Way Way Behind Wednesday

  Hannah: 0
  Blog: 27

      That would be how many days I have missed and how badly this blog is kicking my butt.   I'm really getting behind on this, just like a lot of things in life.   One main thing would be friends; I'm terrible at making time to get together with old friends and catching up.  However, this has it's pros and cons like any situation.  I miss certain friends from the past and wish I had the motivation to get together with them, but at the same time I have changed a lot over our time apart. Making our meetings harder to "pick up where we left off" as we have gone separate ways in ife, in dreams, and in morals.  But a good thing about not spending time with friends from the past, is the chance to make new ones, the chance to start a relationship with the most unlikely of people.  New company is always welcome.   This may be a very elementary way of putting it...but friends can be like gum sometime, it just losses flavor and you need a new one.   Well God has been good to me this summer.  I've seen the old friends, and made new ones.  I've mentioned I go dancing on Tuesday night with a group of friends - well these are the new friends I speak of.  We have been family friends for quite some time, I even used to babysit and tutor the two youngest back in the day.  But now we are a band of dancing misfits.  Our gang is comprised of 6; My sister Hayley and myself hold down the fort as the only girls, where the muscle of the group come in the form of 4 boys.  Kyle (21), his brothers Wesley (16) and Noah (15) and our friend (and my workout partner) Kyler (16).  We are an odd group for sure, but we do know how to have a good time, and I'm so thankful for my new friends!!

      So that you don't have to read for an hour (or read at all), and I don't have to type for twice that time...I'm going to recap the many days I have missed in fragmented sentences.  (the fact I have said I am writing in fragments, should pardon me from all the grammar nazis out there)

Sunday, July 15 -  Went to see the musical 1776 with my grandparents (Gram and Pops), mom, and Hayley.  Pelicans for dinner.  Walk with marvelous Sister.

Monday, July 16 - Hayley feeling sick, no gym, no anything.  Played guitar, should say "tried" to play guitar.  Another walk with Hayley.

Tuesday, July 17 – Gym with Kyler.  Soccer game, another loss.  Clean and Pack up for Colorado Springs. Swing dancing with the gang. 

Wednesday, July 18 – Drop of fish (Tuck) at Gowen's.  Road trip with Hayley to Colorado Springs, CO.  BBQ with our cousins the Eilmes’.  Start Batman marathon, watch Batman Begins.

Thursday, July 19 – Go to Penny Arcade in Manitoba Springs.  Blast watching Austin’s baseball game; his first run.  Chipotle dinner outside.   Batman marathon: The Dark Knight

Friday, July 20 –  Wake up to News of Aurora, CO shooting.  Heart saddened, but still see Batman #3, The Dark Knight Rises to end movie marathon.  Much needed down time and nap.  Dinner at Mary’s for her 60th birthday.  On super hero high: watch GI Joe in bed.

Saturday, July 21 –  Isaac's swim meet, Bunka BBQ, Nap, Dinner at Mary’s, Dessert at Eilmi, Formed a gang.  “What do butterflies say…Ooo look cilantro”  “Shank him with kisses”  “This hasn’t happened in a while” – Jim.    Sister tribute - My sister makes me so happy all the time!!   Sick    “I Like…” 

Sunday, July 22 – Sick; Watch Thor and Iron Man 2;  pack; Brunch at Mary’s, Drive home with Hayley; Dions

Monday, July 23 – Meet Mrs. Keeling; Gym, Skype Joel.  Movie with Hayley

Tuesday, July 24 – Nannying Keelings – Pick up Clay at 8 Katie at 9@ tennis….Swim, then tennis at 12.  Lunch at subway.   Talk with Paulsen family.  Clean house; Soccer game cancelled; Dancing with the gowens (super fun night)  Went to Gowens after…back a mess.  Played game. Left at 1am

Wednesday, July  25 - Nannying Keelings @ 8.  Walmart, Tennis at 11:30 to 1pm.  Target.  Clean.  Drive them to Dan’s Work.  Cleaning. 

Thursday, July 26 – Keelings.  Eye doctor at 9:30.  Paint Katie’s room.  Drop kids at Dan’s work.  Gowen's for Risk and fun.   Pick up Sara and Emily up at airport at 11pm.

Friday, July 26 to August 15th coming soon....

