5 on a Friday: Notes from a quick trip to Iowa

Almost as soon as Dorothy wrapped up her first dance competition of the season, we packed up the car and headed to Iowa for a national qualifier dive meet for Cooper. Specifically, the AAU Red White and Blue national qualifier in Waukee, Iowa. On the line? A trip to nats and a chance (if he won an event) to represent the AAU team at an international dive meet in Italy.

Minnie told everyone she was going to Iowa on spring break, which made us all laugh (ooooh a Marriott Courtyard in a Des Moines suburb!). But! Since it was the kids' break, we made it fun for all.

1. We went to the mall a lot. Jordan Creek mall is a retro delight-- Toys R Us! Cinnabon! And also every trendy teen girl store in the world. (Free People Movement, Garage, Altar'd State, AS Revival, Lulu, Hollister, Abercrombie, Aerie and Aerie Offline-- and more that I am surely forgetting. 

Cooper was not as stoked at Dorothy at some of the offerings.

We aren't Christian, so most of the graphic tees did not land, but this store has THE CUTEST frilly dresses. They are typically between $90-120 but you can find them in the clearance section for LESS THAN THIRTY DOLLARS (and honestly they look the same from season to season IMO)

I wish our Free People store had more athleisure because this stuff was CUTE.

OMGGGGGG

Minnie bought eye shadow, mascara, and blush and wore it every day.

Borrowing the Easter Bunny's set up for a pic

Also coming soon! (Dorothy was excited for a second when she saw the sign and then sad)

We spent a lot of time waiting outside dressing rooms

2. POOL TIME. Cooper competed in synchro (just for fun) the first day, 3-meter the second day, and 1-meter the last day. He qualified to compete in Italy by winning 1meter and qualified to nats in both 3 and 1 (and he can bring platform). He won't actually go to Italy because his USA Diving nat qual series overlaps the trip, but he was excited to qualify, and he plans to compete at AAU Red White and Blue nationals in Orlando over Memorial Day.

For her part, Minnie enjoyed the very underwhelming hotel pool except when it was teeming with volleyball players and closed for filter probs (yuck)

my uncle came to watch both days! My aunt and cousin also watched with us on Saturday

3. Lots of food! We went to a restaurant that's been the exact same since my childhood, and I loved every bite.

We also got our favorite dive bar pizza

4. We saw the Iowa capitol!

And also the best park ever

5. We took the long way home

Other things:

Dorothy said this headband was cute, but I am pretty sure she was trolling me (it was really cute on her).

Minnie loved the hotel (the girls and I had a room, and Ben and Coop had a room)

And! she is old enough to wait for 45 mins at a restaurant with no complaints-- or very few complaints.

Dorothy shattered her iPhone, which was kind of a pain. She's been without a phone all week waiting for a replacement, and she is really annoyed because she can't use her beloved Bauble Bar case anymore (it's not sturdy at all-- she has dropped her phone a million times with no consequence but then she got that case and bam! (literally)). I got her a Casely case because she was horrified at the mere mention of an Otterbox. If you have any durable phone case recs, I am all ears. (she fatally dropped it on the bleachers moments after we took this pic)

March goals revisited/April on tap!

I LOVE planning my whole month in my big old monthly planner and looking at all the days laid out. I realize really important things-- like next week when I have to be on campus every darn day and the fact that we are busy EVERY WEEKEND IN APRIL. Omg. Eau Claire visit this weekend. Dance competition AND a dive meet in Madison next weekend. Dance competition/convention AND a dive meet in Chicago the following weekend. Baseball tournament the last weekend. Gah.

Unforch I realized this too late to schedule 4 weekly house cleanings or to pause Minnie's gymnastics tuition since we cannot make ANY of her classes. But! I was in time to switch her to a weeknight class for April and pause her tuition for the summer starting next month. Yay! (ish). Hoping to get a company in to clean toward the end of the month and winging it the first two weeks.

