Ooof, boy, things are very overwhelmingly busy at work right now. I have had one single full day off since July 8, and during that day off I slept about five hours. (AND I STILL GOT YELLED AT FOR NOT DOING A WORK THING THAT DAY, A SATURDAY, BY THE WAY.) I work in Big Law, yes, but even for Big Law we’ve all been busy. A couple of us were literally crying on the phone to each other the other day. And while yes, this is a bit pathetic and sad, it was also sort of sweet that my main team on all my main cases right now is almost entirely women, and we understand the value of a good frustrated cry. Also, this is unusually busy, and eventually it will slow down. So it’s not forever. But dude, several 65-hours-billed-weeks-in-a-row really takes it out of a gal.
Last time I checked in, I was doing a delayed report of our trip to my husband’s hometown for a week. Three weeks later, we took another week-long trip to my parents’ and I have the pics to prove it. Unfortunately I worked EVERY SINGLE DAY of that trip (except the aforementioned Giant Nap Day, which was really required for my sanity), but I still squeezed in as much niece-and-nephew time as possible
I am generating this post from distant memory, so like the South Carolina update, this’ll be heavy on pix and thin on commentary. Hooray, says you!
On Monday, I had a filing to get out, so we had to hang out close to home. I spent most of the day in the back bedroom updating edits in the brief, and it was no fun, but so it goes. That evening we all went to see my sister’s new house, which we would be assisting in painting the following day.
She and her husband have been living in the teeniest apartment you’ve ever seen for a long while, and this year when the lease was up, they went out and found themselves a really great house that just needed a few updates. They put in new flooring downstairs, bought a really gorgeous new dining set, and all that was really left was to paint a couple of bathrooms and the guest room. The sibs, eager to help, all agreed to spend Tuesday painting and getting her set up.
Washing the walls before turning this guest bath a pale pink. 
Guest room almost done – pretty pale green. 
Master bath getting the walls washed. 
The kiddos (I think this might’ve been the day before Paint Day) played classic Nintendo. 
Getting this shower curtain rod down took an Act of Congress, but he got it. 
Kids played hide and seek. Hannah needed help not cheating. 
Fried chicken lunch for the Team.
We worked very hard through the morning and early afternoon, trying to target our completion time for a post-nap trip to the splash pad with the kids. We got things wrapped up and ready to go just in time to meet the babies at the splash pad.
Little man loved running around 
Jack was somewhat obsessed with making the Littles go through this arch. 
Minnie! 
Mom arrives – smooches through the fence 
My cannonball king 
Get outta his way 
Splash park – complete with lifeguard (insert eyeroll) 
Hi sweets! 
Painting Team
After dinner and pjs, we had a lovely chat by my parents’ backyard firepit.
Fireside chats 
Time for wine 
Hannah decorated her aunts with stickers
The next day I had to manage getting a huge doc production out, and so I headed out to the local library to use their great wifi. I was there about eight hours and really damn hungry by the end of the day, but I got the thing out. Meanwhile, the rest of the fam went to the zoo.
Batman and Spiderman go to the zoo 
Conquered the beast 
Gator rider 
Open wide! 
When short boys crouch . . 
Petting the ‘roo 
Virgil does this too 
Snack and rest time
That evening, the kids settled in for a movie, and the adults played Quizzler. My sister is really, really good at word games, and she blew us all out of the water.
Captivated by some movie 
Baby toys! 
Snuggles with aunts 
Quizzler
That’ll serve for this post. I’ll do the rest in a bit – right now, the boys and I and the Prof are going for a quick morning swim. My goal is to not bill a single minute today – let’s hope no emergencies arise!