My wonderful Parents!

I had to steal this picture from my sister, I rarely get a good pic of either of these two, so kudos to Erin! Love these guys!!!!! Two of the best parents in the whole world.

My little girl....

Well, after 8 years, the time has finally come that I had to say good-bye to being the Kerr Kid's nanny. Over the last two years, I was able to gradually let go of the boys since they were getting older and in school full time, but I have had Kaelah since day one. I was the first person that her mom got ahold of at their house (dad was busy getting the boys to school) and told me with absolute shock (and maybe a little fear) that "it" was a GIRL! After 4 boys, she just didn't think it was possible that she would have a girl. I saw her two hours later and pretty much fell in love right on the spot. She was born on a Friday and Monday I was back to work as usual. Of course her mom was home on maternity leave, but I took care of her while her mom caught back up on some badly needed sleep. Then six weeks later she was off to work and Kaelah was my responsibility. I remember being frustrated many times that this baby had interrupted my easy going job....suddenly, my time wasn't my own any more and I had a TON more work to do, but when it came right down to it, I was in love with a very FAT, short, baby girl with one long strand of hair at the tippy top of her head.

She stayed pretty fat till she was a year old. (Look at those rolls!) She looked like the Michelin Man! :-) The older she got the more fun I had with her. It didn't hurt that she turned into a beautiful little toddler.

Everywhere we went people would stop me and tell me how beautiful she was. It was almost ridiculous. Rhoda and I would just laugh, because we heard it so often. Her one strand of hair grew into a headfull of adorable curls, which was a lot of fun for me, since I have always wanted to have curly hair myself.

Her hair was long enough to braid at 14 months. And the miracle is that she would sit still and watch the wiggles long enough for me to do it. As she got older and her brothers went to school full time, it became just the two of us, and we had a lot of fun together. I remember she asked to do something with me one night and I told her I couldn't because I had to work, she looked at me and with astonishment in her voice said, "You WORK?!!" I laughed and explained to her that she was my work. She was like, "Nuh uh!" She thought we just hung out for the fun of it every day! (which to be truthful, we did even though I got paid to do it) That is just how life was, she woke up and Holly was there five days a week and we hung out. :-) Gotta love it.

So as you can tell, I became very attached. At this point in my life she is the closest thing to having a child of my own. It is hard to believe that I will love my own kids more than I love this little girl. For me, she has been that one source of unconditional love in the human world that every one wants. She is always my biggest fan. She loves me no matter how grumpy I get, she's seen me in my best of times and in my worst of times and she just keeps on loving me. She watched me deal with a broken heart and just hugged me tight and told me she loved me. Some people might think that is bad, that I let her see some of that emotion, but I couldn't really stop it, and she learned that relationships aren't always as they appear to be on Hannah Montana, and that it is ok to be sad, but that you can survive it and be a better person when it is all said and done. And then I was there as her parents got divorced and she moved into a new house. She handled it like a pro.

In a nanny's world, it can get pretty lonely, since all you have to talk to day after day are kids, but with KK, it was like having another little adult there. She caught on to so many things that I had no idea she would understand. If she heard me talking about things on the phone, she would think about it and ask questions, everything from politics to death. When my Grandpa had a heart attack, she went to school and requested prayer for him, and told me about it later. I was so amazed at her ability to understand and empathize with such things. As I go on without her there every day, I am going to miss her a lot, but we will still see each other a lot. As her mom says, I am about the only "family" she has close. So as time marches on, we learn to let go of how things were and accept how they are now. As her mom said, this isn't really good-bye, it is just a different schedule. A schedule that will take some getting used to, but I know that we will stay connected always, and that makes me happy.

The Haircut....

So here is the before picture once again.....


And the after.....

Kaelah loves it so far. She said she loves it that she doesn't have to put it in a ponytail to sleep anymore, and she loves it that she can comb it all by herself. She looks pretty cute. But, I miss her looooonnnnggggg hair. :-)

New York Visit....

Ryan and Mary did their vow renewal in Vermont which is close to where my mom's family all live, so we got to catch up a little bit while we were there. This is my Uncle Paul with Jada. He loved her dearly, and they had a lot of fun going, "wheee" in the rocker.





Here is Jada with the Bridal bouquet which was forgotten at the hotel.


My Grandpa took Jade, Liss and I up Whiteface Mountain. It is so beautiful up there. Definitely a must when we visit.


My darling Gramps and I


Jada and I on the cliff......hopefully my mom won't see this one.... :-)

Jade loves babies(and kitties) sometimes to their detriment. This was taken right before she "pushed" Maria down. She loves a little too hard.....lol


My cousins that I rarely get to see. Mariah, Micah, and Billy. It was soo nice to see them again.

Ryan, Mary and Maria on the ferry going back to New York

My sweet mom and aunt


Us girls....Aunt Zoe, Myself, Aunt Nomie, Mom, Mary,Maria, Liss, Jade, and Erin

More from wedding....

Unfortunately, Jeremy and his family didn't make it up, but here are the rest of the siblings.

And the fam....



This is all the family that we had at the vow renewal. My mom's sister and her husband, and two of her brothers and their families, my Gramps and Gram, and Uncle Paul.




Maria sitting on a special rock outside of the church.













Maria started crying right when the ceremony started so this is how her and Erin spent the service.



Grandpa, Mary, Ryan, Maria, and Grandma




Mom and dad, Gram and Gramps

Ryan and Mary's Vow Renewal

Ryan and Mary renewed their vows today in Stowe, Vermont. Stowe is a quaint little town, with great scenic views and lots of character. I have several more pics that I want to post, but since I am using dial up at my Aunt Nomie's and it took about 15 min for this one pic to download, I don't think I am going to try another for now.

More of the kids....

Jade LOVES Hunter. She doesn't understand that he doesn't exactly love her hugs. He is so good with her though. He endures her full length body hugs until she moves and the he takes off to a different "safe" place. Everytime we walk in the door, she starts screaming, "Kittt". Its so funny.


She fell asleep at my friends house. Gotta love this pose.


For those of you who know her, you know that Kaelah has beautiful hair. She has loved growing it long for as long as I can remember. But she is getting really frustrated with the amount of tangles she is getting and has decided to cut it off for school. I think she can donate her hair to Locks if Love and she may even have enough for two donations and still leave her hair shoulder length. I am so sad though, I am not going to know what to do....WAHHHHH

I just thought this was funny. Jade wanted to eat the whole hamburger by herself. She did a great job too.

Crazy, busy week

So I have my niece, Jade, with me for about ten days. Boy, has that been an experience. Jade is basically pretty easy, but you add in my other jobs and it can get a bit hectic. My days (and nights) are pretty busy. I work a couple of nights a week besides my other two full time jobs for the people that my sister nannies for. I have done this for about 8 years now, so they know me well. They have 4 kids and the youngest Timmy is only about three weeks younger than Jade. They had a blast playing with each other last night. Here Timmy is pulling Jade's hair while Jade laughs.....lol


Cheesy couple of kids.

Jade is already a boy chase it seems.....

Maria and Jade getting to be friends....well, Maria was happy to, but Jade was not as willling at the moment.

Speaking of laid back....


Jade at the pool


Three of my kids, the seven month old was napping


Yeah, this didn't alst long, she thinks she can swim, so the tube is not her friend


Kaelah spent the night and this is how Jade woke her up the next morning.....:-)