Try To Be Like Tiffany

Well, folks.  This here is a picture of Little Dude and Kate.  Little Dude is 11 (almost 12) and is the youngest.  Kate is 17 and is the oldest.  LD is now the tallest of the four and Kate is now the shortest.

LD will not stop eating.  I don’t know what to do.  I just keep feeding him and hope for the best.

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The boys sold those precious lambs.  The minute they sold them, they regretted it.  We really do not need sheep by any means, but those orphaned lambs were seriously precious.  They were like puppies.  So, just like that, we are already out of the sheep business.  And I am ok with that.

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We have about 55 pigs left.  I still do not like them.

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The school year is coming to an end.  What a strange year this has been.  I hope things can go back to normal soon.  I miss being with the kids and all our routines.  I am sad that I will never be with this class again.  My calendar in my classroom is frozen in time on March 13, 2020, as that was the last day we were together.  When I said goodbye to them that Friday afternoon, it was not on anyone’s radar that our school would be shut down so quickly.  I wish we could have had closure and time to prepare the kids for online learning.  This class was precious to my heart and I will always remember them.

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We went kayaking the other day as a family.  I came out in what I *thought* was a “just fine” outfit for kayaking.

First of all, it is too cold to swim, so I wasn’t needing a swimsuit.  I was needing to wear something that I could easily get in and out of the water with and not be too hot or too cold.

I am almost 39 now and a very sensible gal.  I came out with Nike capri leggings, a t-shirt from Maurices, a zip up hoodie, and Keen sandals.

As soon as I came out of my room, both girls said, “Nope.”

I tried many outfits on for them, and I failed every time.  Finally, Kate dressed me.  I guess my trusty Keen water shoes are no longer in style because those were a definite NO from the teens.  They put me in Kate’s sandals and I cannot remember the name of them, but they are definitely NOT CHACOS, because who has time for all of those straps?  I ask you?

So, I was dressed in shorts and a tank and I was told the bra I was wearing was not tank appropriate, so I was given a sports bra by the teens and then I was told that I looked very stylish.

I have a teacher friend.  Let’s call her Tiffany.  Tiffany is uber cute and always looks amazing.  Kate thinks highly of Tiffany and oft reminds me that I am not as cute as her.  Which is fine because I accepted this long ago.  After Kate dressed me, she said:

“Now, Mom.  This is something Tiffany would wear.  This is cute.  Try to be like Tiffany.”

The icing on the cake for the girls was when we were driving to the lake, David looked at me and said,

“You look nice.”

Which is something he doesn’t usually say.  They were pleased.

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We went camping for the first time.  Do you remember that we bought river property?  Do you?  Do you?

It was our maiden camping trip.  And it was exhausting.  There were so many mosquitoes!  The more talented peoples of the group decided to start a storage shed.  We need a storage shed to store things like our new riding lawn mower.  This family that I married into are incredible and know how to do all the things and are very hard workers.  I am probably an embarrassment to them, as I do not operate a nail gun regularly.  I do, however, know how to teach phonemes, so if that is ever needed at the river property, I will be of great use.  They did an excellent job and I could not believe they got the shed up in one weekend.  Handsome Dude just watched David and then started siding one wall of the shed on his own!  My kids are going to be very amazing like their dad.  Hopefully I can also teach them phonemes.

Here is a photo of Kate, my nieces, and I, after the shed was built.  We still need to paint and add a door.  We found it to be humorous that we were the ones in the photo, when we were not the hard workers who did the majority of the work.

Stand down, Readers!  We will be painting the metal to match.  The dream team (which does not include me) used pallet wood for siding!  GENIUS.

Also.  We officially have our own outhouse.

So, be jealous of that.

Happy Monday!