Another slight change....

Here is my before and after pics. Not sure yet whether I like the change or not, but stuck with it for now! :-)

Catching up!!!!

I haven't had the time to post in a while, so I thought I would try and put a bunch of pics up to show what I have been up to. Maria is finally getting a bit bigger. She is really long, but really petite. She is very shy and is not really up to having anyone hold her other than her mom and dad......wahhh! So poor aunt Holly doesn't get too great of bonding time with her. Her mom says that she is a daddy's girl, and Ryan loves every minute of it. :-)

I know that there are some of you out there who are curious to see Ryan's step kids. Its pretty neat to see him with them, because they love him a lot. This is the middle one, Isabelle. She is the "quiet" one. I think she just turned 5.



This is the youngest one, Kasey. She is 3 going on 4 and a fireball. If you just met her, she probably wouldn't even meet your eyes, but once she gets to know you--watch out! :-)



And this is the oldest--Kristina. I think she is 7, and she is a great big sister to her sisters. All in all they are a crazy trio when they are together, and lots of fun.



Kasey is always asking to go to my house with me to see my cat. She also is always trying to get ahold of Kaelah's flip flops in my car. She loves them!



Liss and Jade came down to visit for a week. Poor Jade got sick again. She was so sick, and therefore quite miserable. But I managed to get a couple of pics anyway.


She loved her Uncle Ryan. And I thought this pic was pretty cute.


She also had a love/hate relationship with my cat Hunter. I had to post this pic, since Hunter so kindly smiled for it.... ;-)


Here is all of Ryan and Mary's kids. Isabelle, Kasey, Maria, and Kristina


Jade modeling an outfit my mom got her. She's so cute!


Jade's Easter outfit. What you maybe can't see is that it has easter bunnies smocked on it. Very sweet.


When I was home recently I had a wedding to attend and my cousins whom I don't get to see half as much as I like to, were there as well. So we decided it was a great time to hang out. So we all went bowling in our wedding clothes. Really cute with the bowling shoes....


As you can see, we had a blast and hopefully we can do it again soon. So that is what I have been up to in a nutshell for the last month. A lot of changes have been happening and for those of you who know me, you know that I have a hard time with change, but things have been going well, so I am thankful for that. My new job is working out quite well, and the family is really nice, so that is a real answer to prayer.

Chef Graham!

This little guy's name is, Graham, a little boy that I babysit two evenings a week. He was born incredibly big, (which is incredibly weird seeing such a huge baby come from a size 0 mother) and has stayed that way. I took this top picture when he was about 9 months old. As you can see, he was a BIG boy. He weighed in at 30# at 1 year. While I was babysitting him and his siblings this weekend, I was making Janna's awesome Cinnamon roll recipe and Graham was so interested (which makes sense, since his dad is the orignator and owner of Dewey's Pizza). He wanted to help with everything and he stayed on the counter keeping track of everything I did. So I decided it would be cute to re-enact the original picture.

As you can see he hasn't changed much in a year and a half except get taller. He is such a cutie. We had a really great time together, so I thought I would share.

My new job....

I am going to start a new nanny job March 3. This is Ashley (4 1/2) and Brooke (8 wks). I am going to combine my old job with this one, so that makes me very happy! :-) Ashley is very outgoing and fun, and Brooke seems to be a pretty relaxed baby, so that is good. I have been working part time since the beginning of January and its been really tough, so I am excited to be getting some money coming in again, as well.

"I really want this, Simon!"

How many of you have heard this line, too often on American Idol? "I really want this, Simon!" As if the fact that they have the musicality of a stuck pig, has nothing to do with being an American Idol. Its all about the fact that they WANT it. I am increasingly dismayed by the sense of entitlement that I see in our children and young people today. As a nanny, I am around all sorts of parents and children every day. I have been amazed at the parenting (or non-parenting) that I experience around these children. I actually watched a mom break down in tears after begging her child to come down from the play ground and being ignored for fifteen minutes. I finally, politely, asked her if she wanted me to go and get him and she stared at me with shock and replied, "I guess I could go and get him." She grabbed him and brought him down and they went out the door. It was like she had never even thought of the fact that she could control his behavior. Seeing the total over-indulgence that happens with these children, it doesn't take a big mental leap, to understand why people who can't carry a tune in a bushel basket think that they deserve to be on American Idol. They are told every day that every thing they do is WONDERFUL. No one loses, everyone wins, right? Wrong. Eventually in life, these kids, who are in total unreality of who and what they are, will run into a Simon. Someone who doesn't pull any punches, and suddenly they are in shock and are totally devastated at the reality that broadsides them. I used to babysit a boy who behaved terribly, when he was old enough to go to school, he would come home depressed because he didn't have any friends. No one wanted to play with him because he was such a brat. And he couldn't understand why, since no one had ever taught him what proper behavior was. Was it really a five year old's fault? Not in my opinion. What a disservice his parents did to him. I say its about time we got control of our children again. Teach them that there is a right way and a wrong way, help them with their weakness, but don't lie to them about their abilities. Bring them up with compassion for others instead of a sense of entitlement that tells them they deserve whatever they want just because they want it! I was thrilled with a line in the movie Incredibles, where Dash is complaining about not being able to do things because he was "special", to which his mom replies, "Everyone's special, Dash, " to which he mutters back, "which is just another way of saying, no one is special!" I love it, get with it people, lets bring some old fashioned reality back to our children! I never liked not being able to sing, but guess what, I knew I couldn't and you can believe that I would never have tried out for American Idol. Does this mean if your kid isn't good at something that you shouldn't encourage him to get better? Of course not! It is always good to teach children (and adults) that is is good to strive to do better at the things that we aren't as good at. Just don't convince them that they are going to be president some day if they have the IQ of a squirrel! Its really about the kids and what is best for them, and sometimes that means accepting hard truths to escape embarrassment later from a much harsher critic or situation. Thanks for putting up with my rant, good luck to all you parents out there!

Little Ballerina.....

Here are a couple of pics of baby Jade. She is always making this face. It is definitely one of her favorites.

Jade is pulling up to everything these days. My mom says that when you hold her hands and try and make her walk, she absolutely refuses to take a step. Kind of funny.

Is this really February???

What weird weather we are having these days! It seems more like April than February! Ah well....I took Seth and Luke to the bus today, I haven't gotten a lot of pics of them, since I don't really babysit them during the school year, so I decided to get them while I had the chance. Unfortunately Seth decided that he didn't want to get his pic taken....

but, I got him anyway!!! Luke is already 12 years old, which is still shocking to me, and Seth is 9. I started babysitting them when they were 2 and 4. Believe me, time flies!!!

Kaelah and I waited for 40 minutes for the bus today, so we got kind of crazy with the camera.

Ahhhh....she is so sweet!