"After Bar"

I have been adding to my "After Bar" to-do list for months. Some items are fun: read a book for pleasure! (I remember that, long ago.) Others represent how much of the daily around-the-house / family responsibilities Derek has been towing for me. And perhaps the biggest chunk are all those long-term responsibilities that are on the bottom of everyone's to-do list (scrapbook the last year! Replace the window that broke before winter), except that mine have been collecting there for three months now, or really longer since Elaine was born four months ago, and only fairly pressing things have been attended to since sometime before that. Now I have until the beginning of September, when I start working at my firm, to get them done!

So, here I am at last, with this great weight lifted. I knew it was an albatross around my neck, but I don't think I could even recognize the extent that ("I should be studying") permeated everything. Even doing dishes is fun, when you don't have to get studying afterwards. It's rather remarkable.

So, you are thinking, 'but what about the bar?!' Well, it was on Tuesday and Wednesday; it's over. It is a very, very hard test. You know you missed lots of questions - some points which you maybe could have remembered from the thousands of points of law you tried to memorize, and others that came out of left field and you picked one of the three of four choices that seemed equally possible, and moved on. But that's OK, because you only have to get like 60% of the points to pass, and they "scale" the results so that about 80% of takers pass in Minnesota. So, I just hope that what I did sufficed. I'll find out in early October; it's in their hands now.

In the meantime, I am, for the first time in a very long time, not working, not going to school, not pregnant -- able to enjoy my two great kids and my husband, and, sometimes, just lay on the couch and read a magazine. Or not. Whatever. That's a beautiful thing.

-JRR

The day is here

Jen has successfully completed Day 1 of 2 of her Minnesota Bar Exam. After three years of law school and the last two months of intense study, Jen is inching towards being a bona fide practicing attorney. She must complete tomorrow's day of testing then wait for several month several months before she gets the results that enable her to be admitted to the bar sometime in late fall.

The day ended with Jen exhausted but upbeat. At noon, I brought the girls down to the St. Paul River Centre where the exam was being administered to meet up with Jen during her lunch break. Elaine was fed and the rest of us had a nice lunch and Jen was momentarily distracted from worrying about the exam. It seemed to have worked pretty well. We said goodbye to Jen and I then decided since we were already there to go across the street to the Minnesota Science Museum. The main selling point to Meredith was that they had dinosaur bones there. And indeed they did. Meredith was impressed. She also got to see a puppet show about polar bears, learn a little about Minnesota wildlife. We saw a short movie about the solar system projected on a big sphere and a short National Park Service video about Mammoth Cave Park. Meredith proclaimed the later film boring and it was hard to argue her point.

At one point it became clear that we had done a gratuitous over-run into Meredith's nap, compounded by a few days of deficit sleep on Meredith's part. I sought to remove a disappointed preschooler from the excitements of the museum. I was successful but suggested one last spot on the way out, the museum gift store. I learned then what couldn't be more self-evident. Tired, bored, and crabby 3.5 year-olds generally should not be invited into a gift store.

After much begging, whining , and demanding, we were able to leave the gift shop with the one thing I intended this whole time, a kid-oriented book on dinosaurs. Added to that was $2.25 worth of polished, shining rocks that Meredith shared with her friends later in the day.

Elaine slept most of the time at the museum. We'll have to be sure to bring her back when she's a bit more able to appreciate the experience!

City living

We really love our neighborhood. It's fairly quiet. It has a lot of amenities that are close by and even walking distance. You can walk to the library, parks, bicycle-pedestrian path, post office, grocery stores, video store, Target, a couple great coffee shops, a farmers' market, and a bunch of restaurants. We have great neighbors and love being in an older neighborhood. That being said, living in the city can have some downsides. One of them we discovered last night.

While I was penning my poetic attempt in the last blog entry (no offers to publish it yet), I thought I heard some strange knocking or scratching noises outside or on another part of the house. I couldn't tell where they were coming from, so I got up and looked around outside a bit but didn't see anything or hear anything else. I made sure the doors were locked and forgot about it.

Fifteen minutes later I hear conversations outside and a bit later see two police officers with flashlights going car to car. They find one car with four people crouched down in the seats directly in front of our house and proceed to arrest them. It turns out this crew was breaking into cars up and down the block. In the morning you could see based on the piles of glass from the broken side windows where they started and where they ended. They were doing each car in a row indiscriminately. Based on where they were stopped in their activities and arrested, our car would have been the next target. All told, we counted at least 16 cars broken into the next day. A pretty prolific group. Thank goodness the police actually caught these instigators. So often these kinds of crime aren't solvable or don't get the attention of the police.

