Yesterday, a picturesque day.

I have to be honest and tell you that these pictures are all from yesterday because today?  I had no time for pictures.  I took exactly two.  One of my dog standing watch outside the fridge because she was so excited that I put an entire poached chicken in there (but the joke is on her; it's for dinner tomorrow.  I have to cook dinner for tomorrow today because Dorothy and Cooper no longer take naps, and OH MY GOSH it's chaos around here.  Ben and I keep saying that we are going to adjust and find a new rhythm, but yikes).  The other picture I took today was supposed to be an Instagram-y one of my feet in Birks and some autumn leaves, but my toes (although freshly pedicured on Tuesday and painted a lovely raisin-y purple sparkly shade) looked long and creepy despite the novelty of open sandals in Wisconsin in November, so on my phone it will stay (I had SO MUCH FUN at the pedicure place because I ran into 2 friends-- both there alone-- and had a spontaneous chatty afternoon).

Today was BUSY.  I had to leave for work at 7:45 because I needed to grade 40 (FORTY) research paper proposals, proctor an early exam at 9, and give my real exam at 2:30.  SPOILER ALERT:  I only graded 27 research papers, which means on Tuesday I have to grade 13 more, plus 40 midterm exams, plus 2 weeks worth of discussion boards.  I can already feel that Tuesday is not going to be picture-worthy either.  I left work at 4:15 and hurried to meet Ben at the hockey rink so I could pick up 75% of the kids and take them to Panera while Ben got Harry on the ice and ran to Jimmy Johns for cancer sandwiches.  Then I dropped Jack off for hockey after dinner (which was both expensive and hellish) and took the little kids home to bathe them and make tomorrow's meal.  Gah!

But, back to yesterday.

I work from home on Wednesdays, and it's awesome because after the kids all go to school (well, the big boys GO to school.  I have to TAKE the little kids), I have ZERO people to care for.  It was a lovely day, so Beatrix played outside chasing leaves in the backyard and napping in the sun in Dorothy's sand box, and I was FREE.

Except for one tiny little problem.

On school mornings, everyone makes a huge mess and then disappears like they've been raptured up, and I am left to clean up the pieces.  On the mornings I go to work, Ben picks up the pieces, but he is way more chill about things, and as long as the place is clutter and laundry free by the time I get home, he's pretty OK.  I, though, have a hard time settling down to do any work when the place is a mess, so I end up wasting my precious grown up time cleaning unless I schedule meetings, which I have been smart enough to do next Wednesday.  

But seriously.  LOOK AT THIS PLACE:

OK so that's my purse on the floor, but the rest of the crap is not mine.  Except for that huge pile of clean laundry with my name on it.

 Sleeping alone means 2 beds to make every morning.

 You might have to embiggen this to really see the extend of the mess but the PJ's on the floor are a nice touch, no?  There are more on the other side of the island because, apparently, the kitchen floor is where your dirty jammies GO.  Duh.

 Poor Beatrix.  I though she rolled in something and put her right outside before she was totally done eating her breakfast, but then I realized the smell was coming from the table because the painted pumpkins the kids made were ROTTING on my decorative pumpkin platter.  CLASSY.

 Pretty sure Dorothy got those toys out in the middle of the night.

 The mess continued into his closet.

 I couldn't even TAKE pictures of Harry and Jack's room/ bathroom because yuck.

I finally got everything put away, vacuumed, etc, and it was time to pack a picnic lunch and get the no-nappers and take them to the zoo to meet up with Cooper's school friends because I am a class room mom, and our job is to schedule out-of-class activities, which is taking me so far outside my comfort zone.  But!  There are advantages to not being trapped inside every afternoon, especially when one of those afternoons is 70-degrees in November.

Dorothy might have taken a teeny nap on the way there.  But she woke up chipper.  The only thing she loves more than picnics is the zoo.

 They always sit on this turtle.

 They never both look at me at the same time.

 They are both totally into the alligator, and I like him, too.  The other day, he was outside (we go to the zoo a lot) totally covered in leaves.  They were on his back, in his teeth, everywhere, and I wondered how long he was lying there perfectly still to get covered in leaves.  I could live the life of an alligator I'm pretty sure.

 They LOVE it when the zoo isn't crowded with big kids and field trips and they can play on the big kid playground to their heart's content.

 The carousel, natch.

 Still loves it:

 Still scared of it.  But she did tell Ben that she likes to snuggle with me on it and that the Dumbo ride is her favorite ride at Disney because she and I get to snuggle.  SHE'S SO SWEET.

 I think they missed Harry and Jack:

 Oh my personal penguin.