APPLES! And another broken wrist. Yes, seriously.

Listen to our most recent podcast here or here.  We talk about DRINKING LESS and explore an excellent piece in Ravishly that takes down mommy wine culture and led to some really good Facebook convo.

Sometimes, we eat dinner topless.  And also we have donuts.  WE ARE FALLING APART AT THE SEAMS HERE PEOPLE.

Dorothy and I are having the best lazy afternoons before the boys get home.

And!  She has made a triumphant return to the BIG! RED! MAT! and The Little Gym, our favorite favorite kiddie activity, and we have more than a decade of kiddie activity experience.

She's pretty happy.

We kicked off a tradition that I hope we will be able to stick to: FAMILY MOVIE FRIDAY!  Every Friday night (or maybe some Saturdays because LIFE), we are going to watch a move and have some kind of pizza.

This first one was Power Rangers and frozen pizza nd Harry had a sleepover so we are already kind of screwing it up.

Saturday morning, Harry lost a tooth in a donut at his sleepover and the mom sent me a picture of him holding a donut and smiling so big I could see his molar-- or where it used to be-- so I thought I should get the other kids donuts, too.

Dorothy brought some munchkins home for her dollies.

When I was cleaning out the fridge before grocery shopping, Dorothy helped and then adopted a motley crew of condiments (plus a blueberry on top of a jar or cinnamon for the baby) to play house with.

My brother sent me this amazing sticker:

I sneaked away on Saturday night to see IT with friends-- it was not scary, but it was sad and creepy.  MY FAVORITE.

Then! Sunday!  We went apple picking at a totally perfect orchard I heard FB friends raving about-- and they were right to rave!  We had donuts and coffee/cider to start

and then headed out on a tractor to pick a bushel of apples-- INCLUDING HONEY CRISPS!!

The kids were just really into the basket.

Ah, boys.

Wow!  We look more alike than I thought.

Dorothy was totally freaked out.

Not Cooper (who lost his second tooth on movie night in a cookie and ate it.  The second tooth in a row that he has eaten).

MATCHING BOOTS!!

She loved the low hanging fruit.  Not a metaphor.

Jack was obsessed with tracking down the best apples for pie.

Ben was just happy that there weren't any "NO CLIMBING" signs like at the orchard we usually go to

So! Many!  APPLES!

She was raising her hand because she, too, was excited about honey crisps.  But not as excited as I was.

Peak fall!

Surprisingly, this was NOT how Cooper broke his wrist.

Family photo AFTER the wrist incident.  Should have stopped here sooner.

Ben splinted it with a wad of rolled up baseball line ups and some hockey tape because the soonest we could get into urgent care was 4 pm.

So excited to celebrate his bday with Legos and a Toys R Us gift card and also a chocolate milkshake.

She was SO JELLY that Cooper got presents.  Birthdays are tough on her.

Look at those APPLES!!

I took Cooper to the doctor when we got home, and saw this fish with a person face.  I love him.

Here he is proudly brandishing his splint.  We see a pediatric orthopedist this week for a cast/brace.

Subway.  Why not?

This pie is SO UGLY.  I had a major crust fail, and I am still not sure why.  I had to piece the top one together an droll the bottom one out in the pan.  But oh does it taste amazing.

Arm story:

As if I wasn't going to tell it?

After we picked apples, Ben and his dad walked the baskets to our cars, and Ben's mom and I took the kids to the playground.

The playground was PACKED.

I stayed with Dorothy and Ben's mom stayed with Jack. Cooper started agitating to go in the fence maze, but I told him to wait for his dad.  He started to pre-tantrum, and I was like oh no because that was the last thing I wanted to deal with, so I sent him in with a reluctant Harry.

Dorothy and Jack climbed on a crowded play structure and then Jack and Ben's mom went in the maze, and Dorothy ran over to join a hoard of kids playing in these cute little play houses set up to look like old town buildings.

I happened to glance over at the maze to see Cooper balancing on top of a 5-foot fence and Harry standing sort of near him waving his hands at me.  If I could have sprinted over there, I would have been able to get Cooper down.  But I couldn't lose Dorothy in the playhouse throng, so I had to bring her with me, and she didn't want to go.

 By the time we got there, Cooper was filthy and screaming because he fell off the fence onto the hard dirt and hit his right side and arm and the side of his head.

Harry had apparently  freaked because he couldn't figure out the maze and hopped the fence.  When Cooper tried to follow him, he fell.  Ben's mom saw the whole thing happening, too, but she and Jack were stuck in the middle of the maze and couldn't get there in time, either.

We could tell from the crying that his right wrist-- and maybe forearm-- was really badly hurt, and since we have been down the broken wrist road with both Jack and Dorothy, we suspected the worst.

 AND WE WERE RIGHT.

Such a bummer because his flag football season has come to an early end, and he really liked flag football.

Here he is getting a first down: