Nikon pictures. Finally.

Okay you guys.  I have a shit load of photos to share with you.  65 to be exact.  The thing is, my camera has not been communicating with my computer, so I have been waiting and waiting to upload all the pictures I have been taking with my real camera until the new USB cord I ordered from Amazon finally got here. 2 whole days.  But we've had a lot of events that I have been procrastinating blogging about, so most of these pictures are WEEKS old. 

It has been especially annoying because I just bought a new camera cord last month when we had the same problem.  This time, I got an SD reader too for back up.  So hopefully no more delays.

Let's start with the totally awesome football stadium tour that Harry's soccer team got to go on.  The parents who coach and manage the team bought it in the same preschool silent auction that we debauched a couple of months ago.  The kids LOVED it.  Dorothy and I stayed home because nap.  

 Up next, more pictures of Harry's tremendously fun laser tag party.  17 kids.  1 really loud party coordinator.  5 pizzas.  1 Bears cake.  2 betrayed babies home with a sitter.  And a dad who got his ass kicked by a bunch of 8 and 9 year-olds.  Third graders are the funnest.

 2 more random shots of the Coopernator on his last day of preschool.  He has been so adorable at school this year-- so serious and interested in his routine and proud that he knows all of the pieces of his day.  He saw his friend Emma at the pool the other day and almost died of happiness, and we have plans to meet up with his friend Jackson when he gets home from vacation.  It;s all just too adorable.  And then!  In September, Cooper and Dorothy BOTH go to preschool for the same 10 hours a week.  I am so excited!  I mean, they are so excited!

Ben took Jack on the annual Cave of the Mounds first grade field trip, obvi, because I am WAY too claustrophobic.

I seriously love Jack's unsettling footwear choices.

 One of the little girls in Ben's group kept holding his hand because she was freaked out, and I feel her pain.  But Ben and Jack came home with a million cave factoids.

 And then, suddenly, the big boys had their last day of school.

At dismissal, the teachers always blast music and dance and blow bubbles, and I always choke up a little because it is so sweet.  I was so happy to see my friends with tears in their eyes, too.  But it rained, spoiling our plans for a park picnic, an the teachers moved the celebration inside.

He's an official second grader!

We moved the celebration inside, too.

 It was kind of rough because we had evening guests, too, so I was champagne drunk by 11:30, hungover by 4, and then nighttime drunk playing euchre at 9.  Summer is hard.

On Friday, Dorothy had her Little Gym show, which was the CUTEST and a bit of a sunrise/sunset moment for me.  I have been taking a kid to the Little Gym since February of 2007, when Harry was 8 months old, and I think this was my last semester of parent-child classes.  Dorothy has 3 mornings of preschool next year, so I think we will skip the fall semester and enroll her i a dance class when she is 3 in the spring and can take class without me.  It was a bittersweet class-- so fun because she loves the gym so much and Ben and the boys came, too, to cheer her on, but also sad because even though I act too cool, I will miss the Big! Red! Mat!  If you live near a Little Gym, I cannot recommend it enough.

 Harry genuinely enjoyed ball and bubble time, and Ben and I almost cried because it was so sweet and we remembered his baby classes, of course.

 As we were leaving, Harry looked at the pictures of Little Gym babies on the wall and was like "Wouldn't it be funny if Dorothy's picture was up there?"  And I was like, "Dude, it totally is.  Dorothy's the baby in the blue shirt."  And then she was all. "That's me?"  And it IS!

Today, Harry's cousins and grandparents came to town to celebrate his 9th birthday (my parents are in New York with my brother-- I didn't just neglect to take their pictures). We planned to go to the pool, but it was 65 and raining.  So.

 Obviously, it was a totally classy party.

 With lots of basketball.

 Dorothy's favorite thing is to be swung like this, but this swing was clearly EPIC.

 Ben's parents are cleaning out their storage area, and they brought lots of Benmorabilia like this drama letterman's jacket.

 Okay, guys.  We're all caught up.  I gotta wrap some presents.

Almost summer for real

I am already sick of buying kids total garbage that they DON'T EVEN EAT at the snack bar, so I packed a garbage picnic instead and planned to feed the babies by the tennis courts while Ben and Harry were at hockey.  I packed Harry's separately thinking he would eat it in the car and then forgot it in the fridge.  HE WAS SO MAD.  He ended up eating a half bag of Cheetos, a half bag of Lays, strawberries, and a PB&J with a bite out of it.  Oops.

 Dorothy, Jack, and Cooper, though, loved picnic round 1.

 I got SO TAN today even with sunscreen and a hat.  I went by myself with friends at 1 and stayed until the kids got out of school. Then Ben dropped us all back off at the pool on the way to hockey, and the whole family came home at 8 with everyone tired and crabby.  I had a really serious convo about how women my age can either eat OR drink and got smashed around 2, so I had no choice but to forgo food and keep my buzz.  Just now after the kids went to bed, I fell into a huge bowl of spinach and had a nectarine and 2 pieces of Costco frozen pizza.  So good.

 These two are practically best friends.

 Tuesday was Coop's last day of preschool, and he wrote his little name!

 He requested donuts and a Lego at pick up, and I was so happy to pretend like I bought him a toy but really I just went downstairs and snagged a Duplo set from the huge pile of Christmas gifts the children have still not opened.  I KNOW.

 She had one, too.  A girl one, though, OBVI.

 After donuts for lunch, I ruined Cooper's dinner with library-adjacent ice cream.  Can you believe he had a cavity?

 Today, I took Dorothy and Cooper to school to have lunch with Jack.

