The school year's busy last gasp: BRING ON SUMMER

Ok.  I have ALL OF THE PICTURES and I haven't even done a dump from my big camera, which I have been using because, mainly, I really need a new phone.  I have been doing more than wallowing these days, so let me give you a run-down of all of the things we have been doing on our way to summer (which starts TODAY at 3:38 pm, even though it is rainy and 65 degrees.)

Do these people look like the are ready for summer?  I mean ONE OF THEM IS WEARING A SWEATER because Wisconsin weather should be ashamed of itself.

 Harry and I ran errands on Saturday (like sitting in a 90-minute line for swim lesson sign up and watching people cut in front of us are you kidding me?) We also swung by the ol' library and picked up my holds, which were ambitious.

 Who's a pretty girl?

 Dorothy and Cooper and I got all suited up for the pool on Saturday AND THEN THERE WAS A CODE BROWN and we couldn't even go.  Wah-wah. Splash park for the sort-of win!

 Harry had his 13th birthday at a mini-golf place, where the kids also hit a bucket of actual balls on the driving range and had a water balloon fight.

 Also, I don't think I have mentioned this, but Harry is having an effusion right now.  It has been 3.5 years since any fluid has shown up on his echocardiogram, although he has had instances of chest pains without fluid.  He goes back today for another echo and we are hoping the fluid is gone, although I am not super optimistic because he's still having pain.

 Sunday was Dorothy's dance recital day!!  She slept in cute little old lady curlers on Saturday night and marked the occasion with breakfast outside.  And also can you even believe how big our sweet little trees are getting?!

 We got downtown like freakishly early, a total first (and let's face it liklekly last) for us.

 So we pre-gamed with the world's biggest juice at a cute little hispter courtyard coffee shop.

 Lining up for her first number!  Wirth plenty of time for the moms to hit the bar for a mimosa.

 She's on the very end

 We did a quick change in the stair well which was super hectic, but we prepared by making her wear 2 pairs of tights for ballet, so she could take her pink ballet tights off an already be wearing her nude tap tights.  GENIUS.  And she was so brave about the seams.

 Onstage for the finale

 With her cheering crew:

 We had so much fun!

 Cooper scored his first run in baseball at his team's second win!  Coop has had lots of RBI's this season, but his team hasn't had enough of a hitting streak to see him actually come home.  He was stoked (also he played first base and got all of the outs in an inning by fielding the ball and then flying back to touch the bag. So cute!(

 Dorothy wore her dance costumes to school because WHY THE HECK NOT?

 We enjoyed the end-of-year school picnic

 And also Jack's poster on the 1970s that was AWESOME.

 As was his hair.

 After SEVEN YEARS at his elementary school (from 4K-5th grade), Jack attended his VERY LAST PICNIC

 Speaking of lasts:  Dorothy's last kindergarten party and my last kindergarten party.  I COULD CRY just thinking about it.  Except kindy parties are pretty stressful, so there's a silver lining.

We also soaked in some spring nights by having a picnic with friends at our favorite brewery

 She knows how to relax

 Cooper took this one

We managed to sneak out for a date night at a grown up party, which reminds me that we need more date nights.

 I love this dance picture because we were both so darn happy. Since Dorothy's recital, I have scheduled her for FOUR CLASSES in the fall and also bought the recital DVD and pictures.  I drank the koolaid, what can I say?

 I mean.  SHE WAEARS THE COSTUMES TO SCHOOL.  All the heart eyes.

Okay.  There you have it.  We are ready for today's 5th grade completion ceremony, report cards, and all of the children who will be at our house tonight to celebrate.  And we almost cannot even call them children anymore.

Bring it summer, we are ready for you.  Even though we are not actually ready because sending the kids to school and sitting quietly in an empty house has been amazing and I am already ready already for winter break.

oh good grief

Ugh.  Grief.  It is the worst.

