I think I figured out where we got strep

Thanks to Madison Mom and Urban Air, we got to check out the new adventure park in town before it was officially open to the public.

This place is so cool!  Zip lines, a ropes course, laser tag, bumper cars, and the usual trampoline attractions.  I thought Dorothy and Cooper were a little young, but Harry and Jack loved it, and were the perfect age.  I sort of recommend it-- I think it is dangerous and a cesspool, but that's par for the course with indoor gyms, you know?

(Also, Harry has both strep AND pericarditis-- we are basically the best holiday house guests you can imagine)

But seriously, we loved Urban Air-- check it out:

Tis the season! At last!

We have been living in a winter wonderland since Halloween, but finally!  We can embrace the Chrismukkah moment.  Which we did last weekend at our favorite local outdoor mall.  Most of the group shots were outtakes, but that did not stop me from taking MOAR and MOAR.

Behold:

Fat Kid in a Little Suit: Thanksgiving Redux

I originally posted this in 2009, and it's still my favorite Thanksgiving story of all time.  Happy Thanksgiving-- I hope it's the best one yet.

Thanksgiving, circa 1985-ish

My brothers and me-- I was 7; Ben was 3, and Jon was 2.

Shortly after this picture was taken, I pushed past a houseful of guests to be first in line for the Thanksgiving buffet and heaped my plate high with turkey, chopped liver, stuffing, cranberry orange relish, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole-- you get the idea. I marched into the library where the folding kids' table was set up, delighted that I didn't have to waste time talking to my brothers or any guests, plopped both my plate and my fat little self down on the bench, shot my cuffs, picked up my fork, opened my mouth, and raised a heavy, quivering bite of buttered roll and gravy-drenched meat to my eager lips. And then the table collapsed under the weight of me and my leaning tower of flesh and carbs.

Happy Thanksgiving. May you eat like no one's watching.

Into the Unknown!

The new big song from Frozen II totally sums up how I feel about the first holiday season without my dad.  Into the unknown indeed.

Speaking of Frozen II, our amazing Disney travel agent invited us to their Frozen II movie party, and we loved it-- the refreshments, the crafts, the fun photo opps, and the movie, too!

The movie was more existential than I was expecting it to be, but we all loved it a lot.  Except Ben, who texted me midway through to say "This movie is horrible, right?" and I looked at him AGHAST.

Streep throat? JUST WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED.

Well.  This is just perfect.

Also perfect?  I feel like total dog breath (see above) and get to take all of the kids to the doctor for a strep test after school today. Because I bet EVERYONE HAS IT or WILL HAVE IT because we are gross and live in close quarters.

Also perfect? Harry is having chest pains again. GAH.  Poor kid.  His cardiologist wants to see him for an echo next week, and in the mean time, he is on a billion mg of ibuprofen a billion times a day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO US.

I bet you wish you got to eat food that I made, huh?

(Cheese tray.  Will wear gloves to assemble)

Bah humbug, friends.  Here's to hoping my throat un-swells before Thursday so I can cram some pie down it.

School start times

Have we talked about school start times?  Should we talk about school start times?  I feel like we should because I just filled out the timetable worksheet for my fall class and am panicking a teeny bit.

Our school district just pushed the middle school start times back an hour based on all the research that says teens need to sleep later.  This has been-- um, kind of stupid, frankly.  I mean first of all, the high school still starts at the crack of dawn, so what about those teens?  Second of all, teens and tween generally have after school activities, so it completely sucks to have them getting off the bus IN THE DARK at almost 5pm.  And then the end up getting up early to do the homework they couldn't do when they were at sportsball/tumbling/play practice.

But that's not even the worst part you guys.

The worst part is that to compensate for the junior high kiddos going late and using all the damn buses, the school district next year is making the elementary schools start early.  So that means they get out early.  THEY GET OUT BEFORE 3pm EVERYDAY and at 1:15 on MONDAYS.  WHAT THE ACTUAL EFF?  How are people supposed to WORK?

By people, I mean moms, and by moms I mean me. 

So, that brings me to panic about my own class time.  I need it to be early because I need to add hours to the front end of my work day, obvi.  But how early is too early?  Can I trust Jack to stay home for 10 minutes and get on the bus by himself?  Ramona Quimby's parents let her send herself to kindergarten, but times have changed!  Also, the illustrations of unemployed Mr. Quimby grinding cigarettes into a stuffed ashtray in Ramon and her Father are amazing.  Can I actually get to campus and be ready to teach before 9 am?  Will students even want to come to class then? If I teach at 9:55, will I be motivated enough to get out the door at 8 anyway?  Would early office hours help or set me yup to fail? Who will wipe down the bathrooms and clean up breakfast?  I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Speaking of kids not in school when I need to work, these guys were off on Tuesday for parent-teacher conferences, and we had a lovely brunch

 POKEMON CLUB IS THE BEST.  Actually, all of the programs at our library are the best.

 To make my work even more productive , these guys were off on Thursday for their parent-teacher conferences, and we also hit up the book fair

 Dorothy is all the sudden a writer, and I could not love it more.

 In addition to chocolate whipped cream, I also had Kahlua and peppermint vodka in my cocoa because it has been a WEEK, my friends.

 Jack, hard at work on his novel for language arts:

 NOT THE KIND OF NOTES YOU WANT TO HAVE TO TAKE WHEN THE DEAN OF STUDENTS CALLS YOU

Me and Jack, recreating the Facebook decades challenge: