Patience.

Come wash your hands, please. Use your words. Use your walking feet. Hold the railing, please. Use your words. Tell him you need space. Quiet voices inside. Use your words. {repeat repeat repeat repeat}

Did you hear what I said?

My job requires a lot of repeating myself! And it can easily wear a person out having to say the same things over and over again every day. Last week I was with the 3 1/2 year old class and we were walking back from the gym to their classroom upstairs. Usually they need to be reminded to hold the railing or use their inside voices, but this particular afternoon there were a few little boys who were having a hard time using their walking feet. They were wrestling and pulling each other on the rope, all while screaming of course. I asked them if they were going to be able to calm their bodies or if they needed some help. After a few warnings I told one of the boys he was going to lose the privilege of holding the rope and he sort of melted down at that point (in the middle of the stairs, of course making it difficult for everyone to walk around him). I told him how sad it was that he wasn't listening to my words and that he needed to move so his friends could get into the classroom. After he was pulled aside I asked him what he did that made me sad and he said he wasn't listening and he was playing on the stairs when he should have been walking. So he knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing, he was just having a hard time doing it.

While this whole dramatic scene was talking place there were two parents following behind me on their way to pick up their kids. They were talking to each other but loud enough that I could also hear. The mom was saying things like, "Wow, imagine the patience it takes to work here. I could never work here. She's so calm and that kid isn't listening at all..." This made me laugh and I wanted to tell her, "you can't even imagine what an average day sounds like around here!"

Since I heard that comment I've been even more intentional with having patience with the children. I never know who will be listening- a parent, another teacher, or even just the other kids. They pick up on your tone instantly and when a teacher is yelling the kids get agitated with each other really quickly. Sometimes its exhausting trying to keep your cool and repeat yourself calmly, but I know that its the best way to handle the situations. God has blessed me with the gift of patience and has placed me at this child care so I can continue training myself to be patient in tough situations.

And if you have a hard time with patience, I recommend the patience song... :)

pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin

The past few days have really started to feel like fall in Seattle and I'm loving every second of it. I never thought I would see the day that I was celebrating the sun not shining. It's been cloudy all week and we're supposed to have up to 4 inches of rain this weekend! I'm so excited I could squeal :) All that to say, fall is probably my favorite season. And fall means pumpkin EVERYTHING ~ muffins, bread, lattes, cheesecakes, cookies, etc. Thank you pinterest for supplying me with a lifetime supply of pumpkin recipes!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Pumpkin Dump Cake

Pumpkin Mousse Brownie Triffle

Two ingredient pumpkin cake

Pumpkin Crunch Cake

Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate

Pumpkin Fudge

Pumpkin Waffles

Pumpkin Spice Thumbprint Cookies

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

Pumpkin Pie Crepes

Pumpkin Better Than.... Cake

Pumpkin Spice Latte Pancakes

Pumpkin Pie Dip

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Perfect Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

Brown Sugar Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies

Cinnamon Cupcakes with Pumpkin Pie Frosting

And last but not least, who doesn't love a good pumpkin spice latte??

My 3 favorite "F" words...

Family. Friends. Food :)

Tonight my brother and his girlfriend came over for dinner and it was so fun! I love to cook and its always so much more rewarding when I can share the final product with people I love and care about. I decided I would make something from Pinterest, to further work on my goal of actually making the things I pin, and I landed on a Cowboy Casserole found here. I mean, helloooooo it's got tator tots on the top! What could be better? It didn't look super appetizing all piled on the plate, but it was a hit- especially with Luke and Bob. We sat around the table chatting for a while and then dug into dessert that Cassie and Bob brought- harvest plum walnut crumble pie from high 5 pie and it was incredible! I'd take pie over cake any day and this one was so yummy. I don't think I've ever had plums in a pie before, but I'm a fan!

I love that my bro is going to school just a few miles away and I get to see him so often. We always connect Sundays at church and if it works in our busy schedules we'll hang out during the week too. Not all siblings get this opportunity to spend time together (or even like spending time together) and I feel so blessed by the relationship that we have. I loved hanging out as a foursome too- no extra family members or friends, just some siblings spending time together. Can't wait for more times like tonight in the future!

An evening of plaid

This weekend one of my {newly married} best friends made the trek from Idaho to Seattle so we could go to the Carrie Underwood concert, continuing our tradition of wearing plaid and attending country concerts together. Now, I'm not exactly a cowboy boots and short-shorts kind of girl, but I do love country music. And the concerts are usually pretty great too. Carrie was no different! She had a handful of surprise entrances including the fact that part of the stage got lifted up at one point and was hanging over the crowd on the floor. She also changed her clothes at least 5 times- a girl after my own heart! I love her voice and am so impressed by the talent that she has as a performer and singer.

