Farewell to the hockey season

 When Harry played hockey, the seasons felt SO LONG. Probably because they are long (October-March). This year, though, Cooper’s hockey season flew by. I think it’s because our after-school hours are SO busy. When Harry was little, his activities were the only activities because everyone else was a baby. Now all the kids have stuff to do all of the days, so hockey is just another drop off and pick up. I also think  that my attitude about being busy is better since COVID. Who knew I would someday be grateful to be back at the stinky old hockey rink (and, of course, all of the other places)?

The whole fam plus my mom and Steve came out for the final game, and Ben and the boys were SO OBNOXIOUS calling off sides when the refs didn’t and screaming advice to the players.

Steve got these great shots:

And I took the rest, including our donut pre-game

Cheers to a great season, Pee Wee B’s. Can’t wait to see some of these kids on the ice next year!

Birthday odds and ends

It is officially BIRTHDAY SEASON around here. We kick things off with Ben's 44th on 3/13. Dorothy officially turns 10 on 3/15. Jack is 15 on April 16th. I turn 45 on May 13th, and Beatrix is NINE the very next week. Harry is 17 on June 16th, and, really, we should have another baby because no one (but 'Merica) celebrates in July. We have our 18th anniversary on 8/6 and Minnie's 3rd birthday on 8/13. Cooper caps off our celebrations with his 12th birthday on September 9th. PHEW.

 I have been, like, emotionally unable to deal with planning Ben's birthday, though, until we were done with Dorothy's party. 

(I am not done buying presents for Dorothy-- something that is causing me TONS of stress, actually. She and Minnie and I have plans to spend a day shopping, etc, on her actual birthday, but she also needs things to open on the big day. Ben is slower about these things than I am and is in no hurry to just go ahead and buy our various shopping carts.)

But! As soon as the party ended, I badgered Ben for gift ideas and just ordered them all in one fell swoop. I spent WAY MORE money than I normally would have and even paid for expedited shipping on a couple things (I hate to pay for shipping). But! Gifts have been mostly acquired, and I am SO RELIEVED. I even took his cake order so I can grab supplies (he likes a chocolate layer cake with pudding in between the layers and whipped cream frosting).

All I have to do before next week besides bake, order the rest of Dorothy's presents, and wrap her presents and Ben's is figure out Dorothy's birthday breakfast, bake or buy her cake, and schedule/order her school treats. Normally she'd take them on her actual bday (3/15) but she is skipping school to shop and lunch, so?? SO MANY THINGS TO DO. MAGIC DOES NOT MAKE ITSELF. GAH.

You know what else does not make itself? Mac and cheese. But when the world's crabbiest, snottiest toddler says that's what she wants for breakfast, YOU better make it real fast.

10th Birthday part 1: THE PARTY + GRANDMA VISIT

 Oh, you guys. Dorothy wanted to have her party at a junky arcade full of vintage games. Our whole family loves this weird little place (you buy wristbands at the door and can play anything while you’re there— no token), but it’s weird. And so junky. It does not scream 8-10 year old girl, you know? That’s why we opted for a 90-minute party even though we technically had the party room for 3 hours. (But not a real 3 hours because that time includes set-up and clean-up, and another group had the reservation right after us with no buffer time. Still, we could have gone 2 or 2.5 hours. BUT. We were worried that other kids would not be as excited about the place as Dorothy is, and what would we do with a pack of 8-10 year old girls who were NOT enjoying themselves. We experienced something like this when Harry had an elementary school bowling alley party and the kids tried to go outside and play in the parking lot.

Luckily, everyone loved the dirty arcade. Coop brought a couple of friends, too, and it was super fun. It was NOT a good venue for a 2 year-old, but Ben and I juggled Minnie as best we could. She is a scary little ski-ball player. 

After the party, my mom and her boyfriend came to visit, and my mom brought Dorothy diamond earrings made from my grandma’s 1951 wedding band— how awesome is that??

We celebrated with a raucous dinner out.

Birthday phase 1 is a success! Onward and upward to the big day (next week).

March Intentions/Things I am Leaving in February

 This month I will:

HYDRATE APPROPRIATELY: I have set this intention before-- WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ME?!

Eat bigger lunches to (hopefully) fend off the afternoon snack avalanche (that becomes pre-dinner snacks; that becomes kitchen clean up snacks; that becomes late night couch snacks). I WILL BREAK THE SNACK CYCLE.

Read more books with my eyes: I want to have more print books than audiobooks on my tally at the end of the month.

Plan at least one day date with a friend. I have really slacked off with my lunches, coffees, and walks, and I want to get back into seeing friends mid-week.

Do cardio on Sundays so I can take Saturday off. My larger yearly goal is for 6 days of cardio a week, and last month, I noticed that it was easier for me to start the week strong than to finish with Saturday exercise-- in March I am going to benefit from that lesson.

This month I will NOT:

Complain about my job: I freaking love my job, and I was just so happy this morning driving onto campus. It's so cool that Ben and I came here 20 years ago to visit and contemplate moving here for my PhD, and two decades later, we STILL LOVE MADISON. I need to remember this when I feel stressed and/or overwhelmed.

Rush the kids: It is hard to remember how important tiny moments are to kids. I mean, I will continue to rush the teens when they aren't ready to go somewhere even though IT IS FREAKING TIME TO GO. And I am already good at giving Minnie tons of time, but I think I am too quick to hurry Dorothy and Cooper along/forget that they are still little, too. Little things (ideas or moments) are really important to little kids, and I am going to make an effort to remember this fact.

Talk sh*t about my house. Yes, it is small. Yes, we have too much stuff. Yes, we need to do some upgrades. Yes, I would rather just sell the whole thing and start fresh. But I am going to stop saying those things out loud in March. Maybe this will give me a fresh perspective??

(This pic has nothing to do with this post, but I like her whole vibe)

5 on a Friday: KID UPDATES

 1. Harry. HE IS A JUNIOR. WHAT. We are in the thick of all of the things re: LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL. I just cannot even. Like, no matter what path he chooses, he needs to move out when he graduates high school, likely to go to a 4-year college, and I cannot even imagine life without him every day. He is really successful in forensics this year (in oratory no less), and he is moving into tennis season. He continues to be active in the young progressives club and in local political elections-- he's a heck of a canvasser. He has a wonderful group of kids he's been friends with forever; he refs hockey games to make a little extra cash, and he's been hired back at the pool for another summer of lifeguarding. He's pretty awesome, you guys.

2. Jack. Jack is loving his freshman year in high school. He is on the speech team doing solo humorous acting, and his speech is wonderful-- every week he is closer and closer to making a final round, and we love to watch him perform. He had a good freshman dive season and got to live his dream of diving from Memorial-- a dream since he was 9!! He was in the fall play, and he has gone with his charming and delightful friend group to both school dances. He is having success at the things he does because he is not afraid  to join new things, and he is very good at setting goals and working toward them. He also plans to lifeguard this summer, but he has to get certified first and can always man the front desk if needed. He's so, so, so sweet with Minnie and still treats us to his cooking and baking. In a nutshell: he's a delight.

3. Cooper. Cooper is a human ball of energy. He can go from 2.5 hours on the diving board to ninety minutes on the ice and STILL have energy to spare. He's crushing it at school, had a great hockey season that wraps up Sunday, and is loving being on a competitive dive team. Baseball is sloooooowly winding up, and he is thinking about trying out for spring hockey-- mostly because he NEEDS a couple hours of some kind of sportsball every day to be as successful as he can be at school. He did not end up loving winter swim, but he did stick with it until the very end when the practices were focused on the state meet (that he did not try to qualify for because he wanted to go to his hockey tourney instead). Selfishly, I still want to see him swim year round because he's good at it, and it is EXCELLENT exercise for the other sports he plays, but perhaps we will try a different club next fall.  He is excited for a summer of baseball, city swim/dive, and street hockey with neighbors. He's an excellent big brother to both of his sisters and is always top of Minnie's favorite bro list.

4. Dorothy. WHERE TTO START? Dorothy is SO funny, you guys. Some of the things that come out of her mouth! OH MY GOSH. You would not expect a pretty little (she's very little-- like she and Minnie might wear the same size shoes someday soon) 9 year-old (NOT 10 YET, darn it) to find funny the things she does. I am pretty sure it's the inappropriate TV she has unfettered access to. Also all the big brothers. She's having a lovely time in 4th grade, adores her weekly swim team practice, and dances 4-5 days a week, depending on rehearsal schedules. She's excited for summer swim and softball, dance competitions March-May and a national dance competition in Florida in July. And how could I forget summer dance, which is a 10-week audition for next year's teams? If you cannot tell, she is all-in when it comes to the world of competitive dance. At the same time, she is having her birthday party at a really junky arcade where she loves to play pinball and vintage games like Paper Boy and Tapper.

5. Minnie. OH MINNIE. I feel like this whole BLOG is about Minnie. You know she loves her library, swim, and gym schedule, talks up a storm, enchants the whole family with her sturdy deliciousness. WHAT MORE CAN I SAY?

Oops. It's MARCH already?!

 I am an adult who can count reasonably well, and EVERY YEAR the end of February/beginning of March leaves me wrong-footed. Like, you guys. February has only 2 or 3 fewer days than the other months. WHY does a 28-day-month throw me off by a whole WEEK? 

All of the sudden, it is time for Dorothy's birthday party THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, and my mom is coming to visit. Have I prepared AT ALL? No. Literally ALL I have done is order a cake from Costco. 

And! I have 2 days of all-day f2f meetings to end the week and ZERO FREE TIME to do my USUAL things, let alone EXTRA things. ** head exploding emoji** I thought these meetings were next week in March.

My extreme level of FRANTIC is no doubt exacerbated by last weekend's general fecklessness. Like, I really just need a day to reset the house and figure out my life, you know? But! Our feckless weekend! Was really fun.

