Lorax Party

So its Tuesday, and as a rule good things happen on Tuesday, so I am going with the fact that I am writing this blog is a good thing.

Unfortunately I am feeling a little under the weather right now, but I know it's because the leaves are changing and the rain is coming, signaling that Fall is right around the bend and I cannot wait!

A few weeks ago before the kids went back to school Dr. Seuss' The Lorax released on DVD. I. Love. This. Movie! (I saw it three times in theaters and only one of those times was with the kids) The kids and I were so excited as we had been listening to the soundtrack for months leading up to the day. When the day got here we knew that we were going to buy it right away but I figured it also gave us ample opportunity to do crafts and snacks and a party basically! The kids were stoked and all decided that they would wear orange, it was adorable to say the least. Here is a peek of us getting the DVD.

My kids LOVE crafts, I don't know for sure if they really love crafts or they love the fact that I love crafts more then anything and they are all kids who strive to please. But nonetheless they were really excited when I pulled up my list of activities we were going to be doing. This first one we did was the Lorax face himself involving hand prints (Their mom loves hand prints so the more we use the better :) ). The link to the Lorax page is here Lorax Paper Plate Craft. The second craft we did is just a scene from The Lorax when they get to the place where the Onceler finds the Truffula Trees to make his Thneed. The kids colored Popsicle sticks and then put tissue paper on top to make it look "fluffy". Then we used goldfish and chocolate teddy grahams to make the fish and bears which they loved (we included that in our snack, making for three happy campers).

 

The crafts ended up taking a lot longer then I thought they might and so that's all we were able to do BUT.....we made the most amazing snack in the entire world and I thought the kids (mainly my girls) were going to lose their mind when I showed them the picture. I found this fantastic snack via pinterest like I find many other things as well, (I spend way to much time on there in all honesty).

The girls got to help with all of the making and they especially loved getting to lick the bowl. I didn't happen to take photos while we were making them but I was able to take a picture when we were done. TA-DA!!!!!!!

 

 



These are Truffula Tree Cupcakes and they were divine, nothing like a chocolate cake and some mint frosting to make any humans day happier. Here is the link to the website should you choose to make them yourself. Truffula Tree Cupcakes

 

We ended up having to watch the movie at my apartment because our DVD player is not hooked up right now in the house. Over all it was a fantastic day and the kids had a blast, especially with this last little piece ;)

 

 

Off to more adventures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Toysaster

To say my three lovelies have too much toys is an understatement. They have oodles and oodles of toys. One of the first tasks I was assigned when I was hired as the nanny was to try and clean the play room, which in and of itself was a disaster. I have successfully thrown away about 5 bags of toys and donated about 5 more bags. An accomplishment I am very proud of.

The family has recently re-done the main floor to include painting and moving of furniture. This change also brought moving of "the chest". Now "the chest" was just that, a giant chest that sat on the main floor next to the table where we end up doing all of our crafts. The chest was more like a catch all which contained more toys then you can imagine and all of our craft supplies. Since the removal of the chest the kids have been a little lost not having a plethora of toys to choose from, hence came the idea for organization bins to go under the couch.

I am really blessed that I work for a mom who is very realistic and allows me to do things that end up working very well for the kids and I and the whole family. I bought three blue bins that were just short enough to fit underneath the couch that could hold a few (not a ton!) toys. I figured the kids should be as involved as possible in the process and so I brought down the prized sharpies, wrote their names on each bin and allowed them to go crazy decorating, which they of course loved.

Decorating the bins was so much fun to them.

 The finished products.

And now full of toys and placed under the couch, the new rule is, if it doesn't fit, it doesn't stay :)

Off to new Adventures :)

Jenny

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted

So wow.

I always and always do this where I don't write in my blog for months and it seems this time it has been since February....

Oh well.

Lets try this again and again and again, I guess if you want to read then it doesn't matter when I last posted.

