Jury Duty

I was summonsed for Jury Duty this week. I have to admit, I was really dreading it. I thought it was a burden, and the only thing that I could find positive about it was that I got a break from work... but, then I always miss the kids! So, I showed up Monday and sat in the Jury Room all morning and part of the afternoon. I got called to the court room for a jury selection mid afternoon on Monday. I was selected Tuesday morning, and the trial began Tuesday afternoon. It was a criminal charge, which sorta frightened me. We were all selected in front of the defendant and all of his family. (Pretty revealing and intimidating situation.) I never knew that is how it was done. We heard all of the testimony and I took diligent notes. There were lots of in and out of the Jury Room that I did not expect, so I assume that there was a lot going on and a lot of information that we did not hear. The judge (who I absolutely loved and reminded most of us Damon Wayans) was great! He let us ask questions to the witnesses, so that we could have a full grasp of the information that we were receiving. The State rested, then the Defense, and then we went into the third day for diliberation. We gave our verdict, and were released back into the jury room. After sitting in there for a little while, the judge came into the room with us, and allowed us to ask him anything that we wanted to at that point. He answered all questions very carefully, but he did answer questions. Alex had wanted me to ask him why he was not using his hammer, and I did. He very quickly told me to inform her that it was called a gavel (which I already had). Then he told us that he prefers to give a "look" before getting out the gavel and that usually works. And then the best of all... he was asked about a line of questioning that went on with the defending attorney (who was out of order) and he replied (remember he is a Damon Wayans look alike and talk alike)...... "I don't play that!" CLASSIC!! All he needed was a sock to hit the attorney across the head! We all thought it was pretty funny! no one ever got up the nerve to ask him if he had ever gotten the resemblence comment before.

My New Favorite Picture.

check out my new favorite picture... here it is!

Snow in Alabama

And the Winner Is...

ALEX!!!!

The following is Alex's speech, that she wrote so that you can follow along with the video. She spoke rather softly and Jody was videoing from across the room, so I tried to work with the sound but it was still hard to hear.

I am Alex. I hope you like my cookies and brownies. I want you to be nice. I hope I get Mayor. I want to help you be nice. Even if Frank or the others win, I will be happy because they are nice. But if I win I will be Happy, too. I hope I get Mayor. Vote for Alex.

Vot for Alex

Alex got nominated to run for Mayor of Kindergarten. So, she has been running a small campaign this week and they will have a vote on Friday. She made 4 campaign posters to put outside of all the Kindergarten classrooms and I neglected to get a picture before we took them today... but they said "I wot evrebode to love ejuthr" and had people that she drew holding hands on a grassy field. The translation for those of you who can not read "kindergarten" is "I want everybody to love each other" I guess that is her slogan... not a bad one. Anyway, the above picture is what all of her flyers and the main part of her posters look like. They are being turned into stickers for her to give out when she hits the campaign trail tomorrow. She will have to give a speech Friday and they will have the Mayor of Homewood there to introduce all of the candidates. (she has 7 opponents) I will try to remember to blog about the outcome. She is very excited!

Some Pictures I had Forgotten About

These were taken several weekends ago. It was cold and rainy and Alex was grumpy. She couldn't play outside, and I had told her no more T.V. for the day. My intentions were for her to play with all of the Christmas gifts that she had received. The next thing I knew, she was telling me how tired she was. I was doing laundry so I thought she went to her room. This is where I found her! She is REALLY asleep!


Copper begins to get annoyed!


He got out of his bed, to let her sleep.

A Christmas Post... a little delayed.

The following pictures are just some of the things that we did during our busy month of December.

When we returned home from Ohio, the next day we went to pick out our Christmas tree. We usually go to the Farmer's Market, to pick out our tree, on a Saturday or Sunday during the day. This year we went on a Monday night. Dad, Jody, and Jordan were not able to make it... and there were not a lot of places that were open. Some years when we go we are wearing shortsleeves to pick out a tree, but this year, it was was pretty darn cold. So, this picture is of Alex in front of the tree that she picked out, all bundled up in a hat that (I think)my Aunt, Eloise had given to me when I was a little girl. Mom had just found them in some storage stuff at her house.

Here is Alex and Grayben, visibly cold!!


Jordan's birthday falls right in the middle of the holiday season. We celebrated it this year, at Corey and Erin's house. You can see in the next two pictures, the apple cinnamon cake that Jordan requested... and his ever favorite mint chocolate chip icecream.

Alex had a little bit harder time "believing" this year. But, she did want to go to see Santa. And, I am glad she did. She looked very cute in the outfit that my mom made for her... I am just sorry I did not get a good full length shot of her in it.

Alex had asked for a Veteranarian Doctor Kit this year. My mom found one and she was soooooo excited when she opened it. She probably would have been okay with just that and nothing else. She immediately started pretending. There is a picture in her vet attire below... but, the following pictures got out of sequence again.

Dad opening his Ranger Windshield from mom.

Alex and Grayben, waiting to open their presents.

We also went to Samford to see the Nutcracker, and Alex really enjoyed the first half. I forgot to tell her that there would be an intermission and we would need to sit there for another 45 minutes. She was really good about it, and LOVED the first half (it ended with snow! in the auditorium) but really thought that we should be able to go after the first act. This picture is of her in front of the Christmas tree at Samford.

This is my cousin's oldest girl Evan.She was just a doll. She got the Hannah Monana guitar from Santa and just performed her little heart out for all of us. Precious! http://www.thefreemanfamilyalbum.blogspot.com/

The Brother's and Sister's or Aunt's and Uncle's. Rhonda, Darrell, Mom, and Doyle. This year was one of the best Christmas' we have had in several years. There were some key family members that were dearly missed, but we still had a great time without them. Jody even commented on how different things were this year (in a positive way) Can't you just see on their faces how much fun they were having. We only had about 42 cameras going off to capture this moment in front of the infamous mural.

Alex opening her Wii from Santa on Christmas morning.

Mom opening the portrait of Alex and Grayben that we (Corey and Erin and Jody and I) had done for her.

Alex in her Vet attire.

These are the stockings that I made for us this year. I loved what we had, but Erin had gotten these really cool looking ones from Christmas Village, and I decided that I wanted some similar, too. So, mom drew up a pattern for me and I picked out the fabric and sewed and monogrammed them. I think they turned out pretty cute.

So, when the season started rolling in. Jody and I decided that the washer and dryer, that we had to purchase in October would be our Christmas presents to each other. They are really nice front loaders that I have been wanting for a long time. And if any of you knew what I was going through just to wash clothes.. you will agree that it was at least time for a new washer! Anyway, he also surprised me with tickets to Robin Williams that I am very excited about. He loves him, and so do I but I think I am most excited about a TRUE date night, even though I have to wait for another 2 1/2 months. But, between our schedules we are often too tired to go out and do anything together. We usually just spend time at home watching a movie or something like that. So, this should be fun!... watch for a post about that later.

Probably, though, the most sentimental and thoughtful gift of all came from Alex this year. She planned a "photo shoot" with Erin back in the spring or early summer. She was supposed to spend the night with them and she had planned out everything from where they should go to take the pictures, to what she would wear, etc. Well, Corey and Erin got the news of Grayben's arrival the same week that this was all supposed to happen. So, everything got postponed sort of indefinitely. But, in September, around Alex birthday, they were able to follow through with everything. And Erin and Corey created this slideshow
And Alex all on her own created a scrapbook which she has inherited quite a talent for from her Aunt Rhonda, entitled "A Perfect Day". I wish that I could have taken pictures of every page to show... it is really sweet, down to every last caption.