About Me

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I am a twenty-something second year teacher living in the midwest. I am a Christian woman and proud of it! I am the middle child of three girls. I am the proud aunt of the very beautiful Lil E and Lil C!! I love TV, movies, reading, and baseball. I am in my second year of teaching , but my first year teaching kindergarten. It has been quite the journey!

29 July 2010

Oh how I love my job

Yes, that title is 100% serious.

The past three years I have had the pleasure of working for a daycare about 20 minutes from my house. The spring of my sophomore year of college I sent out resumes and cover letters to a bunch of daycares in the area. I ended up getting hired at a Christian daycare inside of a church.

I started out opening, which meant waking up at 5:30 to be at work at 6:20. Not exactly my ideal hours, but I got done at 12:30 everyday, which left time for a quick nap and still gave me the rest of the day ahead of me. That summer I took care of three adorable 1 year olds. I hadn't worked with many kids that young, but I loved it! They were such sweethearts. After spending the summer with them, I decided I'd like to get my ZA- my early childhood endorsement. I know that God definitely had a plan when he arranged for me to work there. I learned so much and had a great time. Even though I had to wake up early, I never woke up and wished I didn't have to go to work.



The next summer, after I had my adventures in the Netherlands, the daycare didn't have a spot for me. :( So for most of the summer I just lounged around my house. When other ladies who worked there needed a day off, I would fill in. Then at the beginning of August, they had a three-month old baby girl start. They hired me to take care of her for three weeks until I had to go back to school.

Again, I had never taken care of such a young baby, but she was such a sweetie. Even though it would sometimes get boring, just the two of us in a room for nine hours a day, but I enjoyed it, even though I missed having someone to talk to.

The last week that I was there she started rolling over!!!

This summer they had a position for me!!! Yay! I love working there and I love the $! I started out in the afternoons working with all of the kids. Then once school let out, I started spending my afternoons with the school age kids. It was a bit sad to leave the little guys behind, but I enjoy the older kids too. I have worked 5-6 weeks worth of full time as well, filling in for people on vacation. I love this because it usually means I get to hang out with the younger kids in the morning and the school age kids in the afternoon.

Here are the older kids playing badminton while we were learning about China.

Here are some cute things the kids have done/said lately.
"Vampires are real, but they only live in California." He proceeded to say that his dad had told him this and that werewolves were also real.

This morning the kids tried to learn how to pick a lock using a bobby pin for them in my purse, they did not succeed, but I thought they were pretty awesome for trying!

This one little guy always used to cuddle with me when he woke up from his nap, because he was always cold when he woke up. In actuality, he was warm and he warmed me up. Yesterday I asked him if he wanted to come sit with me and he said, "No, I'm warm." But later in the day, after he stood in front of a fan, he rushed over and asked if he could sit with me because he was cold :) He's such a cutie. Once I was putting sunscreen on him and told him to stop moving around so I could get his cute, cute face. Now he always talks about his cute, cute face.

I love my job!

28 July 2010

Jillibean's an Aunt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I spent all of last week soaking up time with my adorable newborn niece- Emma Joy! My big sis and bro-in-law don't really want lots of pictures of her posted in cyberspace, but I'll post some others and the story of our trip :)

Big Sis and bro-in-law live in IL, we live in MI. It is about a six hour drive there.

Momma, Daddy, Lil Sis and I decided to go up north the weekend of July 16 because it was still three weeks before Sis's due date (Aug. 7). The Thurs. before I headed up to "The Lodge" (my aunt and uncle's cabin/house/mansion) Sis texted that she'd been to the Dr. and she was dilated a few centimeters and he didn't think she'd make it to her due date. I informed my boss at work of this fact so she would be prepared since I'd be taking some time off to visit. Then we headed up north.

On Saturday (the 17th) we were going for a 3 hour rafting trip down a river. We texted Big Sis to tell her not to go in labor while we were on the river. She didn't. We enjoyed a beautiful MI Saturday complete with grilling and a campfire.

Sunday (the 18th) morning Lil Sis and I awoke to Momma knocking on our bedroom door. Big Sis's water had broken and they were heading to the hospital!!! While we were three hours from home, which is six hours from IL!!! Yikes! So we got dressed and packed in less than 1/2 hour, bid our aunt and uncle good-bye and hit the road. As we were driving we made furious lists of all the things we needed to pack to take with us. After it was confirmed that Big Sis was checked into the hospital and was going to have the baby, Amy and I let our respective employers know that we would be missing the next week of work.

We got home in record time, furiously repacked all of our stuff and about an hour after arriving home we set off for IL. It was a bit of a stressful drive, we kept telling each other we would just do the best we could to get there before the baby was born, but it might not happen. Bro-in-law was texting us updates that he was bored and nothing was happening...