Spending time with Hannah was wonderful as always too! Even though it was just for a short amount of time it was so great to see her and get to catch up a bit. The past week or so I have been missing my friends even more as it starts to sink in that we really are spread all over the country now! Life goes on, things change, and sometimes friendships fade. But I'm thankful for those that will last a life time even though we may not see each other or talk as often as we'd like, I know we will always be there for each other.

Halloween Bark

Last night Luke came over for dinner and we finished watching Lord of the Rings. He told me that I needed to watch all three before the Hobbit movie comes out this Christmas so I semi-unwillingly obliged because I knew it was important to him. Who knew I would become so obsessed with finishing the three movies asap? Between Gimli and Aragorn I was definitely a happy girl. All that to say, we had a nice evening in, but I was in a baking-make-something-from-pinterest mood :) Enter Halloween Bark! I got the inspiration from this site, but I altered mine a bit. (My mom would be so proud! hah) I used about a half a package of Halloween Oreos, probably a cup of broken pretzel pieces, a handful of Reese's Pieces, and a combo of melted chocolate chips and white chocolate (with festive sprinkles on top of course). Clearly this is an exact science and must be measured very carefully.... :) I took a container of the finished result to church today and it did not last very long in that office! I had to get it out of the house otherwise my roomie and I would have eaten every last piece!

Also, while I was in the kitchen Luke rearranged the letters from my
"Happy Halloween" window stickies....he is pretty clever, I'll give him that much!

No more school for me!

At Disneyland with my love
last Monday, 9/24/12,
NOT starting school with
everyone else :)

Today marked the start of week #2 of fall quarter at SPU and I'm not there! Well, I'm still sort of there because I'm working across the street, but I'm not actually there. I've driven through campus on my way to and from work and thought about how grateful I am to be done with school, but also how thankful I am for all the experiences I had at Seattle Pacific. Tonight I was thinking about all the students who will be eating dinner in Gwinn and all the nights I would walk over with all the girls on my floor for dinner. When I drive by in the mornings I think about all the times I rolled out of bed and barely made it to my 8am class on time. I look at all the sleepy students wandering around and wonder what classes they're going to and if they have any of my favorite professors. College was a wonderful experience and it's certainly bittersweet thinking back on it (even though it was only just a few months ago!). The "sweet" part is that I have no homework! No papers to write, no late nights trying to get through endless chapters of reading, no more sitting through gen. ed. mandatory classes. The "bitter" part is a bit harder to deal with...I miss my roomies so much and the wonderful memories we have made. I miss running into people I know and care about. I miss chatting with professors after class. I actually miss having a crazy schedule and filling in my calendar with different things every week. Change is always hard, but I am blessed to have had such a wonderful college chapter in my life!

Last Wednesday night we had our first "Dinner Church" of the year and it was so fun to be back in the routine! We had a full house of kids and it was great to see them all so excited for the new things they would be learning. After playing in the gym we sat in a big circle and I had everyone say their name, grade, and favorite subject in school. When it was my turn I said that I was graduated from college which means I'm all done with school and one kid said, "Whoa! That means you're a grown up!" I laughed and said that I was kind of a grown up, sort of an in-between/almost grown up type person :) A 2nd grade girl gasped and said, "You're a grown up! Do you have a boyfriend?!" I chuckled and tried not to turn too red when I replied "Well, yes....." All the kids started giggling and the girls were rapid-fire asking me questions: What's his name? Is he cute? Where is he? How did you meet him?.....After regaining everyone's attention I told them that we weren't talking about that right now and that it was time to line up for class! haha Oh how I love the kids I work with. The lesson series we're doing this fall has to do with friendship and I'm excited for all the things that we'll be learning on Wednesday nights. Not to mention the fact that we just started practicing for the Christmas musical on Sunday!! I love kids Christmas music! Probably a bit more than I should.... :)

Happy Halloween!

It's almost October and that means....Halloween decorations! I love all things festive, especially in the fall :) I'm looking forward to drinking more pumpkin spice lattes, dressing up for the Halloween parade at the daycare, and going to the pumpkin patch in a few weeks!

 

Pumpkin pancakes for breakfast this morning!
With warm spiced cider in my Amsterdam Starbucks mug too :)