mixed emotions

As most of you know I was called to Jury duty in June. I went in of course thinking I would be excused that day, then the selection process went into the second day, but even then i thought they either wouldnt get to me, or i would be excused. There was a pool of 350 potential jurors, what were the chances I would be selected as one of the 12? After-all we are talking about a Child Molestation case, and being a mother of 2 young children, I am obviously going to have a biased opinion… right?
Not according to the 2 attorneys nor the judge, they thought my work experience and the fact that I was a mother would help me make a fair and impartial judgement, and they sat me in the box! Yikes… I was up in this box with 1 other women 10 men and 4 alternates (all of which were men I might add). Tues and Wed. till noon, was jury selection, but by 1pm on Thursday, they had opening statements and 3 witnesses, so at that point I must say, I was quite impressed by the efficiency in which they were moving through this.
The court system only holds long jury trials on Tues/Wed and Thurs of each week, so after our “first” day of trial, we were set for a 4 day break. But, that wasnt all… we had to break for actually 11 days, as the judge was taking the following week off for a training class. Odd I thought for us to come back expecting to have remembered all that was said, and these were not unsubstancial witnesses. But we all did it, I guess with a trial like this, its hard to forget all the details.
We reconvened that following Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, and lucky for me my parents were there to help out, giving my kids the attention they needed throughout, yes, i could have taken them to daycare, long 7am to 5:30pm days, but i think emotionally i probably wouldnt have been there for them, as i was mentally exhausted each and every day. So thanks Mom and Dad for helping out and being there!
The last week we heard final witnesses, closing arguments and then on thursday at about 2pm we were given the trial to deliberate. There was no possible way we were going to come to a conclusion that quickly, so we scheduled ourselves back tuesday (yesterday) at 8:30am. By 2pm, we had made our decision. It was unanimous on all counts. Guilty. The sentencing is not scheduled till august 28th.
Hard to believe I went through all that, hard to understand why someone could do something so awful to family members, and good to know that our justice system works, and happy to be a part of it, in a small way.
Unfortunately hard to get this off my mind, i witnessed sad, scary, emotional and disgusting testimony, i heard words I’d never heard before, I learned about medical terms like suggestibility and confabulation, not to mention legal terms like preponderance of evidence.
Yes i know we made the right decision, was it easy, no. But the justice system works, and we all have our civic obligation to do this, I just got stuck with a sad, sick case.

Another proud moment

Mady had her Dance Recital this weekend, it was a long day, but it was a good one.
Mady took TapII this year and enjoyed it thoroughly and practiced constantly on the kitchen floor, she knew her routine inside and out… backwards and forward… with and without music.. until it came to dress rehearsal, when she got up on the stage with her 7 other dance partners and drew a blank, she was a bit lost. And needless to say, after that was over she was extremely anxious about getting in front of 350 people and messing up.
But Mady, mess up, nah, she got out there, and remember every single thing about the routine and nailed it, I dont think Ive ever seen it done that well. We were ALL PROUD! good job Mady!
here are a few pictures of both the practice as well as the performance!
enjoy!

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Yo-semite

Did you know they actually called Yosemite, YO-semite back early 20th century, at the museum we saw newspaper articles written just that way, it was cool.
This was one of our best trips there, we rode the bus only one time (to the riding stables) the rest of the time, we only used our bikes, or walked… it was so great!
It wasnt crowded, the weather was between 70-75 each day, and it did cloud up a lot, but we never had a down pour of rain except for one evening while just finishing up our smores… which just forced us to bed early… not so bad.
Never really remember being in Yosemite with this weather, and I’d have to say.. it was preferable.

Take a look at our pictures, there are a few pictures at the end where we stopped at Mark Twain’s writing cabin in Tuttletown (on our way home). Max has done a lot with Mark Twain in 4th and 5th grades so this was a good… topping off.

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Max graduates from 5th Grade…

Sure, one might say… oh its only 5th grade, but as you’ve read in many of my previous posts, this wasn’t an ordinary year… Max struggled day in and day out, week after week, with no break, he learned more this year then he probably will learn in his 3 years at middle school. He has projects he’ll keep for life, as he is more proud of them than you know. He started in his first trimester on the A/B honor roll, and we were so proud of him! He then struggled through the 2nd trimester wondering if he would stay on the honor roll, and he did, very happily.
The third trimester, was by far the hardest, and Max, of course chose this trimester to strive for Principal’s honor roll… did he get it?… of course he did… When Max sets his mind to something… he can always do it!
We were very proud of him yesterday, he really deserved to make the honor roll, and he feels now… and only now… he is ready for 6th grade at Marina!
Check out his pictures for the day!

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been awhile

Sure has been a while since Ive posted to the blog. Guess Ive been quite busy. the end of the school year, always keeps me busy, especially as it is usually coupled with a super busy time at work.

