#3's #4, Part 3

The picture above is Jack at school. I volunteer in his classroom on Friday mornings (giving spelling tests 3 kids at a time, which is both tedious and adorable), and jack got done with his spelling test and spelling packet, so he set up shop in the reading corner.

Below, we have Cooper at Old Navy, where I took him and Dorothy to pick out clothes to wear for their school pictures on Wednesday.  Dorothy picked a way less silly outfit than I was hoping she would.

We went to target to find Cooper some socks he would deign to wear to his bouncy house birthday party.  Start Wars knee socks for the win.

I pretty much love his whole party ensemble.

Dorothy scampered right in, one of the big kids.

Wind tunnel.  Jack brought his BFF to the party, and Harrison and his friend chose to go to a different party.  But I couldn't blame them-- their friend was turning 10 and having a baseball party, so.

I kept trying to get a picture of all of my children.  No dice.

I did a lot of sliding.

Cooper had a mild sock-related meltdown mid-party.

He really liked his Transformers cake.

Science is hilarious.

A pretty much group shot.

Nonplused.

SHE HAD SO MUCH FUN

He was very serious when we sang.

Almost a good one!

He was SO SWEET during present opening even though he is really shy and hates to be the center of attention in public.  He said thank you to each friend after he opened the gift-- really cute.

Here are some randoms from Ben's camera:

Then, you guys, the most bloggable event happened that I TOOK ABSOLUTELY NO PICTURES OF.

Virginia and her awesome family came over for dinner!  Her children were all adorable and wonderfully behaved.  And Dorothy and Cooper were both over tired and horrible and screamed the whole time.  But still!  It was so fun!  And as soon as they left, I started kicking myself for the lack of pictures.  WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

New beds, no naps, Marigold Fest, and another busy week

I mean, seriously. The title really sums this up, no?

Cooper LOVES LOVES LOVES his new bunk bed.

And Dorothy is also thrilled with the firetruck. EXCEPT SHE DOESN'T NAP ANYMORE.  She just ransacks her room.  It's so relaxing.

Last weekend, we went to Pekin to celebrate Cooper's birthday with my parents and go to the Marigold festival, which I have always wanted to visit with the kids.  IT WAS SO FUN.

Cooper was happy to have another bday celebration-- he has one more this weekend.

My mom made shit on the grass shots-- SO GOOD.

We also came to town to see my brother who was in the wedding of his friend from 1-3 grade who used to live in the house behind ours (well, the house we used to live in when we were little kids).

I find so many selfies like this on my phone all the damn time.  I am SO LUCKY.

It was a chilly parade morning.

Turns out, the kids LOVE parades.  They're really good at eating candy out of the street.

We saw my best friend from grade/high school and her 3 beautiful little girls, including her 7-week-old baby.

Look how hard she is grabbing his hair!

The bar across the street had a $3 bloody mary bar.  An excellent parade location.

Oh, Jack.

Dorothy had the MOST fun

I mean, a giant piece of pizza.

Look at my little marigolds.

At Art in the Park, I had to paddle the boys around the lagoon in a giant dragon-shaped boat.

Who doesn't love a dirty old carnival?

Best ice cream sandwich ever.

This is happening.  I am not going to jinx it with commentary.

 These lovely things from my garden/CSA?  Became a lovely spaghetti sauce for the freezer and for dinner on Tuesday.  Help us.  We are drowning in tomatoes.

 Monkey

 Jack had a playdate, and he walked him home-- it was totally adorable.

 OH MY GOD SHE'S SO CUTE.