Thursday Throwbacks : but not too far

Ahhh, I'm letting my busy life and lazy character get in my way of documenting life.   Better start summarizing the week...


       Saturday was a blast....and I can't even recall 3/4ths of the day's activities.  Ran a few quick errands  with my sister trying to beat the closing post office, only to have missed it by half an hour  Oh well, you live and you learn.  Saturdays mean church night for our family as my dad works on Sundays.  The series my pastor is going over right now is called "Keep Calm and Marry On."  I'm really loving it.  And though I am neither married nor in a relationship, its is great lesson just to learn about yourself, men, and my future.  Saturday nights teaching was on wife's duty to submit to her husband and the husbands duty to love his wife.  I don't have my notes from it at my finger tips, but one great thing learned from it was - wives (and females in general) don't expect your man (wether he be a friend, sibling, father, boyfriend, and husband) to be a leader when you haven't given him the chance to lead.  I think that's one thing I have always had a problem with, in all relationships, not just with males.  I like to lead.  Whether in school projects, driving from point A to point B, making food, dancing, giving advice, etc; I always feel the only way to have control and get the outcome I want is to lead it all up.   I've always thought, "they can't do it like I can."  But if I never give him/her/them the chance, they won't get to prove to me they can (or prove they can't)  So the last few weeks I have been trying to let others to be the leader...and they have (for the most part) proven to me that they can.  After church we (my sister, the group of guys I dance with and their families and friends) played volleyball for a good hour.  Sand volleyball is such a great sport, one of my favorites to play.


      Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to be continued...

Sunday Summaries

    Oh shucks, it's Sunday...Time to catch up!


  Thursday was my last day watching Noelle and Micah - and it was a good day.  There were no melt downs, no crying, and just a hint of bossing and whinnying (but kids will do that).   We just hung out all day.  Watched a movie, read books, made duck tape wallets, took really really short naps, went out to lunch at a local burger hut, went to the pool, took iphoto pictures, watched power rangers and cuddled on the couch.  Best day to end on; God is so good.  I love being a nanny.  Yes, I means I have to wake up at 6 in the summer.  Yes, it means there will be days when kids have a DRA ("Dirty Rotten Attitude" - curtesy of the Eilmes Family (mychaordiclife.blogspot.com) or days when I am too tierd to move, and feel like a boring nanny.  But there are more pros than cons for sure.  Being a nanny teaches you so much and I wish I had the kids for longer, but also eager to get on with the summer.


   Friday was one of those days that just didn't start right, and then you are in a funk for the rest of the day.  You know what i'm talking about.  I'm not saying it was a bad day, quite the contrary actually, but I suppose you could say I had a chip on my shoulder.   So I love Fridays, and not for the normal reason because the weekend is starting; I love it because I get to wake up and play soccer.  I wish everyday was Friday, just for that reason.   Well this game of soccer had it's ups and downs.  Downs first:  I had a bad blister on my ankle, collided with one of the guys and my wrist ended up in his closed mouth so essentially - I got bit,  a few of the older guys, including my father, had a attitudes, were being too serious and hard on the younger guys.  Their attitudes affect me, and so then I get on and it just doesn't help the situation.  The Ups: It's soccer!  I love the game with all my heart. I will play it under any circumstance, physical or emotional, cold or hot, rain or shine, bruises and cuts, when feeling high or low - I just love the game.  Friday was also good because I got to see my second family, the Arroyos.  I call them my second parents and their children my brothers and love them with all my heart.  Not only did I get to see them but a bunch of other friends that day.
   So past soccer... I was beat after a week of nannying, working out, and now soccer i crashed for a good two hours.  Then was woken to shower and go out to eat.  Grandparents are in town so we went out to a nice Thai restaurant and while there was called to work for another babysitting job.  I try my best not to say "no" to my friend BJ (Noelle and Micah's aunt) as we trade babysitting for a massage as she is a massage therapist.  Straight from lunch I burned an hour at the store then went to her work to watch Sophia from 4-6.  We walked around Old Town (Allbuquerqueoltown.com) for a while and looked in a few shops.  Then I raced home, tried on only 10 outfits just to chose the first one I tired, and went out for another night of dancing - Salsa.  So my sister and  I rejoined our guy friends the Gowen brothers and a friend from college class a few years back and tried out "Salsa Under the Stars."  Tough at first as none of us had ever Salsaed, but we got the hang of it and really enjoyed ourselves.  Then to treat our hard work we ended the night at the Frontier, a local mexican restaurant with the best sticky buns!

