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 :)

Puppy or Walrus?

Last night I was babysitting and before bedtime we were reading a book about a pigeon who wants a puppy. The whole book is this pigeon going on and on about why he wants a puppy. Then he finally meets a puppy and is terrified so he changes his mind and decides he wants a walrus instead. The 5 year old boy I was babysitting says, "What that pigeon doesn't know is that a walrus would be way worse than a puppy! Imagine the poop that a walrus would have!!" His 3 year old brother just nodded and agreed with a very serious face. Then we went on to discuss walrus teeth and how big they are and what they are used for and where you would keep a walrus in the house....the minds' of children (especially little boys) never cease to amaze me.

I love my job.

Thursday afternoon I was at work, in the gym with the two year olds, when a little boy (I'll call him "J") came running up to me with his shopping cart. He handed me some "milk" and told me I should drink it because it's good for me. I said okay, but milk makes my tummy hurt. He looked at me like that couldn't be possible and said, "Just drink it through a straw, then it won't make your tummy hurt. It's good for you. Drink it!" And then he ran off. Okay, thanks J :)

Then when I was leaving for the day he gave me a big hug. J was close to my face and said, "What are those spots you got on your face?" I told him they were freckles and he quickly responded by telling me that he didn't like freckles. I laughed and he said, "J has freckles??" and I said, "No, just Emily has freckles. Maybe you'll have them when you are older." He said, "Yeah, when I get big I'll have freckles. But I still won't like them."

J's mom emailed me earlier in the day and thanked me for caring for her boys the way that I do. She told me that she's watched me grow into such a leader the past few years since I started working at NQACC and that her and her husband were thrilled to find out I'd be spending more time in her son's classroom this year. She definitely did not have to send me this email or tell me these thoughts, but I so appreciated hearing her words of kindness. Knowing that parents appreciate the work that we do with their children makes it all worth it. The hugs and love we get from the kids is enough to keep me going for awhile, but that reassurance from their parents and other adults really tells me that I'm doing something right. I know that this is where I'm supposed to be at this stage of my life. Thank you Jesus for giving me this opportunity to be with these children every week.