Cell Phone Pics

I finally upgraded from an old flip phone to a newer (but still old) slider phone. I delayed even after I had to glue four of the buttons back on, but decided to bite the bullet when the #5 button fell off and I couldn't find it to glue back on. Anyway, I had to pull all the old photos off the phone in order to keep them. I guess the kids went through a "tongue phase" about 6 years ago.

I also found these gems:

(This is Charlie)

Future Conductor, Priest/Deacon, Salesman.....

People are always trying to predict what Charlie is going to be when he grows up. That's probably because he is so good at imitating what adults do. He loves playing "Mass" and "Band Conductor." Today he took a stab at sales.

At the Verizon phone store, Charlie went behind an unattended desk, hopped in the seat, and looked like he was going to start pretending to work there. Before he could touch anything, I told him he needed to get down, and one of the men who worked there said he could sit there and "play" a little bit.

There was a client sitting across from the desk waiting for the salesman helping her to return so Charlie stepped in and took over. He started talking with the woman like he worked there, and she was happy to play along.

Charlie: Hello, what do you want? (Looking at the screen and pointing out a couple of different icons) Do you want a yellow phone or a purple phone?
Lady: Oh! I'll take the purple phone.
Charlie: Ok. (With hands hovering over the keyboard, being careful not to actually touch it, he pretends to type in several things, then turns back to his client.) You're phone is ready.

Then he reached over to grab the imaginary phone and handed it to the lady ("Here is your new phone"), who thanked him and took her new phone.

I interrupted here in case he was holding them up from an actual sale (he wasn't - they were still waiting when we left). I should have let him go a little longer to see what else he would have come up with, but the little bit we got to witness was pretty dang cute.

We were heading out for an all-day graduation/anniversary party in another town yesterday around 10:00 in the morning. After making sure we had diapers, wipes, extra clothes, and that everyone's hair was brushed and all were wearing shoes, we pulled out of the driveway on time. An impressive feat with 4 kids!

We even made it to our destination 5 minutes early, at which point I finally read the invitation and noticed we were supposed to bring swim stuff. At this point having a cluttered car worked in our favor. We managed to find a swimsuit for Elena under the seats and extra shorts for the boys that I had packed for some other outing. We only found 1 towel though so we used our extra 5 minutes to stop at a thrift store that we spotted last minute, and I ran in to buy two more towels at $1 a piece and we were set.

As we drove out of town to begin our 1 1/2 hour drive, this was our conversation:

Me: Did Charlie get any breakfast?
Seth: Umm....yes. I'm pretty sure he had some cereal.
Elena: I haven't eaten anything yet.
Me: Oooooh...sorry. You'll have to wait for lunch.
Seth: We are awesome parents.

Happy 4th of July (a little late)

Anytime Charlie spots anything that resembles a podium, it's time for a concert. Our weekend camping at Flandrau State Park was no exception.