Best Mothers Day Weekend Ever? I Think Maybe. And That Includes the One Where I Got My PhD.

 My phone was missing for a few hours during yesterday's mothers day barbecue, and I found the above pic on it when it returned.  Ha!

Okay, so seriously.  I have not blogged since WEDNESDAY!  So, lemme catch you up on our scintillating life before I tell you about how much fun I personally had this weekend.

Thursday, the day of the many Buzz Lightyears:

 And, randomly, a spaghetti dinner at school that we weren't going to attend at all but then did because we were there anyway bickering while the big boys played soccer, and we figured what the hell.  Cooper shocked us all-- and himself-- by saying, "I weally wike spaghetti.  And meatballs!" Dorothy liked it, too.

 Jack was really proud of his polar bear art.  Harry made a really cool eagle with a QR code that we could scan to learn about his inspiration for the work.  I did not take a picture because I was ready to run away and hide after an hour of filthy children (mine) behaving terribly (mine, again).  But, hey, I didn't have to clean up dinner!

 Speaking of filthy, Dorothy's favorite thing to do is hang out in the pre-garden.

 Little Gym Friday-- we missed warm ups.  Again.

 After LG, we came home to play outside until nap.  This was just too damn cute.

 Speaking of too damn cute (my transitions are ON FLEEK today-- is that how you use that phrase?  WHAT DOES IT MEAN?)

 Cooper loves to have me trace him with chalk.  But it's creepy.

 Skateboarding.

 Cooper wrote his name!  That nice little o above this squiggly o is his, too!  I had to talk him through the construction of each letter, but I was still really impressed.

 Dorothy and Cooper found a caterpillar and poked at it for like 15 minutes.  Then it went into the grass, and they spent another 15 minutes looking for it.  NEED more caterpillars to kill the pre-nap hour for sure.

 Spaghetti dinner leftover!

 Post-nap snuggles.  I read a book, and they watched Daniel Tiger.  WE ALL WIN.

 We had to hit the ground running on Saturday for 2 soccer games preceded by lacrosse.  Since Ben coaches Jack's soccer team and Harry's lacrosse team and the two soccer games overlapped, the day required all of our participation.

We got off to a rocky start.

 They were fighting ON me.  ON ME.

 But we stopped by the library on the way to lacrosse and then had a lovely picnic (except Ben-- Harry ate his lunch because I left Harry's in the fridge).

 So sweet.

 Cooper and Dorothy passed out  on the way to Harry's soccer game, and I parked near the field and watched the game for awhile.  Then I continued to watch the game from the playground while they caused hell.  Ben and Jack arrived triumphant about halfway through the game and took over playground duty, and I got to watch soccer.  It was really lovely, even though our follow-up Costco and Coops trip bordered on hellish and we were gone from 9-3:30, and I stayed up late packing a picnic the night before.

 Friday night, we went out to a Mexican place with killer margaritas and the golf course bar near our house to celebrate my upcoming 37th birthday!!  IT WAS SO FUN.

 Aren't we cute?

 I got lovely gifts, and even though the food was kind of bad, we got super drunk at dinner and then adjourned to the bar and there were shots.  Apparently.

 NOT sober.

 Not a single sober person here.  My face hurt from smiling so much,  A good problem to have, always.

 But you know who did NOT have a hangover?  These 4 kids who were so excited to wake up and go to the same fancy hotel mothers day brunch we have attended for YEARS.  Here we are in 2012, 2013, and 2014.  The kids love this brunch so much, they talk about taking THEIR kids there for Mothers Day with me.  My work here is done, obvi.

 They weren't really feeling the picture OF COURSE.

 A nice hotel worker took one of all of us.

Cooper looked like a build a bear.

 Dorothy was HILARIOUS and kind of a handful

 Cooper;s first kiddie cocktail experience was a SUCCESS

 Oh you guys, we "cheersed" so many times.

 He ate more bacon than he should in a year.

 They were so happy!

 And messy!

 Then we came home, and I slept off my drinks while making a terrible dump cake from the dump cake cookbook I got for my birthday.  When I woke up, we loaded up the whole circus to got to our friends' house for a barbecue.  A grilled cheeseburger barbecue.  Everyone has been raving about these grilled cheeseburgers, and now I cannot wait for it to be mother's day again so I can have another.  And no I can't make them at home-- too fat and they wouldn't be special.

This is my fave picture.  A dance for adult swim at the pool.  The rest of the kids and adults need to get up to speed by Memorial Day weekend.

 Dorothy just wanted to play the drums, man.

 A mothers day shot ski.  Like you do.

 Then Ben took all the kids home, as did the rest of the dads, and all the moms stayed for champagne cocktails.  We also played Spot It for cash, which I recommend you do at your next gathering.  That's a way funner grown up game than it is when you play it with the kids.  Also, I won $12.

SO FUN.

Until, you know, I tried to help clean up and dropped a huge bowl of fruit salad EVERYWHERE.  Thank god I did not break the bowl!  So embarrassing.  I was on my hands and knees cleaning up fruit, and I heard someone say "What should the caption be?" and this picture was on FB before I even stood up.  Don;t you wish I could be your dinner guest?  Did I mention I bring 4 kids with me?  Dream guest.

This is Dorothy's Monday outfit.

 Accessorized here with a Bitty Twin and a plastic backpack that contained an Elsa Disney Infinity character from the Wii U and bald baby.

Our garage is our of commission because we are having a garage sale this weekend.  Woo-hoo!