from last month that I forgot to post.


On Wednesday, it was Miss Diane's last day for the library storytime. We will miss her, and wish her good luck in Cincinnati.

On Thursday, Keira had picture day! I should have her school pictures to post in another week or so. Hopefully she wore the hairbow for the picture because it made its way to her backpack at some point during the morning. While Keira was at school, Soren and I did some much needed errands. We hadn't been grocery shopping in what felt like ages because I really like to only take 1 child, and just hadn't had the opportunity between church meetings, days off, and such. We also went to Maybury in the evening for a run and ride. It is getting so dark so early, and I don't think Keira or Soren were big fans of it getting dark, neither was very happy on the run.
This is Keira's art project from today. It makes a great fall decoration for our kitchen.

Here are some pictures of them enjoying the sun in front of our place.






Keira conked out once inside. I thought it was really cute that she had tucked her dolls into her bed on top of her pillow at the head, and then was curled up on the foot of it, doll in hand, in a pile of stuffed animals.

On Friday, I got a really late start going to the gym. Once I got there, I swam a mile! I was so excited with that accomplishment. I really never thought I would have wanted to do this, because I hated swimming growing up, so this was really huge for me. While it didn't feel easy, it wasn't bad while I was doing it. I did feel pretty wiped out the rest of the day, though. We also had a major kitchen crash. No one was injured, but 2 glasses and one of our ceramic canisters broke as our cake dome crashed from the top of the refrigerator onto the canisters and into the sink. It was not very funny when it happened, but was really funny to repeat the next day. We had dinner out at Baha Fresh, and the Ryan and I FINALLY watched Twilight. I enjoyed it. I wish I had watched it before seeing Vampire Diaries on TV because I wasn't sure it lived up to all the hype (especially since I was/am a huge Anne Rice fan back in the day), but it was a fun movie and I will likely read the books and see the next movie. Soren has really started to enjoy the little table and chair set. Hopefully it won't cause any more crashes (he didn't have anything to do with the one today). He is able to "build an intricate ladder" as Bill Cosby would say to reach the counter now by standing on the chair. Fortunately, he can get down by himself. It has caused a bit of contention between Keira and Soren, because they always want to sit in the chair the other one is in, and they will pull the table at each other instead of being able to scoot the chair in.


Saturday was a fun day. Ryan started the morning with a ride at the tree farm and I took Keira and Soren to a Fancy Nancy story time at Borders. Keira ate up the whole thing. She got all decked out in her official Fancy Nancy tutu and t-shirt, and donned her wings and wand. The lady read the Christmas Fancy Nancy book and they wrote letters to Santa, made a card and an ornament, and then finished up with a parade around the store. Soren wasn't really excited about it, but that was probably a good thing! He didn't like the crowd or needing to be in the stroller. He read his "manly" ABC book and played with the bead toy in the picture.

Keira was so attentive to the story.
She is holding her ornament.
This is the parade through the store.

That afternoon, I got in a nice 10K with Valerie and Barb in the neighborhood, and then I had to get cleaned up for a baptism. I spent some time on my hair, making it look like Cat Deeley's from this week's So You Think You Can Dance. I thought it turned out really well.


After the baptism, we had dinner at Chili's and then Ryan and I watched Up. This was a really cute movie. Keira and Soren really liked it too.

Sunday was a crazy day. We have been working a lot the plans for our vacation to Germany, and got a few more things squared away this morning. Everyone was really worn out by today, and Soren wouldn't take a nap before we left. Keira was tired all morning but wouldn't nap, so we ended up being late to church. I had several people out sick from Primary, so things there were a bit stressful. Ryan was able to get Soren to take a nap by doing a few laps around the block in the truck, so I think Keira was pretty much the only one that had a semi normal church experience today. Here is Soren with the witch hat on before church.

Up for next week, we have family pictures and I finish up with the GOTR. It has been fun, but a lot of work, and I likely will not do it again. We will also continue our vacation plans.