Well, to start things off I feel like a huge apology is necessary… It has been WELL over a month since I last was able to sit down at the computer for more than 2 minutes because I have been so stinkin busy. But now that I have a couple minutes I’ll bring y’all up to speed.
My Little Munchkins:
This summer as I said in my previous post; I am a full-time nanny. I absolutely adore it and it definitely confirms the fact that I love kids and want to be a Mommy someday. Back to the goobies though, they are some of the most fun, energetic, loud, sassiest, loving, precious, polite babies I have ever met. I have had the huge privilege of being their ‘babysitter’ for the past four and a half years. I started watching them when Mad was a little over one years old, and Ryan still needed a bottle and to be rocked to sleep. Now, they are crazy 6 and 4 year olds. I am with them from morning to night just about everyday during the work week, and I can honestly say I wouldn’t rather be doing anything else with my time this summer. It is a BLAST to be with them all the time, and has made me appreciate my own mother so much more now (she was a stay-at-home mommy while we were growing up, and something I hope I am fortunate enough to be when I have my own family). We go to the movies, the museum, the park, build-a-bear, the mall, we have takes many rides on the train that goes around the mall, we’ve been ‘those’ people screaming and laughing inside the hurricane simulator in the middle of the mall that everyone crowds around and watches you make an absolute fool of themselves, we’ve played glow in the dark mini golf, we have been to just about every kid friendly restaurant, and many more things. While we’re in the car Madison and I sing along to just about every song that comes on the radio while little Ryan sits in his booster mouths what he thinks are the words, it is the cutest thing in the world, never have a seen someone mouth lyrics with as much passion as that little man does. Haha! And of course we’ve played every game known to preschool/1st grade kids, and of course swam for hours upon hours. I LOVE it. I can’t believe I get paid to do this ‘work’ haha! And I’m not saying it isn’t work, I am absolutely exhausted by the time I get home in the evening, but I love it and I’m going to miss those babies so much when I go back to school!
Cooking/The Lofts:
Well, it is no secret to anyone who has spent more than a couple minutes with me… I LOVE to cook. Haha, it just makes me so darn happy when I prepare a meal for others to eat, and talk, and enjoy while spending time with people they care about. THANK GOODNESS I will finally have my very first kitchen next year at school! (Watch out College Station… we’ll all be back in 35 days!) Which brings me to the Lofts part; that is the apartment complex I will be living in next year with Haley Walker, Sally Johnsen and Katie Mason, I could not be more excited to be living with them and I know it is going to be such a blast, we’ve been looking forward to it for quite some time now, and I am so excited because two of my roommates (Sally and Haley) are going to be pledging ASC (Aggie Sisters for Christ) with me too! It’s going to be so much fun to go through ‘new girl’ with them! But back to cooking, once I get home from nannying in the evening I usually like to bake something or cook something for my family and I to enjoy throughout the week, and I have perfected the perfect fruit crisp, my own mother likes it so much that she prefers me to make it for her to bring to dinner parties than anything she would bake.
Here’s the recipe it is absolutely delicious! And you can use just about any fruit you want too so that’s fun, I usually use blueberries/blackberries, or strawberries/peaches/apricots:
Berry Crisp:
Ingredients:
4 cups fresh berries (you can use more fruit if you want; I usually use enough to cover the bottom of the pan with no holes!)
1/2 cup butter, melted (please, use regular butter, no margarine used here!)
Directions:
Set oven to 350 degrees F Prepare an 11 x 7-inch baking dish Plop the blueberries down in the bottom of the pan. In a small saucepan over medium heat mix the sugar, cornstarch, water and 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice; cook and stir until thick and clear, then add in the vanilla. Pour over, and then gently stir in the cooked mixture with the fruit of your choice! Topping: In a bowl combine the flour with oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add in the melted butter; mix until crumbly (I start mixing with a spoon then finish mixing with my hands). Sprinkle over the top of blueberries (there will be a couple of empty spots that is okay, there may seem like a lot of crumble but it will settle when baking). Bake for 30-35 minutes or until blueberry mixture bubbles and the topping is brown.
My Family:
My family is one of the best families around and I feel so blessed to come from such a wonderful, loving family. This summer I have spent more time with them, and more time with my grandparents (who live locally) and I absolutely love it. When we’re younger we spend so much time running off and only worrying about our friends and things going on socially, this summer that stuff has kind of taken a back seat just because I have all year to do that.. I only have summer and little breaks throughout the year with my family. They drive me up the wall sometimes, but I love them all to death and respect each and every one of them, and the best thing is, no matter how many times I mess up or do something wrong, they’re always going to love me. That is just such an awesome thing.
Something in the works:
Mission trips! Ah! I am so unbelievably excited about this one. It is just proof that people are put in your life for a reason. I have really felt it in my heart lately that it is time for me to take another mission trip (I have been on two previously), and I had been doing some research one different ones and different locations when I remembered that Sarah, the girl I sat next to in Geology last fall had taken a trip last spring break to one of the places I’d always wanted to go serve at. I had been coming up short in my research about finding an orphan service trip to that location so I decided to go ahead and ask her what group she went with. Well, turns out she went with her home church out of Brenham, yes, the one place I’d like to live more than anywhere else in the world. AND to make it even better, her mother is Executive Director of an ORPHAN Ministry that has four orphan service trips a year!!! It just blows my mind how perfect things can turn out. So, I’m hoping to get to go with this group March 2011 to preach, teach, play with, sing with, and love on some babies for my spring break. Ah, I’m just so excited!
***Also, Sarah and a crew of people are heading to El Salvador in a couple weeks so if you would include them in your prayers that would be awesome!
And since no blog is complete without pictures… here are some pictures of the munchkins:
PS: I promise not to let another month and a half go by before I blog again, haha!
Our trip to the Ft. Worth Science Museum:
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