Happiest of birthdays, special-est of snowflakes

Let's start with THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL, which was the day before Harry's actual birthday, or as we also like to call it, Thursday. ! FINALLY!

Harry captioned this sign himself

Bros

Jack also had his last day of 4K

Jack wanted to hold Dorothy, but I gave her to Harry

What a difference a baby makes.

While Harry was doing very important end of school things like washing desks and floors (WTF?), Jack's class totally copped out on their agreement to babysit my child one more day and had a family! fun! park! field! trip!

Dorothy liked it

 Cooper was THRILLED to have a juice box and sit at the table like a big boy.  Ben LOVED taking Jack to the park bathroom 3 times (not pictured).

Last year, I had summer school on the last day of school, so I missed the fanfare that accompanies pick up.  This year, I was supposed to be getting my June massage, but Ben convinced me to cancel because he said the music, dancing, and bubbles at pick up were too cute to miss.

I didn't put 2 and 2 together and changed into pool wear before we headed across the street.  So there I was in my best muumuu in front of EVERY DAMN PERSON I HAVE EVER MET.

Harrison was the first kid out of the building!  And his prim little teacher was DANCING.

We stopped on the way home for a quick pic next to the door

And a close-up of Harry's very important badge:

We celebrated with a quick trip to the pool after school (hence the muumuu and swimsuit and Jack's get up)

Ben and I could waste no time moping about our baby being a second grader, though, because he woke up 7 today, so we got to feel sentimental about that instead.  I stayed up late last night baking and frosting his cake for today's breakfast and preparing a fleet of Star Wars cupcakes for tomorrow's bowling party. Today was ALL ABOUT HARRY,  Still is because we are heading outside to sit by a backyard fire and make s'mores now that all the little kids (including a really pissed off Jack) have gone to bed.  But I am getting ahead of myself.
**** Senseless Baby Picture Interlude****
Here's Dorothy in yesterday's pool clothes:

And after a Cooper drive-by in the laundry room:

The special snowflake woke up to gifts and birthday cake for breakfast:

Then we ran around like idiots because the kids slept in until almost 7, and we wanted to be on the road for the Milwaukee zoo by 7:30.  Instead, we were in the car by 7:51, and Ben had to make 10,000 stops before we were actually on the road, but still even with horrible traffic and ridiculous road construction, we were at the zoo by 9:30.

Dorothy looked super cute in her sun dress and sweater, and I snapped this pic after feeding her and changing a poopy diaper but before I loaded her into the Moby where only an occasional hand would be visible for pretty much the rest of the day-- awesome sun protection.

As always, the zoo was a delight.  I really like that zoo-- large enough to have some cool animals like zebras, elephants, and hippos, but small enough to be doable in 3 hours with 4 small kids including a lunch stop.  We took dorky family pictures in front of the green screen before we went in, and I can't find them, but when I do, I will blog them.

They were a lot like this only with Ben and cheesier backdrops:

Cooper LOVED the zoo.  Loved it.  He didn't so much like riding in the wagon, although it was the only time he got to have his pacifier, so he tolerated it.  He loved saying hi ("HAH") to animals and people.  His favorite, besides screaming HAH BIRDS, was running up to children imprisoned in strollers and waving right in their faces.  He went running at a small cheetah behind the glass in the big cats exhibit, and when the cheetah responded by rolling toward the glass and smacking it with his paws, Cooper screamed "I DID IT!"  We told him the cat was a cheetah, and he yelled "HAH CHEEZIT!" It was adorable.

He really, really got a kick out of the sting ray exhibit where for $2 and a trip to the handwashing station, you could lean your hands in a pool and touch them.

I was grossed out (natch), and there were sharks in the water also (really small sharks), so Jack was out, too, because he is scared of sharks.  He pulled me into the hallway to ask if they could eat through the tank.

Sting rays are slimy

You know how I love family pictures with bronze people

Harry and Jack rode a camel, and we kept telling Cooper he could go next time.  We meant next time we come to the zoo, but he thought we meant next ride, so he waited patiently while H and J rode and then lost his shit big time when they got off and it still wasn't his turn.  SO sad!

He got over it because he was so delighted by the goats' butts.

And then there was nutritionally void zoo lunch with Sponge Bob popsicles

Dorothy spent 99.9% of the trip like this:

We even rode the merry go round where Cooper lost his mind with glee-- Ben said he was giggling the whole time

I took his word for it

The boys clamored for stuffed snakes, and Ben obliged

As soon as we got home, we realized that all 4 kids had slept the whole way (which was LOVELY), but 2 of them sure as hell don;t need naps, so we hustled everyone off to the pool

Dorothy wore her wet suit

And crazy tan lines be damned, I wore her

Dinner was, of course, at the birthday bar we go to for birthdays 6 times a year.  As usual, things got out of hand before the end of the meal, but it started off fun!

I am glad Ben took this picture because I make it a point to smell Dorothy's head whenever I can. I told the kids tonight that they need to have lots of babies because I will need to huff baby head smell in about 20 years.  But for now, I have my own stash.

Harry finished his meal with a tiny sundae as usual. Cooper ate his own and Jack's, too.  Jack was too busy dipping his mini corn dogs in ranch dressing.  It was a 5-star nutrition day all around to be followed by bowling alley pizza and more cake tomorrow.

Harry told us tonight that this was his best birthday yet-- I hope he says that every year!