The first day of school

Today is the second day of school and Will is napping, laundry is humming, and I am drinking my second (!) cup of coffee in complete silence and without interruption. Pure BLISS, I tell you. If only this lasted all day. Molly has a half day (complete with a late start) but Sam has a full day today.

Yesterday (The First Day Of School) was a partial day for both of them and I can assure you, that is a mistake. After all that buildup over the first day of class, those children needed much more time in school. (Not to mention their mother, who desperately needed a break from the children after the longest summer in history.)

It also would have been helpful if I'd made lunch for Sam the night before, or if Will had slept a little bit during the night, but I know that's asking a lot so I'll just pound coffee while making a jelly sandwich before literally running to school. You don't have to tell me that I'm a gourmet that has it all together.

What sort of lunchbox note can you write someone who can't read? (And in case you were wondering, I found the same banana, albeit unrecognizable due to the trauma it suffered in Sam's backpack, and half a box of raisins that afternoon. Point taken.)

Instead, we dropped Sam off at 8,

Absolutely no tears from anyone

They let you color with MARKERS in kindergarten! Wahoo!

He kept telling us over and over that he's *finally* a kindergartener! He's waited so long for this day to come!

It was actually sweet to see them a little upset at the thought of leaving each other, what with all the constant WWE-style fighting/pinching/whining lately.

Steve went to work, I dropped Molly off at 9,

If she had her way, that skirt would never leave her body.

Feeling confident because she KNOWS THOSE LETTERS.

Will fell asleep in the car as soon as we left,

Beautiful

I drove to the Dunkin Donuts to get coffee the size of my head because #teamnosleep, plus they have a drive thru,

Also representing #teamsweatyselfie and #teamnomakeup

and then I sat by the bay for approximately 12 minutes before it was time to go pick up Molly at 1030.

Ahh peaceful

Brought Molly home and had lunch with her, Will, and Steve, then we all went to pick up Sam at 1220.

Someone was more than a little anxious

We met up with friends for ice cream after dropping Steve off. (Sorry, Steve.)

Look at those idiots in the window. A sugar high on top of the first day of school excitement? You'd think this was our first time around the block and you would be absolutely right. Will not be making the same mistakes next year.

Will took a nice car nap that lasted approximately four and a half minutes on the way to get ice cream and decided that was it for him until bedtime.

WOE

Not that he sleeps at bedtime either, but what can you do? He's *only* eight months old and got a massive front tooth coming in. His happy smiles make him extremely likely to be instantly forgiven.

First day of school is in the books and I'm off to see what else I can get into while Will naps. I feel like I'm forgetting something or committing a crime being all by myself like this. Exhilarating!

Labor Day weekend

Friday showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:15am, proving that the phrase TGIF is utterly useless when you're a mom. At least Will is nice and happy first thing in the morning and there is coffee. Major perks. I can also pawn the baby off on Steve sometimes depending on how often I was up throughout the night. I never sleep as hard as I do when I know that Will is full of milk and being handled by a perfectly capable someone else that is not me. We stopped at H-Mart before meeting friends at a playground. Will was thrilled to snag the coveted and highly sought after buggy seat.

I tend to make the same face when I get that first whiff of kimchi in the morning.

H-Mart actually sells tons of meat that is already marinated in various Korean sauces and since I know not what I buy, it's a bit like a lottery feeling every time I cook it up. Will this be spicy? Sweet? Garlicky? Give us all diarrhea? Who knows! How exciting! This time I bought sweet meat (haaaaaa) and it tasted almost exactly like our favorite beef and leaf's pork. Sam and Molly, children who previously only ate rice and pickled radishes in Korea, suddenly could not get enough of the meat and Steve and I were left wondering who these children were and where did all the beef go? Ah well. At least we've found a meat they enjoy that doesn't involve the word "nugget". Gonna mark that down as a win.

On Saturday we headed down to the commissary at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn and to let the kids play on the playground that overlooks the ocean. Except we got to the playground and it was closed for renovations. Womp womp. We were hanging around watching the cars on the interstate and bridge when all of a sudden, Molly got stung by a yellowjacket!

