Work/Life IMBALANCE

OH MY GOD THE KIDS MADE ME SO MAD TODAY.

Ben spent all day-- like, literally ALL DAY-- staining the deck, so I took the kids to the pool after school, planning to bring them home around 6:30 for dinner.  I also surprised them with new water guns that I picked up while running a zillion errands this morning.

At the end of 2 hours at the pool, they had shattered one gun and lost 2.  I was a little annoyed because it's the second time this pool season (and we have gone 4 damn times) that they have blithely lost their brand new shit.  And!  They aren't even a little concerned about it or willing to FIND IT.

Finally, after I YELLED at them, they tracked down the two missing guns.  And then we left, only for me to discover 2 towels sitting outside the clubhouse along with jack's brand new wiffle ball set and bases, the bases strewn about the grass and the bat BROKEN IN HALF.

I am just SO SICK of them acting like all of their shit is disposable.  GAH.

Also, I should probably eat dinner before 6:30 #hangry.

Ben worked really hard on the deck, but this is his third major outdoor project, and we have fallen into an unsettling summer pattern where I do all of the kid/house stuff while he works outside.  It just reminds me of the nature of lady work versus man work.  His is more arduous, but he won't have to stain the deck again for at least 3 years.  I have thankless, boring, Sisyphean tasks that recur everyday.

She is always mid-sentence

 I wanted to take a picture of him in his natural habitat, especially since school is out for the little kids in just 2 short days.

 I forgot to add cinnamon to the pan on the left.  DUH.

 What?  You missed pics of the kids at he pool.  Hang on a sec.

 They were the only kids here because it was 60 and rainy.

 She's SO BIG.

 She also needed to take a shower and put on her sweats and do some looking and finding because the pool was FREEZING.

And those are from yesterday when nobody lost or broke their damn toys.  Today I took no pics because I forgot my phone-- and I read 2 books.  Ha! 

Our super suburban weekend in pictures.

Pool season means that for the rest of the summer, my pictures will all pretty much look like this.

Jack was the first one of our crew in the pool, but he was technically the 4th person in the pool because a group of 5th grade girls totally beat him.

 She was the only one who would smile at me before she jumped in.

 Cooper went right to work on the diving board, picking up where he left off last summer with an awesome cannonball.

 Dorothy spent most of her first hour jumping in again and again and again.

 She also took some time to read her mags.

 Me, too.

 I broke my no-snack shack resolution to buy the kids opening day lunch of least resistance.  Big hit.  Also, $25 for sandwiches, chips, and candy bards.  A little pricey, yes?

Ben was at home planting this:

But we all met up in time to go to our first of 3 barbecues.

 I spent the morning on Sunday cleaning the house, and this guy helped by fishing all the crap out from under his bed.

 Dorothy needed to try out the old high chair in advance of Baby Henry coming over for dinner.

 ANOTHER BARBECUE!

 Jack is truly the most awesome big brother ever, helping his sister out with a Memorial Day tea party by dressing the party goers.

 And then attending the festivities.

 Complete with teeny cookies.

 Meanwhile, Ben pressure washed the shit out everything that would hold still.

 And then!  DOROTHY USED THE WATER SLIDE ALL BY HERSLF!!!!!!!!!  Huge milestone.

 She dressed and accessorized herself for barbecue #3.

 That's my reflection in my sunglasses.

 Dorothy's a unicorn!  Duh.

Baby Henry at the pool!  Getting out was a bit chilly.

 So was standing at the top of the damn water slide.

 She's the cutest on the diving board.

 And only a little scary swimming to the edge.

 Upside down Harry!

 Backwards and upside down Jack

 Harry the pitcher!

 Trampoline!

 Wiffle ball!

And there you have it! Our super suburban weekend in pictures.

Weekend Tease

I have not posted since Thursday because I ave been busy barbecuing.  LIFE IS HARD, OK?

SO MANY THINGS HAVE HAPPENED.

1.  POTY Podcast episode 9 is up.  You can listen on iTunes (where you can rate us, please, please, please), on Soundcloud, or even on POTYpodacst.com, where you will also find show notes.

2. Holly Sisk, commenter number 1, won my Picket Fence giveaway.  Congrats, Holly!  I emailed you just now.

3. We enjoyed baseball because it's Memorial Day Weekend, and we are Americans.  I should have made apple pie.

4.  We planted a whole bunch of, um, plants, and the kids are tending to them lovingly.

5.  We found an AMAZING shade of pink lipstick, maybe the PERFECT SHADE, the holy grail of pink lipsticks.

6.  In a Pinterest worthy moment of adorable, Ben and the kids found a bag of shells we collected on our last beach vacation (hiding in our pool bag, actually) and picked out their favorites to fill this hurricane glass thing that we put on our bookshelf next to a picture of the kids on that beach.  NAILED IT.

7.  The kids were WAITING IN LINE for the pool to open on Saturday because that is how on top of our shit we were.

... AND that's how far my freaking phone got in its uploading process.  So I will have to tell you about the pool hijinks and BBQ hilarity later.  I BET YOU CAN'T WAIT.