Day 151: Instagram

May 31

One of the apps I knew I had to download right away (besides Angry Birds) was Instagram, which makes really boring photos much more interesting.  Of course, I could probably do exactly the same thing in Photoshop if I spent enough time playing around, but the fact that I don't have to spend time doing it is what makes this so cool.

Day 150: Now I'm Cool

May 30

On the left is my old cell phone, which is about 5 years old (yes, amazingly it still works!), and has no camera (something I've lamented for years).  And on the right is my brand-spanking-new iPhone.  I'm excited to enter the world of smartphone users, and the girls are really excited to play with it.

Day 149: The Best Part

May 29

I'm pretty sure I've already posted a picture similar to this one somewhere in the course of this project, but the snitches of dough are always the best part of cookies in our house.

Day 148: Bridging

May 28

Today Vicki's Girl Scout troop bridged from Juniors to Cadettes.  They shed their green uniforms for khaki ones.  It's crazy that these girls, who started with us as first graders, are getting ready to move on to 6th grade and middle school.  I wish I had pictures of their actual bridging, but since I was helping run the show, Chris took all the pictures, and it would be cheating for me to post one (at least according to my own rules!)  I managed to get a picture of the cake before we cut it, though.  (I have to admit I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't a Wreck.)

Day 147: The Day She's Been Waiting for All Year

May 27

Today was Kindergarten Roundup, the big registration day for next year's kindies.  She cannot wait to be a real kindergartner.  The poem in her cup (which contains a sunflower seed somewhere in the dirt) says:

Plant this seed

And watch it grow

When it blossoms

You will know

It's time to go to school each day

To work and sing

And play and play!

Day 146: Colorful Hands

May 26

We tie-dyed t-shirts for Girl Scouts.  If you think her hands are stained, you should see mine.

Day 145: Breakfast for Dinner

May 25

Baked eggs with sausage, Heavenly Hots (melt-in-your-mouth silver dollar pancakes), and raspberries.  Yum.

Day 144: Dogwood

May 24

I've decided these are my favorite trees.  They're all over our neighborhood, and when I have a house with a yard, I want to plant at least one dogwood tree.  They've faded now - I wish I'd taken a picture a few weeks ago - but I look forward to their bright pink blooms every spring.

Day 143: Dancing with Daddy

May 23

Lexi somehow managed to convince Chris to dance with her to "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne.  And she totally kicked his butt.

Day 142: Walkin' the Talk

May 22

Today I participated in the Northwest NAMIWalk, in honor of a family member who is fighting a valiant battle against mental illness.  It was awesome to see how many people turned out for the event, young and old.  I'll definitely be doing it again next year, but I plan to bring the whole family with me!

Day 141: Ballerinas

May 21

Today was picture day at the dance studio.  Lexi and her fellow ballerinas were keeping themselves entertained while they waited their turn (Lexi is the one leaping.)

Day 140: Non-creepy Clown

May 20

We happened upon a celebration of sorts outside Fred Meyer this morning.  Too bad the balloon rosebud popped in the car on the way home!

Day 139: Fun Run!

May 19

Beautiful weather for it!  Lexi "ran" (honestly, the only time she actually ran was when I snapped this picture - girl after my own heart, sadly) 5 laps, and Vicki ran/walked 6.  Ellie walked 2 with Vicki while I marked laps on kids' cards.  We all had fun.

Day 138: No Motivation

May 18

This is all laundry from our camping trip.  It's all clean, I just can't seem to find the motivation to put it away.  No one ever sees my upstairs, so maybe I should have piled it in the living room.  That would motivate me.

Day 137: GirlSports

May 17

One of my awesome Juniors came and led my Brownie troop today so she can earn her Junior Aid award.  She helped them earn their GirlSports Try-it and did a fabulous job!  I love being a Girl Scout leader!

Day 136: Voting

May 16

Here in Oregon we vote by mail.  Somehow Chris and I always manage to talk about voting every day, but never actually do it until a few days before it needs to be in.

