This time of year is always really chaotic. But it’s especially chaotic this year because in addition to school ending (and the endless activities, events, recitals, class breakfasts, end of the year parties, performances, parent participation days, etc. that come along with the end of the school year), we are also gearing up for our summer renovation, which means we must purge and pack up our entire apartment by June 21st.

Part of packing means clearing out closets, cabinets, the fridge, etc. so even though we are purging, everything is out in the open, on countertops, tables, etc. making it seem even messier than before.

Let’s just say, family dinners at home haven’t been happening all that often.

The kids are doing well with it, but last week, they had a bit of a freak out. We were coming home from Harlow’s recital rehearsal, picking up Mazzy from a birthday party along the way, and everyone, myself included, was exhausted.

The two of them had a fight over who would sit next to me in the back of the taxi and I ended up sitting in the middle, just because I didn’t want to pick sides and I needed to separate the two of them before they annoyed the crap out of each other. Then Mazzy got mad that Harlow was on the side with the TV and I tried telling Mazzy that everything sucks on Taxi TV anyway and then she said, “Oooooh, Mom, You just said sucks” and I just wanted to close my eyes and transport myself to a tropical location all by myself.

But instead of transporting myself to a tropical location, I transported myself to my kitchen, where I realized I had no idea what to serve the kids for dinner. Or where we could sit, for that matter.

I brought up the idea of eating out. The kids did not like that idea AT ALL.

“Nooooooo!!! We always go out!”

“We don’t always go out. We’ve just been going out recently because there is stuff everywhere in the apartment.”

“I want to eat at home!!!”

“Yeah, we want to eat at home!!!”

“But all the stuff from our cabinets is spread out all over the dining room table.”

“So??? We can eat on the balcony!”

Hmmm… it was a nice night.

“But we don’t have anything to eat in the kitchen.”

“WE CAN HAVE PIZZA!!!!!”

Then I remembered that we had Red Baron Pizza in our freezer. We worked with them last year and I continued to get it at the summer house, where NYC pizza is not a half a block away like at our apartment. The kids love it and I learned that frozen pizza has improved significantly since I made whatever brand my mom bought back in the ’80s. It’s a full round pie, for one. The crust is perfectly crispy and they have a great variety of toppings. Our favorites are the Classic 4 Cheese Pizza and the Classic Pepperoni Pizza. Even Mike likes it and his family rule has always been that nobody should order pizza outside of New York or Italy.

“Should I make the Red Baron pizza?”

“YESSSSSSSS!!!!”

Phew. Dinner time drama averted.

Red Baron takes twenty minutes to make, so I had the kids set the table on the balcony and once they were done, they had earned 15 minutes of iPad time before it was ready. It also gave me some time to cut up some raw veggies for the kids.

Then I brought the pizza outside and told everyone to take a seat, on really one of the loveliest evenings of the year so far.

We ate our pizza and shared our “boohoos” and “woohoos” which has become a family dinner staple.

Mazzy said her boo-hoo was that she didn’t get the spot with the TV in back of the cab and I said, “Well, in the scheme of things, that doesn’t sound so bad.”

Harlow’s boo-hoo was actual injury she sustained at school (a scrape on her leg that I could not see), because Harlow is super literal and always makes her boo-hoos injury related.

As far as woo-hoos, Mazzy said that her woo-hoo was that she got to eat pizza twice today because apparently they also had pizza at the birthday party. Harlow’s woo-hoo was super simple— “Eating pizza on the balcony.” If this sounds familiar, it’s because Harlow’s woo-hoo is almost always what we are doing together in that exact moment.

But I agreed. Eating pizza on the balcony was the best and easiest part of my day too.

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This post was sponsored by Red Baron Pizza. Today (June 19th), Red Baron is giving 5,000 moms across the country free groceries and delivery. To participate in the offer, moms are invited to visit Red Baron on Facebook and share their parenting war story to qualify for $25 in groceries on Instacart.com. To qualify for free grocery delivery, moms can just click on the Red Baron free delivery button on Instacart.com, add $5 worth of Red Baron pizza to their cart, and finish shopping.