This week the family that I nanny is on Vacation at their Grandaddy's lake house, which for most nanny's would mean a week without work or pay. The thing is, I truly work for the best family in the world and since I am salary I get paid the same thing every week no matter what. So this is a paid week of vacation (the first one in my life!!!! [When did I get older?!?!]). I normally get two weeks of paid vacation but since this is not my personal vacation it doesn't count against it, so it's like a 2 for 1 and I am just beyond blessed to be where I am.

I have settled into a fantastic routine with the kids, and I am seeing a lot of progress when it comes to attitudes and manners which is a win in my book. I take my job very seriously and know that I am not just a babysitter but I am helping these parents raise their children to be productive human beings. We have a morning check list now for each of the children. I started this mainly for me so that I wouldn't forget to do the most basic things like brush teeth and breathing treatments. It can get very hectic when you are trying to get three kids together and out of the door in 30 minutes. On the days that I succeed I like to do a little dance and am usually in a really good mood, for some reason it feels so good to be accomplished. It also allows the kids to be as independent as they can be. Below is a picture of the checklists, they have pictures besides the items for my non readers and then they take their stars (which are Velcro) and attach it next to each one when completed. When everything is finished they bring it to me and I give them three stickers to put of their sticker chart, so it helps me and it helps them.

 Our Lovely Checklists!

We have 12 weeks of summer and this is week 9, so we have three more weeks to have as much fun as we can before school starts back up and we get into the swing of things. As much as I love summer and all the stuff we get to do, I am a huge fan of school (and so is mom!). It allows us to be scheduled and I work better knowing what I am doing each day then winging it and hoping the kids stay busy and have fun. My oldest, A who turned 8 in June will be going into 3rd grade, my middle, S is starting Kindergarten and I must say I am super sad as she is my buddy and princess and I will miss not having her until 2:50 in the afternoon, and then there is W who is going to be doing three day a week preschool. It seems I need to start getting prepared for activities to keep a 4 year old boy happy which I don't think I will have a problem doing :)

These are my "loves" as I call them. 

Other then that, I have settled very nicely in up here with a church family and friends whom I adore so much. I really love the Alpharetta area and am so glad to see what God has been teaching and doing in my life. I continue to seek Him in all that I do and pray that no matter what I continue to bring glory to His name!

Red and Pink and White and Hearts and Bleh

Valentines day is coming next week, four days from today to be exact. Normally that would mean that I would just change out the random basket I kept in the living room of my old house in Saint Augustine and then getting something from mom. The actual Valentines day is just another day really, I just know that I can look forward to all of the candy being on sale the day after. This year is a little different, being around 3 children as my job requires I come to realize how much I forgot about all the festivities that go on at school. One of my kids is in second grade and the other two attend a three day a week preschool, so in the midst of homework and craft projects I realized that we had to go get Valentines for three classes with three kids who have very different personalities.

I decided the best place to take them would be target because lets face it, its a lot cleaner then Wal-Mart and I knew that I could trust the cart with the child seater thingy to be something the kids would love. Normally I have just the two younger ones during the day but I soon realized how much a third, older, much more opinionated child can change the dynamics. We got our buggy and got in the store, which in and of itself took an effort with only two seats and three children.....you get the picture. We ended up back in the Valentine section which I immediately got overwhelmed but decided that these were the kids classes so they had complete control over what they wanted to do, which was something they loved entirely. WJ was the first to pick out the Cars Valentines with lollypops as he eats no sweet other then lollypops (no cake, ice cream, cookies, brownies, etc. he just doesn't like them). Next it was SL turn and she decided on Tinkerbell which was not a surprise at all and they included lollypops as well.