Day 135: Just Dance!

May 15

Knowing I wanted to start working out more, but lacked the time (and motivation) to do so, Chris and the girls got me Just Dance 2 for the Wii for my birthday.  I love it!

Day 134: Tillamook

May 14

No trip to the Oregon Coast is complete without a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory for the tastiest ice cream around.

Day 133: These Things I Love

May 13

My beautiful daughters and the beauty of God's creation.

Day 132: Campfire

May 12

Chris and I have birthdays a day apart (today is mine!), so we decided to celebrate this year by taking the girls out of school (bad parents!) and going camping.  There's nothing quite like roasting your own dinner, even if it is just hot dogs, over an open fire.

Day 131: Freckle Face

May 11

I picked Lexi up from a friend's house only to discover that she had sprouted a whole new crop of freckles, thanks to a feather and red food coloring.

Day 130: Digging

May 10

With the slightest hint of Springtime sunshine comes the desire to get down and dirty in the strip in front of our house.  I used to discourage it, but I gave up.

Day 129: I'm Voting Yes!

May 9

Our school district has a bond proposal up for election.  If it passes, a new middle school will be built, and much needed updates made to the elementary schools.  I'm definitely voting yes!

This post would have been much more effective if I'd been able to post it before the election, but oh, well.  The intention was there!

Day 128: Happy Mother's Day!

May 8

Chris and the girls love to spoil me on Mother's Day.  Every year I get breakfast in bed - this year was french toast paninis with strawberry jam and honey-pecan cream cheese filling - and they gave me cards and a couple of CDs.  I love my family!

Day 127: Triathletes

May 7

All my father-in-law wanted for his 60th birthday (which was May 3) was for the whole family to participate, in some way, shape, or form, in a triathlon with him.  All the family in Utah did theirs togther today, and we did our own up here in Oregon.  Chris did the Sprint - half an Olympic triathlon - distances just like everyone else, but Vicki and I were afraid of dying halfway through, so we did the Intermediate IronKids distances.  I will admit up front that we walked instead of ran, and we did things a little out of order for convenience sake, but we had a lot of fun.  We swam 150 yards (she did that much better than I), walked 1 mile (although I walked a full 5k with Chris), and biked 4 miles (which turned into 5 because our route ended up being 2.5 miles one way.)  Here we are halfway through our bike ride, on the banks of the Columbia River.  We had a blast and would definitely do it again!  Happy belated birthday, Grandpa E.!

Day 126: Checking Out

May 6

During Lexi's ballet class, Ellie and I often walk down the street to the library, where she loves to use the self-service kiosks to check out stacks of Magic Treehouse and Junie B. Jones books.

Day 125: Uniform

May 5

The only picture I took today was this one, of an image on my Girl Scout co-leader's phone, so I'd know where to place everything on the new uniforms for our Juniors, who are getting ready to bridge to Cadettes.

Day 124: Blue Screen of Death

May 4

Today my computer gave me this lovely present.

Day 123: Sparkly Sidewalk

May 3

My Brownies voted to use their cookie money to go to the movies.  We saw "Hop", which they loved and I tolerated, but the highlight (at least for me) was dancing down the sparkly sidewalk afterward.

Day 122: Out to Dinner

May 2

Family night out tonight at our new favorite restaurant, the Tin Shed Garden Cafe.  We discovered it almost a month ago and this was the third time we've been there.  It's yummy.

As a side note, the "phood philosophy" on their menus (and website) reminds me of this.

Day 121: Piano Recital

May 1

Vicki's piano teacher is amazing, and each year she puts on a fabulous recital for her kids.  This year's theme was "A Night in Hollywood".  Vicki played "What is This Feeling?" from Wicked, and, as you can see, she dressed the part.  On the screen above her is a still shot from the Broadway musical.

Our friend Daniel played a medley of Star Wars songs and also dressed the part.  You can see his picture here.