This is the week in photos that corresponds to the terrible horrible week of solo parenting in 100-degree weather, so there are a lot of photos of us doing…nothing. It was a miracle everyone survived.

Sunday:

Private lake

Big kid swinging

I let him stay in my bed

Monday:

We watched so much Pokemon

RIDICULOUS

A strong selfie game

Tuesday:

The cat loves my belly

More private lake time

Digging for treasure

Wednesday:

LASHES

Just what she needed: another adorable bathing suit!

OK I guess

Thursday:

Lake baby

More naps. NOT COMPLAINING.

SO GOOD LOBSTER ROLL

Friday:

Shopping day

New kicks

Still sleeping in my bed, now with his own pillow and covers

Saturday:

Don’t worry, this deer survived the wash

SO HAPPY to be annoying the crap out of me

Linc loves my bump

So far this week is 100% more relaxing than last week, especially because I HAVE A NEW VAN. We just won’t talk about how my iPhone isn’t really working since the kids dropped it while playing Pokemon. It’s fine. I’ll be fine. The camera is ok, so at least my blogging won’t suffer. That’s the important part.

I’ve written before about how much we love living near Foxwoods, and that continues to hold true. We’ve been lucky enough to attend lots of cool events in the past couple of years (from beer to bowling to kids shows) but I think our Friday night trip to see Cirque Eloize Saloon was the best show we’ve ever seen.

From their press release:

This captivating and energetic show transports audiences to the height of the Wild Wild West era, telling the story of a piano tuner’s astonishing journey through a world filled with gold diggers, rail workers, chorus girls and cowboys. Mysterious and intriguing characters will light up the stage to explosive live music, resulting in a series of unexpected situations packed with rhythmic acrobatic prowess and original choreography. The series begins Friday, August 12 and runs through Sunday, August 21 for a total of 12 remarkable performances at a variety of family-family show times.

It was amaaaaazing. Caroline and Evan could barely stay in their seats, they were SO excited about all the tricks and acrobatics. It was lucky we were sitting with other bloggers and the Foxwoods people, because I would have been worried we were annoying regular show-watchers with all the audible gasping and “MOMMY DID YOU SEE THAT?!?!” Even Linc got super into the show, especially the hoop spinning thing (Cyr wheel, according to Google) and the singing, which he joined in enthusiastically. Like I said when I gushing over the show on Instagram, it’s like a musical combined with America’s Got Talent, two things our family loves. There was a part with a teeter-totter board that made me almost as annoying as the kids, cheering and clapping every time no one killed themselves (spoiler: no one killed themselves, they were all incredible).

Our 4th row seats were awesome

Enjoying chocolate strawberries at the reception, like a good blogger

Step and repeat expert

We borrowed a pen and the kids got their tickets signed. Everyone was SO nice.

Caroline: Are those REAL HORSES?! (No, but fake horses are still very exciting)

Our Friday before the show was an epic disaster. No less than a dozen things went wrong and around 6 pm we were debating whether or not we could pull ourselves together enough to even TRY to enjoy our evening. But the air conditioning plus the amazing show plus the chance to meet with the cast afterward was exactly what we needed to cheer ourselves up as a family and have a great time. If you’re suffering through this unbearable summer like we are, I cannot recommend a night out to see Cirque Eloize Saloon enough. Then you too can start to teach your kids hand-to-hand in the lake.

Video taken by the 7-year-old, but it’s still awesome.

Cirque Eloize Saloon is currently playing in the Fox Theater at Foxwoods. Shows are scheduled for: August 12, 7:30 PM  August 13, 4:00 PM  August 13, 8:00 PM  August 14, 2:00 PM  August 14, 7:00 PM  August 17, 7:30 PM  August 18, 7:30 PM  August 19, 8:00 PM  August 20, 4:00 PM  August 20, 8:00 PM  August 21, 2:00 PM  August 21, 7:00 PM

Tickets start at $35

We were invited to the opening night of previews of this show at Foxwoods because I’m on their press list and they’re super nice. No other compensation was provided and all opinions and photos are my own. 

I actually just don’t want to talk about this week. I’ll write a post later, but for now I’m pretty done.

Sunday:

He did this for like 20 minutes

Happy Anniversary Dinner

Very happy cat-dog

Monday:

Seaport camp!

