Birthday, Jury Duty, Vacuum, and Teeth

We haven't been taking a ton of pictures lately, just been a bit busy with life. Last weekend we went to Gideon's first birthday party. Elizabeth made the COOLEST cake for him, it even incorporated his own little "smash cake." It was a wintery scene with fondant penguins, presents, and Gideon's part was the igloo. It's been fun to see this little guy grow from newborn to 1!

After the food and presents, Gideon and Emmett got pushed around in some boxes, so much fun!

This past week I had jury duty. I felt like it was an honor to be called to participate in what I think is an important part of our country's justice system. Everyone told me how boring it is and that I probably wouldn't even have to go in. I ended up having to go in at noon on Monday for a jury selection, and low and behold out of 100 plus people I got selected for the jury. They had a 13 person jury, because it was expected to be a week long trial and they needed an alternate juror just in case.

It was a very interesting experience, and I feel thankful to have been a part of it. The case was quite sad, it involved a 2 month old baby that had been shaken and just barely survived the traumatic injuries. There was quite a bit of medical evidence presented which made the trial interesting to me, and we got information about how the now 11 month old is doing, which I found encouraging after seeing how narrowly he survived. All of the jurors made it through the trial and at the end a name was chosen out of that hat for who had to be excused. By this point none of us wanted to be excused, so it was sort of a sad moment. If you ever get called for jury service, it may be more of a positive experience than you are expecting, and really I think we should consider it quite a privelage of living in a free country.

We also finally replaced our vacuum. Our old Hoover Windtunnel was a wedding gift from my parents and was starting to die. Apparently getting 7 years out of it is quite an accomplishment according to the "vacuum" industry. Like anything there is a broad range of price and performance and we got talked into buying an American made Riccar. We were impressed by the in store demonstrations, did quite a bit of research online, and finally after about 3 weeks of thoughtful consideration we bought our vacuum. We are SLOW and METHODICAL consumers, and we like a GOOD DEAL, which means we very rarely regret our purchases....but I'm sure it drives people (especially salespeople) crazy. Our carpet looks nicer than when we have rented the steam cleaner, so I think we made a good choice.

Emmett loved vacuum shopping and has been quite the busy guy lately. He would clap after the vacuum demonstrations. He has been spinning in circles until he is too dizzy to stand. He has been wanting to play outside in the snow, the other day I chased him around the backyard in my slippers. I didn't think he'd want to stay out for long because it was cold and windy, so I didn't put my boots on. Big mistake. We have about 5 inches in our backyard, and that doesn't work too well with slippers. Today we both got dressed for it and went sledding down the street and played in the drifts.

Tonight while Emmett was in the bath I felt in his mouth for teeth. I could feel 4 new teeth! I have been expecting them to come in right next to the ones he has, but apparently it is common to get molars before canines. So who knows how long these have been there. I believe this takes the count up to 10 teeth! And that cute sweater he is wearing is my favorite. If it looks familiar, it is...he has been wearing it since he was 6 months old. That's been the great thing about how small he is, his shirts fit him a long time. Not necessarily onesies, because he is a normal height, but regular shirts fit him a very long time, and I'm SO glad he hasn't grown out of this one yet, although I know it wont be long now (thanks Beth!).