Thank God for Our Village.

Well, I'm officially an entire week behind. On blog updates, obviously, but also on life: on post-trial (the absolute worst part of my job), on groceries, on vacuuming, on remembering to pay our childcare bill which for some reason cannot be placed on auto-pay like freaking everything else, and most likely on making kids brush their teeth and eat vegetables. My CSA vegetables are rotting and- I'm convinced- staring at me accusingly. I'm way more than a month behind on personal correspondence, thank you notes, and decent workouts. And forget about remembering a birthday or anniversary.

We're holding it together, but just barely. Counting down until Mom and Dad arrive this weekend, and not even a little bit embarrassed to admit that I'm pushing forty and sometimes just need my parents.

But until then, we are just swimming in gratitude for the contributions of our village. (They say it takes one, and ours has experienced some urban sprawl of late.) We have the best neighbor on the planet, who regularly feeds and watches our kids, and who had a vehicle ready in seconds when my car battery died on an 8am meeting day. I don't know how any dual-income family gets by without a Sally. (Neither, apparently, does Ford.)

We have a neighborhood in which our kids can and do ride bikes in the street like some kind of Fisher Price- sponsored street gang, subject to the parenting of whomever happens to be standing closest.

We have lifelong friends with whom we may fall in and out of touch but who come out of the woodwork with boxes of "keep them busy" presents for the kids and a subscription to a cocktail delivery club, upon receipt of the wheelchair news. All of which is appreciated beyond measure, even if Finley's new dressup kit sometimes results in her looking like a miniature Disney-themed drag queen.

We have new friends (new to me, anyway) it feels like we've known for decades, who just pitch in with extra hands and mimosas in nalgenes and look the other way on stick fighting. (This was family day on Constitution Island, which was a total blast, but which required the wrestling of small children in context of boats, nature, period actors, and a live snake. Cue the village.)

We belong to a community that understands that one person cannot contain two toddlers at ballet class,

and makes almost all events kid-friendly. Including Oktoberfest.

And we have best friends who understand that things are currently chaos and are willing to dive in for the weekend anyway, shrugging it off when the maid cancelled, the boss's tailgate was the worst party ever, the Niemans couldn't join them in the football stands, the weather took a major turn for the "no one dressed for this," and dinner got delivered hours after bedtime. 

And then did our laundry.

Even so, by Sunday afternoon we were done. Plus we needed some downtime at home to just get stuff done. We drank beer and put the kids to work and Seth fixed my car. (Check out Finley "helping" him with her hammer.)

And now we're up to our eyebrows in Monday. Couple favorites from the week(s) were this one, which was not an awesome photo but a completely awesome moment, when I got to run through the Battery Tunnel with the Corps of Cadets for the Tunnel to Towers 5k.

And this documentation of the complete shitshow that was my brilliant idea to entertain kids on a rainy day: Halloween costume shopping.  

And hilarious Ford, marching around a donor event at the football game, with his goldfish. He can't get enough of himself- or of illicit snack food.