Official!! College!!! Decision!!!!

 YOU GUYS! Is this a dream? Am I actually dreaming right now? Jack is going to join his dad, me, and his Uncle Jon  as a BRADLEY BRAVE!!

We went to an admitted student visit day over the weekend (over 700 people!), and Jack had such a good time that we made his housing deposit, and he is OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL.

He is going to be a history and secondary ed major and poli sci (or maybe sports comm) minor with the plan to teach for a year or so for sure while he studies for the LSAT. But between you and me? I think Jack will love teaching high school history, coaching a dive team and a speech team, helping in the theater department (he is excited to take theater tech and stage managing classes at Bradley) and maybe managing a pool in the summer...

Things that sold him:

• All the student orgs and clubs had booths, and the students working the booths were just lovely. He is excited to join the student senate, the speech team (!!!!!!), the activities council, and the student investment club (they get to manage 100K from the endowment every year), among others. I was in a sorority at Bradley, and his uncle Jon was president of a fraternity (and student body prez-- something Jack would love to be, too), so he is not uninterested in the Greek system.
• The campus tour was so fun. Not only did he sort of want to be a tour guide by the end of the day, but he loved how small and beautiful the campus is. It was really cold and snowy, but we could walk all the way across campus in under 10 minutes, and Jack adored the cozy vibes. We got to see the classrooms, and he really liked that there are only a few lecture halls on campus, since most classes are really small. He had a great talk with a librarian about the various library apps available in town and how to game them all for the best access to books.
• He loved the cafeteria. We had lunch in the new student dining hall, and it was genuinely delicious. We also liked that all of the meal plans cost the same amount of money, so the only decision you have to make is how you want to allocate your dollars (like, do you want lots of swipes and fewer dining dollars? Or do you think you will only swipe once or twice a day and spend the rest of your money at the other dining options? Other dining options include Chik Fil A in the student union, multiple Starbucks around campus, a bagel and smoothie place at the gym, and a few dirty soda counters, with more options coming by the fall. Apparently one of the other dorm cafeterias is being remodeled to include more restaurant options.) (At Eau Claire, for example, the plans are different costs as well, so your choices feel more high stakes).
• He got to spend time with the actual professors who will be his advisors, and they were wonderful. He will have an education advisor and a history advisor, and he met two other dudes his age with the exact same plans. It was great to put a face on who his actual teachers and classmate will be. Also! Bradley gets kids in his program into the classroom their very first semester which is so cool. They also take education classes right away, and he got a really nice color-coded schedule that lays out all 8 semesters. He thinks he will do a BA and keep taking French which will come in handy because...
• He loved that he can study abroad and still get all of his teaching requirements in. History really wants to get students to travel in May and January terms, which will be awesome.
• He got a half tuition merit scholarship, plus a legacy scholarship, which is hard to refuse.

You guys know I love Bradley's founder Lydia Moss Bradley-- think I'd look good in this dress (that is not actually hers, I hear, but it is displayed to make me assume it was hers...

The alumni center has models of dorm rooms from decades past. This is the 1990s, and it is SPOT ON

Lunch was great-- made to order sandwiches every day!

RINGING THE BELL because he made his housing deposit and is BRADLEY BOUND!!!

Ha! I LOVE this dorky photo opp SO MUCH

I was all in for this cheesy video:

(Jack has been on the fence between UW Eau Claire, UW Whitewater, and Bradley. He stayed at Eau Claire for a weekend with Harry and really liked it. We went to a visit day at UWW, but the education department told Jack graduating in 4 years is really tough because of state licensing requirements, and that gave him serious pause. I was team UWW, though, because it is close to home and seemed to be very student success focused. But then! The Bradley visit day was incredible, and we just knew it was the right pace for Jack-- and he knew it, too!)

5 on a Friday: We are SO rusty!

Oh wow, you guys. Re-entry was TOUGH this week after being home with no kid activities for a solid glorious seven days, and here are 5 every specific areas of utter suckitude.

 1. SNOW IS THE WORST.  I hate driving in snow, and I think about just how much I hate it every time I wish for my minivan's automatic sliding doors (which is a lot). I had to ditch my Honda minivan for an AWD SUV (the Toyota Sienna comes AWD, but not the Odyssey), and even though I miss the room and the convenience of a minivan, the ability to drive confidently in the snow and ice is worth it (I guess). It took me an HOUR longer than usual to do the Monday activity driving (Ben had to alter his schedule slightly, so I had to do Monday, which is not usually a me problem), and i was VERY stabby. Plus! Everyone needed all their gear to go to school with them if they wanted to go sledding (Dorothy and Cooper) or visit the playground (Minnie) during lunch. Minnie has extras of everything to leave in her locker, but Dorothy and Cooper? Did not have a single pair of boots that fit them and only 1 pair of snow pants between them. Amazon to the rescue, but not until WEDNESDAY. It was a mess early in the week. (Cute though)

2. Leaving the house is more complicated than I remember. And I remember it being VERY COMPLICATED. (This did not help)

3. Somehow, in just one week, I completely lost my sense of time allocation. BT (before Thanksgiving) I knew exactly what I needed to be doing at every second of the morning between my eyes flying open and Dorothy and Cooper's bus coming down the street, but this week? VERY off my game. On Tuesday, for example, I was happily walking Dorothy and Cooper to the bus in the same braids I slept and ran in with no makeup on, still in my sweats. And then I remembered that Tuesday is the day I need to leave for work as soon as I walk them to the bus. WUT.

4. Minnie got the stomach flu. When Ben was out of town. OF COURSE. By the time you read this, I probably also have the stomach flu. A sick kid did not make the week any easier, you know?

5. I have one hundred billion million things to do between this exact second and December 11, and I might need a robot version of me to pitch in and knock out this list. Thanksgiving was so late this year that fall break spat me right out in the middle of the end-of-term hurricane, and I am SHOOK.

Some bright spots though:

1. I made 200 of these and just... didn't eat them-- amazing. I didn't even want to eat them. I am adjusting to life without a sugar rush, and it's pretty great.

2. We had some non puking cozy moments at home and saw Zootopia 2, which is GREAT.

3. I added another Christmas bedroom to the list (the spare bed in there did not get a Christmas comforter because I only had 3).

4. This book is on sale for $5 on Audible and Elaine Stritch reads it. I LOVE the movie and can't wait to watch it with Minnie. It's making our nightly drives fly by.

5. On Monday I went straight from a meeting to doing the dance/dive drive, so I texted Dorothy to ask if she was getting dressed, and I got this darling video in return

 

So much has happened!

 So much has happened since the las time we talked.

First of all TREES HAPPENED.

Also, we got a TON of snow

I am still slooooowly decorating bedrooms.

My little Hanukkah dog is ready for the season.

We had a blast at our favorite tree farm, and I made evryone walk all over hell looking for the perfect trees and then made everyone tromp back to the gift shop and buy 2 pre-cuts because I did not see the perfect tree. And! We bought the big tree already bundled, so we had no idea how enormous it is. AND I LOVE IT. (Ben's dad had to trim some branches to make it fit in the stand, which is how come my Hanukkah dog has a bed of branches and my table is overflowing.)

Decorating was a cozy delight with snow falling and plenty of treats to enjoy (we got the trees on Friday afternoon but saved the decorating or Saturday during the storm). (Minnie also decorated her doll house).

Lots of snow frolicking at all stages of the storm (although I did have to run inside on Sunday boooooo)

Thanksgiving was delicious

The shirts were a hit!

Ben and I ran a turkey trot! And yes, we got smoked by the 8 year-old next door, but we finished in under 38 minutes, which was my goal (twelve minute mile club).

It was so cold I wore 2 sets of long underwear under my sweats

AND A TREE FELL ON OUR HOUSE. Ben and the boys and his dad cut it up with a chainsaw, and nothing was damaged (???!!!!).