Another week? Worst blogger ever.

HOW am I not blogging for a WEEK?  HOW is that a thing that keeps happening?

Maybe because NOTHING HAPPENS around here.  Also, I spent all of last week watching the DNC and ugly crying.

Seriously, I am surprised at the depth of emotion I feel about this election.  I have always LOVED Hillary Clinton and was pro-Hillary in 2008, so I knew I'd be excited to vote for her in the general election.  I mean, my MA thesis was on her 1995 Beijing "women's rights are human rights" speech for goodness sake. But something about the idea of a woman president, and her white suit, and the wonderful speeches leading up to Thursday made me unable to talk about this election without bursting into tears.

Today, a friend and I signed up to volunteer with the Hillary for America Madison office, and I am really excited to knock on doors and call people and stuff envelopes and write letters to newspaper editors and do whatever else I can possibly do in these next 100 days.

Other things that have happened besides a deep political awakening:

Dorothy and Cooper started sleeping in the same room, which means we are only using 3/5 of our bedrooms for sleeping and may make Dorothy's room a homework.craft room.

Jack perfected his diving board back flip, and Harry finally learned how to do one.

Ben spent the night at a poker party for one of his high school friends, and I showed Harry and Jack Stand by Me which they instantly loved.

My grad school BFF and her lovely family came to town for the weekend to attend a wedding, and we got to see them for 3 days, and Dorothy fell in love with my friend's daughter, who is a week older than she is, and ugly cried when they left today which was both sad and sweet.

I didn't lose any weight this week, meaning I am still 5 pounds over my fattest non-pregnant weight ever, and my high school reunion is still right around the corner.  Gah!

My computer is almost out of memory because of my photos, but I have optimized my photo library so full pics are in the cloud and I thought that meant that I couldn't run out of room, and I think I am so old I have to sign up for one of those workshops at the Apple store for idiots who don't know how to use their own computers.

Photos from a whole damn week already:

Monday, AKA my hell day where Ben works 15 freaking hours (which I am sure is a picnic for him, too):

Pool dinner

 Brownie snack after bouncing on the water slide

 Tuesday:  (I was at work most of the day)

Dorothy did some morning art.  We moved the Lego table upstairs because Harry was doing Legos, and then we just kind of left it there when Baby Henry was at our house because he liked to eat at it, and now it;s still there because it's handy to have a table next to the couch.  WHO KNEW.

 Wednesday:

I took the kids on an uphill, mile-long trudge to see acres and acres of gorgeous sunflowers taller than I am.

 They were unimpressed.

 BUT I WAS AMAZED.

 And then Harry carried Dorothy to the car (part way) because he is a great big brother.

 We followed that with a trip to a splash pad, which was largely too cold for Dorothy so she laid out in the sun retro style.

 Jack LOVED it.

 Thursday was the day I read Hillary Clinton stuff and watched her speech and sobbed.  And Ben gave the little kids a fun ride to bath.

 Friday:
Friends came over for snacks, but Cooper couldn't wait.

 A FRIEND TO TWIRL WITH!

 AND TEETER WITH!

 Ben and I scored a sitter to see the new Bourne movie, our first solo date in months.  It was lovely.

 Saturday:
FARMER'S MARKET

 I totally love this picture.

 Old friends

 With kids!

 And some very responsible pre-dinner fro-yo.

 Sunday:
BUBBLES.

A thrill a minute around here.

I HAVE LOST 3 POUNDS!  In like 15 days, but that's OK.  The old metabolism ain't what she used to be, OBVI.

Harry and Jack are taking golf lessons and are clearly wild about them. They hit balls any chance they get.  And one of those chances was on Thursday morning.  I bumped into them and Cooper, who dressed himself like The Dude, on my way home from my walk.  I was charmed, and the kids rarely charm me lately.

 Poor sick baby Henry spent the morning with us before his dad took him to the doctor and found out he had hand, foot, and mouth!!!  No symptoms here.  YET.

 I maintain that it would have been hot enough to bake these cookies on the dashboard, but a huge storm came through, and the temps dropped 20 degrees in a matter of minutes.  It was creepy.

 These peppers!  Better than chips almost when making nachos.

 The storm knocked out power, but the kids played with flashlights and watched Guardians of the Galaxy on my computer.  Jack turned to me and said, "Did this ever happen to you when you were a kid?"  I was like um yeah it must have in a kind of dismissive way because I don't remember any specific incidents.  He bleated, "Were you really scared, too?" And I felt SO BAD FOR HIM.  I never even considered that they might be scared.  But, as Jack explained, they'd never experienced a power outage before.  Oops.

 I read my book by candlelight and had a lovely evening.

 FROZEN BALLET CAMP RECITAL!  The tiniest Elsa was STOKED.

 We had a thrilling rainy Saturday spent cleaning out storage rooms.  I consolidated all of the (upstairs) art stuff into a big box, and the kids played together nicely for over an hour.  Magic.

 We went out Saturday night with fun friends and paid the price Sunday morning FOR SURE.

 No caption needed:

And now it's MONDAY.  And there are swimming and diving lessons screaming my name.  Erm.  My kids' names.

We finally after 10 years of parenting figured out how to survive the cranky pre dinner hour!

Drink a bottle of wine.

