Pizza and Ice Cream.

The best $5 dinner that money can buy. Plus I fed them some free samples beforehand.

Use the Force.

Yes, hello, hi. This may be my last week of blogging, because I'm not quite sure I'm going to make it out alive. It's the last week of school, which means a different activity every day, leading up to last day on Thursday. The other fun thing is that on Thursday we have to take our stupid cat into the vet for the day, because otherwise we'll run out of insulin while we're gone and he'll croak, and I have a dentist appointment that I planned six months ago in the afternoon. And we have to do laundry and pack and make sure our house is okay to leave for nine days. And this morning the check engine light popped on in my car. Plus my delightful three year old is being a grade A jerk weasel, who throws fits and gets dragged screaming from parties, and finds every last nerve of mine and rides it like a show pony. HOORAY! I joked to Dad last night that if he was my friend, he'd make me a bleach and tonic.

MOSTLY KIDDING. I'll stick to my scrawny mules. But I'm going to drink a whole pack's worth. I realize this happens every time we travel - even though the kids do well on the plane, and we have more adults than children, the week leading up to actually leaving has me totally bonkers beneath the surface at all times. SO FUN.

Plus we had a busy weekend this past weekend. Our friend Penelope turned five, and she had a big Star Wars themed birthday party a local park. It was drizzly, which was actually a nice change from standing outside in the blazing sun. They hired a bunch of performers to do Jedi training, and they trained those kids for THREE HOURS. Many balloon light sabers (many... many... because balloons plus grass is not a good combination) and then learning to fight with pool noodles. I was amazed at how long the entertainment went on, and was glad that they served food first. There was also a jungle gym there, for Party Pooper Extraordinaire Adam to play on. And he had a good time chasing Tim around the soccer field, kicking a tennis ball. Ellie loved it - yesterday she told her friend at school that she's a real Jedi now.

Learning from Rey

Fighting with the birthday girl

Adam, trying to cut down his own father.

After nap time, we watched the newest Star Wars. Ellie curled up with me for part of it and goes "mommy, in these movies, the kids kill their parents. I promise to never kill you." Thanks, my little padawan.

Bittersweet.

We're continuing to wind down to summer around here (or rev up to our trip to Wisconsin, your choice.) I'm looking forward to sleeping in, and I think the kids are too (I have to wake Ellie up 95% of the time.) But some of the final adventures are getting to me.

For instance, today was the last day of Music Together class until the summer. And since Ellie will be home and is too old for Music Together (based on both the class listing, and the fact that I'd rather pay for piano lessons versus toddler music class) we're pretty well done. In the fall, he may go with Mimi on Wednesdays, but his buddy the Juddy will be in preschool on Wednesdays, so the days of Kristen and I going in and being the best singers in the group is pretty much over. It's been such a fun class - fun for the kids to hang with their friends, fun for me to hang with my friend, dancing and singing and being real goofy, and the music is (mostly) great. Thanks to the countless hours of Music Together (and Miss Elena songs in the car) we have so many songs to sing together and so many great melodies. And great memories. Ellie's been doing it since before she could crawl, and Adam started going to class with us when he was four weeks old? Two weeks old? He was a lump in the moby wrap - he knows nothing other than the delight of Crazy Miss Elena.

Here he is as an organ grinder's monkey.

And here he is during my favorite song, Old Brass Wagon. Circle to the left, y'all.

Also today was Ellie's last dance class. They let us come in and film the last performance, which is nice, especially since Ellie's missing the dress rehearsal and the performance. She doesn't seem too broken up about it any more, though she has big plans to show off for everyone in Wisconsin (prepare yourselves!) She's really made great progress this year as a dancer - it's a more serious class than her preschool ballet, and she especially loves being loud and tapping around. It looks like we'll try ballet again in the fall, but with the same instructor (and being in class again with Lexi, which is always half of the fun.)

Shave and A Hair Cut.

Yesterday.

Today.

In case you were curious, the blow-pop was an awful idea. I hoped maybe he'd eat it and be quiet during his hair cut, but still there was plenty of complaining about the buzzers and having to sit still. So instead of just regular crying, he was taking big licks from a hair covered sucker, and then drooling red juice everywhere. Those poor barbers - we go because it's a quick hair cut and it's cheap (Tim and I also get our hairs cut there) but when I bring in Adam, I tip more than double, for combat pay (and because sometimes it takes two barbers AND me to hold him and shear him.) 

Yesterday after nap time, we were at an impasse as to what activity sounded fun - both kids were a bit whiny and I'm sure would have enjoyed just turning their brains to mush with TV, but then the big one said she just wanted to art, and the little one said he wanted to go to the park. 

So for once, I was able to make everyone happy!