I’m not sure I should trust this obstetrician. Did you even go to medical school?

So blonde

Tuesday:

There was a LOT of sleeping this week

The penguin exhibit has air conditioning

I promise that is a happy smile

Wednesday:

That face is because there are a LOT of Pokemon at the Seaport

He’s going to miss the cat-dog

Baby photo session editing

Thursday:

On a boat

Only cats sit on the back of the couch like that

Destroying my room, but at least there’s AC up here

Friday:

RIP minivan

Very excited about lemonade

Evan is now at the age where he does this in pictures. Horray.

Saturday:

Lounging before piano lessons

10:30 am, 85 degrees in the shade

Car shopping with three kids is the worst

I am 38 weeks pregnant and very, very miserable. I would like to just nap and/or float for the rest of the summer, but these kids keep insisting they need “food” and “clean clothes” and other nonsense. At least all our summer activities are done so we don’t actually HAVE to be anywhere and I can just take them to the lake and feed them bagels.

Last week could probably be described as “lazy chaos”. I was solo-parenting for most of it, too pregnant and tired to really care about much beyond keeping the kids mostly alive. We didn’t do much besides attempt to keep the floor at least 50% visible under the layer of laundry and toys.

Sunday:

Weirdo

We found some extra kids

He thinks I am a jungle gym

Monday:

The big bed makes him look like a baby again

I want a choclate river

Dragon noodles I turned into fake Pad Thai

Tuesday:

Very proud of his outfit

Ice cream for dinner

Tooth brushers

Wednesday:

Pls jump yourself into exhaustion

Cuddles seem so nice but it’s SO HOT

Thursday:

More lake life

Very fancy photoshoot outfits

TAKE MY PICTURE MOMMY

Friday:

I sent her to piano alone because…

…this was happening in the car

ALWAYS ON ME

Saturday:

MORE JUMPING

The whole recital was extremely adorable

A small sample of the mess I live in

Once again, it’s Tuesday and I am just getting this done. I shot my (most likely) last two client sessions before I have the baby this weekend and all that work was exhausting. This week Evan has camp so the house it much, much quieter during the day, so I’m hoping I can get all that editing, plus some cleaning and organizing, plus some napping done. Mostly the napping. It’s going to be a long time before I get a nap again once I have a baby. (37 weeks, fingers crossed I have a baby at exactly 40).

300 is a lot of weeks. When I started doing this, mostly as a joke, I was pregnant with Caroline. Now I’m only a couple weeks away from having a FOURTH child, which means I have documented every day of our lives through almost 6 years. Sometimes I wish I focused more on taking beautiful iPhone photos that made our lives look happier, cleaner, more photogenic than they really are. But then I look back at previous weeks and all I can think about is how nice it is to have these dumb, blurry, boring phone photos that would otherwise be deleted saved somewhere for me (and the kids) to look at. I mean, Week 3 was nothing special but looking at tiny Baby Evan is not a thing I will get tired of. I would regret it forever if I let this weekly post die now, even though doing it in a timely manner seems to be beyond me. We’ll give Baby 4 a chance to be overly photographed and documented for at least a few weeks before I think about giving it up again.

Sunday:

It’s too hot for pajamas OR covers, but Big Kids sleep in Big Kids beds

Brotherly tv watching

Or maybe he’s not a big kid, just a sweet lap nap baby

Monday:

We meet some really interesting people while hunting Pokemon

Important research

Too hot for real life so we hang out in the only room with a/c

Tuesday:

3 kids, 3 check ups, 0 cavities!

More hiding in the a/c

This only lasted 5 minutes

Wednesday:

Chair stealer

Lake life

AMAZING light for my photo session

Thursday:

Which Pokemon is that?

More air conditioned fun

There’s a rat on my daughter!

Friday:

Safety first when eating bread

Card night

Helping organize the cards

Saturday:

Good old-fashioned slip and slide fun

Watermelon stealer

SO DELICIOUS

It’s raining today, which means it’s cool enough in the house to actually BE in the house. I have big plans to Get Stuff Done – so far, some laundry, some dishes and this post are all checked off, let’s see if toy organization, finishing three photo sessions and napping happen. I feel like napping has a pretty good shot.