Her thumb quickly swelled so we went to the px to get some benadryl. If there is one thing I hate giving my children, it's benadryl. It doesn't have that "desirable" effect on them like it does on others... they take it, their reaction goes away, they get drowsy, they get angry that they're drowsy, they fight the drowsy, they're now tired and angry and eventually they fall asleep. Except the sleep only lasts 20 minutes and then they are drowsy, angry, and groggy. It is JUST as fun as you're imagining. Anyway!

On the bright side, they were having an infamous case lot sale at the commissary so naturally we bought 12 boxes of macaroni and cheese and 437 Clorox wipes. I'm that germaphobe mom that just doesn't give a shit come dinnertime. Hey!

After a family walk/jog/bike ride down by the bay, we had dinner and baths and everyone went to bed SUPER early. Because sometimes the kids just need to catch up on sleep, right?

And maybe I had bought some Binches at H-Mart and we ate a few while we watched Seinfeld SO WHAT. We are adults and this is the stuff you're allowed to do when you're done adulting for the day.

Sunday morning, we met up with our first friends in Korea!! They were visiting New York and had time to get together, so we met up at Central Park. Molly was SOOOOOO excited. Sam was too but Molly was really over-the-moon at the thought.

Are they not the cutest???

We girls got to go off on our own and take a carriage ride. Not only was it fun, but it was very informative too!

Did you know you could own a 2-bedroom apartment at the Plaza Hotel for a cool $4mil? Molly and Sofia seem to be considering it.

The girls and Scott the horse (failed to catch the driver's name whoops)

We met back up with the boys, who by this time had been mistaken for a very good-looking gay family complete with Will attached to Steve in the Ergo. We made our way to the Carousel.

The center of the carousel was so detailed, not to mention the 57 hand-carved horses! When people wonder what the collective "they" did before the Internet, I would assume it was something time-consuming and beautiful like this.

Before long, Sofia and family had to get going. Molly is still talking about when Sofia can come play at our house. I wish we only lived a few feet away from each other still!

As we learned during our carriage ride, these rocks are the only things that are native to Central Park. Can you spot Sam?

We stopped to see this upcoming art display before heading back to our car. Riveting.

We had to make a slight detour on our way home via the Bronx because I stupidly agreed to pick something up in-store from Target and our Target ran out and redirected me there. Interesting place for sure. Almost as interesting as all of the hysteria surrounding the hurricane.

Tropical storm warning this weekend

The craziest part to me was not the clear blue skies, but the complete lack of rain in the forecast. Yet the weatherpeople were pretty adamant that this was going to be bad. So far we've had cooler temps and a very lovely breeze. Not the hurricane weather I am used to, but I'll take it.

After our picnic car lunch and Target pickup, ring pops were handed out and then Sam passed out hard.

That afternoon we ended up at a local park to ride bikes and play on the playground. Sam decided it was now or never with the sprinklers and got himself completely soaked.

Every playground here has some sort of water feature and my kids have avoided them all like the plague this summer. They shut the water off today (Tuesday) and Sam came around on Sunday.

Caravan back to the car

Actual Labor Day started out slow and easy. It was still windy from the "hurricane" so we went to the park down by the bay to fly a kite that our neighbor had given the kids. This neighbor isn't known for his niceness or generosity so it was a strange gesture to begin with, but the kite looked very nice and how hard could it be? Turns out, very hard. We never got the stupid thing to fly (pretty sure there were a few missing pieces...). But Steve did get a very thorough sprint workout in and Molly got to ride her bike in circles for awhile, so overall it wasn't a total waste.

Molly found a sharpie and decorated herself with some nice new semi-permanent tattoos. A lovely addition for someone attending a new school in two days. Speaking of which, TWO DAYS. The first day is only an hour and a half and the next day is a half day and then Monday is off for a holiday but TUESDAY is a FULL DAY. In TWO DAYS I will have a slight break and then on TUESDAY I will be free. FREE. FREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

It will definitely be weird without them around 24/7 but I'm looking forward to hanging out with that tiny baby by himself for a bit.

You were probably unaware of my celebrity status

For the past four or five years I have been using the same Vera Bradley wristlet to carry my phone and wallet. (I will usually bring my purse with me (which is an equally raggedy diaper bag that's trying to live the high life as a purse, but that's a post for another day) to carry spare diapers and wipes and hand sanitizer and all the accoutrements that go along with being A MOM, but if I'm running into a store, I only take my phone, keys, and wallet.) Back to the story: I keep thinking, it's cloth, I should probably just take everything out of it and wash it, but really, that is one of the rock bottom things on my to-do list these days so it never gets done. And I only think about it when I catch Will sucking on it and then I throw up a little bit. It has worked so well for me for a few years but I can recognize when it's time to move on. So I've been on the hunt for something similar in function and maybe, just maybe, slightly more forward on the fashion. Back before I got this massive iPhone, my phone would (tightly) fit inside the wristlet. No more. If I take my phone with me into a store, I end up attaching my keys to my wristlet and then carrying my phone, which inevitably gets dropped. I like to think all those cracks on my screen add character a la weathered shiplap in a Chip and Joanna Gaines home. Some call me a dreamer. Anyways. I got this email from the jimmyCASE company and immediately I was flattered. And then I was wary. Is this a scam? Which of my four readers works for a phone case company? And then I was back to thinking about how THIS MIGHT SOLVE MY ACTUAL REAL-LIFE PROBLEM.

Please, stay tuned. This naturally gets worse before it gets better.

So I talk to Steve about it. He calls me a sellout blogger and balks at my skewed moral compass. I roll my eyes at how high and mighty he is. Who knew you had to be almost 6 ft to have such high morals. I'm only 5'9" so I have no chance! I text a friend that I'm fairly certain will side with me and remind me of how I often take the moral high road. Ok, I made the part about the moral high road up, but she did side with me. So I tell Steve more about my low morals and how this worked out so well with my search for a new wallet/phone solution. I let him know that I've already emailed back and accepted their offer and this is who I am now, take me or take me. You're stuck with me for life, sucker, free phone case and all.

Fast forward to Monday. I check the mail and the jimmyCASE has arrived. I open it up and it's so cool. I am elated that this was not a scam. But the more I look at it..... it looks kinda... small. Then it dawns on me that I told the PR guy I had an iPhone 6 when in reality I have an iPhone 6 PLUS. And as it turns out, there is a sizable difference in phone size between the two. Huh. So yes, well, it seems that I am finally offered something useful in exchange for blogging and I go and screw it up. Then I look at Steve's phone and he has a 6. I take his case off and slide the new case on. It fits like a glove. I show him how nice it is and DAMMIT this was supposed to work for ME but then he got a little wide-eyed and started mentioning how nice it looks with the real wood grain and Army green elastic band and wow, this would work nicely for carrying my CAC card around at work.

I gently reminded him that that iPhone wallet case was supposed to carry my Target credit card and solve all of my wallet/phone problems, but the man was long gone. The phone case is his.

I can't say no to that face! Look how nicely that CAC card slides in and out- like it was made for him.

We can both agree (despite our vast differences in height as well as morality) that the case is very well made and "manly" (although there are plenty of different color options to appeal to both sexes). I personally believe it would make a nice Christmas/birthday gift for a man that is constantly using a CAC card or any other sort of ID card all day long. As far as a lady.... I will be honest in that it probably wouldn't fulfill all of my needs (but let's not forget how needy I am). My basic Target run- oh yes. Perfection. But it can't replace my wallet since I need all sorts of loyalty punch cards on my person at all times, multiple charge cards, change- foreign and domestic (cannot convince myself to purge all of my Korean money out. still. I know. It's officially a sickness.), and random weeds flowers that I am presented with daily (toldja I was special). So this phone case has mine (and Steve's *sigh*) official stamp of approval.

In other news, did you know that it's fun to blog while drinking wine and the kids are asleep? Very enjoyable. I highly recommend. How many Fridays until Christmas? Somebody on Pinterest knows. Maybe get one of these for the impossible-to-shop-for man/men in your life.

I think I'm supposed to make some sort of legal disclaimer here that I was given a phone case to review, but (obviously) all thoughts and opinions on said case are my own. Re: moral high roads.