Just as we arrived at the hospital we got a text from BIL telling us that things were happening and it probably wouldn't be too long. We bopped up to the delivery floor and said hi to BIL, then headed for the cafeteria cause we were starving!! Then we hung out in the healing garden and waited... and waited... and waited...


Finally when it was getting dark we headed back up to wait outside the delivery floor. Around 9:00pm we got a text saying that BIL was coming out!! He came out and told us that the baby had been born, a girl (which we knew) named Emma Joy!!! He showed us some pictures that he had taken. We texted and called friends and the great-grandparents.

Then we got to go meet her!!! She is adorable!!!!!!!!!!! So cute! We each got to hold her for a couple of minutes less than two hours after she was born :) We didn't take any pictures that night, but we took lots over the next week!!

After they took her to the nursery for her bath, we headed out. But on our way out we passed the big window of the nursery where we could watch E. She was mostly happy, cried a bit, chewed on her hands and fell asleep. We must have watched for at least ten minutes before we headed out.

Congrats to Sis and BIL!!!! E's the first grandchild for my parents and the first great-grandchild for Momma's parents, so everybody is pretty excited!!! <3

14 July 2010

The rest of my Tiger boyfriends

Here's a recap #1 Porch

On to the rest of the list
#2 Brennan Boesch I think this picture sort of makes him look like a leprechaun, but I love him anyways.

He is a rookie this year, but he has been rocking. He is near the lead leaders in batting average and slugging percentage and he's just a rookie!!! Plus he played for the Whitecaps, my home away from home team :) Plus he's gracious and even though he didn't make the all-star team when he totally should have, he didn't mind too much...

#3 Phil Coke aka Truckie He ain't much to look at, but we love him. Actually after we saw him in KC for Opening Day we nicknamed him Truckie because we thought he looked like a truck driver.
Then we learned that he had his hair grown out long and had facial hair in rebellion against the Yankees- the team he had just been traded from which outlaws facial hair and long hair. This made us love him even more.

Lastly, after Joel Zumaya's injury, Phil Coke was so adorable. Zumaya had to come into the game because Coke couldn't get out of the inning. In a post-game interview he was almost in tears saying it was his fault that Zumaya had gotten hurt, because if he had done his job, Zumaya wouldn't have come in :( The reporter, Ryan Fields, tried to tell him he couldn't put that on himself, but it didn't matter, he still felt guilty. So although he's six years older than me, he is one of my Tiger boyfriends.

#4ish- Ryan Perry aka Ry Ry Jr.- He's my on-again/ off-again boyfriend. Usually when he is stinking I call it off. We were off, but then we were at the game the other day and I saw his cute, cute face and changed my mind... for now...
Here is at at *tear, tear* Curtis Granderson's wine tasting/ bachelor auction last year. Such a cute, cute smile. (Sidenote- Porch couldn't be in the bachelor auction because he wasn't twenty-one yet :) He is nicknamed Ry Ry Jr. because I call Ryan Raburn (who I saw out to dinner in KC) Ry Ry and Perry is younger. Also he is Porch's roommate.

13 July 2010

My Tiger Boyfriends

I just changed up my blog design. I have no idea what I'm doing really, but I think this looks pretty cute :)

I've noticed that I have a couple more followers. Welcome! Thanks for reading my blog :)

Today's post is about my tiger boyfriends. My family and I (well not Daddy) have the habit of declaring guys our boyfriends if we think they're nice, cute, sweeties, etc. Here are my Tigers boyfriends- they are different than my favorite Tigers (Inge, Ordonez and Porcello) as some of my favs are married, though that usually doesn't exclude someone from being one of my "boyfriends."

#1 Rick "Porch" Porcello Isn't he adorable? Plus he is the first Tiger to play that is born in the same year as me. He was born in 1988, and is actually a few months younger than me! He debuted last year and I fell in "love." It's so weird that a major leaguer is younger than me :)
I nicknamed him Porch because during Spring Training last year I liked him, but I had never heard anyone say his last name so I thought you pronounced it Porch-ello, but really it's Porsello. But it was too late the name had already stuck. I even have a shirt that says Porch on the back with his number :)
This is him taking down Kevin Youkilis last year when Youk charged the mound. It was awesome!!!! Here is a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQHPmZOfG_0 Amazing!!!! Sadly Porch got suspended, even though he was just defending himself :(

Sadly, Porch got sent down to Toledo recently because despite his awesome year last year, he's been stinking a bit this year. But he's had two really good outings so hopefully he'll be back up soon!

There was a rumor going around last week that we were going to trade Porch D: But Momma and Lil Sis didn't tell me about it until Jim Leyland had said it wasn't true. Here's what Jim Leyland had to say on the subject. "There's a rumor going around, I don't know if anybody's read it, about Rick Porcello being traded," Leyland said. "I want to make this perfectly clear: That is a blatant lie. I don't even know where it came from. That's a blatant lie and it's irreponsible journalism. There's not a chance that Rick Porcello is going to be traded. That's a lie. That's not even speculation. That's a total lie. ...