I have whole days where I feel OK-- or, at least where  I don't notice that everything is a little duller than it would have been on April 24.  And then I feel terrible for not actively feeling terrible.  And then I really do feel terrible, you know?  Then I remind myself that I am much sadder than I would normally be basically all of the time and I have gotten so used to this default sadness that it just feels like I am not sad.  Which is, clearly, a horribly depressing line of thought, so then I get sad about that.

I have talked to wonderful friends who have lost parents (the upshot of being one thousand years old is that your friends are also going through these terrible milestones and they can help you work through all of your sad stuff), and they all assure me that this is just how it is.  For awhile.  For longer than I wanted to hear, actually.

Having kids helps.  I mean, not only are kids completely resilient, but also, they force you to live in the present moment because it is pretty much their only moment. (Which, admittedly, is a flaw in the way kids' brains work).

We have (thanks to Family Circle) started playing rose, bud, thorn everyday to talk about the nest and worst parts of our days and something we are looking forward to, and their excitement about summer and the end of the school year is just darling. 

The little three (ha! little!) in Jack's last ever elementary school Friday!!

 Scootering.  In a bikini, like you do.

 Weekend at Bernie's.

 Duggar hair AND a denim jumper.  Dreamy.

 Summer!!  We are so ready for you!!

Read my super duper smug post about Pride and kids on Madison Mom's Blog :)

Dorothies Love Trophies

If you have ever parented on the Internet, and chances are you have because you are reading an old-fashioned mommy blog, then you know that participation trophies get a bad rap.  But look at the smile on this kid's face!

She got trophies for gymnastics and dance this week, and I kind of love that even though these are both rec activities, she has a tangible item to commemorate her hard work and improvement over the course of the year.

Ballet 1:

Tap 1:

Her tap teacher, who is also the studio owner and just so intimidatingly cool, is really, really funny.  She asked the girls if they could do a disco pose (they have a disco tap number that is basically the most adorable thing I have ever seen) without poking each other in the face, and they sort of could!

Dorothy also had show week at The Little Gym.  As you know from this old blog, we have been going to The Little Gym since February 2007, and I hope Dorothy wants to keep taking gymnastics there for awhile to come.  It's the Cadillac of kiddie activities, and we have never found a more incredible, nurturing, supportive place for kids to grow and make friends and figure out how to share with each other and learn new skills.  I am a TLG fan for life.

 (She was being the Statue of Liberty here, OBVI)

 Thanks for everything, The Little Gym of Middleton!  We can;'t wait to see you for camps this summer and to pick up where we left off in the fall.

Lunching Ladies

Two of my friends had a birthday yesterday, so it was a long, lovely day of celebrating.  I took a 3-hour hiatus to run kids around to activities, and when I came to the pool after our schedule slowed down, the whole crew was still celebrating.  And even though I was jelly of their day, I had a couple more glasses of wine because WHY NOT? Hashtag summer.

Because I am one thousand years old, I keep randomly taking pictures I don't mean to take when I am looking at my phone.  Usually, I get blurry  foot shots, but I found this pretty OK snap of the restaurant yesterday.  It's this darling little healthy food and fancy cocktail place, and the whole back of the bar and patio area is totally outside.  I love it so much, and the Facebook tells me we have celebrated these particular birthdays here before.

 When our checks came at lunch, I realized I didn't have my debit card because when I ran to Aldi the other day (where I picked up bread, butter, and salad to go with my improvised turkey and pasta dinner casserole and spent $6.67 because Aldi is magical), I tossed it in the bottom of my purse because I had no grocery bags and was carrying out all of my crap and then I changed my purse for lunch.  Everybody loves the friend who has to ask you to buy her lunch at the last second.  (Thank goodness for Cash App)

After lunch, we went to the pool bar for a glass of wine before I had to leave for kiddie pick up (I drank maaaaaaybe 1/4 of this glass) and dance class

 This Isagenix hydrate powder was amazing, BTW.  I might be hooked

 Next I had a slight mom interlude where I let the boys make pizza while home alone (!!!!!!!) and took Dorothy to her final dance classes of the season (it really did fly by, one crazy hectic Thursday at a time-- more on that tomorrow).

