Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in Michigan was good, but different from home. If I had to spend it with any family besides my own, then it would be with the Balkema family. Each one of them is special, they are an awesome combination of crazy, loving, fun and awesome. We ate, played games, ate again, walked, took pictures, hung out, ate some more. It was a wonderful day.

When the table can't fit everyone... Before the food because I loved how the table looked once set. 

By the way, I have the cutest niece ever

Skype and Traveling

Skype has been my best friend since I left home and traveled 3000 miles away. I've Skyped home pretty near every day. Some days we can't think of things to say, so we talk to Elsa. Or just make animal noises. Today, we got to talk to my grandma, Elsa's Great Grandma Z. It was fun to show her off and got Grandma some movement from the picture we post.

We left at 1:30 to Michigan to visit Lisa's family for Thanksgiving. It was a smooth trip up, we made fantastic time and Elsa was a doll, making animal noises, singing her version of the alphabet, eating... 

The moonrise was wonderful and that also helped pass time. That and Samuel let me use his phone as hotspot, so for a few minutes I was able to catch up and forget how long I had been seated in the same position. 

We got to the Balkema's and were welcomed so warmly. They are so special and great fun to hang out with, it feels natural, like second family. They live in a beautiful old brick house and I got the room they call 'the summet room' 

Besides that, checking Facebook this evening reminded me how wonderful the life God has given me is. I live with wonderful people and get to spend time watching and training my niece. 

 Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and I will catch you up with my Michigan adventures soon!

Routine before a Break

Lisa wakes me up when she leaves. I go upstairs right after to sleep on the couch and make sure Elsa doesn't roll off the bed. Today, she woke and hour early, but instead of just getting up and throwing my entire schedule off by an hour, she snuggled with me on the couch and fell asleep. I couldn't ask for a more precious snuggle, although I fell asleep too. I think I'm still trying to catch up after the busy weekend.

I'm good at procrastinating. Like really good. The pile of dishes leftover from chocolate fondue over the weekend, the brownie pan, the crockpot and the baking pan from the chicken pot pie sat on the counter and my idea was to soak the nasty ones. It worked, but took me a good amount of time to get back to them. Even now, there are still dishes waiting to be washed.

During Elsa's nap, I worked out, showered and cleaned up some things in my room. I know I have to pack tonight, so I just wanted a little head start. After Samuel and Lisa get off work tomorrow, we make the eight hour drive to Kalamazoo to spend Thanksgiving with Lisa's family. I'm excited. They are awesome. Just imagine a family that has as many kids as my family does as well as the same number of girls vs. boys. It's a party and we all get along. 

I had to wake Elsa up from her nap, so now, I just have to tidy the house and pick up Elsa's toys with her. She get's distracted easily, so I end up doing the majority of the work. We'll put on music, either children's lullabies or Christmas music on Pandora. 

Today, I also hung out on Skype with Mom and the kids while she prepared a brine for the turkey. It was fun and Elsa loves visiting. Missing my friends and family even more this week, but it is only twenty-four days until I get back to Washington for the holidays! 

Adventures in Nashville

Saturday, with limited sun and a lot of rain, we went trap shooting at Montgomery Shooting Complex. It was fun. I've gotten better from the last and won both competitions we did. Just as we finished, it began raining, so it was perfect timing. We got white chocolate raspberry mochas on the way home. It was a good day.

Sunday, Rose, Anna and I left for Nashville early and explored Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. We spent a long time there touring the house and ground in the cold. We all agreed the cotton patch was the coolest part. We had never seen cotton growing before, so it was cool to see how it looks and be able to pick some.

You can't see much, but this is cotton.

After that, we went to the Nashville Farmer's Market, which was quiet since it was Sunday, but we got some amazing Greek food for lunch. We went next to Marathon Village, an old car factory. It had great potential although there weren't a whole bunch of boutique type shops. It is, however, where Olan Roger's Soda Parlor is. I've wanted to go there since it opened a year ago, so I was so excited to go. I knew just what shirt I wanted.