That's not totally great diet advice, though.  But!  My diet has been going great!  Except for today after dinner when I ate a bunch of chocolate chips ad Teddy Grahams cleaning up the kitchen.  I should NEVER be left alone to clean up the kitchen.  And I am slated to g out for both lunch and dinner on Friday.  But never fear!  I will have a terrific weigh in on Sunday if it kills me.

Hey!  I am around the internet in other places!

See my LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER performance here (LTYM was a dream of an experience.  If there's a show in your city, you should absolutely audition-- it was so fun!) (And I am trying to be body positive, but damn I would pick a different dress if I had my druthers).

Also, I filmed a bunch of Moms Everyday minute-long clips last month, and they are starting to air.  Here's the first one here.

I also wrote 2 posts for my local city moms' blog before it went on a July hiatus.  I think maybe I shared them before, but they are here and here.

Um, what else?

MY DRYER WORKS again thank goodness.  It was a looong weekend of hanging clothes in the back yard.  Harry almost fainted when he saw his boxers swaying in the breeze.

I worked in my office on Tuesday and have an actual meeting on campus tomorrow like a person with a job or something (which, of course, I m, but summer and online teaching makes me forget).

We are spending a little time everyday with sweet little Henry, and it's been really fun except for Dorothy who turns into a jealous little monster.

But aren't they a cute little pair?

 He really wanted to stand in the shopping cart

 So of course Cooper did too.

 Also, I really like that he likes my food.

 Popsicles!!

 Dorothy dressed Kit in a Bitty Twin dress (so short!) and marched her to the park.

 To gracefully go down the slide.

 And Jack!  Can do the monkey bars! He has been scared of them since he broke his wrist after falling off monkey bars like 3 years ago.

 Nobody panic!  I have a rainy day plan, and it looks pretty solid.  (No, not the sriracha hummus, although, now that you mention it...)

 This looks cute, but seconds later, there was a triple tantrum and we had to evacuate.  I came back with Harry after dropping the 3 (THREE?? SERIOUSLY??) screamers off at home.

It's my fault, though, because I kept Harry and Jack up until 11 seeing Ghostbusters.  WHICH WAS GREAT, haters be damned.  We ain't afraid of no patriarchy.

(Actually, I am really, really afraid of the patriarchy.  Thanks, RNC).

BONUS:  Dorothy is taking a Frozen ballet camp, and this video is my favorite:

I gave Jack my phone to take the above video of Dorothy diving into the pool, and he returned it with a million selfies which is exactly like his dad.

(There were bout 24 variations of this pose)

I gave Ben my phone to take a picture of my mom and me after dinner on Friday night, and I found these:

I addition, at least, to this:

My parents were in town for the AMERICAN GIRL SALE!!!!!

Even though Dorothy has 7 American Girl dolls (4 girls of the year and 3 historical dolls), 2 Bitty Twins, a Bitty Baby, and 3 more girls waiting in boxes in the basement (Molly, Emily, and Samantha), we went ahead and bought Caroline and Addy anyway because they are so cute.  And tons and tons of clothes.  And a couple of books because we are not Philistines.

I only took one picture, and it was of this guy incongruously ready The New Yorker in the line up tent with a million ladies our ages and their Thirty-One bags:

The lady in front of us was from North Carolina, and I was so confused.  I mean  the dolls are like $25 cheaper than the store, and the clothes are about $10-15 off-- by the time you come all the way here from North Carolina, there's no way any of it is a good deal.  But maybe, like us, she loves the thrill of competitive shopping.  The only real steal is the books ($1-3!!) and  the Truly Me dolls that are $58.

I didn't know anything about Mary Ellen before I saw a sign on the way in telling me she was sold out, but now, I really want to snag her next year.  I know I could order her from the website right now, but that's not the point.  I am into the thrill of the hunt.  Yes, yes.  I did just read that whole paragraph again and realize something's wrong with me.  It's OK.  I am working through it.  By ignoring it, obvs, and continuing to buy AG dolls like a literal crazy person.

In other news.

Dorothy's rec center ballet class started up again and it still delightfully adorable.

 Our dryer broke at 2:30 on Friday afternoon.  There's a guy coming on Monday, but until then, this:

 We had lunch on the Terrace on Saturday before my parents went home, and it was really fun.  Also, there is a super food side salad that was totally perfect with a grilled chicken patty thrown in.

 Pool Dorothy might edge out Ballet Dorothy as my favorite Dorothy.

 Pool Cooper is pretty fun, too.

 And!  We finally made Cooper's mini-golf dream come true.  But the place was packed, so we did the indoor course, which we had all to ourselves.

 And the kids finished with ice cream while Ben and I drooled and entered our skinnytaste enchilada dinner on My Fitness Pal in anticipation.

I have lost 2 pounds!  But I am still my fattest ever! This week, we look forward to dryer repair and fighting about signing the kids up for their fall activities (Harry: fall baseball, football, and hockey; Jack: Cub Scouts, gymnastics, and his reading tutor; Cooper: hockey (he is not a huge fan of classes and is going to 4K 5 mornings a week, which I am sure will be a huge adjustment); Dorothy: ballet/hip-hop, gymnastics, and ice skating).  So, look forward to hearing about that.