Cheers to 46!

 We went out for a literal boatload of sushi on Saturday (WHY DO WE ALWAYS ORDER SO MUCH??), and my drink even had an umbrella. 

Needless to say, I was feeling pretty fancy heading into my mothers' day/bday weekend.

Sunday, we went to Eau Claire to buy merch at a sporting goods store in a creepy mall, walk around campus, and discover a terrific sandwich place. I am trying to take lots os tiny trips to Harry's future campus to make everyone feel less worried about Harry being gone (ME. IT IS ME WHO IS WORRIED) and get to know the drive (a very easy drive except I guess when there is snow, which is probably just December-April).

Merch achieved:

Campus continues to be dazzlingly beautiful

And I can't wait to try the rest of the menu at the sandwich place. WHICH HAS BEER THANK GOD.

Fall in Eau Claire is probably EVEN MORE beautiful. I'M SO EXCITED.

Today, I woke up 46 (I actually woke up at least once when I was still 45 technically because we really wanted to see the northern lights but missed them AL THREE TIMES THIS WEEKEND, and I woke up to check the (cloudy) sky.)

I am still a baby, though, so I opened my present right away.

I can;'t decide if I want to wear it everywhere immediately and stuff it full of leaky pens and baby wipes and lipsticks whose lids fall of or keep it in the box and smile at it from time to time. Probably I should aim for something in the middle?

Birthday crew:

I made myself THIS cheesecake (only, for the crust, I crushed 2 cups of Kirkland brand mini choc chip cookies and melted a stick of butter to hold them together), and we will eat it at least ceremoniously when everyone gets home from school before the evening rush.

I plan to eat mine for real with champagne when I get home from Harry's honors convocation ceremony at his school where he is being honored for his grades AND his speech scholarship from his high school. SO PROUD OF HIM. 

He got a letter from Eau Claire last week telling him his Chancellor's Scholarship and the other academic scholarship he received were both increasing in the amount of the annual gift AND they are now both renewable (previously, just the Chancellor's scholarship was renewable). He's awesome.

Minnie thought it would be a fun treat to "take me" mini-golfing after preschool today for my birthday. LOL FOREVER.

5 on a Friday: Big! Life! NEWS!

 1. Ok, so, you guys remember when our work/life balance shifted last year to be much more WORK FORWARD?

2. Well, I have pretty much stopped complaining, and Minnie has absolutely THRIVED at preschool 5 mornings a week, and I figured out how to make time for everything, etc etc etc. Cooper barely missed a night of diving. Dorothy's dance attendance record is commendable.Things have been mostly just fine. Very life-centric again. Date nights. Movie nights. Lots of goofing off. Family days. We found our sea legs. Except.

3. Ben REALLY MISSED academia. It turns out, the stories Ben really wants to tell are about universities and why they're awesome. He missed talking to college students and their parents and being part of a bustling campus and mascots and alumni celebrations and parades and sports teams-- the whole ball of wax.

4. Soooooooooo... starting THIS VERY MONTH MY GOODNESS, he is AVP of marketing and communications at our alma mater BRADLEY UNIVERSITY!!! The place where we met each other at camp when we were in high school! The place where we spent the funnest 4.5 years of our LIVES (we took a victory lap our senior years to the tune of PRIVATE SCHOOL TUITION. because that's how fun college was!)

5. YES, BRADLEY IS IN NOT-MADISON, and, yes, that is a logistical conundrum since. my job is in Madison, and so is our house and all the kids' friends and the D1 diving facility where Cooper trains, etc etc etc. (ALSO MY PENSION). So, I mean, there are a few wrinkles to work out. Bradley is in my hometown, and we have friends there, and we both deeply love the college and its cityp, so we are not saying never in terms of relocating. But! FOR NOW, Ben is remote part of the week and on campus the rest, and you know what? It's going to be great because he is so freaking excited, and I have already volunteered my Lydia cosplay services whenever they are needed (IYKYK).

