Bah humbug Mondays

Mondays suck, and I know that makes me sound like a Garfield poster but seriously.

Since 2003, I have had a damn meeting at the same time on Monday afternoons, and Ben has always been able to accommodate that wonderfully.  Except for this semester where I am home all morning and most of the afternoon and then he gets home like 4 seconds before I need to go and then all of our nighttime commitments have prevented me form staying late at work on Mondays, the way I always thought I would when I was sold this terrible schedule.  And!  The kids get out early on Mondays, so I have everyone home and it's hell to keep the babies away from the big boys while homework happens.

Gah.

Luckily, this was my penultimate shitty Monday.  I have a meeting next week, a week off, and then a final exam but I don't think Ben has to work that day, and next semester, he has a better Monday schedule.  I have spent all semester playing catch up because I am used to working outside the house 2.5 days in a row, and this semester, I have .25 on Monday, .25 on Wednesday, and .25 on Friday which is a quarter of a day more overall but feels like much much less. (And obviously, we both work from home the other 2.5 days, but working from home is tough when home is so comfy and full of snacks).  (I mean that, actually, but it sounded sarcastic).

And! And!  Just to eat into my work time a little more today, my co-room mom in Cooper;s class organized an awesome fire station field trip for the kids, so that;s what we did this morning.  it was so exciting because while we were there, the engine left on a call, then the ladder truck, then the ambulance.  Then the engine came back and all the kids got to squirt the fire hose and ring the bell. Preschool heaven right there.

OH MY GOD I love your haircut

I decided on a whim yesterday that Dorothy should have a haircut.  Her hair was really long in the back and short in the front and had gotten really awkward to style.  Also, I have been trimming her bangs and while I have been doing a completely kick-ass job of keeping them cool and not geeky terrible little kid short straight bangs (the secret is to cut them a teeny bit below the eyebrow and to always leave them longer on the sides-- cut them like a rainbow, and make sure they are always almost too long), I did a piss poor job of figuring out where they should start, so they pretty much started on the very back of her head.  Oops. 

 Clearly, she needed a professional to give her a trendy cut that would grow out gracefully because princess hair is obviously her thing.

We spent the whole ride home from my parents telling her how awesome it is to get a haircut and calling salons because once I decide to do something hair related, I pretty much always do it instantly.  Most places were booked (duh), so I ended up making an appointment at Ulta.

Cooper tagged along because haircuts are synonymous with "lollipop" in his mind (I told him like 86 times that the place had no lollipops, but he didn't believe me and and lost it at the end, so Ben bought a bag of Tootsie Pops at the grocery store thanks to an urgent text from yours truly, and all was well).

The guy slated to cut Dorothy's hair was so annoyed when he saw that his client was a 2-year-old.  He was really sulky and slouched over to the supply closet to get booster things to put in his chair.  I asked him if he was going to shampoo her (because we talked up that part big time in the car), and he looked like he wanted to kill me.

Here she is closing her eyes because she requested the red shampoo and then told the guy it might hurt her eyes. 

As you can see, Dorothy took the whole thing SO SERIOUSLY.  Her too cool for school stylist soon warmed up to his tiny client, and he took the whole thing very seriously, too.  He cut her hair, blew it dry, and then but it some more, so he could get the layers exactly right, and he did such a good job that they layers don't even look like layers; they just make her hair lay perfectly.  I tipped him 50%.

 I AM A MILLION YEARS OLD.  And the lighting in Ulta is BRUTAL.  Probably so I will buy more wrinkle creams, which I almost did.

 Here she is mid-cut, before the blow out and final layering.

 And after.  I SO LOVE IT.  I used to have that haircut, in fact.

 It made her want to dance.

 And now she doesn't even look like a baby!

She told Ben all about it when he got home from the store, emphasizing the fact that she had to hold really still.  I asked her if she thinks her preschool friends will notice, and she said, "They say OH MY GOD I love your haircut!"

oops!

I fell sleep last night before I hit "publish."  I just now opened my computer to do today's blog and found yesterday's post just sitting on the screen.  Such a bummer.

But!  I am going to keep on going with the rest of Thanksgiving.  My post still has yesterday's date, so whatev.