The shirt I got. 

I got a Freaking Foster. It was delicious!

If you haven't watched any of Olan Roger's videos, this is my favorite, although it's a little crass.

To finish up, we went to Fort Negley park and walked around what was left, hit Trader Joes for mints (Elsa loves the regular peppermints and we all love the green tea mints) and then Walmart before home. It was a blast of a day and felt like a true break from the routine I was in.

The rest of the weekend was spent playing cards, eating probably way too much and playing with the most adorable niece in the world. She circled around for kisses, hugs and stories or just to hang out. What a doll.

So, the weekend's over and Monday will be long, but I have an awesome new shirt to help the day out!

Sisters

I've been in Tennessee now for 2 months and 16 days and for the first time since I've been gone, I've had visitors. Anna (20) and Rose (28) took a red eye on Thursday night to get here by 10 Friday morning. It is so good to see them. We talked about everything, ate chocolate, pretzels and aioli mustard, read stories to Elsa, watched her play and took pictures. It was so weird to have extra voices around the house during the day and to have such sarcastic and funny comebacks to things I'd say.

Rose, Elsa and I went out for a walk after Elsa's nap. I put her in her tan coat and my red floral print scarf and of course her black boots and she looked so adorable. I could hardly handle it. She loved the walk and picking up leaves, seeing dogs and getting around 200 pictures taken of her with hope that some will be clear. When we got back, her little nose and chubby cheeks were red with the cold, but she was so happy.

Once we got to bed that night, Anna and I shared a room for the first time since I left. It was amazing to get that special late night talk with her before bed. She had gotten maybe three or four hours of sleep the past two nights, so she was exhausted. She's still sleeping now.

Today we hang out with Samuel, Lisa and Elsa and tomorrow we venture out into Nashville. I'm excited for some of the places we're going to try and visit. The home of Andrew Jackson, the Nashville farmer's market and Crema Coffee for carbonated iced coffee and then the one I'm most excited about, Olan Roger's Soda Parlor. :-)

Washington to Tennessee

September of 2014, I spent a wonderful month caring for a 6 week baby. My niece. I had never been away from my family for more then a week, so I thought it was a huge challenge. I got homesick, but fell in love with a little bundle named Elsa. Leaving her was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I never imaged that in September of 2015 I would move out to Tennessee for six months to look after a rapidly growing 1 year old girl.

September 2014

Was it an easy decision to come? It was extremely tough, I knew that I would lose catering opportunities, miss my family, miss my friends, put a pause on my career, not attend CAP (Civil Air Patrol)... I didn't come to a decision for several months, listing pros and cons on post-its in my bedroom. It came down to Elsa. When I heard that I was going to become and aunt, I knew that I wanted to be active in her life and what better way to do it then to live with her for six whole months!

So here I am, a nanny and aunt to the cutest baby I've ever seen (no offense to anyone else). For the first time in my life, I have a bedroom to myself. And a bathroom. There's no pounding on the bathroom door waiting for someone to leave so you can get ready in the mornings, I know, big family problems.

September 2015

Some goals flew out the window the moment I watched Elsa for the first day, but others I have kept. I'm exercising, teaching Elsa new words (or sounds), listening to music, writing, reading and talking more with God. There are other things I never anticipated doing like reading the same story aloud up to nine or ten times a day. Confession: I hide the book I don't enjoy reading.

I Skype or call home often. Probably more then I should. I can't help it, I'm curious to know what is going on back at home, what each of the five siblings at home are working on and what Mom and Dad are doing. And Elsa is pretty dang cute on Skype when she can see their faces.

Rose and Anna are visiting for the weekend, so I am beyond excited to see them. After that, Thanksgiving in Michigan with Lisa's family. Then it is only three weeks until I head back to Washington for the holidays!

There, I think you are caught up one what's going on in my life.