Baaaaaaaa

Because we were in such a hurry to go to the bar the other night, we didn't give the kids a bath (man! that is a classy sentence right there), and they ended up having really skanky greasy hair the next day. Jack had snarls like you wouldn't believe, and when we hugged Harry, he smelled strongly of burger.

Here are some of Jack's shorn snarls:

We drove home from Peoria and practically straight to a chain hair cut place that we had a coupon for (agin! supah classy!)
Harry was pleased to get his Zac 'do trimmed, and like me, he loves to admire his reflection while he's in the chair

I was sort of bummed to see Jack's locks fall on the floor because I have gotten quite a charge out of their hippy hair these last couple of months

Look at all that sweet blond hair!

Even Harry had quite the lap full.

He was very good because we told him he could have toy at Target if he was nice. Ever since we stopped buying absolutely every thing we wanted at the precise second we wanted it, promises of toys for good behavior have been really effective for all of us. Who knew?

Poor Jack.

He manned up as long as he could, butt he kid hates clippers, which is too bad because he looks fantastic with short hair-- he was little baby schlep before, and now he's a handsome mini-Ben.

What would Lydia do? Probably tell these kids to get off her iron skirt.

It has been a year since I put pictures in photo albums, which totally freaks me out. I have been taking pictures, and I have been posting them and backing them up and even printing them, but putting them in albums? Nope.

I used to wait until my camera card was full to even print pictures, but I was ending up with hundreds of dollars in pictures every time I took my SD card to Target, so I finally got wise to the ways of Walgreens.com. Now every Monday, I upload pictures from the previous week and pick them up on my way to campus-- this way I am only spending 8-ish bucks at a time, and I am current on pictures always. Harry sometimes has to bring in pictures of himself that correspond to his units of study at school (a note about that-- he doesn't LEARN ABOUT things, he EXPLORES ABOUT them, and you better get it right, or he will get mad and stompy), and I was sending all these pictures of him as an 18 mont-old until I finally got it together and fell in love with Walgreens photo.

Even with this renewed commitment to staying current on my pictures, though, some event happens that renders my pictures totally out of date before they grace the pages of this blog. This time? We took our kids to SportsClips and had them shorn like little sheepies, so their long scraggly hair that they are rocking in these pictures? Gone.

Still, I love most of these shots because it is so trippy to see Harry and Jack frolicking on the lawn of my alma mater-- a place I never frolicked because A) most of my classes were in the Comm building on the other side of campus where these is no lawn B) I am not a frolicker and C) I was a little too surly to frolic much in college (see B).

Coming home again

I don't mean coming home to Peoria because we do that all the time (or, erm, to Pekin which is almost as cool as Peoria. Yep. You read that right. ALMOST AS COOL AS PEORIA.)

Home to the Bradley speech team, the place Ben and I fell in love and met our best friends.

We enjoyed our own little homecoming last weekend in conjunction with the 62nd annual LE Norton tournament.

We fell into old routines, continued conversations from 1999 like there had never been a pause in the dialogue, sat in an old bar drinking our old favorite drinks and soaking up that Peoria smell. As we walked down Main Street (um, I think it was main street?) to the bar where we'd end our night and call my dad for a ride home like we used to do all the time back in the day (especially this one time when we not only hit up the Steak and Shake drive through but also stopped by the old East Peoria WalMart where Ben was so drunk he spray painted a bunch of shit in the paint aisle-- duh, of course it was the paint aisle-- and also, I think we were getting our MAs at that point, so already too old for such stupidity), I was amazed by how natural it all felt, the people, the conversations, the tipsy walking, the loud Peoria sirens.

Misty and Sharples

Mitch (the fantastic event porganizer) and me

Jon and me-- and hey! He passed the NY bar and is a LAWYER!!

Ben and me-- both of us trying to disguise the Wisconsin double chin (curse you fried cheese curds!)


Are you getting the feeling from these pictures that I sat on my old ass in the same spot ALL NIGHT LONG? Because I pretty much did.