 My brother took Jack fishing, and they pan fried the trout he caught.  Jack was beyond proud.

 We also piled in the car and drove through the Festival of Lights, which was awesome even though the kids were confused about why the hell they took a bath and then went outside.

 And then we did this:

It was a seriously great Thanksgiving-- low stress and so much fun!

Gah.

Too many champagne cocktails and 2048.  SO how about a few baby Henry selfies and a real blog tomorrow?

Really really really really really fun Thanksgiving

We have had SO MUCH FUN so far this long weekend.  I think it's because our kids have finally reached the age where they can get off their schedules and not be huge cranky assholes.  Although the nap Dorothy took during The Good Dinosaur probably helped.  (I stayed at my parents/ house and cooked with my mom, which I think was better than the movie).

Anyway, we kicked off the trip with pizza at my all time favorite pizza place, the place where my friends and I went after every junior high dance.

Then we kept the junior high vibe alive and went to the ROLLER RINK!  And we made all the kids get old school skates instead of blades and had a total blast.

After we put all the kids to bed, Ben and I went to my favorite bar from back in the day for a quick drink:

We did our best to wear the kids out all morning and took advantage of the weather with 2 park trips and a front yard football game

And then today was full of cute cousins and perfect food.  I am full of vodka, champagne, cookies, cheesecake, and a million other staples.  I have more pics than the ones below, but my phone died because I am so addicted to 2048.  But still, we had an awesome Thanksgiving, and I hope you did, too:

Exemplary Turkeys

I went to Jack's class to throw a second grade harvest party, and at his teacher's request, I prepped an activity. I chose one that's always a hit with my kids: making turkey hats. 

But of course the whole thing was a cluster fuck. 

In between meeting with students anxious about their upcoming research papers, I spent my office hours cutting out templates for the body, feathers, beak, and wattle and putting them in individual baggies along with small squares of red and orange paper for the wattle and beak and black and white paper to make eyes. I figured I would get to school a few minutes early and use the paper cutter to slice some bright colored paper into smaller pieces so the kids could have an easier time cutting out feathers, but first,  I should quarter some brown paper and put in the template bags, so they could cut out turkey bodies. And that's when I discovered that the construction paper I bought had no brown. What the hell? Isn't that a standard color? I ended up having to go to the teacher supply store for freaking brown paper.  

And? Remember the Rice Krispie turkey legs I stayed up late among? Nobody cared about them because parents sent in a bunch of store bought cookies and a cookie cake. Which is why we have a TREAT SIGN UP.  

Anyway, the hat above? Ben stapled to my head while I hid from the babies in the laundry room and readied the last of my supplies. The kids kept calling it the example turkey, which is still cracking me up. 

They turkey hats were such a hit that while Jack was at practice, the rest of the kids made them, too. 

I am actually going to be really sad when we don't need example turkeys anymore. 

SNOW!

When I say "Oh, I was meaning to blog today,but.."  I really mean it.  I HAVE been meaning to blog, but my days get away from me and before I know it, it's midnight and I am still making fucking Rice Krispie turkey legs.  I have even been taking a million pictures everyday WITH THE INTENTION of blogging them.  

So, real quick before I collapse from exhaustion, lemme show you the SNOW.

The children woke us up bright and early on Saturday morning because SNOW!  THERE IS SO MUCH SNOW!

They couldn't wait to go play in it.  Harry and Jack wouldn't even pose for a picture, and even Cooper scrambled outside without freaking out about having to wear socks.

 And then we had hockey.

 The boys and I grabbed some snacks, pitched a tent in the fmaily room, and read 75 pages of Auggie and Me. 

 The next day= MOAR HOCKEY

 And a quick family skate.

 Which wore Dorothy right out.

 Like, seriously.

 As soon as the boys went to school on Monday, the little kids demanded that we go back outside.

 It was warm enough to walk to the park but snow park made Dorothy feel grumpy.

I totally feel the same way because snow means SO MUCH STUFF to keep track of.  I was in Jack's class today for a harvest party, and I felt bad for the second graders who seemed a little overwhelmed with the sudden addition of snow pants, boots, hats, mittens, etc.  Just last week it was warm enough to go to school with just a fleece, and now!  Now we're in full-on winter mode.

At least there's sledding: