Blink and you'll miss it

This semester is already speeding past! Like, I just blinked, and it's already almost the weekend.

At least one of us knows how to relax.

I think part of the reason everything feels so FAST is that our after-school hours are jam packed.  So, I race around doing an impossible amount of housework and leaving the house in the 8's for work, work, work all day, and then hit the ground running for the 4pm-8pm scramble.  IT'S A LOT.

On Tuesday, because I am terrible at scheduling dentist appointments,  I had to take everyone to the dentist for ONE KID's 7:30 am appointment,  Woe is me FOR SURE.

 Here's Jack doing homework at Dorothy's dance class. To make this moment of quiet happen, I had to pick Dorothy and Cooper up at school, get Dorothy to change for hip hop and tap and Cooper to put on his hockey gear, drop Dorothy at the dance studio, race to Harry and Jack's school to pick them us, drop Harry and Cooper at the rink after tying Cooper's skates, even though I never tie them tight enough, and race back to dance.  We got home after practice(s) at about 7pm, TWELVE HOURS after leaving the house.  CRAZY.

 Speaking of stress, this book!  Read it! But don't freak out, ladies born between 1965-1980.  IT CALLS YOU MIDDLE AGED.

This week is making me tired, and it's only Monday morning

Ralph S. Mouse in no Ramona series, but he's not half bad.

 Snow man snow!  Finally!  I love the spray paint buttons, which melted into a pile of gore, and also the wiffle golf ball eyes.

 Taking the old braces out for some Badger women's hockey pregaming at Nitty Gritty.

 He bought a shirt at the game.  Of course he did.

 Cooper sat with his hockey friends and Bucky paid them a visit.  Photo by Jack.

 Dorothy and I had a spa day on Saturday while Ben manned hockey and baseball practices.

 Going for a walk20in20 walk

 We spent more time than we should have watching The Office this weekend.

 Jack had another perfect dentist appointment today and does not need an orthodontist referral (yet).  Could we be so lucky to get one kid with my teeth? Cross your fingers because all the big ones aren't in yet...

So many meetings!  More kid dentist appointments! Lectures! Office hours! Dinners to make! SO MUCH LAUNDRY!

Just another week in paradise.

Another week, more complaints. I am so dreamy.

Another week, more complaints.  I am so dreamy.

Work was hard.

The second shift after work was way harder, especially since Ben had 2 nights where he was super late, which, thankfully, is a rarity.  And boy do I appreciate how rare it is even more after living the alternative.

Luckily, the little  kids and I are reading the Mouse and the Motorcycle series, so that's a delightful half hour at the end of their days.

I think the laundry is trying to kill me.

Otherwise, everything is awesome!

Just look at that grin:

 And that one!

 Cooper's student teacher had her last day, and I got to help the class throw her a surprise party.  So! Many! Muffins!

 It's the tongue:

 Cooper, making a card at the party.

If I do noting else this weekend, I will make sure all three boys get hair cuts.  My god.

Adulting complaints, a middle school milestone, and SNOW

Remember last week when I was all oh yeah, I went back to work? Yeah.  It was like ONE DAY, so that hardly counts.

I have not left the house since Friday afternoon and OMG I just looked at my Google calendar for the week ahead, and it is C R A ZY. The kind of crazy that inevitably makes me IGNORE MY GOOGLE CALENDAR.

GAH.

I am going to pack up my nice purse with adult things like PENS and wear not stretchy clothes and got to meetings and put on a mic and talk to a giant room of students.  But my heart?  IS DOING THIS:

OK, next up, Harry got braces yesterday!

And while he was in the chair (because even though they put the braces on a mold of his teeth-- that we got to keep (?!) ahead of time and then just kind of slip them on his actual teeth, it took FOREVER), Cooper and I had a consult because Cooper's teeth? Well, let's just say the entire world appears to be right about extended pacifier use.

Dorothy asked if she could have braces, too, but at almost seven, she has not lost a single tiny perfect white baby tooth, so your guess is as good as mine.

In a middle school miracle, Jack has not yet been referred, so cross your fingers that someone got my teeth!

Also, look what he can do, speaking of milestones:

And! Finally! (Finally in terms of the last thing on my list to write about and finally because we haven't had any since October), IT SNOWED!