SO. April. VERY BUSY. Cruel, you might even say. But still! I HAVE GOALS.

First, though, let's review March.

✅Finish watching Oscar movies!: This was super fun, and we had a blast doing our Oscar pool

✅Query blog designers and research DIY options: I have great ideas!

✅Watch the Oscars with the fam and do a betting pool of some kind: Loved this ALSO WON THE POOL

✅Celebrate Dorothy!! And buy her some gifts!: Check and check.

✅Celebrate Ben!! Yep.

🟡Visit Harry at UWEC: Canceled due to spring blizzard and rescheduled.

🟡Shop for Easter: Partly!

❌Plan Jack's bday: Absolutely not.

❌Decide where and when we are hosting Jack's grad party. Big old nope.

❌Consider my writing process and outline it; see where it might fit into my life: NOPE

❌Buy new lamps for the kitchen/living room: I did stain the hell out of a lampshade, so this task seems even more urgent.

✅Do yoga every day this month: Yes! (except that one day)

✅Run at least 2 practice 8K's (slightly longer than my usual morning runs, though I have worked up to at least 3 miles): I did do 2 long runs!

🟡Be a better blog friend and leave comments for 10 minutes every day (I've been doing lots of reading w/o commenting): SORT OF

✅Notice when I rest before all my work is done: YES! I have started sitting down to read when I want to, not wen I feel like I have earned it.

April Goals

PD

1. Work on course prep for fall
2. New prep for spring
3. Read more AI stuff
4. Review new textbook

Hobbies and Home

1. Use IG to promote blog posts
2. Meet up with a blog friend I have never met in IRL before
3. Buddy read Kin
4. InstaKids Chatbook this month and make an April album

Fitness

1. Maintain a calorie deficit every day this month (this is an intentional cut, and I won;t bore you with the deets)
2. Hit fiber and protein macros every day this month (at least 75 grams protein; 30 grams fiber)
3. Yoga every day again!
4. Get new medium weights (I have 8-- need to go up to 10, but maybe not quite ready for 12)

Celebrations

1. Take Jack out for an 18th bday dinner
2. Super fun Easter weekend
3. Plan graduation but like for realz
4. WORK ON THOSE STOCKING STUFFERS for myself. I think I haven't pulled the trigger because my birthday and mother's day is next month, and I have given all my good ideas away. Def want a mini Hydroflask and will get one for my stocking if I don't get one for Mother's Day.

March: What I Read

 I am wrapping up the first quarter with FIFTY BOOKS, which feels like a ton for me, and I wonder if I can keep up thus pace the rest of the year. What has changed? The way I track, actually. I look at books read each week, and this is super motivating to me-- who knew?! Previous years have seen me track only at the monthly level, and I would read a lot in the first and last week but slump a bit in the middle.

Here are my March reads from worst to best:

📕What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena: Literally do not even remember what this book is about.

📕🎉Wildwood by Amy Pease: A forgettable thriller.

🎧 The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins: Another forgettable thriller.

📕🎉Served Him Right by Lisa Unger: The best in this month's string of meh thrillers.

📕First Time Caller by B.K. Barison: Cute romance. Nothing special, though.

📕🎉Get Over It, April Evans by Ashley Herring Blake: Cute!

📕Dream on, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake: I liked this one better than book 2.

🎧 Awake by Jen Hatmaker: This is a really great audiobook because Hatmaker reads it, and she is so charming.

🎧 🎉Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson: A predictable but also wildly entertaining courtroom dramZ. Davis reads the audiobook!

📕Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt: Minnie and I have been reading this middle grade book for MONTHS and finally finished-- adored it.

📕Too Old for This by Samantha Downing: This was a gory delight.

📱Spectacular Things by Beck Dorey-Stein: THIS IS SO GOOD YOU GUYS. Sister dramZ.

📱These Impossible Things by Salma El-Wardany: I loved this story of three best friends and their families.

📕🎉A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James: Totally terrifying.

📱🎉All the Little Houses by Mae Cobb: SO ENTERTAINING. Gobbled it up. Literature? Well, erm, no.

🎧 🎉Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer: Now that I am done with the book, I am going to catch up on the controversy. It was kind of boring, and he made her sound kind of nuts, so I wonder if either of these facts are part of the dispute? Will report back.

📱🎉The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez: LOVED IT. A companion to Say You'll Remember Me.

🎧 🎉Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney: This is delightful--sad, smart, funny-- the total package.

5 on a Friday: Fun things we crammed around work this week

 1. Hosting ALL OF THE CHILDREN. Well, all of the middle schoolers. WHY NOT, you know? Kid math is often wild. Dorothy had friends over and took a friend on a random adventure with me and Minnie, and Coop had a bunch of bruhs who showed up with duffel bags full of Nerf guns and ammo-- very fun.

2. And! The flip side is SENDING THE CHILDREN OFF WITH THEIR FRIENDS! Dorothy went shopping with a bestie, and Cooper spent 2 whole days with friends wandering around a neighborhood close to shops and restaurants.

3. THE LIBRARY. TWICE. And! We took a bunch of Minnie's learn-to-read books to her old preschool and stocked its Little Free Library.

Enjoying her library spoils

4. Lots of running. I ran a 5K every morning and also got a fabulous new headband that really keeps my hair out of my face (and the best yoga pants ever).

5. Mini golf one afternoon and FIVE parks in one day another (only 4 pictured-- the 4 we WALKED to (about 2 miles in all-- go Minnie!) and yes, Jack picked us up from the last one but only because I had to drive Cooper to diving-- no spring break for that. We hit up park 5 right before dinner).

(I read a whole book at all these parks!)

Mini golf (not my fave but Minnie had fun, and this place has 3 different courses, so Minnie and I could play and be totally separate from Dorothy and her friend)

WE MADE IT YOU GUYS.

Spring "break"

 Oh, hi. It's my least favorite time of the second semester-- when none of us have spring break at the same time!. Ben has no spring break because he is a campus administrator. Harry had his break last week (he came home-- it was fun). Jack, Coop, Dorothy, and Minnie have their break this week, and I am on break next week. (When everyone else has work and school-- it will be a great week, TBH).

Dorothy had dance for 3 days last weekend. Cooper has dive for 3 days this coming weekend, so even if we tried to travel on the kids' break, we had THREE DAYS. **whomp whomp.** SO, I am just living vicariously through friends' vacay pictures and complaining about the weather.

Which! Has either been lovely

Or horrifying

Or! MUDDY AF!

Annabel got a haircut (LOL for days)

Whatever I planted in the fall (literally no clue-- bought a bunch of rando bulbs from Costco, and these are the ones the bunnies haven't eaten yet) is starting to bloom

Jack won another speech tournament, and we visited him so Ben could watch his final round (the girls and I went the other week). The school (Sun Prairie West) was so awesome that I truly feel like I am doing my kids a disservice by not living there. (But we are west siders, so...)

... aaaaaand that's it. Lots of jogs, dog walks, and scooter rides.

Dance is back!

Dorothy has SEVEN dances this season

1. Commercial company 

2. Hip hop supergroup

3. Hip hop club

4. Tap club

5. Lyrical company

6. Hip hop trio

7. Jazz company

She's having SO MUCH FUN!

MUCH NEEDED

She had a team dress rehearsal (all of the above pics) and her first competition (in Madison-- phew!) that also had a convention component.

She did 6 of her 7 dances in literally 3 hours (trio was up first DURING the call time for the other 6, just to add to the crazy), so I have ZERO PICS from the competition. Well, that's not true. I have a few:

SO MUCH DANCE. And! We even went back at night to watch the teens and seniors compete.

Up next, a little break before 2 more in a row. And by break, I mean, a travel dive meet. Hashtag BUSY SEASON.