 And then threw a pizza party for Harry's class for Harry's birthday

 OMG!  Seriously.  My pool time was amazing.

Almost summer!!

I spent the whole weekend at an intensive writing workshop in my town, at my university.  It was a national conference, but you know my lazy, flight-phobic ass would never go unless it was literally in my backyard.  But it was!  So I went!  And I am excited about my Planned Parenthood book again.

We also went out for a friend's birthday and had a completely awesome time.  I wore a super slutty dress and heals and we stopped by the conference reception on the way where I was horribly over dressed.  But it doesn't matter because we took no pictures of the whole night.

I have actually been way off my photo game lately. Or maybe no one has done anything cute.  Yeah. It's probably that one.

This morning, I realized two things at once.  First of all, I forgot to pack lunches last night.  Second, these are my LAST PLANET BOXES OF THE YEAR because tomorrow the boys need paper-sack-field-trip-lunches and Wednesday, we are bringing Harry's class pizzas to celebrate the big 0-9, and I promised Jack I would come eat Subway with him.  That only leaves Thursday, which is the last day, early dismissal, and a champagne picnic at the park with friends.  So today, the last bentos of the school year.

And on another note, these lunch boxes are amazing.  I did not even get that sick of packing lunches, and the boys only bought hot lunch ONE TIME all year.

 Ben and I took our last one-child trip to Costco today.  It's going to suck to run errands all summer.

 SO MANY NECTARINES

 My favorite thing to do: lie in the sun and take selfies while Ben watches the babies at home and the bog boys play.

 Harry is SO EMBARRASSED of his field trip lunch sack.  There are 2 Bens because my brother is going on Harry's trip, and Ben is going on Jack's

2 more days of school left and then OMG everyone together ALL DAY LONG.  Fun times ahead.

Harry's Birthday, Part I

Harry told us his birthday party was the best one ever, and I gotta tell you, that was lovely to hear.

I am seriously annoyed at myself for not taking better pictures.  I have some pretty good ones on my other camera, but you guys, there are 3 parts to this birthday and then another little part in July, so I promise to share my pics.  ALL OF THEM.

Last night, though, I really wish I would have gotten a picture of Harry and Jack together and of me and Ben with our birthday boy and even one of the betrayed babies when they realized we were leaving with a CAKE and they were hanging with a sitter.  Ha!

But, I didn't.

I think because there were 17 kids at a laser tag party, and it was super hectic.  I spent some time talking to people I barely know, which always makes me sweat.  And the kids were ANIMALS, and the party organizer was YELLING the whole time.  It was a bit much.

But, Harrison LOVED it so much, and that makes it a perfect party.

Luckily his real birthday is 10 more days away, so I am not sad yet.  YET.  Because 9 is old you guys.

2 quick pics

We just saw Entourage with friends, and it was kind of as bad as the second Sex and the City movie and I ate SO MUCH CANDY.  I really liked the movie, though, because I loved the show.  But Ben and I have watched seasons 6-8 in the past 3 days to prepare, and the show was WAY BETTER.  But still, no bedtime duties and a grown up dinner for us.

I'd really like to go to bed right now because my elliptical machine is broken, and I have to walk for fucking ever to burn almost as many calories with my FitBit so I have been getting up in the 5's.  I mean, AT 5.  But, alas, Beatrix isn't sleepy.  The kids are adaptable, but a babysitter really screws with her routine.

 Oh, Dorothy.  She has a scrape on her nose from falling down on the pool deck-- there's a reason the lifeguards suggest walking-- and she won't stop picking it open, so she needs a neosporin bandaid to prevent horrible scarring (I may be overreacting).  The Paw patrol socks, Elsa dress, and leopard leggings are all her.

 Note Dorothy in the background throwing a huge tantrum because she wanted my shoes.  "My turn!" she is screaming.

May: What I Read

I have started listening to Gretchen Rubin's Happier podcast, and it is fantastic. One thing I have embraced -- among many because this podcast is great-- is the idea that it's OK to stop reading a book you don't like.  If I had heard this sooner, I definitely would have made my goal of 14 books because I really wanted to hit 70 this month and here I sit at 69 books.

13. Feminism Unfinished by Dorothy Sue Cobble: This was a work book for sure and I will probably use it in class.  If you are interested in the development of 20th century feminisms, this is a nice, succinct account.

12.  Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline: Meh but a really entertaining meh.

11.  Pretty Ugly by Kirker Butler: A  funny send-up of kiddy pageants but not a lot there.

10.  All the Rage by Courtney Summers:  Not the only young adult book I read this month.  Not the best, either.

9.  Black Dog Summer by Miranda Sherry:  So sad and haunting with a really strange and fascinating plot.

8.  The Children Act by Ian McEwan:  A cool main character and an intricate plot.

7.  All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven:  Now THIS was an awesome YA novel.

6.  Golden State by Stephanie Kegan: Sad and suspenseful-- read it!

5.  In Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen: Loved this-- so entertaining and the characters stayed with me.

4.  Funny Girl by Nick Hornby:  Charming and delightful

3.  The Light of the World by Elizabeth Alexander:  This memoir about losing the love of her life was so, so beautiful and immediate.  I could not put it down.

2.  Listen to Your Mother by Ann Imig:  This book came out of a show of women reading their blogs that started in Madison. I planned to try out for the first show but then Ben had to play golf.  And I am not even still bitter.

1.  Academy Street by Mary Costello:  Oh, wow.  This book reminded me of Maggie Now and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn all grown up.  It was sad and spare and restrained, and I loved every word.