Wednesday: Whinnying, Wimpers and Waltzing

      Well Wednesday could have started a little better...  I got to work and Noelle was already in a fit.  One of my "rules" is that when you have an attitude or are mean, you stay in your room until the attitude is gone and a good one has replaced it.  So Noelle comes out of her room, still with a bad attitude, so she is sent back in for round two in the room.  Once she comes out happy, Micah says a snide remark about her attitude and in she goes for the third time crying...and Micah goes in as well, only after first apologizing to his sister and then stubbing his toe, which brings on more tears.  Melt downs can be a big deal to a lot of parents, nannies, and babysitters, but for me, I deal with it and then get to have time alone to get things done while they are in their room.  Of course i would rather they didn't cry, throw fits, or have attitudes, but the time alone is welcomed.  So I had 8:30 to 11am to blog, pinterest, relax, and write a letter to a friend.  Once the attitudes were done with decided to have some fun, so I turned on the best tunes out there - Disney.  We danced, we laughed, and had a ball together!  This is why I love kids!  Another reason would be diversity in personalities. Micah is a go go go type of guy, obnoxious, pouty, and clingy.  Noelle is super shy, bossy, loving, insecure, but so wanting to please.  So a friend from college, Lex, asked to skype.  Micah right away jumped on my lap to chat with him.  However, Noelle asked "Is it a boy?" to my "yes" reply she took off running.  While she hid behind the couch, Micah made faces at Lex and chatted a little with him as well.   Not the greatest of days, but it ended well and that is what counts.

         I drove home, ran inside grabbed my work out clothes, and met a friend at the gym.  I love weights, lets just put it that way, but I love having a gym partner even more.  If you don't have one, find one, they make the workout go fast, distract you from pain, are a great source of encouragement, can help you with form and spotting, and it also builds friendships you never knew you could make with the most unlikely of people.   (Legs on Wednesday --> sore on Thursday!)  I got home from the gym, showered off, cleaned and in walked my grandparents from Florida.  Little catching up then off to bed for the last day of work (a bit relieved, but still wanting another week with them).

Just a good quote from Elizabethtown

"So you failed. Alright you really failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You failed. You think I care about that? I do understand. You wanna be really great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you're still smiling. That's true greatness to me."

Tuesday's Little Treasures

    My Tuesday's are going to be set aside for the great things I am more than thankful for...yes I am aware that it is Wednesday...

    At work yesterday I was craving a green chile bagel with cream cheese. So happy with the way Noelle and Micah had behaved the day before, answering my questions and requests with "No, Hannah" or "Yes, ma'am," so I took them out to breakfast at Flying Star (a hometown favorite caffe/restaurant).   I acted too soon.  Micah had a big melt down once we got home and spent a good thirty minutes in his room while I painted Noelle's nails 

 and pinterested together (pinterest.com/hubergirls).   Becuase of Micah's trantrum we couldn't go to the pool as a consequence and stayed home to do crafts (now equiped with the "big craft box").

      The kids love having me watch movies they have watched the day before or the one they watched three times last week...so today's pick was "Return to the Secret Garden," not bad.  

       Then out side to ride bikes.  There we had another "Micah melt down" and after some talking, explaining, and hugging we got to keep playing.  To my suprise though it was Noelle that had the next break down.  She is pretty new to the two wheeler and got frustrated when things didn't come easy to her.  But the day ended better than it started, somehow ice cream always has that effect)  around 4:30 when I dropped them off at Auntie BJ's to play with their cousin.

      I felt like being spontaneous and dropped in on my bestie Sara, my kindred spirit.  She not only puts up with my chattery and crazy character, she joins me.   Anyway, while with her I got a call from a friend to go swing dancing with him and a few other guys...and it's summer, so what the heck.  We drove home and got ready for a great night - and that's just what it was.  Incase you don't know this, I was home schooled from 6th to 12th grade and one thing we homeschoolers love to do is swing dance.  So not only was it a great night with Sara, my sister Hayley, and 4 super guy friends - it was a mini High School reunion with fellow home schooler friends.  

      So since it "was" Tuesday's treasures (or maybe I'll call it "Thankful for Tuesday") ...guess I better just make a little list of the things that I was thankful for yesterday.