Then more celebrations at the pool, and I must say this Trader Joe's sparkling wine in a can is pretty OK.

 And just one more toast in the same spot we had a post-lunch drink, just 5 hours later.

If it wasn't for all of the booze, I could TOTALLY be a lady who lunches full time.

The most wonderful time of the yeaaaaar

I am referring, of course, to this little golden sliver of a moment when I am done with work for the semester, and the children are still in school and the pool is open to make all of our evenings and afternoons perfect.  I will never take this epoch for granted, and it makes all of the stress of the school year totally worth it.

Dance Rehearsal Weekend

Dorothy LIVES for her dance recital dress rehearsal and the big show.  Ever since her costumes came in and she got her pictures taken at the studio-- which is when we prep the hair and makeup and when she really starts to get excited-- she has been talking about it almost everyday.

Spoiler alert:  we had a total blast at the rehearsal.  Her studio is really excellent at making everything cool and fun.  Her dance teacher teaches yoga two days a week at the kids' old perfect preschool, and every activity and every person we have ket through that school has been a delight.

For one thing, this venue is way, way cooler than I am, but now that I have been there, I am TOTALLY getting tickets for Vampire Weekend because OMG!

 Pre-dance coffee

 This place was also just a teeny bit too cool for us

 We were sooooo early, which, as you know, is totally unlike us, so I got Dorothy dressed class style in my car so she could watch her friends for awhile after her finale dance

 Practicing the finale.  I missed the note about bringing a blanket to sit on in the pit, but luckily everyone else was super well prepared so I could join.

 Pirate Booty while she waited for her number

 Backstage ballerinas

 Always the teeniest kid on stage

 Ready for tap!

 Wating in the wings.

 OMG this number is adorable.

 Success!

May: What I Read

May?!  What the what?  I feel like this has been a blink-and-it's-gone kind of lost month.  Yikes.  I did a little better with my reading goals this month, but still, too much glassy-eyed staring at screens and also a heaping helping of work stress to knock me off my pace.  Basically, I can still finish the first half of the year with 100 books, but I am going to have to read my eyeballs out in June.  So. Anyway.  Goodreads tells me I have read 82/200 books.

11.  The Half Life of Everything by Deborah Carol Gang:  This starts out strong, and the plot is a good idea.  That's why it took me so long to realize this is not a good book.  Oops.
10. River Bodies by Karen Katchur:  This is #1 in a new series, and I will not be pursuing the series.
9. We Live for the We by Dani McClain:  I heard her on The Longest Shortest Time, and I have read her Nation articles talking about black motherhood, but I just feel like this book was a stretch content-wise.  It felt like an article made into a book, even though this is a rich subject with plenty of material.  Part of the problem is that McClain's daughter is only 2, so the memoir parts were not robust.
8. Tomorrow There Will Be Sun by Dana Reinhardt:  Liked this one because I kept reading it even though all of the characters were terrible people.
7.  The Water Cure by Sophie McIntosh:  What. The. Hell. Was. That.  Super creepy and sparsely written.
6. Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam:  A really terrific main character even though this is a book by a dude about a dude.
5. Fifty Things That Aren't my Fault: Essays from the Grown Up Years by Cathy Guisewite: As charming and delightful as you would expect it to be.
4. The Adults by Caroline Hulse: I stumbled onto this one at the walk-in section of my library and loved it-- breezy and funny even though some heavy stuff goes down.
3.  Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottleib:  Love this!  I also heard her on the Terrible, Thanks for Asking podcast, and I also loved that.
2.  Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams:  I am a sucker for a book with a strong-voiced lead character, and Queenie is terrific.
1.  The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kuar Jaswal: This book is sweet and engaging and really funny. It's a delight.