I had a few great events pass by, we had some good times.. Mady had Pioneer Day at school, Max is approaching 5th grade graduation, and in doing so, still working so hard to make the honor roll, he should find out today or tomorrow if he did. Yearbooks are in (I create them for the school) so of course that is keeping me busy, gotta find time to get to the school and label and distribute them.

Had a super terrific Memorial Day weekend, relaxing, productive, and great bonding with the family. We’ve all been quite sick with a horendous bug, coughing, sneezing congestion… yuk… glad to be getting over it though.

we are heading to our home away from home on Sunday… thats right Yosemite is just ahead of us, and in that’s not incentive to get up everyday, im not sure what is. We all cant wait!

i will try and keep this updated!

Lake Forest Elementary

Have recently sat in different school  meetings where it is becoming quite clear how poorly California is managing our kids future and their education. As most of us know many teachers received pink slips recently, and our school was not spared, we had 4 pink slips to hand out informing them that they will not have a teaching job come 2009-10 school year. That was the extent of what I had heard for our school, up until a few nights ago.
The latest meeting was led by a very passionate principal of a school within our district. She has been teaching/principal in the district for 17 years, and feels very strongly about the kids in the schools and their future.

Our school district is facing the biggest reduction in funding from the state that it has ever received.  For the past several months the district has been meeting with employee, management and community groups to discuss how to address this deficit. Much of the conversation has revolved around how to keep providing an excellent educational experience with limited resources.  

Since 93% of our budget represents people costs, the deficit would mean larger class sizes, classrooms cleaned less often, grounds with weeds and overgrown grass, less parent and student assistance provided in school offices, longer bus rides for students, less time for principals and vice principals to address student and parent needs, and less support in and for the classroom.

The State of California is addressing its own fiscal crisis and we cannot rely on the state to help us continue our excellent programs.  We can, however, take charge of our own fiscal stability by directly supporting our community’s schools with donations to Save Our Schools campaign.

At first glance of course I was thinking… how in the heck can we expect to go to the school parents and ask them all for more money, again.
HERES WHAT I LEARNED:

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS or “SOS”
Mission: to raise $1,000,000  by June 1st, 2009.
100% of the funds raised will go toward reinstating employees, with the primary focus on those positions that directly affect programs for students. Once those positions are restored, funds will go towards restoring hours for employees who received a reduction in their scheduled hours and filling unfilled vacancies.

If we dont take action what will happen?
Class sizes will go up, instructional aide time will go down, secretarial, custodial and maintenance hours will be reduced. This will directly affect every child in our district educational experience.

What would it take to raise this money?
If every family and employee in the district made a commitment to raise $350 we would have a total of $1,000,000!

 the scary thing is… alot of the same arguments can be made with the park they want to build up the street, and ALL THE SAME people are being hit up to pay for that as well.  And the building of the park was only an additional yearly tax of $57. And its in jeapordy of passing.

So, I guess Im just writing this, to put the facts all down on paper… decide what it is that we really should do… the MOST affected students will be Kindergarten through 3rd grades, as these class sizes would increase from 20 to 25, the 4-5th will remain at 30, and 6-8th will remain the same as well. The instructional aides, counselors, librarians, custodians and secretaries will effect ALL the students, in ways we cant even calculate.

I’ve decided $350 is worth giving me the piece of mind that I have done my part to help my children receive the best possible eductation they can, after all, this is the SOLE reason we moved to El Dorado Hills.

 

Let me know if you plan on joining in the SOS drive

Easter Day 2009

Wow, we are always so fortunate to have our families close by. We spent Easter morning at the Swierstra’s where all the kids found the hidden eggs as well as, found a clue to start a Basket Treasure Hunt. They had a fabulous time. We are so fortunate that Mom and Dad and their two girls (me and Char) and our kids can gather each Easter. Then at noon we split off and Charlyene goes off to her husband’s family and we go off to D’s family… its a perfect day for all. We have a tradition with D’s family to make pupusa’s, a Salvadoran typical food. We make about 300 of them, and they are much like a stuffed tortilla.
Ive created a smilebox to show you our day. Enjoy.

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Spring Break Fun

We really enjoy going to the Swierstra Ranch for a week at a time. (I’ve renamed it as the Yellowhead Resort, we’ll see if it sticks).
The nice part about it, besides the great house, casita in the back, and the pool, is the fact that the kids get a long so well. They really seem to play well together, they find things to do, and they, for the most part, get a long. Max being 11, is the oldest, but Mady is 8, Jacob 7 and Jacalyn 6… so they are all very close.
Ive created a smilebox to show you all the fun we had. Enjoy

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March 28th… and they are already in the pool!!!

Wow… 80 degrees outside… kids couldn’t resist the pool… take a look.

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Max’s Cub Scout era … complete.

Max has finally completed his four year experience with Pack 645. He has made some of the best memories in his 11 years of life… with the cub scouts. His den of 5 were a very close knit group of boys, led by an unbelievably dedicated Den Leader.
We all know how lucky we are to have had Cheryl and Kevin as our leaders! They rock…
here are a few photos of the ceremony (with a few old photos thrown in for fun)

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