Overwatch has now been out for two weeks, and by all accounts is a smash. I play a couple of times a week, and have finally had few matches where the number of time I die is actually LESS than the amount of kills I get. YES I AM THE BEST GAMER EVER. The end of last week was filled with a lot of celebrating for Tim. Blizzard does a champagne toast for a successful ship, or as I have been calling it, either Nerds Gone Wild, or the Nerd Wet Tee Shirt contest. Please to enjoy

Tip A Cop.

Another fun Tip a Cop night last night, this time at the Irvine Spectrum. They really turn it out for the event - a whole bunch of restaurants participate (including our favorite, Ruby's) and because there's a large central space, law enforcement can bring out a ton of vehicles. Last night the kids got to eat burgers, drink milk shakes, and see a SWAT vehicle (they loved popping their head out of the top), a mobile command unit, various cars and motorcycles, AND a police dog. Plus a bunch of other random dogs wandering around - Ellie was petting this enormous black monster dog, and the owner goes "you can sit on him, if you want." So, she rode a dog (did not get a photo, sorry.)

We did photograph her fancy outfit for our hot date with Gigi and Grizz

Mostly Grizz.

We got to ride on the ferris wheel with him, which was a thrill for everyone. Grizz was a very nice date to have, because the Spectrum is huge and the kids want to explore every inch, but also don't usually end up wanting to walk the whole way. And since Tim was still at work, I very much appreciated having a second set of hands. 

Of course, we also rode the carousel. And since Ellie can sit by herself now, Adam got to choose whatever animal he wanted (instead of me having to keep them near each other.) Of course, he picked an ostrich. What could be more fun? 

Here Comes Rhyming Simon.

I've said before, one of the things I miss most about living in LA is being able to go see more live music. When Tim and I were young and dumb, there were several months a year where we'd have two different musicals to go see, and a concert or two, because we had cheap season tickets to the Ahmanson and the Pantages, and if a band I liked came through town, I'd buy tickets 99% of the time.

The good thing about Orange County is that it's not so far away from various live music venues, and Gigi is sweet enough to stay at our house until we finally roll back in at 1am. Sure, the curfew at the Hollywood Bowl is 11pm, but that doesn't take into account getting out of the venue, out of the stacked parking lot, and down various freeways that were all closed right before we could get on the 5 South.

Anyhow. All that to say that Tim and I were able to get out last night to see Paul Simon at the Hollywood Bowl, my favorite of the far away Los Angeles concert-seeing-venues.

And hooray, my favorite boyfriend date, and my favorite musician. What more can you ask for?

Memorial Day Weekend.

It's been quite a week around here. The biggest news is that Overwatch is a bonafied sensation. It's one of the smoothest launches that Blizzard has ever had, tech-wise, and it's flying off the shelves and getting great reviews. It's so amazing to see Tim's hard work be so well received. I love looking at the Overwatch hashtag on instagram and seeing how people are reacting. And I like that there's so many new people in the game, because my few hours of playing during Beta actually mean that I'm better than some of the newbs. Pew pew - here's a plasma cannon to the face!

And it's nice to have him home for dinner and bath time and bed time every night this week. Been a long time since that happened!

No real news with the kids this week. Ellie is winding down her year at school, which is bittersweet. She's had a great teacher and a lot of nice friends in her classroom, but next year she'll be moving to our home school and only one or two of the kids will follow. I'm looking forward to being able to walk her to school in the mornings though, and through MOPS I've met a lot of moms who live in our neighborhood, a few of whom also have kids starting kinder in the fall.

I look forward to many more years of her lunatic fashion blogger outfits.

The other day, as we were walking back to the car after picking up Ellie, Adam all of a sudden laid down on the little grassy hill.

He absolutely cracks me up. We joined the YMCA this month so that I'd get a discount on their swimming lessons, and I've been putting him in the child care and going to work out this week - he loves it, and I like having an instructor kick my butt. I think it's going to be a good plan for this summer, because goodness knows they are too big to push in the double stroller, and I am also not waking up early to work out every morning. And I need the endorphins to help me get through the day.

This weekend has been a bit of a bummer - I went to bed on Friday night with a tickle in the back of my throat, and woke up with my ears plugged and my throat swollen half shut, like I was swallowing knives. I spent most of Saturday in bed, and yesterday actually hauled myself to Urgent Care, where they diagnosed me a gross bacterial infection. The good news, not super contagious, so the kids and Tim should be okay, and the antibiotics had me feeling about 25% better after the first dose and a nap. The bummer is that I missed Hal's birthday party, but Tim and the kids had a great time. I thought about rallying to go, but was back in bed, achy and exhausted, at 7:30. So, probably a good choice to continue to lay in my own filth. Memorial Day is either great for us, or a weekend of illness it seems. Hopefully next year will be better results!