• Bandaids - big helpers for rubbing shoes
• Getting to know new people - I love talking to "strangers" and learning about them and their life
• Deodorant - need I explain why
• God's good timing - Sometimes it's hard to see that His timing is perfect (like when you're playing phone tag with a friend you really need to talk to) but He can see the big picture and I can't.  He has my life secured in His hands. 
• Surprises - Like finding a new blog, seeing friends, and being reminded of good times.  
• Hair - have you ever had those days were you are just so grateful that you have hair, I mean think about it....it's the worlds best accessory, comfort when nervous, and fun to play with when bored. 
• Mod Podge - love that stuff!
• Siblings - or in my case, a sister.  Hayley is such an incredible person and everything I'm not.  We are complete opposites in all external and internal qualities other than our taste in movies and a few other things, important and not.   She is a great role model, friend, listener, quite beautiful, reserved, a foe at times, but all in all my best friend.  We have spent about 50 hours in the car together this summer on multipul road trips and have two more to go, God was with us the whole time and helped me to open up to her more than the last 20 years we have been together.  I love our new relationship.

I think great sisters is the place to stop for now.  Until next time remember to be thankful for the littlest of things, they can bring the greatest joy.

Monday's Memories

        Mondays have be dubbed as "a horrible way to spend 1/7 of your life." - I intend to change that outlook by spending my Monday's appreciating and mulling over past memories of the day, week, and year.   So what would be a better way to start this blog than on a Monday retelling the day's events for my future reading (and for you too, Mom).  I can't promise, in fact I won't promise this to be anything extremely exciting or entertaining (though I will try).  I'm not a great writer, I'm dyslexic, and a bit scatterbrained, which makes a bad recipe for blogging. I will attempt to post something each day, even if it is just a photo.  Mondays will be for memories, Tuesdays for the treasures of my life, Wednesdays for wardrobe ideas (as I wear gym shorts and a college tee everyday), Thursday throwbacks, and Fridays are saved for my favorite things.  So here goes nothing...

         During the summer I am a nanny for two pretty cool kids - Noelle, 8, and Micah, 6.  I love kids.  At times they make you forget your an adult, they make your worries disappear (sometimes make more). They make you laugh, they make you exhausted, they make you want to scream and have a meltdown bigger than them, but most of all they make you live without holding back.  When around my kids I never worry what others think about me, I don't worry about impressions to be made, or looking like a beauty queen - I simply live life with joy in my heart, and a spark of fire in my eyes. 

       Most days we start of the morning with crafts, my favorite part of the day.  It keeps the kids quite, to themselves, and gives me time to still wake up as it is only 8:30.  We watch a quick TV show or read a book while eating lunch, then off to splash in a cool pool or a quick trip to the store in order to to make some scrumptious cupcakes or tie dye shirts.  Well today, I wasn't up for any of that.  Felling sick and having left the "big craft box" at home we made due with what we could and had a quick craft time.  After I left Noelle and Micah to play on their own, something they never do, but today I was more than proud to see them play for a good hour - Noelle with her, not one but four tea sets and Micah with his action heros - without me and without killing each other, they had a good time playing with the tea sets together.   Then I practically begged them to watch a movie so I could continue to rest.  So we watched a not so classic Disney channel movie while eating the oh so classic mac n' cheese.  after the movie and to my great surprise, the kids wanted to lay down to read or nap.  Personally this is my favorite thing about kidos - cuddling with them.  On Noelle's top bunk we spent a good 20 minutes in each others arms just resting our tired bodies. Then as promised we had a tea party, with "real tea" and all, cookies too.  We got our hair done and dressed up - I was a blue fairy, Noelle started off as Captain America's daughter then a ballerina, and Micah was Batman.  We ended the day with dancing and hugs.  On the way home I got to talk to my wonderful college bestie Hallie, who will soon be at the root of all my stories come fall.  I came home and decided it was time to document my life.  Now I sit here, content, with my family all around the TV watching The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers.  Preparing myself for what tomorrow brings. 

         See Mondays can be good, they aren't Fridays, but they can still bring a smile to your face and a skip to your step.  Hope you have kids in your life that you can snuggle, have tea, and live fully with - because it children that I am so grateful for as the weekend comes to a close and the only thing I face ahead is - Monday.