So, it's a bitter-sweet story. Our car wasn't broken into, but a lot of others were. No one likes to have arrests made in front of their house, but it's nice that the perpetrators were actually caught.

We still love where we live. But incidents like this leave a bad taste in the mouth for a while.

Twas the weekend before the bar exam

The big bar exam is this Tuesday and Wednesday. Jen's been working incredibly diligently the last two months to prepare for this monster test. I've gotten to go on walks with her with the stroller and quiz her with her flashcards. The walks in part have given me large calluses on my poor sore feet. (I've got to get better footwear.) It's been a marathon, but soon it will be over after two big days.

I penned a quick poem in honor of this occasion...

Twas the weekend before the bar exam
And all through the house
The pressure was palpable to even a mouse.

Flashcards on tort rules, crime definitions, and the commerce clause spread everywhere
And fortunately not anyone's pulled-out hair.

The law grad was zonked out in her bed
Dreaming of intestate wills and criminal standards for neglect.

Her family around her eagerly looked forward to
The returning of the person they once knew.

For this two-day test requires knowing so much information
Such as the requirements for articles of incorporation.

Utilizing the materials, lectures and sample tests from the inept Barbri
Against whom she has probable cause to raise an army.

So she shuts herself down in the basement each summer day
Learning the constitutional standard for eminent domain.

For instance, she must know what the universal commercial code
Specifies for when a contract can be revoked.

The law grad's last brain cells will be spent
As she crams in the levels of scrutiny in the 14th amendment.

Legalese Latin has been kept to a minimum;
Still there are words like "impleader, joinder, and subject matter jurisdiction."

After all this she'll earn her vacation
And not think about interlocation.

During the intense weeks there haven't been too many tears
But some expressed wish that the exam would disappear.

On Tuesday and Wednesday she'll sit down with her peers
All hoping to be certified lawyers this year.

Picture 900 nervous lawyers clutching their pens
With visions of being admitted to the bar in their heads.

We know she can do it, despite the difficult test.
Thursday AM, and after, we'll give her a rest.

She'll pack up her things and turn in the exam
And exclaim: I can breathe again. Hip hip hooray!

Backyard videos

Meredith is "a little bossy" with her agreeable friend Cate.


Meredith plays with Cate and Frank, Jr.
Warning: there are a lot of high-pitched squeals in this video.


Who would think a blanket could be so much fun?

Sharks and polar bears...

Shrimp!

We're just plugging along at the homestead. Elaine continues to progress and not progress. She's progressing with her eye-hand coordination and her vocalizations. She's not progressing when it comes to eating from a bottle. Her insistence on eating just the one way has been trying on the parents. She is fortunately nearing the time where we can get her started on solid foods, which will hopefully open some alternative avenues so she can give her mom a rest. One Elaine's favorite activities right now is to grab her left foot with her left hand. She hasn't mastered the other three hand-foot combinations yet--but that one she has done perfectly. Elaine can roll from her back to her side and vice versa. In the mornings she sometimes practices a roll on the floor with me. She is continuing to teethe. Every couple of days consists of her chewing and sucking on her fist and some toys. She can really shove that fist far in her mouth

Meredith loves soccer at preschool on Thursdays and playing with Cate and Junior on most evenings. Today she drew a picture of her playing with her two good friends. Earlier this week we went for a walk with her friends down the block. Three 3.5 year-olds have very interesting conversations. They collected sticks and talked about what they were going to be when they grow up. Meredith's plans entail being a mommy and a lion tamer/trainer at the zoo. She'll live and work in St. Paul and have a boy and a girl.

A recent conversation with Meredith at dinner this week:
Mer: What's for dinner?
Parent: Shrimp!
Mer: I don't like shrimp.
Parent: You used to like shrimp. You ate it up last time.
Mer: Well I don't like it now.
[time lapse]
Mer: I don't like shrimp.
Parent: It'd be nice if you took a bite of it.
Mer: Okay. [grumble]
[takes a bite]
Mer: I like the shrimp!

Meredith proceeds to eat up the shrimp. The next night we use the leftover shrimp in another meal and have the exact same conversation again.


Sisters!


Blueberry picking with mom. Meredith has high standards for which berries get picked.


Elaine's special seat allows her to see across the room.


Toy just entering or leaving Elaine's mouth.


Meredith's drawing from preschool. It is our backyard. As she explained it to me, the fence surrounds the picture. The orange on the top-right is the fence gate. Meredith and her friends are the blue and two yellow items in the middle. And the orange and yellow on the left are Meredith's parents watching her play with her friends.

Back to normalcy

After a fun-filled week in Wisconsin, we're back to normalcy or something close to it. It's always difficult to get back into the swing of things after a vacation. You have to clean up and and unpack. And, home just isn't as fun--especially when everyone is tired and boring and the temperature is 95 degrees. Meredith certainly thinks her parents are pretty boring at such times and she's probably right. What follows then is a grouchy 3 year-old who pleads to be able to watch television among other usually poorly-timed or outright unreasonable requests.

Fortunately, the weather got cooler pretty quick and everyone's mood improved. Meredith enjoyed getting back to her friends at preschool after being gone. She also had a fun soccer day at preschool today, during which she got to kick the ball past the coach into the goal. (She explained the set-up and process excitedly to her parents a couple times, referring to the orange traffic cones as "construction circles with lines up."

Meredith is also getting more sneaky. Tonight when she was supposed to be in her bed I went to her room and saw a flash jumping into the bed. Meredith had the presence of mind to then lie on her back, close her eyes and pretend to sleep. The artificially stiff pose and wide grin on her face may have betrayed her performance a bit, as well as the loud running to the bed seconds earlier. Meredith was able to keep it up for about 4 seconds and then couldn't resist responding to my charge about her being out of bed. "I wanted to get my door open." We quickly settled on a compromise status for the door and said goodnight. She only got out of bed one more time after that.

Everything else this week is pretty typical. Jen's studying everyday for the bar exam in two weeks. She has enlisted me to quiz her from her flashcards. Usually we go for a walk with Elaine on the greenway as I quiz her on duties of care on tort negligence and attorneys' professional responsibilities to clients and the difference between general and specific intent crimes, or some such gibberish that I really don't understand but she seems to.

Wisconsin fireworks

The Green Bay leg of our trip went by fast. We arrived mid-day on July 4th. It didn't take long to get in the pool and for Meredith to go on a bike ride with grandpa. Meredith's grandparents gave her the coolest bike jersey ever, one with a big picture of Shrek that says "Shrek Rules!" Grandma and grandpa wore their matching jerseys too!

On the night of the fourth we were treated to a barrage of illegal fireworks in the immediate vicinity for hours. It was difficult for the adults to get some sleep. Fortunately, somehow Meredith and Elaine both eventually did fall asleep and stay asleep even as bombs burst in the air. My Aunt Dottie arrived from the airport after 10 PM and thankfully the fireworks slowed down about an hour after her arrival. Dottie was visiting from California to join the grandparents on a week-long bike trip in northern Wisconsin next week.

We got to see a bunch of family we don't get to see often enough. Many pictures are below. The Jensens came over on two days. Meredith had fun with them all, but Zach is the coolest guy in her book. My grandmother, Aunt Sue, and cousins Robert and Jennifer visited too. Jennifer brought Landon, her ever-growing and adventuring toddler. On the last night we ate emu burgers, brats, and lots of berries and ice cream.

And now the pictures and one video below...


One of the first things Meredith did was to go on a bike ride with her mom and grandpa


Meredith got a Shrek biking jersey that matched her grandparents'


Waiting for food with Grandpa Dave


A double rainbow view from the restaurant


Cousin Natalya holds Elaine as Kayla looks on


Elaine hangs out with Aunt Sonja, along with Grandma Cathy and her cousin Zach


Meredith had lots of fun with her big cousin Zach.


Meredith couldn't get enough time in the pool


More pool fun!


Meredith experiments and tries to draw with her toes


Zach reads the Gunniwolf story to Meredith


Meredith gets her grandma to read too


Elaine holds a conversation with Kayla

Bjella family fun

After Jen spent two full days doing a practice bar exam (ugh), she came home, helped finish the packing, and we all jumped into the car for a multi-hour drive to meet up with her Bjella family gathering in Wisconsin. We made better time than the previous week's road trip. Shortly after nightfall, we arrived and were besieged by relatives anxious to meet the three month-old Elaine for the first time.


Cute mother and daughter


Crowd in the cabin


Meredith plays with cousins Emily, Elise, and Jaz.


Grandmas are awesome!


Grandpas are very proud (with Great Uncle Steve looking on)


Playing a wicked-long game of cards (10 to 1). Eric was the champion of the day.


Meredith had lots of fun playing board games with her cousin Emily


There is no escape for Elaine...

With Grandma Gail and cousin Elise


Meredith went fishing with Grandpa Kerry 3 or 4 times over the three days.

One of Meredith's catches!

Happy dad, happy baby


Great Aunt Becky makes lots of silly faces while Elaine sits with Great Grandma Lael