Recovered. Almost.

Why is this woman smiling?

a.) She's showing off her front tooth that no longer looks chipped.
b.) She's showing off that she's made it a whole week without chipping off the temporary thing that's completing her tooth until the permanent veneer is ready.
c.) After three consecutive nights with a combined total of 14 hours of sleep, and writing a 2,500-word article not just once, but twice because she failed to correctly save the first draft, she's finally done!
d.) She's not really done because she's waiting for the client's feedback, but is in denial of that fact.
e.) Because sunshine and Dairy Queen (where this photo was taken) make everything seem better.
f.) Hint - this is the correct answer All of the above.

It's been a week that I hope I never repeat. I've neglected everything and everyone around me, all for the sake of an article that - while paying relatively well - will only cover a fraction of the cost of fixing my fractured tooth. Maybe that journalism degree wasn't my wisest choice.

But the article is as done as it can be for now. And regardless of client changes, it has to be submitted by end of day, so the light at the end of the tunnel is shining brightly.

Jeff was working last night, and so after I picked up the kids from daycare, we headed home and I popped dinner in the oven. While it cooked, I let AJ stay inside playing Xbox, while Sydney, Gus and I went for a walk around the block. (i.e. AJ was home alone for 10 minutes. This was a big deal for him. And for me. And yes, I made him practice calling my cell phone once before we left.)

And so off we went. For Sydney, the big deal was holding Gus's leash all by herself.

Our final compromise was to let her put the leash around her wrist, while I still hung on to part of it.

Later, after dinner, we ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things we were lacking (such as any form of healthy fruit.) And then I surprised the kids with a slightly modified treat. My carefully orchestrated plan was to end at Gordy's Warming House for ice cream, where the kids could run on the playground for at least 20 minutes, I figured, before dark. Unfortunately, the gorgeous 60+ degree temperatures that had blessed us the previous two nights while I sat in the house and stared at a computer screen, had given way to a 43-degree evening thanks to winds off Lake Superior. Not such a great lake on this night!

But all was not lost. Dairy Queen has been advertising a "buy one Blizzard, get a second for .99 cents" deal, and so to DQ we went.

Sydney picked M&Ms. AJ went with Cookie Dough. And Mommy helped herself to both.

The kids got into a bit of an argument about whether or not I should have to ask first before dipping my spoon into their Blizzard. Sydney insisted I should. "Those are good manners. It's the rules!" She insisted.

But Mr. Charm smiled sweetly and said that since I'm the Mom, I could have as much of his Blizzard as I wanted without asking. I wonder if he'd have been so generous if I'd bought him a smaller size treat.

One last funny moment... since I was taking pictures of the kids, they wanted to take pictures of me, too. AJ is all about doing the bunny ears right now. (If you go back up to the top photo, the reason we were angled so oddly is he was trying to stick his fingers up behind my head.) And so as he got ready to take the picture, he told Sydney to "show bunny ears." And this is what she did:

 She tried to form triangles with her fingers, to give herself bunny ears. I love her sweet innocence. And I love the amazing, mood-lifting powers of a short trip with my kids to Dairy Queen.