Harry Times...All Jacked Up: Cooper's birthday sleepover and more pictures of my food

Monday, September 16, 2019

Cooper's birthday sleepover and more pictures of my food

My wise friend Julie wrote a fantastic blog post about why sleepovers are the worst and I really agree with her. Nevertheless, Cooper wanted one for his birthday.

And that's pretty much all he wanted.

I admit, the thought was initially really appealing. SO cheap! So little planning on my part! Such a small, manageable party!

So, of course, he had a sleepover last weekend, the first sleepover for every kid on the list. Yikes, right?! I mean, what are the odds they would all stay?! Except for one kiddo, though, who decided in advance to do a sleep under and go home before bedtime, the rest of them all stayed the night!! At breakfast, one little boy told me that he was going to call home, but it turned out to be more fun than he thought it would be (!!!)

And I am really glad the kids had fun because NO MORE SLEEPOVERS EVER AGAIN OH MY GOD. I mean, I am terrible at standing my ground, so I am sure we will have more sleepovers once I forget how tired and crabby and fighty ALL FOUR of my kids were yesterday.

Jack and Cooper and Cooper's friends STAYED UP UNTIL 2:30 AM. THAT'S SO LATE.

They were just talking and laughing and playing Bey Blades (we turned the TV and video games off at 11:30 and based on experience with Harry and Jack's friends, that meant magical sleepy time. HA HA HA. Look out for the class of 2032), but OH MY GOSH. 2:30 is THE NEXT DAY, and Ben and I had no idea how to even stay up. We dozed but also felt we had to be sort of awake because except for Cooper and Jack, these kids are SEVEN which is way too young to be totally unsupervised.

We even ran them around the neighborhood for an hour on a scavenger hunt and did a LEGO building competition and made s'mores outside, thinking all of these things would wear them out. Also, we loaded them up with junk food and ice cream cake, even though most of them had already had dinner, and let them eat candy while they watched their bedtime movie. And then we sat around like rookies thinking why won't they go to sleep?

Harry slept on the upstairs couch, which is where Dorothy fell asleep around 10:30 (we carried her to her bed in her sleeping bag, and when she got up the next morning, she left behind the outline of her body in Nerds candy), and everyone was HORRIBLE on Sunday, starting at about 2pm and lasting all the way through bedtime. GAH.

Dorothy spent her Friday all hair chalked up because she has declared every Friday of the school year to be HAIR CHALK FRIDAY again

Cooper clearly loves hugs:

Ha! Beatrix!

Oh my gosh! Make this hot nut cereal, recipe HERE

It's wrong to want my dog's life. And yet.

Ok. I love Whole30. I feel amazing. I have lost over 15 pounds since this time last year (still mostly the grief diet and speech camp probably, but this month has certainly helped). But you guys! ALL I DO IS CUT UP FRUIT AND VEGGIES.

Coper made birthday party favors, a comic book and a set of trading cards, all featuring the weather phenomena people he likes to draw, and I love them so much. We went to the copy shop and made them for the whole party, and of course I kept a set for myself. Behold:

Oh look! More food. Use a potato as a hamburger bun-- you will not regret it!

Soccer Saturday!

Was I jealous of their Culvers? YES. YES I WAS.

I took a stolen moment on the way to the grocery store(s) to have a compliant almond milk latte and center myself. And make lists. And then I still went like $100 over budget. GAH.

I picked these up for the sleepover because I clearly have willpower of steel.

SO MANY SNACKS.

Can you even believe this popped?

Scavenger hunt! NO ONE with a Ring doorbell answered the door. Go figure. Also someone gave us a whole pack of hot dogs instead of just the one on the list, and the neighbors in general were amused and very helpful.