Kiddie Spring Break Day 6

 SO MUCH SNOW, and I am just. Ugh. WISCONSIN! 

I had meetings this morning, but Ben had the day off, so everything was slow and lazy.

Dorothy got this totally bizarre stuffed animal for her birthday (well, listen: I bought it for her for Chrismukkah, but also I bought her way too much stuff, so we stashed it away for her birthday), and she played with it this morning. It was a whole THING

It comes out of the box as horrifying little fur rectangle with tufts of hair falling off

And then you use a cute little pink “razor” to shave it

But even Minnie figured out pretty quickly that the razor has nothing to do with the hair clumps falling out.

Okay, so, next you collect all of the shorn fur and stuff it in a little pillow case for the dog to use as a bed which OMG. This is the point in the process that Beatrix started to look worried, and who can blame her?

Next, the mangey little thing gets a sink bath and a pretty intense blow out

This is all followed, naturally, by an ice-water activated, color-changing pedicure

And it’s actually kind of cute

I took the middle 3 back to the pool so Ben can get the basement ready for the event planning company to bring the tents for Dorothy’s birthday party (another whole Thing that I will tell you about), and we are all looking forward to a lazy, snowy afternoon. 

(But first! There was window art!)

(Lost my ice scraper) (Found another one)

Kiddie Spring Break: Day 5

 Ben is the best dad ever. He took the kids to a Courtyard Marriott and let them eat Subway under the covers, snack on giant Twix ice cream bars, and swim in the hotel pool ALL DAY LONG.

They came home for dinner, but they are back there now, planning to swim until bedtime, take showers in the room, and come home jammied and ready for bed.

Checkout isn't until noon tomorrow, so I am going to take them back for a morning swim so I can have coffee and go to a couple of meetings on Zoom because I am **not the fun one. (If you have been here long, you will not be surprised).

I should also note that we are only talking about the middle 3 kids. harry was too cool and also had both speech coaching and tennis practice, and Min Min stayed home with me. I worked in my office this morning (**angels singing**) (and I got my summer syllabus done!!) and then worked at home this afternoon during nap-- which is when Ben and the rest went swimming.

And I didn't skip the pool because I am too heavy for all my swimsuits. I swear.

Homies:

Staycationers:

Kiddie Spring Break Day 4

 Oh, friends. I hope today was not the day I have to look back on and say oh I think we got Covid at the retro arcade.

Today was so cold and windy and gray.

We hit the library

A new-to-us park

Target for new snippy cups

And the arcade

And plus also some time at home to do nothing.

It’s HARD to be stuck at home for spring break when there’s no spring and a global pandemic makes going inside places pretty dicey.

Kiddie Spring Break Day 3

My kids are going to have the most fun telling their classes about how their parents both work and what’s a break anyway?

Highlights included:

• Dorothy and Cooper teaching Minnie how to play hide and seek. She plays the game in its purest form— no guile, no worry about someone’s feelings. Just pure, stompy FINDING POWER. It’s darling.
• Extra bonus MINECRAFT MONDAY hours. MM usually starts at 1:30, but today? AS SOON AS YOUR EYES OPEN.
• Lots of friend hangs because it’s SUNNY and that isn’t on the agenda for, oh, THE REST OF THE WEEK.
• Billy Madison. When is this movie NOT a highlight, I ask you.
• Teen #1 starting a week of tennis try-outs
• Teen #2 finalizing birthday party plans
• Picking up matching nightgowns for Dorothy and Minnie to wear to Dorothy’s birthday party
• Collapsing on the couch with a YA page-0turner and some oatmeal with peanut butter mixed in after everyone (FINALLY) went to bed.

Here I am deciding to take a sleek, sophisticated bob and make it look ridiculous. HAPPY MONDAY, indeed.

Kiddie Spring Break Day 2

 I am mostly kidding when I tell you that my favorite day of the kids’ spring break might be tomorrow because I have to work all day. MOSTLY KIDDING. MOSTLY.

Today, we cleaned the house and made a big dinner, which is what we usually do on Sunday. But! Because we are trying to keep things EXTRA FUN, we also got ridiculous cookies at a local bakery (that ships! Might be worth it— these cookies are SO GOOD and we also love the spicy cheese bread) and went for a walk at a pretty park.

Harry was too cool to hang out with us, but we got an extra cookie to split between our 4 hikers so they wouldn’t have to wait all the way until dessert, and they ate while they walked— it was pretty adorable.

“Winded” after walking I don’t know A THIRD OF A MILE

They both had huge walking sticks

It was great selfie light— what can I say?

She really liked her cookie

The funny thing is, we didn’t even have all our kids with us, and there are still so many of us on the path.

Bringing up the rear

Stopping for cookie.

Bros:

Minnie never leaves anyplace willingly

Kiddie spring break day 1

 

We kicked off kiddie spring break with chocolate chip pancakes to celebrate this little lady FINALLY sleeping through the night.

Since we are staying home (**whomp whomp**), the little kids threw together a bucket list this morning, and we got right to work checking off items.

(Pancakes were, adorably, on the list)

Cooper really wanted to go bowling of all things, so while Minnie napped and Harry played tennis with a friend and Dorothy went to a birthday party, I took Cooper and Jack to a really crowded bowling alley where we were the only people in masks.

So glad you can see the bro who kept taking my ball in this pic of Jack commemorating breaking 100.

I forgot how long it takes Cooper to deal with bowling shoes.

Oh, Cooper.

HE WAS SO MAD THAT HE DIDN’T WIN ANY OF THE THREE GAMES.

Minnie was cartoon adorable tonight

And she really really wanted to stick her feet in the mashed potato bowl. Can you blame her?