Random updates and pictures, assorted complaining, etc.

So far, this is a fall of extremes. Like, I cans either drop Dorothy off LATE FOR DANCE CLASS, or I can get her there 30 minutes early. THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND.

Also, we are calling it before October officially arrives. WE ARE READY FOR HALLOWEEN.

Dorothy is dancing on six dance teams this year: 3 hip hop teams, a tap team, a jazz team, and a musical theater team. It really seems like a bit of an overcommittent, but she is so happy when she’s at the studio with her friends, so we are all the way in. Also, nationals are local this year, so I can be the dance mom of my dream and still observe my fear of flying **eye roll**

Harry has gotten in—with merit aid!— to 5/8 of the schools he applied to. He will likely hear from 2 more soon and one on March 31. In delightfully dorky news, his school district is recognizing kids who passed their AP tests last spring with PERSONALIZED YARD SIGNS and a half time embarrassment with their parents at a football game. I CANNOT EVEN WAIT especially since Dorothy and friends are going to be dancing with the poms team at that game (unless she is taking a class with some touring professional dancers in town for Aladdin).

These are the two pictures Minnie insists upon every week— one with her library statue friends and one at Goldfish. INSISTS.

I just could not even with all of the drop offs, etc, the other day (Tuesdays are rough because Ben is gone from early morning until after hockey and everyone else has stuff to do, too), so we went to Noodles, which was SO underwhelming. Blergh. Back to cooking.

THIS STICKER IS PERFECTION.

We FINALLY made caramel apples, an item on our fall bucket list that is way more fun for the kids than for me

I used to sit at dance class killing time in the lobby with Cooper while Dorothy danced, and now here I am killing time in the lobby with Min. Sometimes during COVID I thought I would never see the inside of this place again, and now here I am basically giving it a mortgage payment every month. NEAT.

We had a ridiculously terrible Wednesday morning this week (I broke the handle off my basic b Stanley tumbler (bought a new one immediately but will also be making a warranty claim). I ran out of time and couldn’t clean up the house at all and came home after work/preschool to a gd disaster that wasted my whole day because I had to use my most productive hours cleaning it up and then was exhausted and why did I think changing our sheets on a WORK DAY was a smart plan. Harry never woke up because he unplugged his alarm accidentally, but we didn’t notice he was missing from family life until the time he and Jack usually leave, so Ben drove Jack but then got stuck in traffic and on and on and on. I ended up working until after 10 Wednesday night to triage the most important things after all the running was done and the little kids were in bed. And I know I could choose work over house, but in the moment, the mess made me too anxious to focus on work and GAH. Nothing makes you realize how little margin exists in your life than screwing up JUST ONE THING, you know?