Current team members

Dan, Tanya, and Doug toasting old times

What is especially cool about Bradley speech alums in that we can all talk about the same things even though we graduated at different times-- many of us were not even on the team at the same time, but we were all on the same team. This could take a turn for the maudlin any second, by the way. I am thiscose to pounding on my office walls and belting out the team song or playing some Bob Seger on iTunes or putting on a girdle just for nostalgia's sake.

Jeez. I'm old.

Happy Birthday Mom!

My dad, of whom Jack is completely terrified, got the boys more Halloween costumes to add to their dress-up repertoire. This Batman costume is totally "the invisible pedestrian" from that old Bill Murray SNL skit-- all blck, covers his face, long and easy to trip on-- hilarious

Harry's the red Power Ranger-- I'm glad he has another muscle suit because those never get old for me. Thanks for letting him carry around an old Wii gun, Uncle Ben. Thanks for liberally using the word "gun," too, and for showing him the XMen movie.

We had to go to dinner at like 5 because otherwise the kids (read: me) get cranky, but everyone was really nice about it. I even brought a cake to serve at dinner and then ASKED FOR IT BACK because the meal too a while and I wanted to put the kids to bed. I am classy AND really considerate.

Look! Here are my brothers pretending to like each other-- no, they do like each other. And they are about as far apart as Hary and Jack, so I feel like maybe they give us a glimpse into our future.

Here's Jack FINALLY liking my dad-- it takes him like a day or so to stop screaming hysterically when my dad's in the room. Although on this visit, he had a relapse. My dad came in Jack's room Sunday morning (the day AFTER this smiling picture) and said "Hi," and Jack burst into loud, wet tears. My mom said if my grandma Bette were still alive, she would find Jack's fears hysterical, and I think that's probably right. I know I get a kick out of it. So does Harry, who makes a giant showy production (complete with jazz hands and an intermission for more milk) out of being grandpa's favorite.


After dinner, Ben cemented his favorite uncle status by dragging us to Toys R Us to buy more stuff for Harry and Jack. We rushed back to my parents' house, practically threw Jack in bed, yanked Harry's PJ's on, set my mom's cake ablaze and ran out the door to meet old college friends at a bar (shut up-- it was an official university-sponsored alumni function).

Happy birthday Mom! Hope 57 is your best year yet!

Dude, you guys, Jack is like so helpful these days

Except a really helpful 18 month-old is, actually, a giant pain in the ass.

No offense, kiddo.

But I rarely have 19 minutes or so

to change a trash bag.


I cannot even open a cabinet in the kitchen without him tripping all over himself to pull up a chair so he can rest his fat little elbows on the counter and assist my snack or meal prep. If I blow my nose, the kid is all over the toilet lid to hand me another tissue. When I make breakfast, he opens the low cabinet where we keep the plastic dishes and brings me every plate and bowl he can find. When I turn on the bath water, he dumps at least 64 floating toys in the water and gets out the soaps and lotions. ALL of them. He throws away every dirty diaper, rips as many clothes as he can reach off hangers every time we open his closet door, and fills my work bag with shoes when I leave my closet ajar.

But you know what he doesn't help with?

Cleaning up the toys. Hmph.

Pre-bath antics

Someone has a baby mullet.

I am not saying who it is, but I'll give you a hint: he's wearing a fish mask

Sometimes he looks so much like Ben it makes me gasp a little

Hey-- do you think I should send these goggles with Harry next week for swim lessons?

How cute and squishy is he all curled up with his book? Ben was not home, and I was vacuuming before their bath, and I asked Harry (and Jack) to hang out on the bed and stay out of the way. I took a picture because it was the first time in his whole life that he listened and followed directions.

The other one? Did not. He decided to get the toys ready for bath. See that white thing on his head? Harry stuck a label on him, and Jack wore it proudly all night long.

Harry and Jack and I watched the Charlie Brown Halloween special on CBS last week, and Harry thought Lucy kept calling Charlie Brown a "block hand."

Aaaand then there was another incident (and again! Jack is the aggressor)

and that's the end of my pictures of our night together.

Preening incident