Counselor Kuehn

Well, it was a long time coming, but here it is, I'm officially sworn in and an officer of the court. We in the 5th district (southern Illinois) were sworn in at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville. There were about 140 new attorneys. Nana, Mike and Jack came in support, which was nice. J was asked by Justice Karmeire, presiding Illinois Supreme Court justice, to make the motion that our class be certified by the court. He did a lovely job. Nana and Mike didn't hear him, but the class did and he gave a great little speech about the honor and responsibility of the profession.

In the pictures, a lovely congratulations bouquet from Emmy, me and my license, me and J at the ceremony, me accepting the license (Nana took the picture, but I didn't pause long enough), the swearing in room and Jack and me and J near the podium. (I look terrible due to my recovery from a kidney infection, but the antibiotics have kicked in and I feel a great deal better.)

May Day

Here we are at the beginning of May, soccer practice has begun as has running by Brooke and Caroline. Our Jack continues to march to the beat of his own drummer, not listening to his teachers or soccer coaches when we'd like, but at least he's not a sheep. Today he has insisted that his name is "Tuck." Anytime any of us call him anything else he reminds us, "My name is Tuck." And so it goes. I received flowers from my father in law today, which shocked me a bit, but he said there a great deal of mothering of all in this house. I laughed. Everyone's doing well, the twins are getting so big.

I generally say "Come on, girls," when we travel around the house and Caroline and Brooke have now been saying "Come on!" to us when they feel we aren't moving fast enough. Brooke is our academic, I think, because she sits and reads her books quietly while Caroline and Jack are destroying the house.

Jack bit a child at school, hard enough to have bite marks. Great. Not only that, he bit the teacher's child.....I say if you're going to bite, let's try not to bite the teacher's kin? Kidding. Of course, great teaching moment there.

In the pictures, Justin and the babies, Brooke and Caroline watch soccer practice, the three color on the kitchen floor (so glad they are all starting to play together), Jack kicking the soccer ball!

Grandparents Day

Jackson had his first grandparents day at school. While he is blessed with three grandparents, one is in Florida as a snowbird right now, one in Kansas City and one shares his time between our town and Kentucky. Thankfully, Grandpa was in town and able to come to Grandparents Day. Big fun was had by all. Grandpa and Jack made a hat, had ice cream floats and played in the playground. I never had a grandparent near by growing up and am really glad that Jack and the twins have theirs around. Grandpa was a little outside of his comfort zone, but he really enjoyed himself and Jack enjoyed showing him school. In the pictures, Jack and Grandpa, the twins play at Jack's school during Grandparents' Day and Brookie enjoys the first ice cream of the year.

Just in time for the reunion......

I went to law school to be a lobbyist, because I inherently like to study power and pack mentality and politics seemed like the right place to find a good subject. And find it I did, fighting along battles with a soft drink company during the obesity debate and with an alcohol company during some of the worst fiscal years in state government seen in decades. I have had a year at home away from politics and corporate America and while I miss some of the perks, I really don't miss it. I like being with my kiddos. Needless to say, as I began thinking about needing to go back to work, I could not fathom starting to travel again. Stationed in a non-state capitol as we are, a lot of my job was traveling to lesser known midwestern capitols to train contract lobbyists on the subjects that the company of the day cared about. It was fun, don't get me wrong. I spent time at the Laguna Miguel Ritz Carleton, Reynolds Plantation, Phoniecian, Ritz in Naples, Sea Island, The Broadmoor......and places like the Radisson in Fort Worth, TX, which is a bad town and chain regardless of where one stays. Every time I was in one of those places, though, at the end of the day, alone in a hotel room, I was lonely. It was, though somewhat glamourous, a lonely job. I want to make sure that I record these reflections because I may remember too fondly one day. To make a long story longer, I realize that I really am a homebody, married to a homebody, who has given birth to three homebodys. And so, I need to stay in town and work. And being at home, with the kiddos, giving them dinner and putting them to bed each night does not compare to going to a presidential Inaugeration or a suite at the Rolling Stones concert. I would much, much rather be at home.
I have been thinking about all the in-town, low travel jobs I could have over the last year. I thought seriously about not-for-profit leadership, as they are advocacy groups needing a visionary, but for some reason, cannot seem to make the leap from corporate to not-for-profit, despite my best intentions. I thought about a public relations agency, because I love campaigns, but also requires a lot of travel. I thought about marketing and community relations, but I am overqualified. And in the back of my mind screamed, TAKE THE BAR EXAM. I went to law school to be a lobbyist, but always thought I would eventually be a small town lawyer, have my own clients and hang out at the local courthouse. So, the day after Christmas in 2009, I began again. With J's assistance and a dedication of 5 hours a night and 8 hours a day on the weekends, I am thrilled to report that just in time for the 10 year reunion, I will be officially a member of the Illinois bar on May 6. And now we begin to worry about finding a job. But hey, at least we have the potential of having a job in the county seat here with great potential for growth.
In the pictures, Brookie and her first pigtails, Jack and Aunt Emmy, Jack and the Easter Bunny, Grandma and the crew at the neighborhood easter egg hunt.

Sheer Joy

We are exhausted here at Camp K. We had a week of pneumonia (Caroline) and a sinus infection (Brooke) and teething. No sleep for anyone. All kiddos took a 2 hour nap today and I joined them. Sheesh. I did, however, get a pedicure courtesy of my Mom's birthday present to me, so the day was not a total loss. However, things are on the up and up, god willing. We did get out to lunch with our Auntie Carolle and made a short shopping trip for spring clothes, always a fun time. A job interview for me was rescheduled for the beginning of April and should hear about the big exam by the middle of April as well. Picture of Brooke in our backyard swing.

Springtime Joy

For the last two weeks, we have been sick. I have had the flu, J has had the flu, Jack had the flu and then bronchitis, Brooke and Caroline have had the flu and now some cold. I am absolutely spent with the constant congestion, sadness and puking. I never understood why so many women say that the hardest job they ever had was being a stay at home mom, but it's true. It is the best paid, in love, of course, but it is a toughie.

The boys are going to a birthday party later on, the twinners and I will stay here and try and get healthy. I visited a health food store for echianecia, which is supposed to have some immunity building properties. We'll have to see. In the photos, finally a good one of Jack, playing with bubbles and the twins first thing in the morning.

Love Test

The ear tube surgery went quite well, though yesterday Brooke had dried blood in her ear, which worried the pediatrician, we have to head back on Monday.......the test went better than past tests? I didn't panic and answered everything. There were things I knew and things I sort of knew. I did pull the Daubert principal out from the back of beyond, so maybe I'll be lucky and good. However, I know that it could really go either way and I would not be surprised.

I am giving up an opportunity to have a job like I did at AB. Lots of travel, interesting topics, etc. I was asked to travel to DC for the final round of interviews and I'm not going to go. Too many responsibilities. It may be the greatest love test of all, giving up the career. Well, not giving it up, but at least changing it. Hard though, when you are a former LIVE TO WORK kind of gal.

The twins are doing well. Jack is doing well at preschool, though in his evaluation with his teacher, we need to work on paying attention and sitting still. As J said, we really did not need a parent-teacher conference to tell us that! We are headed to the Science Center today, hope that the dinosaurs are viewed as interesting and NOT scary! (For me, anyway.) Recent pics.....Caroline and Brooke are really walking, Jack holds the twinners and Caroline tries on Dad's glasses.