Jack still found time to root for his favorite team, though (and spent the entire 3-day weekend in various pajamas-- he's awesome)

And Dorothy balanced her snow time with a doll tea party for Emerson's birthday and a pretty constant game of Love It or List It using Elsa's castle, a calico critter house, and various animal families.

Ok, back to the real world for all of us today.  Gulp.

What We're Eating This Week

Hi.

We have been eating actual meals that we plan and cook.

(Most days.  Yesterday, we ate whatever was in the fridge, and you know what?  WE LIKED IT.)

Friday: Make-your-own naan pizzas
Saturday: Meat loaf, baked potatoes, broccoli, and canned pears
Sunday: Chili, hot dogs, chips, and salsa because PACKERS GAME.  (Only Jack is a fan, but we live in WI)
Monday:  Pork chops, stuffing, mini potatoes, green beans, canned apricots
Tuesday: LEFTOVERS
Wednesday: Chicken salads for the adults and mac and cheese with side salads for the kids
Thursday: Take and bake pizza

Two weeks in a row, and the shop on Friday thing is working.  Last week, even with a Tuesday produce run, I stayed well within our grocery budget, and except for a couple of lunches out, we ate exclusively at home.

All of these meals are 100% Beatrix-approved.

Back to work

Oh, friends.  Tomorrow, I have to go to campus and work outside my living room again, like adults do.  It has been a great break, particularly, these last 7 school days while the kids were at school and I was here.  With no one but the snoring dog and a sparklingly clean house.

Speaking of sparklingly clean, Harrison is OBSESSED with cleaning his tennis shoes.

 And he is not amused when I take pictures.

 I wish you guys could watch Cooper play basketball. He's so fast!  So good at defense!  Almost never makes a basket!

 These kids LOVE HGTV.  It cracks me up.

 Dorothy has recently discovered the towel turban, and I am a big fan.  YUGE.

Whole 30 Drop Out **sad trombone**

Ugh, you guys.  My heart just wasn't in it this round, and I am back on the sweet, sweet carbs.

In true form, I ate like a trash can all weekend, but I am committed to striking a healthy eating balance this week.  Probably a good first step is to STOP BAKING.

We had a lovely and super chill weekend, made even more relaxing my the forecasted YUGE SNOW STORM that never quite was because I went panic shopping on Friday, so that task was off our weekend plates.  I actually think this is something I am going to do moving forward.  If I could squeeze in time on Fridays to do the shopping, not only will we be able to take it a little easier on the weekend, but I think we'll save money in the long run because we won't always go out to eat on Friday nights, which we usually do because we are out of food and ideas and energy.

The kids spent a lot of time sledding in the neighborhood (BY THEMSELVES!  IT WAS AWESOME!) and they had friends over Saturday afternoon for Nerf guns and cocoa/cookies.  Harry went to a sleepover.  We had hockey.  I watched the new Schitt's Creek.  The kids realized they love HGTV.  We watched tons of football.  It was basically the Platonic ideal of a weekend.

They even got to play good old Box.

 Not only can they take themselves sledding (all 4 of them!!), but they can also text pictures.  It's LIKE I WAS THERE.

 He's fun to watch

 The sunglasses!

 Not sure what's going on here.

 You can just barely see his Doc McStuffins back pack, a perfect accessory.

My week of total sloth-dom

Dorothy used some of her holiday cash to buy a Scruff-a-Luv, a stuffed animal that you buy all mangy and then supposedly make pretty but it just seems to stay all mangy.  I was totally grossed out by it (I have a texture thing), but she LOVES it like no other.

 Cooper bought a giant sketch book and immediately started writing stories in it and drawing pictures of natural disasters.

 Harry waited for the Badgers to lose and bought half-priced Rose Bowl gear, and Jack spent his on video games and LEGO.

 Look-- she seriously loves this thing.

 Ben and I used our holiday money for new kitchen stools because we are super bornng like that.

 I realized that I did not get a single haircut in 2019 (YIKES), so I have already fixed that moving forward.

 Dorothy is hard at work on a book about a bear named Daisy, and she works on it every chance she gets.

 Ben and I had a lovely lunch date at the Elks Club.

 Dorothy revises her novel by reading it aloud.

 Beatrix is a fan.

 We went to an American Girl tea party at the library, and it was the cutest!

 Cooper was skeptical at first, but he and ALF had a good time, too.

Next week, I ease back into work, and I am looking forward to it!  Being the only person hime all day is pretty lonely.