The Linda Family

This was a message I got from a friend today.  He was responding to all of the messages we had sent out about our activities the past two days.  It’s been a whirlwind of a week.  It started with dropping Ashleigh off with my parents last week actually.  Friday I relaxed and did some stuff during the day, but I really tried to lay low and enjoy the quiet.  Saturday Wes and I decided that it was time to clean out the closets.  This meant that we had 2 big bags of clothing to donate, so we called our friend Colleen and offered some clothes for the church clothes closet at the inner city church she works with.  We dropped it off to her yesterday.  Saturday afternoon was spent with some shopping.  WorldFire had some unexpected funds show up, and the desktop has been acting up.  So, to keep it running smoothly Wes & WorldFire did some upgrading.  We also found me some maternity clothes, and a jewelry box to help organize my mess of jewelry and allow me to condense to one box instead of 4!  After spending all afternoon running around we went out to Dave & Busters with some friends and had a blast.  Sunday I had a lunch at PF Changs with my co-leaders at La Leche League.  One of our leaders and her family are being relocated to PA and we had a going away lunch for her.  I’m sad to see them go, even if it is for “only 3 years” and I haven’t broken the news to Ashleigh that her friend Ellie is moving on Saturday.  We may get to see them tomorrow, but I’m not sure if they will be able to make the meeting.  So, after Sunday’s lunch Wes and I went to the Columbia Mall where there are real stores that carry maternity stuff   Most of the department stores have a Motherhood Maternity section, and well, Motherhood’s clothing is crap.  It shrinks, it falls apart, it’s a big waste of money as far as I’m concerned.  I was very excited to get to an Ann Taylor Loft Maternity and a Gap Maternity.  I got to try on lots of stuff and walked away with some new tops.  I was very happy.  We then went to church, and I ordered some pants from AnnTaylor.com.  Yay.  They arrived today.  Double Yay.

Sunday after church we headed out to dinner to celebrate with a friend of ours who had been baptized that night.  We had about 20 people taking over 4 booths at Ledo’s Pizza and we had a blast.  By the time we got home I was exhuasted from 2 long days.  Unfortunately I had jury duty on Monday.  Of course this meant I had to be up at 6:30 to be at the courthouse at 8.  We all know how well I do mornings, so of course, I didn’t handle it well at all!  I spent 2 hours sitting in the quiet room, getting work done on my laptop.  And then my number was called for a case.  Just my luck, my biggest fear came true.   I was called for a murder case.  This young man had about 7 or 8 charges thrown at him.  After hearing all the info they gave us and the questions they asked it seemed quite certain that they were throwing lots of stuff hoping something would stick.  After 3 hours they finally broke for lunch.  By this time it was 1:30, I had run out of water hours ago, I hadn’t eaten yet, and I was severly missing caffeine.   We were all so hungry we were ready to run out of the court room!  I headed to Subway, got a sub and headed back to the quiet room to check on email and orders before I had to be back in court.  Of course the judge and lawyers were late….so we sat there for about 40 minutes waiting. Finally at 5 PM they let the first round of people go.  Luckily for me I was in that group.  Who knew that a pregnant lady who doesn’t think just anyone should be able to carry a gun would be a bad juror for a murder case?  I came home and Wes and I grabbed some dinner and did a bit of shopping.  I headed up to bed as soon as we got home, and I had a full blown migrane shortly there after.  I was asleep by 9:30.  I slept right through the night and I had a full conversation with Wes that I have no reccolection of.   I was beat!  Tuesday I met a friend for lunch, and then Ashleigh and my mom arrived.  We hung out for a bit, and then headed to dinner.  Wednesday we did some organizing and cleaning out of stuff in the basement.  After mom left we headed out to drop off our clothes with Colleen and then we met some freinds at Dave & Busters again.

Ashleigh outlasted all of our friends.  By 9:30 – 10:00 everyone was heading home.  Wes wanted to bowl, so he bowled a few quick games (he bowled 6 games in 40 minutes!) and when he was done we headed home.  By that point it was 11 PM and while Wes and I were ready for bed, Ashleigh wanted to tell jokes and sing the whole way home.  Where did we get this child?

This morning Wes woke me up letting me know our friend Hillary had just sent out a tweet saying that she was taking the kids to the Baltimore Zoo, and asking if anyone wanted to join them.  I thought about the things I should be doing, and we decided the Zoo sounded like a much better idea!  We had a blast.  By the time we arrived we were all hungry, so we had lunch, and then visited the petting zoo area, and walked through the kid’s zoo.  By this point it was 2 and Hillary and the kids headed home.  Ashleigh was no where near ready to go.  She hadn’t seen the bears, lions, or elephants yet and she was not leaving until we got to see such animals.  We walked the rest of the zoo, minus the chimps and alligators, and headed home around 4.  She was still ready to go.  Wes and I wanted to take naps, but Ashleigh, she could go on and on!  She did have “quiet time” in her room while we sat in bed and relaxed.  She played with her toys and when she came out came bearing gifts.  She had a bucket of toys for Wes and a basket of books and shoes for me.  She was once again ready to play.  I am always amazed by the energy this child posesses.

Tomorrow we’ll be up bright and early to take Wes to jury duty.  Hopefully the long day will wear her out and she will go to sleep early.  We’re planning a full day on Saturday as well.  I think we’re insane.  But, I’m hoping to stay as active as I can.  The more walking around we do the better shape I’ll be in!

I do have photos from today, but I didn’t get them edited yet.  I’ll have to get those up for you in the next day or two.  I need to get to bed!