I Learned a New Trick

It's somewhat laughable that I teach online, when one considers my limited technological abilities. For example, I got texting a few months ago--not several years ago, like most sentient Americans. Thank goodness my phone has a keyboard like my computer! And I just learned that I can email a picture from my phone to myself. Lots of people post pictures from their phones, and I have always sighed, and wished I could do that. I'm so grateful to have figured this out, especially without a real camera in my life. So this is the post where I catch up on some precious--and/or silly--memories that only my camera phone caught.

All of my pictures are in reverse chronological order, so you get to travel back in time with me for a few months.

The first picture is from yesterday morning. I was cleaning and Brooklyn was joyously playing with harmful cleaning agents.

 

This is my monstrous fish I caught on Johnson Lake in Minnesota on Friday night. Doug and I went fishing after we put kids down, wearing Brooklyn's little shirts over our faces, covering everything but our eyes and noses, with hoodies on to hide from the mosquitoes. We didn't bring a scale, so we brought this poor fish home to weigh him. He was 5 lbs, 13 oz that night, and he weighed 6 lbs after we froze him overnight and took him to two bait shops to enter him in fishing contests. I hope I win! The slime dripping off my fish is quite disgusting.

I love this picture! We were at Ben's Bait shop to enter the fish in their contest, and the shirts and sweatshirts are so expensive at the shop! The sweatshirts we are wearing were $55! I feel like we got a deal by getting to take pictures in the sweatshirts--and then return them back to their tables for someone wealthier than we are. Did I mention that we had to pay $9,000 back on an Obama first-time house owner's incentive program? So frustrating. We should have sold our house last summer.

This was another night when Doug and I had family members watch kids while we went culvert hopping. We caught fish at the same time:).

A little over a week ago, I stuffed Brooklyn in this little "Minnie Mouse" outfit. We have loved seeing our kids in this silly outfit for years, and it never had a chance to fit Brooklyn. She has impressive thighs that don't take kindly to elastic.

During the week before we left for Minnesota, I tried to get our house in order. This is my immaculate kitchen. Isaac puked on the floor a few days later and Brooklyn repeatedly dropped her food off her high chair tray, so I ended up having to mop again before leaving for Minnesota. Darn!

This is one side of Brooklyn's new room. If you come to stay with us, you get this room and Brooklyn gets our closet.

This is the other side. I need to put pictures up, and it's sad that I want to paint her room and can't because we're renting.

Here are Isaac and Lucy's bunk beds! i spent a lot of time researching bedding and colors for boy-and-girl rooms, and finally bought two white allergy-free bedspreads that I can put duvets on later. When Brooklyn and Lucy share a room in a few years, I can do duvet hunting again.

Brooklyn and Lucy both got this dress from my mom. We're at the library almost every week, and Brooklyn loves the low tables in the children's area. The kids are doing the reading program (wherein they "read" 9 books a week and get great prizes), and it has been lots of fun. I'm definitely the one running the reading show this year, but I hope to turn it over to Isaac more next year when he can read on his own.

We went to Yellowstone National Park for Memorial day this year, and these awesome bison were right by our car. I loved their babies, and how massive the animals are!

I bought this hideous coat out of desperation before our Memorial Day weekend trip at our cabin. It was hailing and snowing that whole weekend, and I didn't want Brooklyn to freeze. We went to "Once Upon a Child," a second-hand kid's store, and this is all there was. After washing it, the coat was better. But it's still pretty bad.

Brooklyn's birthday on May 22nd! She smeared a lot of frosting on her face, but wasn't into the cupcake. The only treat she seems to like is fruit snacks. Odd for us!

We go to the zoo all the time. We also call my mom every time we go--to rub it in that we are watching animals and she is working. It's a tradition now--I know it doesn't sound very nice, but it's pretty funny. The kids shout that we've got to call grandma whenever something cool happens at the zoo. She said I had to prove the kids were at the zoo one time, so I sent her this:).

My siblings and I like to pretend our muscles are incredible. I took this shot after a run one day. I love these shoes, by the way. They're made by Nike, and they are so cushiony.

Lucy was a snail-paced bike rider at the start of May, and she has gotten so much faster.

Just a cute picture of Lucy in a bathing suit I bought for her, her sister, and for Summer, her cousin.

Brooklyn working her swimsuit. I tried to get an angle that accentuated the glory of her thighs. She's so cute and squishy!

This was around Easter. I loved that the girls were wearing matching dresses.

And here we have the haircut that never should have happened.

And the other haircut that never should have happened.

I am so relieved to be able to preserve these memories! Signing off to go slave away at grading for the next few weeks. . . The end of the semester is in sight!