Ben and Cooper headed to the north woods for a 3-day hockey tournament (the other team from our club who went to the tournament has a pretty widespread COVID outbreak (SEVEN FAMILIES), but Ben swears the two teams stayed in different part of the lodge, played on different schedules, and didn't really hang out, so cross your fingers). Harry and Jack had a speech tournament several hours away (that was supposed to be an overnight tourney, meaning the girls and I could join in on the Up Nort' hockey, but then the speech tournament changed to a single-day bus trip, so we were suddenly left alone in Madison ALL DAY Saturday). Dorothy and Minnie and I headed to a local hotel to swim, eat junk food under the covers, etc, and reunite with the boys when they got home Saturday night. Harry reffed 2 hockey games early Sunday morning, so the other 3 kids and I went back to the hotel to eat donuts and play in the pool some more. ben and Coop got home by dinner time, and we did the bare minimum to get ready for the week: plan meals, fill out our weekly calendar, put away a grocery order, clean bathrooms.

I feel like we have been playing catch up ever since, and this is only going to get more regular as Cooper starts traveling greater distances for dive meets (autocorrect changed this to meats, and I am still laughing); the speech season soldiers on, and Dorothy's dance season kicks into high gear. AND LET US NOT DISCUSS TRAVEL BASEBALL, LITTLE LEAGUE, HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS, or SPRING HOCKEY TRYOUTS.

Pool ready— LOL at Minnie’s face

Waiting for the bucket of water to dump on her. This is my least favorite water feature ever, BTW. Some of the water parks in the Dells have GIANT buckets, and it’s just, like, so unpleasant.

She went down this slide for 3 solid hours,

Pizza on and then in the bed— the best pizza is bed pizza.

Jack!

Also donuts! (We slept at home, BTW)

LOVE this suit

MOAR SLIDE

Total water baby

February: What I Read

I am getting worried that Goodreads always seems to be down lately. I made a note on my phone for books I need to plug in, and my blog list is up to date, but still. Anyone use anything else?

I read 21 books this month, but I am still listening more than I am using my eyes, and my library life is kind of a mess. I have a goal to clean up my holds and overdue books in March, and to catch up on the 3 Book of the Month books on my shelf. I have a real problem reading when I am not accountable to a deadline. Anyone else??

What 2023 books am I missing, friends? I have only read 12 published this year **yikes**

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy: Local author. Playboy club in Wisconsin. Wanted to love it. 

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan: I have heard this author read a million audiobooks, and it was a delight to read her work-- but maybe I should have had her read it to me?

My Summer Darlings by May Cobb: A better summer read than a February one.

Hideaway by Nora Roberts: Oh I love listening to one of these sweeping soap operas while I go about my day. **Audio

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica: A fast-paced little thriller with horrible people I was rooting for-- love it when I like the unlikeables. **2023 

The Cloisters by Katy Hays: I liked this book a lot- very The Secret History for beginners. **Audio

Exes and O’s by Amy Lea: This is a #2 in a series, and now I want to read #1– so cute! **Audio **2023

 Attachments by Rainbow Rowell: I just adore her.

Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard: THIS WAS SO SCARY.

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Perez: I feel like the title says it all, really.

The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven Thrasher: This is SO GOOD. The author is an AIDS researcher, which colors his understanding of pandemics in a really rich and nuanced way.

Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond. Not as good as Evicted, but it does enter a terrific conversation about poverty and the role of government in facilitating the good life. I wanted him to mention Nickeled and Dimed in the lit review because this book owes a debt to that one for sure. **2023

Flying Solo by Linda Holmes: I LOVED THIS. I especially loved that the main character was a size 18, and this was just a random fact about her, not her defining character trait. And she was pretty and sexy and her wonderful self. **Audio

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand: I am an unabashed EH junkie, but this one was excellent in a different way than her usual fare. Like, you can really tell she went to the Iowa Writers Workshop, you know? **Audio

All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews: I read this for a work committee, and I am so glad I did. I loved the Wisconsin connection, the story of one family's fraught immigration, and the glimpse into what post-college life can be like for kids today.

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano: There are 2 more books in this series!! YAY!! **Audio

Maame by Jessica George: I loved this one. Funny. Sad. Smart-- the total package. **2023

The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams: I loved this book! It’s a few years old, and I have no idea why it was on my Libby holds list, but it WAS, and I ADORED it. **Audio

The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller: OH this BOOK. It was WONDERFUL and I don’t know how I missed it in 2021– a delight. **Audio

Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman: I LOVED THIS MEMOIR. I knew nothing of this runner or her story, so it was very suspenseful to listen to her talk about her races. I also knew nothing about professional track-- or even college track-- so the whole thing was new and fresh and exciting. She isn't like writing some deep kind of feminist theory or anything, but she does a really good job of explaining why gender matters, especially for the "Girls on the Run" crowd who don't think about trans kids and the harm of binary language at all. **Audio **2023

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai: YES. You should read this right away so we can talk about it, ok? **2023 **Audio

This Month:

21 books

6 books published in 2023

 11 print and 10 audio

This Year:

41 books

12 books published in 2023

20 print and 21 audio