Howdy, Houston!

Well, after what seems like centuries of anticipation, I'm finally in Houston visiting my sister, brother in law and nephew! I got in last night after a loooong day of traveling. Today was pretty relaxed. We hung out at the house for most of it, then ran some errands. By the time we had come back a lightening and thunderstorm had started! It's still going on right now and I hope it continues through the night. We don't get any of those in Washington so I'm really excited for it! Connor loves me, of course. I've had the pleasure of taking care of him most of the day and I'm loving every minute of it. Every time he smiles it's the best thing in the world. Also, tonight, my sister made teriyaki chicken, garlic rice, and potstickers for dinner. Chocolate chip and sugar cookies were dessert. It was all SO good. Basically, I'm having a blast just hanging out. We don't really have anything specific planned for the rest of my time here, we may take a trip to Galveston and see the beach but that's kind of up in the air, maybe Monday. I leave Houston Monday and I have a feeling this trip is going to go TOO fast!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing my grandma and granddad Kymes, as well as my Aunt Martha and Uncle Steve. I drove up to Seattle Sunday morning and we all had breakfast together at this adorable restaurant called "Lolas". They had plenty of Starbucks coffee to offer me so I was a happy camper. After breakfast we said goodbye to Martha and Steve then I drove my grandparents to Renton to see my preschool as well as take them to an actual Starbucks store. Good times were had by all. I hope I see them all again sooner rather than later!

Other then that things are about the same. I watched the movie Marley and Me(finally) and am SO relieved I was at home watching it by myself. I cried SO hard. I don't think I cried that hard since my dog actually did die! It was definitely sad and if you are a dog lover and haven't seen it yet, you better check it out.

Alright that's about it for me right now, I will post pictures and right more on my trip once I get home. BYE!!

7 months

7 months.
That's how long I was employed at the boys and girls club. i would say i enjoyed working there maybe 3 months of that time. during the summer i had a blast going on the few field trips that we did, to the Pacific Science Center, Woodland Park Zoo, etc. But by the time it was time for me to leave, i was SO ready. i had basically come to hate coming to work, i hated everything, and disliked having to be with my "supervisor" every day. i felt stuck, like i wasn't going to grow or learn anything new as an employee(something i need,as i'm sure most people, in order to continue liking their job). I didn't get paid enough to deal with the obnoxious 11 year olds, non communicative supervisor, and waking up at 4 am to work a split shift (work 7-9am then 2-6pm mon-fri) was not my idea of a good time,and at a certain point, i just stopped caring.

7 months.
As of April 29th, i will have worked at Boeing Family Center for 7 months. it is inSANE to me how differently i feel about this job compared to the last one. these months have just flown by. the last 5 months or so at the boys and girls club just dragged on and on and on for me. i am still completely in love with my job. It's a 35 minute commute to work(in good traffic),which is my longest commute ever, and i don't care. i love going to work everyday for the same reasons i did when i started at my job. i am also enjoying the fact that i am at a place that can provide me with health care benefits...as of the 1st of this month i have health care AND dental...i couldn't tell you the last time i had dental... maybe 3 or 4 years ago? a LONG time. I don't get paid poorly,but i definitely could be making more, which i will be once i get my annual raise in sept AND complete my CDA degree this time next year. i am still striving to be a better teacher every day and i still love all of my amazing coworkers. what's great is that i know there are so many great teachers employed there that can and have given me tips and ideas on things to teach to my kids. it really is an exciting thing for me and i'm so thankful that i've found something that i love so much that i get paid for! there are people who are twice my age who still haven't found that,but i hope they do,because it's a GREAT feeling!

Now onto an update...

Tomorrow(well,technically today, it's 1:30 AM)is Easter! I love this time of year. I love spring and I am always reminded of the fantastic easter egg hunt productions my mom always put on for me and Samantha every year at this time. we were doing them up until maybe 2 or 3 years ago! she would coordinate the color of an egg with a prize, and if you found the specific special egg you got the biggest prize of all (often times this was monetary, probably the reason why me and my sister were willing to do this well into our 20's). this year for the first time i got the privilege of being the "easter bunny" both for my class on Friday and tonight for my roommates 2 boys. it's SO fun and i see why people enjoy doing it! the looks on the kids faces when they find eggs,or discover what's in the eggs is priceless! i don't have anything super special planned, i'm going to church in the morning with my parents, i dunno if they have anything planned after that, such as brunch or something,but i will probably join them for that if they do. that's about it...hanging with the family...even though they live 20 minutes away from me i don't get to see them too often because our work schedules conflict,so it's always nice to spend time with them.

Speaking of family, my grandparents (my birth moms parents) are going to be here next weekend from Oklahoma!! (HI GRANDMA AND GRANDDAD!) I'm super excited for this. I haven't seen them in probably 2.5 years, so they have definitely been missed by me. As an extra bonus my Aunt and Uncle who are from St.Louis will be in town too! I haven't seen them in about the same amount of time so it'll be great to see them as well. The weekend after THAT...is my trip to HOUSTON!!! It's still winter weather here, next week i think our high is 50 degrees,which disgusts me, so i'm anticipating the warm 80 degree TX weather. For some reason it seems that i ALWAYS have some kind of disgusting cough when I see Connor, and this time is no exception. I feel something coming on,not sure what, a cold of some sort, so i'm drinking excessive amounts of Emergen-C to hopefully combat the nastiness that's brewing inside of me. Hope it works!

This is the little boy i can't wait to hug and play with, seriously, could he get ANY cuter?? I love him so much!!




And on a final note...i watched Saturday Night Live tonight, Zac Efron of High School Musical fame was the host. It was great. I think I may be in love. don't judge me. (he looks 17 but he's really like, 20 something)