Parties and Exciting Revelations (and just a smidgen of almost skin cancer)

It's been a busy week. Happy things - birthday parties! Secret trips finally revealed! Midweek surprise margaritas! Fabulous new leggings! FINISHED PHOTOBOOKS! Bulldogs wearing party hats!

But first, I had to go to the dermatologist on Tuesday, because that's a place I like to visit as often as possible (as I proved when I took Claire to her own dermatology on Thursday!). I'd just been two weeks before to treat my angry random patches of eczema-that's-probably-psoriasis-but-we're-not-calling-it-that-yet, and this time around I needed to have a cyst removed and a red spot on my nose looked at. The cyst involved a bunch of lidocaine shots and four stitches in an awkward location that I can't cover because I'm SUPER allergic to band-aids and my nose dot turned out to be a keratosis she wanted frozen off before it turned in to a squamous cell carcinoma, so as usual I left the dermatologist missing a hunk of skin and/or (AND) with something burned off. So, also as usual, I had to stop to buy something on the way home to help me feel less emotionally vulnerable. Tuesday's stop was Ulta and my skincare routine is augmented once again.

On Monday I went and watched some of Landon's gymnastics class because I kept promising I would and Claire had a ride home from soccer so I was out of excuses. Not that I don't want to watch Landon, I just don't really want to watch him while mostly watching Cora. It was great to see him do his handsprings and flips and awesome moves, but mostly it was about keeping this little sprite on the bleachers and off the gymnastics floor.

After three minutes of sitting peacefully with her princess book, she turned to me and declared, “Okay mom, I’ll be the mom and you be the BOSS mom. No wait, I’ll be the mom and you be the teacher. NO WAIT, I’ll be the mom and you be the ANGRY TIGER!” just before yelling “MOM I gonna do TIMMASTICS!” and jumping off the stands, sticking the landing, and then disappearing under the bleachers before popping a curly head up between the seats and exclaiming cheerfully, “Don’t worry mom, I just ate that pretzel goldfish.”

We did not bring pretzel goldfish. No one around us had any pretzel goldfish. Most of me was horrified, the rest of me understands this is why third babies never get sick.

On Wednesday I had to drive to Dallas for a meeting with the FBI which is only mildly better than a dermatology appointment. I just really do not enjoy driving, though the meeting was good. And then it was time to celebrate James's birthday!

He turned 36 on Wednesday and, because choosing food is REALLY HARD for him, he didn't pick his birthday dinner or dessert until I was on my way home from Dallas. Luckily, it was pizza from our fave place and a funfetti cake with dark chocolate icing. I stopped for the mix on my way home and then whipped up some homemade dark chocolate buttercream. I can take no credit for the cake, which was delicious, but I will take all credit for the frosting because goddamn was it good, and I finished the whole thing about 10 minutes before James got home.

James picked up the pizza after picking up Landon after finishing lessons. Every night is a little crazy (Thursday night involved two swim lessons, Cora not having a lesson, which is actually more complicated, me teaching a barre class, a PTA meeting I was supposed to be presenting at, and Literacy Night at school, and then we just went out for tacos because it was bedtime and no one had been home yet), but I'm so glad we were able to take a little piece and focus on our favorite guy. y

I got him a new blender because he's way into smoothies (keeping him in enough calories is a constant challenge) and the only blender we have is from college and I'm pretty sure cost $15 at Walgreens. It did not make smoothies smooth. I also got him some new t-shirts because if that's all he's going to wear I should at least get to look at new ones, Reef flip flops, and boxers. He's a simple guy who doesn't shop and he was pleased.

I think I mentioned this, but I started teaching barre on Thursday nights at TCU at this beginning of this school year. I love it. My other studio wasn't really taking off and this opportunity came up through a friend and I jumped on it.

My class is always full. I get a mix of enthusiastic shockingly young college students (born in 1999!!), faculty, staff, and community members and it's so great. And it keeps me in new leggings and Spotify playlists.

Today I worked from home so I could volunteer at our school's book fair during lunch. Is there anything more wonderful than a book fair? I loved them SO MUCH in Elementary School. The flyer you got home a week before, circling the latest Babysitter's Club books that the library didn't have yet, drooling over the awesome new pens and journals at the checkout table, all those beautiful new books I needed to read. I kept buying books today- depressing non-fiction chapter books that are "real" and might actually take Landon longer than 60 minutes to read, shiny new books for my new eager reader Clairebear, and precious new preschool books for Cora who we never read to enough because the big kids read on their own and I'm so tired of all the preschool books we've read before. Every time I made another purchase, I just kept telling myself I'd save them all for Christmas.

And then tonight, tonight! We finally told the kids about the Disney trip. We've saved and planned for a year. We leave in 22 days.

We are so excited.

I made the kids these cute little autograph books out of 4x6 photo albums (totally copied from this post). I cut colored card stock to 4x6 sheets and we'll just carry the pages around for characters to sign and then fill the books in with the pages and pictures when we get back. Cora has already sat on the couch "reading" her (completely empty) book for 15 minutes, so I feel like it's going to be a huge hit.

The big kids flipped out right away when we told them the news. Landon had just told me he wanted to go to Disney World "someday before I'm old" on the drive to gymnastics on Monday and was super cute and excited to see his new Disney shirts I wasn't sure he'd want to wear. Claire knew just enough to start squealing upon the reveal, and then squealed more over her new lanyard (I got them each a lanyard and starter set of trading pins) and t-shirts (Gap has the cutest Disney line that is not too literal and VERY Claire). Cora got into the spirit once she saw her new Rapunzel dress (you know she's going full princess all day every day; she was already wearing one when I called them to the table for what they thought was a regular dinner), her princess lanyard, her sparkly autograph book, and mostly when we told her she'd get to meet the princesses.

We haven't even told them yet about our meal at Cinderella's Royal Table. I like to still keep a few surprises. 22 days you guys! It's getting real!! Given that I honestly never had any interest in visiting the parks, and the thought of crowds and lines and excessive plans and to-do lists on a vacation all sound terrible, I am SO. EXCITED. about this trip. It's going to be so fun. We've never done a vacation so kid-focused, but it's time and it's going to be so great.

And then next year we'll take the same vacation budget and go visit somewhere amazing in Europe or South America and that will be so great too. Cora can bring her autograph book to read on the plane. The empty one is currently tucked up next to her in bed. (Insert a bunch of heart emojis because seriously you guys, this is going to be so much fun. We leave on her 4th birthday and I can't imagine anything better for us to be doing right then.)