The day of his on-campus interview, our Wordle starting word-- the one we both use EVERY SINGLE DAY-- was the answer, and Coop found a 4-leaf clover when he got out of my car at drop off, and and and! The lottery-admission magnet middle school where Dorothy got a spot for the 2024-2025 school year but Cooper did not (the same place where Jack and Harry went and where we planned to send Dorothy even though that would mean 5 kids at 5 separate schools) called to tell us COOPER GOT IN, TOO, making our entire year manageable for one parent to get everyone where they need to go most days. (I mean only one parent will be here most days-- the kids will go where they need to be every day LOL) THEY CAN RIDE THE BUS IN THE MORNING, and I can pick them up, drive literally 8 minutes to dive (instead of the 26 minutes we drive now) and take Dorothy to dance on my way home.

BUCKLE UP, FRIENDS, we are doing this!! Because seriously WHY NOT have your oldest kid go to college and also your husband live out of town part of every week and work a full time job and have 4 other kids INCLUDING A PRESCHOOLER at home? SOUNDS SIMPLE TO ME. LET'S GET A PUPPY.

LOOK, the old bronze lady is SMILING-- even she is happy for him!

We are so proud and excited, you guys!!

May Goals

 Something I now know about myself: my NYE (NEW YEAR ENERGY) takes a YUGE dip in March, might be salvageable in April unless major life events happen and then sort of tries to emerge again in May at the end of the academic year. How do I know this? From TRYING to touch base with monthly goals and track things like regular exercise (which I am still doing because I need to do it to be happy).

SOOOOOO.

Ok.

This month is the last one with someplace for the kids to go besides this house until SEPTEMBER. I am going to take advantage of the end of the school year (they go all month and the first week of June THANK GOD— literally) to figure out my summer goals-- starting with this current month. May is always hard to plan because the weather is weird in the midwest (hot this year-- I hope this is not how the summer is going to go), and all the kid activities are in flux. STILL. I need to get it together.

May Goals

1. Leave Madison for some quick day/overnight trips because we have not left Madison (except for a few MKE suburb sojourns for kid activities) THIS YEAR.

2. Staff my large fall class as completely as I can before the end of the faculty contract year.

3.  GET A HAIRCUT. It has been twelve weeks since I got a trim, and the shape of my hair is… not good? Like, it gets really heavy through the ends. And! It is a terrible length right now in that it looks ridiculous when it's even a little bit humid outside (IT HAS BEEN HUMID EVERY DAY FOR THE LAST 12 WEEKS), but I can't put it up. 

4. DYE MY FREAKING GRAYS before they are a disaster. This might be an early June thing, but STILL. (I also went a shade darker w/ my Madison Reed (Sondrio is my color), and they covered MUCH BETTER).

5. Read my 8 books of the month that have been languishing on my shelf for literal months

6. Keep up my weekday morning yoga streak-- love it!

7. Set a grocery budget and stick to it. (We are actually doing a really really good job of eating all of our food and also always having food on hand, but I think we could be thriftier. I think I am not using Costco to my advantage. Right now it is just a place where I spend tons of money on huge boxes of stuff I don't need, but actually? There ARE things there that are a better deal than the regular store, and I need to figure out what those things are and how I can stick to my list when I shop. My last 2 tripes have been in the DOUBLE DIGITS (WHAT) so I am def making progress).

8. Figure out my summer calendar. I have been scheduling private dance lessons for Dorothy and massage and acupuncture for myself with basically no thought to how my days will run-- THIS IS DUMB. Part of the problem is I am not sure exactly what the diving schedule looks like, and I have NO CLUE what the dance schedule is yet-- so nothing feels real. I know I am teaching for 90 mins in the morning for 6 weeks and that Minnie is doing part day camp 3 days a week at her school for 4 weeks during that time (DO NOT ASK ME ABOUT THE OTHER 2 MORNINGS OR THE 2 WEEKS BEFORE HER CAMP STARTS LOL SOB). I know she'll be doing evening swim lessons because of that (even though I would rather take her in the morning because I am very much NOT a quality time mom and prefer to do my activities with the rest of the burned out quantity time moms). But most of the rhythms of our days are totally unknown.*****

Gah, summer. Can't wait but also YIKES.