Now we turned to AG who I knew would be the most challenging. While we were driving to Target we got into a discussion on how she needed to buy two packs of Valentines because girls do not like boy valentines and boys vice versa. I told her no, that they would have to suck it up and that she would be able to find something that everyone would like and that no one really cares about the Valentine itself but the candy or toy attached to it. After we went back and forth a little more I told her that she could blame me if anyone had a problem with it. I ain't scared of no second graders, bring em on!!! Jk. She ended up choosing paper airplane valentines which I am sure everyone will love because at 21 I thought they were really cool. She did however want to do candy with them so we grabbed a bag of Kisses and some cute goodie bags. She was pleased and so was I. Today we lined everything up and got every bagged and twisty tied and put in bags and are all set for three different parties on Monday.

Let the festivities begin. For now I will resort to watching The Vow by myself. Just another day in the life of a nanny.

Puppies and a Party

So while texting a friend last night she so kindly reminded me that I have not been keeping up with that and to some extent its not my fault but seriously I can just be that lazy. Working 10 hour days by the time I get home I really just want to lay on the couch and do absolutely nothing until I go to sleep and get up to do it again the next day. That is however not an excuse, so this is me trying to keep up with it again. (Not gonna lie I will probably be confessing this often.)

Something big has happened in my life recently as well as the family I nanny. This past weekend we both inquired new dogs. My roomate and best friend went to a shelter with a friend here in Alpharetta and ended p sending me a picture of this little puppy and a few minutes later she was adopting it. Or should  I say we since we are doing this together and sharing all of the responsibilities. Milo is a 2 month old Terrier Mix and full of spunk and life and lots of cries in the middle of the night. We are in the midst of crate training him and teaching him to sleep in the kitchen through the night which has resulted in two very tired working girls and I am sure some neighbors who are not so happy. Other then that he is a great dog and goes to the bathroom outside 80% of the time which is nice and very playful. The day after we got little Milo the Furr family took a trip and got their 2nd dog Chester who is a 3 year old yellow colored dog. I am not really sure what kind of dog he is but he is much more active then their older dog Annie and so its been a process getting use to the house changing. The kids have to take Chester out every day for at least 30 minutes to play with him and he is not allowed in the front yard with the fear that he might run away. This is not an easy task as if he is outside and get in the van to go the garage door has a doggie door on the bottom and he is out and running around and I have to coerce him back into the back yard before we can go anywhere. Not a task I signed up for but I guess its all in a days work, we just leave a good 10 minutes early from now on.

Today was my first birthday party with the kids, and I am sure the longer I am with them I will be attending plenty more. The party was for a set of twins in WJ class who are completely adorable and have a bigger sister who is 8 and AG's best friend so all of the parents know each other and the mom has been super sweet with helping me get adjusted. The party was at a place called Catch Air which is kind of like a Monkey Joes or if you dont know what that is a big playroom with slides, inflatables, and anything a kid could want to play with. Its like a dream and the kids and I frequent there often. This was my first time meeting a lot of the other moms in WJ class so I was kind of excited to get to know names and faces so I dont look so distant when I swoop in to pick up the kids three days a week. After the kids played their heart out and I got to read a good chunk of The Help we headed into the party room for Chick Fil A (SCORE!) and cake. All in the all the kids had a great time and it was nice to converse with moms and realize that the kids I nanny are just like a lot of the other kids out there.

I guess thats it for now, tomorrow is Friday which makes me happy because my plans this weekend include catching up on sleep and cleaning my room (which everyone knows is a constant task that never gets completed).

Jenny

Let it snow, Let is snow, Let it snow.

