tin can pots

Aunt CoCo got us motivated and gave us the great idea of making our own tin can pots. The boys had a blast painting and decorating their own can. It will be fun for them to watch the herbs grow too. :)

HSC Change of Command

Finn and Clare playing with the ball popper.

Clare tolerating the boys so close to the sit n spin. :)

After the change of command.
Yes, I realize that's the back of Finn's head.

Sean giving his speech.

Sean taking the HSC Flag from the Col.
(Signifies taking over the company.)

Cullen and Finn playing with their buddy, Grayson.
Cute little stair-steps.

Sean with some of the guys from his "old" team.

Sean is now officially the HSC Commander. Let the good times roll... ie: the middle of the night phone calls which will start any time now, and the L O N G days!

Finn and Daddy at Little Gym

These pictures are old, I just didn't get around to posting them in February. Finn loves his Little Gym class! He's about to move up to the next age class, so he's a big boy and a leader in his class. First to get the bells, and first to put them away... he knows the routine!

jury duty

I wasn't good at blogging during the month of Feb. One reason for not blogging was I was called for jury duty. I was called to report on a Wednesday, and since I had plenty of time to plan, I got the boys into hourly care. That Wednesday I showed up, filled out the paperwork and got ready for a long day of doing nothing... had my Us Weekly, my coupons and grocery shopping list. I was secretly looking forward to a whole day to myself of doing nothing! Then hopefully a quick trip to the commissary before my hourly care time ran out...

Just as I was settling into my Us Weekly, my name was called... along with about 30-40 others. We were all sent upstairs to begin the jury selection process. It was a very interesting process. About 2 or 3 hours later I still sat there, with 12 other jurors. I couldn't believe it. I was going to sit on a criminal case that was estimated to last until Friday. I scrambled to get a hold of Sean to have him pick up the boys from hourly care, I wasn't going to be done before 5pm. Then had to scramble to find childcare for all day Thursday and Friday. (I was able to get the boys in to our date-night babysitter for all day Thursday and hourly care took pity on me and squeezed both boys into the schedule for all day Friday.) Then after a short lunch break we started.

It was a domestic violence case. It was awful to sit through and to hear it all. Mr. Logan was being tried on two cases; menacing with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm while intoxicated. It took us about 6 hour to deliberate before we could all agree on both charges. Unfortunately we could not find him guilty on both charges. We found him guilty on the possession charge, but could not find him guilty on the menacing charge. That was so hard letting him go on the felony charge! All of struggled with it, we all knew he was a dirtbag but just couldn't charge him "without a reasonable doubt." Anyway he got two years probation. His new girlfriend sat behind him the whole trial, glaring at everyone. It's truly amazing the bond you form with 12 other people (from all walks of life) going through that for only three days. Ughhh, what an experience.... it truly was unique!

One thing I learned from it all, is how thankful I am to be a stay at home mom. I really know my kids. Those three days I hardly saw my boys at all. I had to wake them up early to rush out the door to hurry to daycare, to spend 9+ hours as a juror, then hurry to pick them up, fight traffic home, throw dinner on the table, then straight to bath and bed for the boys. I didn't see them at all, it was sad, really. But the hard truth is, my days were easier; dealing with grown-ups all day, not eating pb&j for lunch (again), no time-outs, etc. Interesting how it took jury duty to make me appreciate my life and family that much more.