*****After I wrote this post, Cooper broke 2 toes in wood shop when he dropped a big piece of wood on his foot when he was helping his teacher move it. Soooooo. Diving? Baseball? Up in the air right now. **yikes face**

Things that do not suck

 THESE protein bars are the opposite of sucky. I love them SO MUCH I have my own discount code. Sarah15 for 15% off.

THESE granola bars are delish and fun to make. (I add a scoop of PB and use mini choc chips instead of raisins and omit the cinnamon)

It's Power Wheels SEASON!

THE WEATHER is so perfect that we can go to the park on the way home from preschool, and my little old fashioned doll and I are STOKED

We were both decked out in Costco finery today. My shirt is actually a dress that Dorothy bought and didn't like. I abhor the Costco return line, so once it comes home with me, it is mine forever.

LILAC SEASON!!

We grocery shopped so much on Sunday that the ENTIRE MINIVAN was full of food from passenger seat to trunk. And by gocoery shopped, I mean picked up things we ordered via app from bed and watched people put in our car.,

Except for Costco. We went inside there like IDIOTS. WHY DID I COME ON SUNDAY?!?!

(Also, I think I need these for serving all means from now on)

Sunday baseball was beautiful! Minnie kep asking for "sun scream" and I barely put any on her, thinking she would be fine, but now her little shoulders are burned. OOPS.

Late-night, kid-free trip to Menards. WE REALLY KEEP THE ROMANCE ALIVE,

Service at the Elks Club on Saturday was not amazing (Kentucky Derby party, very crowded, out fault for sure), but I took this pic from our table of Ben and Minnie exploring the pier while we waited.

HARRY WENT TO PROM. OMGGGGGGGGG.

Minnie was ALL IN for pictures. At one point as ALL THE KIDS just stood there with no one making a decision about where to pose for pictures at the arboretum, Harry's GF's mom was like, OK everyone, let's play follow the leader as she led the group to a pretty area with flowering trees, and Minnie piped up with I LIKE THAT GAME! WHEN IS IT MY TURN TO BE THE LEADER! CAN WE PLAY WHAT TIME IS IT MR. FOX NEXT?

We also made him pose at home, obvi.

LOOK AT THOSE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS!! The girls in the group made all the girls' bouquets and the boys' lapel flowers (and they were GORGEOUS), so Harry brought some roses.

Cooper's Little League team got to play at Helfaer Field in the Milwaukee Brewers' parking lot, and it was SO FUN AND CUTE. It's our last time playing there (unless Minnie plays baseball), and we all had a blast. Even Ben who got a BLISTERING SUN BURN in 55-degree, overcast weather. Coach HArry made a pre-prom appearance to squeeze in some NHS volunteer hours.

Minnie was my date Friday night while Dorothy was at a bday party. She always picks the same place.

Dorothy found some silver high heels to weat to Harry;'s graduation, and she lurves them

IT IS CHALK SEASON!!

Ben finally got the picture he has been dreaming of in his Craig Counsell shirt that was his favorite bday present.

I declined Ben's offer to get me one of these darling puppies for my birthday, but it is a GOOD SIGN that we are having serious dog talks. We are going to settle into some new life rhythms and revisit the issue soon. Plus we want a girl puppy, and these little cuties are both boys.

Jack KILLED IT in his spring play, and we al loved the show (it was a series of 4 one-act plays about the course of relationships. They were funny and touching, and Jack was HILARIOUS)

There you have it-- some good things amid all the complaining I do on the regular.