MOM/AUNT OF THE YEAR. ONE DIRECTION, BABY!

 

tomorrow, hallie, mackenzie and i embark on a trip to see one direction in concert. in chicago. at soldier field.

 

 

i'm one part terrified, three parts pumped.

 

if you had asked me yesterday morning, i would have been three parts terrified, one part pumped.

 

you see, i've never been to soldier field. i was all out of sorts about where to stay, park, how to get there, etc. i mean, i was still super organized and all systems were a go, but i was still really nervous about how it was all going to go down.

 

the original plan was pretty awesome, but got squashed, which is fine.

 

so then came a hotel, a paid parking spot downtown and a MILE WALK for me and two eight-year-old girls. one of whom is used to going to bed happily at eight o'clock. so a mile walk there at five pm = easy. a mile walk after the show at ten thirty pm = hell. for everyone. but it had to be done and it could be done and it will be FINE and OH DID I MENTION THE FORECAST LOOKS CRAPPY? just sayin'.

 

so out of the blue yesterday, my BFF betsy texts me to see if it was the st. louis concert we had attended, but no, we didn't (school night). so i wrote her back and just lamented a bit about how much easier that would have been because i KNOW st. louis. easy. so easy. but again, a school night.

 

one complain-y text from me to her. that's all.

 

fast forward a few hours later, i magically had a free place to stay less than half a mile from the stadium and a free parking spot. what?

 

I CANNOT EVEN DESCRIBE MY LOVE FOR YOU BETSY BRASS. so much love.

 

and my stress level has diminished dramatically and is now replaced with super excitement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

SO...THIRD GRADE IS HAPPENING.

hallie is in third grade, broken wrist and all. this is the first year she was all, see ya mom! i got this! and i was all, "i'll never let you gooooooo!" sigh.

 

 

 

wasn't she just in pre-K?

 

 

we had our annual back to school feast (previous years here, here and here and here and holy crap here too. i guess we've been doing it awhile! ) and it was quite the event. tacos on fancy china with pepsi in crytal goblets. and dave in his underwear. classy. our theme this year is "here there and everywhere: family and God." the here there and everywhere is a beatles song. and family and God are here there and everywhere - so if we need something, that's where we turn.

 

 

 

and then henry got strep throat, so that's always super duper fun. he went from totally fine to swollen, feverish and lethargic in a matter of two hours. of course these two hours were the only ones in which dave was hanging solo with the kiddos, so i got a bunch of crazy texts in a short amount of time while i was at a church meeting.

 

 

dave was home for one night in two weeks. ONE NIGHT. and that was THE NIGHT that henry comes down with strep. bummer for dave, but that's life.

 

what else, what else...this week has sucked big time. work is one thing after another of drama and issues and fires and crap. lots of tears and grumpy people. and then henry gets sick and i'm missing work and feeling guilty and a few things blew up unnecessarily while i was gone, so that's frustrating and WAAAAAAHHHHHH. i'm feeling VERY woe-is-me today. obviously.

 

on the bright side, i got to "work from home" this morning with henry and he decided to get some super-important work done too on his Barbie laptop.

 

 

AND, i get to spend a whole night alone in a hotel room this weekend. which means a night of UNINTERRUPTED sleep and no alarm (henry or otherwise) in the morning. i can't wait, but i also hate to leave my kids. silly wedding.

 

THERE'S MY SCRAPS. BE THANKFUL FOR THE SCRAPS. AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI GREEEEEEEEN!

AND THEN BROKE HER WRIST.

same arm as the last time she broke something. hopefully the last!

 

she fell off a boat. a boat that was overturned already on land. they were fishing and caught one. it flopped and so did she...off the side of the boat.

 

it was all very dramatic, but we survived. she chose a black cast and I hate yet to get a picture. coming soon!

 

 

 

 

this was happening a bit before the break:

 

 

 

 

 

 the end.

 

HALLIE TURNED EIGHT.

which is crazy. and it was also back on july 12th, so you can see how behind i am on blog posts.

she had an awesome birthday.