PMS from Hell; Farewell, Summer

Yesterday I was in the foulest, blackest most hormonal mood ever. The kind of mood where it makes perfect sense to yank 4 children out of line to board a surprise plane to Disney World and drive them across the country.  Clearly, I have been in this mood before.

Ben took them all to the last day of the pool while I cleaned the house and shopped for Cooper's bday presents, in my swimsuit.  The plan was that I would switch with ben at the pool when I was done so he could run home and do some housework and meet us back at the pool for a huge pizza party he organized at the day's end.

Instead, I showed up to a raging drunkfest and a totally tipsy husband. And I was so damn pissy about it.  I didn't want to drink because I had to exercise and do a bunch of work after bedtime, but everyone was all slurry and sitting with their back to the pool.  The kids had an awesome time, obviously, but I made everyone go home, no pizza.  Just cereal and bitching at each other.  I AM THE BEST.

I am so sad we missed the pool's last 2 hours, but I didn't want to be the only sober person there over the legal drinking age.  Gah.  I hate when I get in those moods, especially because I am never self aware enough to stop being an asshole.

But.  The kids and Ben had 3 pool hours where Ben and friends pulled a table up to the lifegaurd chair so they could play euchre while Ben watched the kids play, where the kids ate pretzels and ice cream all day, where Dorothy took a nap in a pool chair still wearing her floaties, and everyone drank all the rest of the beer from the snack shack.  In any other mood, I would have taken in the scene and walked across the parking lot to the golf course bar for a double mandarin and soda and joined in the fun, told Ben not to go home and clean, fed the kids more ice cream because they were a little crabby, and worried about the dirty basement later.  All the kids danced poolside and then jumped in the water one more time when the pool closed, and everyone's FB pics of this event totally bummed me out.  PMS sucks.

But we had a totally great weekend besides that.

We took a road trip to Des Moines to see my grandma and my aunt and uncles and cousins and had a total blast.

Before we left town, I took Dorothy to the mall to replace a necklace she broke at our school cook out.  She was so excited to find that a place like Claire's exists, and we got an Elsa necklace and bracelet and an Anna one, natch.

 Cooper woke up from nap looking like the hunchback of Notre Dame due to a bug bite on his eyelid.  Yikes.

 We went out for completely amazing sushi with friends, too.

 Food so good I had to take a picture.

 Our road trip began with a rainbow!  My favorite!

 I made the little kids wear PJs all the way there so they could snack with abandon.

 We saw this Trump bus next to Valley West Mall and immediately drove closer to get a picture.  DUH.  and Ben met a really nice staffer who admired our enthusiasm and gave us T-shirts.

 My Aunt had gifts for all the kids-- that's their favorite way to be welcomed somewhere-- with a bunch of presents.

 BABY HENRY!

 Dorothy and I posed on this bed, but we ended up sleeping in the other room, each of us in our own queen bed while Ben and Cooper had the king above, and Harry and Jack slept on a fold-out couch.  Boys in one room/girls in the other is my favorite way to do it.

 Ben called this "making America great again"  Ha!

 But seriously, all activities improve when there's a bar.

 Dorothy enjoyed Baby Henry's floatie

 I enjoyed Baby Henry

 There was general rough housing

 Then we had dinner with my parents, brother, cousin, aunt, uncle, and uncle's partner.

 Cooper snapped this pic of my dad.

 Ben put everyone to bed, and I went out with my parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and their assorted friends.  There were shots involved.

 But still BEN was the one in sunglasses the next morning.  (Only because Bruegger's was bright).

 SHE IS SO TERRIBLE AT RESTAURANTS

 MOAR pool.

 Baby Henry in his floatie

 Look at Cooper's huge smile!

 There was a large Braverman-esque wiffle ball game going on, and Jack hid behind a tree near home plate and shot people with his arrows.

 Cooper played tee-ball and was SO CUTE setting it up carefully

 and then knocking it down.

 This is what the kids do at my grandma's house: wrestle on the living room floor.

 Lunch.

 I don't know why Henry was agitated.  (LOOK AT HOW WIDE OPEN DOROTHY'S MOUTH IS)

 This is a picture a friend texted me from the pool yesterday.  Clearly, Ben had it together.  Too bad I didn't!!