"That kind of stuff ticks me off real bad, because that's total BS. Trust me, it's total BS. There's not even a chance that Rick Porcello is going to be traded. In fact, Rick Porcello is going to pitch in Cleveland. There's not a ... chance that he's going to be [traded]." Thanks to Momma and Lil Sis for shielding me from trade rumors :)

I'll do my other bfs in another post, since this one got kinda long :)

Epic Weekend Parts 3 and 4

Finally! I have gotten around to blogging the last two parts of Lil Sis and my Epic Weekend. I know you've been waiting on the edge of your seat. Which is unfortunate because parts 3 and 4 were a little less exciting then parts 1 and 2...

Since Momma and Daddy were out of town Lil Sis and I both got to invite a friend to the Tigers game :) She invited her bf and I invited my lovely friend D. The game was kind of a dud because the Tigs and my future husband both lost. :( I was even wearing my Porch shirt, which I've since come to believe is a bad luck charm.

But we were sticking around for the fireworks after the game and we got to see this... Yeah it's a wedding on the field at Comerica Park! Pretty much my dream and pretty darn epic.

Here are some more pics- and yes Paws was a groomsmen :)



Pretty awesome!

Part 4- Sunday- So we were trying to find a way to make Sunday epic. We watched the Tigers, picked Momma and Daddy up at the airport, and just hung around. But our daily evening walk was a bit epic. We decided to stop by the local elementary school and play on their playground, which made our walk pretty epic (though not as epic as the time we saw a dead bird and a pacifier on the sidewalk).

06 July 2010

Feminism 102

Check out Kate's feminism post here, she says it much better than I could! http://kismetkate88.blogspot.com/2010/07/f-word.html

01 July 2010

Feminism 101

The lovely and thoughtful Busy Bee Lauren wrote an interesting blog recently about being what she called old-fashioned and wanting to take care of her husband and make him dinner, etc. Here's a link to the post. I thought that her post was written very intelligently and thoughtfully. She says that she chooses to cook her husband dinner and it isn't expected of her, it's what she wants to do.

However several people in the comments said that they agreed with her and they certainly weren't feminists, they liked to care for their husbands/family. That's the problem I had. Just because someone is a feminist doesn't mean they can't choose (or don't want to choose) to cook dinner every night.

A feminist is someone who supports equal rights and opportunities for men and women. Just because someone is a feminist does not mean they are a lesbian. Being a feminist doesn't mean that you burn bras and don't shave. Being a feminist doesn't mean you support abortions (I consider myself a feminist and a pro-lifer) Being a feminist doesn't mean you can't cook dinner, clean your house, stay at home and enjoy doing all of these things. It means that you believe that a woman (just like a man) should have choices as to how she lives her life (and I'm not talking being pro-choice here...) that a man has and should have equal rights (pay, voting, property ownership, etc.) and that men and women should be treated equally/fairly. This doesn't mean that they have to be treated exactly the same, just that they have the same chanced and opportunities.

One poster said that the feminist movement has made women believe they don't need men, as if that's a bad thing. She continued to say that she'd never felt happier and more secure than when she was with her husband. That's great for her and I'm glad that she has found happiness. But the feminist movement has given women the rights they deserve and need to NEED a man for financial and social reasons.

I don't think that I need a man in my life right now, I am happy being single. Would I love to have a boyfriend/husband? Sure, but I know that I am not less of a person or a woman if I don't have a husband. I can feel fulfilled through my work, my family, my friends, my faith, without being in a relationship. While some people may not feel satisfied until they are in a relationship (which is totally fine for them), being with a man is no longer a legitimate necessity as it was in the past when women didn't work, go to college, couldn't own land, etc.

I love that Lauren says she chooses to care for her husband and make him dinner every night. She wrote that it wasn't expected of her, she does it because she likes to take care for her husband. In return, he chooses to wash the dishes, fill her car with gas, etc because he wants to. I think that is wonderful! Because it is her choice. Lots of women still can't make that choice. It is expected that they will make dinner every night, clean the house, take care of the kids. I'm not saying it is bad if women do these things, just that husbands and society should't expect them to do these things.

Even though Momma hates it, she still cooks every night because if she didn't we wouldn't eat, would eat out, or would have hot dogs every night (because that's all my dad would cook). Momma's out of town for the week. Before she left she made us two nights worth of dinners and we ate out the other night. And I know Daddy loves and respects Momma, but the expectation is that she'll cook and clean every weekend. Momma doesn't do this because she chooses to take care of her husband, she does it because someone has to.

I definitely appreciate those who want to do these things and respect the choices that they've made, but they should be thankful and grateful that they had the choice and help make sure that everyone is able to make those choices.