List of Last Week's Labors of Love

- generally I think I'm raising intelligent children, but then I went and met the almost-3-year-old during storytime at the library who is reading and has been since he was 2... TWO!  And I'm like, "shiiiioot. "  But hey, I fed the kids some vegetables that day and they all know their names, so I call it a win.

- anniversary celebration:

 

traditional anniversary gifts, yo

while ALL THE BEVERAGES are sitting on a wood table, we went to a WOODfire grill for lunch

iron man 3 at the budget theater - what what

[not pictured: sugar.  Because my fork kept getting in the way of a picture of the awesome cheesecake I got from Cafe Latte.  Note: Nutella latte.]

 

- things I think are a racket:

• Disney princesses
• any children's cartoon franchise
• bridal shops

- GIANT SLIDE.  FIVE TIMES.  That's reason enough to have children.  "Well, you're not tall enough to ride it alone, so I'll have to go with you."  I did it for the children.

 

this is my favorite thing at the fair every year

 

- not to mention the milking barn, fake ice skating, butterfly room, merry-go-round, group karaoke, and eating of everything.  STATE FAIR!

 

Mae Cake has been enamored with the idea of ice skating for over a year, so when we saw the "no-ice skating", we were in. After buying a 10 minute increment of ice time for her and V, a darling young man working the booth  [he was seriously adorable and fantastic at his job] and I laced up their skates and handed them the walkers.  Mae Cake hated it almost immediately and started crying. After 4 minutes had gone by, she sobbingly came over to where I was. I picked her up over the boards and told her she did a great job and she starts crying harder and tells me to put her back on the ice because SHE'S NOT DONE. Another lap around the ice had at least 3 random people cheering for her, while she was crying, yet determined to finish.

V, on the other hand, took one lap around and gave the walker to one of the men working and said "I don't need this anymore." He raised his eyebrow, but off she went.

 

The bookend ladies totally dug the butterfly room this year, a big improvement from last year where V squealed and cried and ZooZoo escaped by being contained in the stroller outside. Mama also managed to BE BRAVE and let butterflies land ON HER HANDS AND LEGS WITHOUT SCREAMING. ZooZoo wanted to take hers home and was displeased when that couldn't happen. [Mae Cake is not pictured because she pretty much hated this, too.]

mae cake's moment of glory

did we get to the fair at 6am? why yes we did!

 

- new songs on the 'lele:

• Ho Hey by The Lumineers  
• Once Upon a Dream
• I Just Can't Wait to be King
• Dream a Little Dream of Me

I mean, obviously, right?

- want to go on a dance cruise?  We're fun, you're fun, let's have fun together.

- if you follow my Instagram feed (over there on the right), you'll see we've been having quite the harvest this summer.  We have a billion tomatoes, along with a couple of ninja zucchinis that I swear weren't even there 2 days ago.  In other words, canning starts tomorrow.

- every night after dinner, if the ladies have eaten all their "real food" and haven't driven me crazy, I give them a treat.  It might be a cookie, or brownie, but sometimes it's yogurt with peanut butter stirred in, or raspberries, or a freaking graham cracker.  And every night, Mae Cake literally squeals with delight and starts off the round of "thank you, Mama"s that goes around the table.  So, if I balance that out with the time that they're complete turds, we can for sure call it even.

This week: men with hair.  Next week: men without hair.

Two years ago: Sweet Martha's Revenge, in which I have resolve.