Mommy & T Date Night

Last night, Thompson experienced his first symphony.  Nay-Nay and Anna invited Thompson and me to join them at the Diana Wortham Theatre to hear the sounds of the Blue Ridge Symphony.  Thompson took an afternoon nap to gear up for his late-night cultural experience and was an awesome attendee.  It was an "All American" night featuring Bernstein's "Overture to Candide", Copland's "Variations on a Shaker Melody", Bernstein's music from "West Side Story", and Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". During intermission he indicated how much he liked the music and that they might be selling CDs afterwards.  And this morning over breakfast he suggested we attend the symphony again!

Spring Blossoms

from our garden...

Well-visits: 16 mos and 5 yrs

This afternoon marked well-visits for both boys.  We continue to count our blessings with two healthy boys.

Thompson is now 3 feet 6.2 inches and weighs 39.2 lbs. He remains in the 25th percentile for both height and weight. His blood pressure was 103/67, and he passed both his vision and hearing tests.  Thompson was also super brave when he received the two shots he needs for Kindergarten! 

William is our 75th percentile child.  He is 32 1/4" long and weighs 26 lbs 14 ozs.

WY's 1st pair of Keens (size 7, I might add!)

Bathtub Bubbles

William surprised us this evening during bathtime when, after watching Thompson put his face in the water to blow bubbles, he did the same!  WY would start blowing air through his lips while slowly lowering his face until his lips hit the water and he was blowing bubbles.  Once he realized he was successfully copying T, he'd blow bubbles and then sit up proudly to clap his hands as if to say "good job".

It's Signing Time

While we've been signing with William since his birth, he's officially hooked on "Signing Time".  We used the videos with Thompson and over the past few weeks began to introduce them to William.  Now, William often signs "signing" in hopes it will result in turning on one of the Signing Time DVDs.  He even asked for it at breakfast this morning while sitting in his booster seat!  (I don't think so Mister.)  But when it is playing, he tries to sign along with Rachel, Leah and Alex, bounces his knees to the music and plops down in my lap to watch portions of the show.  He's also realized we have the Signing Time music in the car, so once buckled in, he immediately signs "signing" to indicate his desire to listen to it.

Mommy-Wanna-Be

While I didn't blog about it a couple weeks ago, dear old mom had a not-so-good encounter with the dresser Sunday evening, Feb. 27 while unpacking from our trip to Greensboro.  I punctured my forehead (smack-dab in the center!) and ended up the in ER to have it glued closed in an attempt to minimize scarring.  The good news: 2 1/2 weeks later, it is healed and the scar is minimal (as compared to what it could have been).  The bad news: William didn't get the memo that we didn't need another head injury.  While scurring across the room this morning with slide whistle in hand, he fell, and as you can see, the slide whistle won!  At least no stitches or glue were necessary as the encounter resulted in a good-ole skin abrasion. 

Bike Riding Boy

A quick post to give a "shout-out" to Thompson!  He rode his bike up the hill on our street this afternoon all by himself.  I was prepared to push him from behind (while simulatenously pushing the stroller and walking the dog, mind you), but no help needed!  I watched him get up off the saddle and "power up" the whole way to our house.  Needless to say, mom was super proud and T got a great boost of self-confidence!  Now to shed the training wheels...

Rainbow-colored Cheerios

I discovered this morning I've deprived Thompson of a cereal I enjoyed as a child...Fruit Loops!  Every Wednesday night at AWANA, the church provides the children a snack, so when I asked Thompson this morning what snack he had last night, he said "pretzels and rainbow-colored Cheerios".  Bobby and I both got a good chuckle...a fairly accurate description if you've never had Fruit Loops.  I'm thinking I ought to ensure Fruit Loops gets on my grocery list next week as a special treat!

Jury Duty 101

I (Avery) just wrapped up my first jury duty experience.  I was summoned by the federal court to appear Monday, was selected to an 8-member jury, the trial began and wrapped up earlier this morning.  Part of me didn't want to be selected because of the logistics of child care, but the other part of me wanted to serve because I know it is a privilege I have as a US citizen.  Fortunately, Bobby was able to stay home Monday and Mamere came in Monday night to provide relief and help with the boys Tuesday and Wednesday.

To summarize, the case was about a man from Atlanta who was pulled over in a local county for following too closely.  When asked if he was carrying narcotics or large sums of money in the car, he said "no".  When asked if the deputy could search his car, he said "no".  Obviously something in his demeanor created enough suspicion to call a K9 unit to sniff the car's perimeter.  The dog alerted to the presence of the odor of a narcotic, which then gave the deputy permission to enter the car and search its interior.  As a result, they discovered an empty bag that had a strong marijuana odor and a suitcase with $40,000.  Yes, $40K cash...I'd say that suffices as carrying "large sums of money".

As the jury, it was our responsibility to determine whether or not we thought the $40K were the proceeds of a drug transaction, and if so, they are property of the US government.  If we found that to be true, then if the Claimant could prove he was the "innocent owner" of the $40K, then he was eligible to keep the money.

Interestingly, in such a case, the jury's decision isn't made "beyond a reasonable doubt", rather based on a "preponderance of the evidence".  As the judge instructed us, "preponderance of evidence" means which is more likely to be true than not true.  In other words, the scales of justice need only to tip slightly in favor of one side to make a decision.

The case was complete with drugs, money, law enforcement, dogs, real estate, taxes, business dealings, etc.  In the end, we determined, the Claimant's testimony was just shady enough that we couldn't give his testimony complete validity.  (It didn't help that during his testimony it came to light he filed incomplete tax returns in 2008 and 2009 to avoid paying taxes.)  So, based on a "preponderance of the evidence", the money was the result of a illegal drug trafficking act and the Claimant didn't prove based on a "preponderance of the evidence" that he was the "innocent owner" of the money.

I'll admit, I was mentally fried at the end of the 3-day case.  Not until you sit on a jury do you realize how important it is to listen to everything said so you can make the right decision.

On a lighter note, one of my personal highlights from the process was during jury selection when the judge asked me a question based on a questionnaire I had completed.  I was the 15th juror questioned, so I had an idea of what the judge was asking and knew there were few, if any, red flags on my form.  The judge said, "Mrs. Jones, I see here as your occupation you put Chief Household Officer."  There is a chuckle from the entire room and I respond smiling "Yes."  To which the judge says, "In all my years on the bench, I've never seen that description before and believe Mrs. Jones you've done it justice. While I think I know what a Chief Household Officer does, can you please describe for the court what you do."  A priceless moment!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss Week