Random catch up

 Have you guys seen the Facebook meme that asks you to describe yourself in 3 fictional characters?  The picture above is mine.  I think it's pretty good.

YOU GUYS!  I am so, so, so tan-- so tan I am the same color as my Minnetonka boots.  Or I was a week ago today when I took that picture, shocked to find myself at work in the world's shortest dress.

 Cooper!  Can do monkey bars!!  He's really excited about it.

 If you have not read or listened to this series (My Brilliant Friend, Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, and The Story of the Lost Child), you really, really, really should.  I am almost done with the third book and am waiting for the fourth one to come in on my library hold list.  It's a testament to how committed I am to using the library instead of buying books that I am WAITING for the last one when I would love to have it ready for me to read as soon as I finish the one before.

 Speaking of the library!  Dorothy and I have discovered the joy and excellence of weekly story time.  It's FREE and features stories, crafts, and dancing.  I remember taking Harry to a couple of Borders and Barnes and Noble story times, but he didn't totally dig it, and I never really sought them out.  BUT HOLY SHIT!  A free 30 minutes of age-appropriate fun every week, and I can take back books, browse the walk in section, etc.  I am so annoyed to have only just now at this late point a decade into motherhood discovered it.

 She loves the crafts the best:

 And throwing coins in the well.

 Cooper and Dorothy's school has the smallest most congested parking lot in the universe.  It's the stuff of nightmares.  And!  Just to make it more horrible, the street in front of it is being repaved.  I can't even. So we've been parking at the old condo (which I think is fine considering we still own it) and walking to school.  Cooper likes it.

 Sportsball seasons have started up.  We have dance and gymnastics for Dorothy, hockey and gymnastics for Cooper, football, boy scouts and gymnastics for Jack, and baseball, football, and hockey for Harry.  I include boy scouts not because it's a sport but because  it happens at night and totally screws us up.  The other night, for instance, Ben had a baseball game to coach but our baseball player couldn't play because he needed to go to hockey tryouts at the same time Jack had gymnastics and then ben had a hockey board meeting and I was supposed to go to wine club but had to take a pass.  Luckily, baseball and hockey are only a block away, but damn!  I think Harry needs his own cell phone, and the little kids and I were at the gym until 8, which is truly an hour past their bedtime (they didn't mind).

So, let's see...

I am wicked fat but I don't seem to care.  I mean, I care when I notice I in the mirror or something, but I don't care enough to not make these (perfection).

Dorothy still hates school, so much that we are thinking of pulling her out, but we have to wait until I am done with all my classroom observations because I really need someone to watch her while I do those-- so we'll revisit in a couple of weeks.

The kids don't tell me ANYTHING about their days.  That's why I actually like Class DoJo even though charts and apps like these publicly shame kids and do nothing to change their behavior.  AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON.

Fall is here, and the weather is starting to get chilly, even though you wouldn't know it to look at Dorothy's sundresses.  This is partly because she doesn't have any fall clothes and party because she hates any garment with sleeves and doesn't like pants or tights and I am dreading taking her shopping because she probably won't even wear anything I buy.

Speaking of fall fashion, though!  The things the kids are wearing on campus are CUTE and I can actually WEAR THEM, especially tunic dresses with flannels over the top. 

Finally, shamefully, I am starting to love Wal Mart.  I went there during last month's pregnancy test debacle because they actually undersell the dollar store and make eighty-eight-cent tests.  But once I was there, I discovered $3 girls' leggings and sweatshirts (and they're CUTE), $4 dance tights that are actually small enough to fit Dorothy, a $29 coffee pot to match my kitchen, not to mention Pioneer Woman kitchen ware.  What's not to love?  Oh yeah.  The deplorable way they treat their workers.  Damn it.

But seriously, library story time, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN BY WHOLE LIFE?  (Right there at the library, you ninny).