Let it Snow For the past week I have had the pleasure of joining the family in Beaver Creek, CO for their winter vacation. I didn't think I would be coming on this trip because a set of grandparents were to be coming but that fell through and I got the slot. It's been rather cold here averaging in the 20s and 30s but I have loved it. It has snowed a lot too probably about 20 inches the whole time we have been here. Some of you may ask what does a nanny do on vacation? Well basically I am an extra set of hands and here just in case the parents need some alone time. I do most everything they do which means some amazing things like tubing, dogsledding, and riding up a mountain at night to have dinner in a very nice cabin!  Yesterday was our last full day here in Beaver Creek. The plan was for everyone to go skiing but we woke up and it had snowed about 7 inches and we couldn't see the top of the mountain so they decided it would be best if they didn't ski. This was a good decision considering mom and one of the kids slept till like ten and if you ski you go early like 8:30-9:00. So we had a lazy morning and then went to lunch at The Chophouse, which had the most decadent carrot cake ever, the dad and I split a slice and neither of us could finish our half.  We walked around the village for a while and the kids got this snowball make, needless to say they didn't have any mittens on so we had to put boundaries on using it. After we walked around for a while we decided to head back to the hotel and get the kids suited up so they could actually go play in the snow. I got the job of toting them downstairs to play but luckily there were some chairs right inside by the window so I could see everything. I took the book I am reading, "The Help" and read a good two or three chapters while the kids played for about an hour. Once we got everyone upstairs we had to get ready for dinner which was going to be a buffet but that was all I knew oh and that it was casual which was a change considering we have had upscale most of the trip, something I was not accustomed to. We all got ready and were out of the door on time for the first time the whole trip! We took the twenty minute bus ride to the middle of no where Colorado and were at a ranch. I was happy figuring that there would be some soulful food I had been missing, and there sure was, ribs, chili, Mac and cheese, salad, bread. Good stuff. The night consisted of horse drawn sleigh rides under the stars which were so bright and vast it looked like a planetarium and I knew how delighted God was that I was delighted in his creation. We ended the night with s'mores and the bus ride back in which the man behind me talked about Sasquach or as he called him "The Squatch" the whole way back, definitely made for some entertainment.  Today we get on a plane for Atlanta and I am so ready to be back in my apartment! Jenny

The basics of my new job.

To say that I have the best job in the world is an understatement. Ever since I was a little girl, I knew that I wanted to be a mom, I guess that's why my bachelors degree is in Teaching because it was just about as close to being a mom that I could get with going to college. In my last semester at Flagler College only about three weeks before graduation I realized that I was not going to teach right away as I had planned on doing. I have come to find that I cannot make plans considering I am not the one in control of my life.  I decided that the best route for me to take at such a young age getting ready to venture into real life full force was to be a nanny, because lets face it, I knew that I could do it and that I would be really good at it. At that moment I began my search to find the perfect family to work for in Atlanta since that's where I was going to be moving shortly after graduation. I went to the source that had worked for me many times before, sittercity.com and care.com. (Both really good websites if you are looking to babysit/nanny!) I saw tons of families in the area we were looking at moving and so I started to send out my cover letter and applications to about 6 or so families oping that one would respond back. Knowing and trusting that God would provide the perfect job I just sat back and waited and waited and waited, but in his perfect timing a father of three beautiful children called me. We chatted for a while and then he conference called in his lovely wife and we chatted and set up an interview while I would be up there looking for apartments. To make a long story short I interviewed with the mom at their beautiful home and the next day was called and told that I was the one they wanted to join their family.  So my job, full time nanny, 8am to 6pm Monday through Friday for the wonderful Furr family who have three beautiful children. AG is 7 and in 2nd grade, she does NOT like princesses and prefers spiderman and anything not girly. SL is 5 years old and will start kindergarten in the fall she is ALL princess and girl and loves to wear dresses, basically a girl after my own heart. She actually reminds me a lot of my sister Jessi which is nice since I live far away now. And finally last but not least mister WJ who is 4 and all boy except for the occasional day SL wants him to play dress up with her.  My job duties include, loving the children with all of my heart, keeping them safe, making sure they have fun, and then on the side, laundry, taking them to and from Karate, and homework help. Basically I am being paid to be a part time mom, which is the best because at the end of the day I can leave them and not worry.  I really love my job and am so blessed that the Lord has placed this in my path. Hopefully this will be a job that I can be with for the long run until either one of us decide it's time for a change.  Hope you enjoy this blog we do some interesting stuff and with kids you really never know what each day is going to be like! Jenny