Nanny Experience

My time here in Philadelphia is coming to a close and I will admit it is bitter-sweet. I still remember, like it was yesterday, the first time we moved out here and how long a year seemed from that time. I remember I didn't really like, there was a lot of people, and just a lot of things I wasn't use to and I was already ready for this year to be over with. But to be honest, I have never experienced a year that has gone by so fast. Which I am sad, but also so grateful for. I am so excited that this chapter in our lives is ending and that we will be starting a new one. I have met some pretty incredible people and had many experiences I wouldn't have if we didn't move. I also never thought in my wildest dreams that I would become a nanny to two adorable kids.

 

Around this time last year I had no idea what I was going to do for a job. I just had gotten my license to be an Esthetician so that was the first thing I wanted to look into. As I was looking into that, and all the things it would take to get my license transferred to Pennsylvania, it just wasn't worth it. It would take a few months for it to transfer, it would cost a good sum of money to have it transferred, and I would still have to apply for jobs in the area which who knows how long that would take. So by the time I really got started we would practically be coming back home.

 

The couple we rented our apartment after mentioned that she was a nanny out here and that she was looking for someone to take her place. At first I was kind of hesitant because I wasn't sure how I felt about being a nanny but it came to a point where it was my only option for us to earn money. I got in contact with the family she was working with out here and was planning on being a nanny for them. Well a few weeks later things fell through and then I didn't have a job... Talk about stressful time since we were going to be moving in a few weeks and the cost of living isn't cheap on the east coast. I got on Care.com where you can look for nannies and families and that's how I came to meet the Paist family.

 

I talked with Jessica on the phone and she wanted to get to know me a little more and did a little interview with me. I remember after that phone call I knew I wanted to work with them. I kept talking with her for a few weeks after that and she wanted me to come out here and meet them before she actually hired me to see if we were a good match. Well, in the meantime, I had been applying for other jobs just in case it didn't work out. Another family contacted me and wanted me to work for them as well. I just knew that I had to make sure the Paist family wasn't the one if I was going to work for this other family so I let Jessica know someone else wanted to hire me if she didn't. Well she got things going and basically hired me right then and there if I wanted the job.

 

The time came where I had to decide. I never thought I would have a hard time choosing which family I wanted to nanny for but I had to make a decision so whatever family I didn't choose could find someone else. I was actually in tears trying to pick because I knew either way I would have it good but something kept pushing me towards the Paist family. It might have just been where I was suppose to be but I just couldn't say no to this family. And I am so glad I listened to my gut! I have never regretted the decision to work for them. They have treated us so well and they have always made sure we had a place to go for the holidays. They've basically taken care of us while we've been here and we couldn't be more grateful!

 

So the entire year we've been here I got to spend my days hanging out with some of the cutest, and funniest kids. Everyday was something new and I had a lot of laughs while being with these kids. Here are a few pictures that summed up our days together.

 

 

 

 

We went on a lot of walks!

Always doing something funny to AJ

This picture shows my view every time I would walk up to the door. They would always be waiting for me!

We spent many days at the playground and we loved it!

Addie loved these hair pieces and always wanted me to wear them with her.

AJ's favorite spot in the entire house. He always goes and sits on the fireplace and he thinks it's so cool!

Played outside a lot and had picnics in the back yard

We liked to sit out front and watch all the cars go by. We would count how many different colors we could see going by. It was actually pretty entertaining.

 

More Fun Facts about Addie:

-Her full name is Addison

-Her nicknames are Adds, Addie Girl, or buddy :)

 -She is 3 years old but acts like she's 20

-She has a memory like you wouldn't believe

-She loves the color red, pink, purple she says those are her "most favorite colors of the world".

-Her favorite show is Sherriff Callie, and she loves to watch any Disney movie as long as it doesn't have "the bad man" in it.

-She loves Apple juice in a sippy cup. She knows when there is too much water in it because she says:"this isn't apple juice it doesn't have enough apples in it."

-She loves to eat the "fluffy waffles" for breakfast and lunch.

-Her favorite snack is the "round circle crackers" (Ritz)

-Her favorite stuffed animal is lamb named Sleepy Lovie

-She is a very particular little girl and has to have things a certain way. I've tried to see how she does when it gets out of order and she will go right back and put it where she had it.

-She loves playing the "chase game" where I run around and chase her. She asks to play this, literally, everyday.

-She loves to read stories, color, and do arts and crafts

-She loves to sing the Rainbow song, ABC's, and the Popcorn song I taught her from when I was in Primary.

-Funny memory of Addie: One time I was in the kitchen getting her lunch and out of the blue she comes up to me and says, while flicking her hair, "Kinzie, doesn't my ponytail look just fabulous?" The best part she was totally serious while she was saying this.

 

More Fun Facts about AJ

His full name is Anthony John

His nickname is Age

He just turned 1 but feels just as heavy as Addie

He is a very busy boy and loves to get into anything

I'm not sure what his favorite color is but Addie insists that it's Blue

His favorite show to dance to is Doc McStuffins

AJ loves his milk

He loves oranges and I usually can't get it to him fast enough

His favorite stuffed animal is a giraffe named Giraffe Lovie

AJ's favorite snack is anything Addie is eating really he loves food

He just started walking a few weeks ago and loves it! Addie on the other hand hates it since he gets into her stuff.

AJ loves playing the "chase game" hide and seek, and anything that keeps him busy!

AJ LOVES to read stories he gets so excited when we are reading them

Funny memory about AJ: He loves to say "Hi" all the time. He will be sitting turn around and say,  Hi! It's pretty cute :)

 

I'm going to miss these kids like crazy and wish I could bring them back to Idaho with me but I am so glad I got to be with them while we've lived here. They have been like our home away from home and have always been so good to us. Thank you Paist Family this will be an experience I'll never forget!

 

 

 

 

 

 

4th of July Festivities

This was our first and last 4th of July here and Philly and it was a pretty good day overall! We spent it with a group of friends from our ward and we all decided to go to the Philly parade which was kind of lame not going to lie. We probably just had some pretty high expectations and it didn't even come close! But, it was still fun none the less. We got rained on at the parade and it never got hot enough for me to take off my jacket the entire day... Which is VERY unusual around these parts this time of year ....

 

The start of the parade

 

Waiting for the parade to start. Thank heavens they handed out these goofy looking hats or we would have been wet for the rest of the day! After the parade we hung around Philly and checked out all the street venders. They also had a free concert with a lot of big time singers but we all didn't really feel like going in the big crowd to the concert so we just played games, talked, and camped out in a park by the Rocky Stairs until the fireworks started.

These fireworks were INCREDIBLE... We read an article somewhere that Philadelphia was number 1 in the nation for fireworks and I believe it. They were unreal! However, Idaho Falls fireworks will always be number 1 in my book no matter what :)

 I am so grateful to be living in this great country and for those that have made it possible for me to enjoy this free land which I live.   

More visitors!

 A couple weeks ago, or should I say like a month ago, Cody's mom, brother, and sister-in-law came out to visit us to see our life here on the east coast. We had so many things planned and packed them into the one week they were here that we slept very little, woke up way too early, walked a few thousand miles (well not really, that's what it felt like), mastered the Jersey accent, had some funny inside jokes and laughs, and somehow Cody and I managed to squeeze in a day of school and work. But, all of that was worth it because we had so much fun!

LuAnne came out a day before Jared and Chelsea so we didn't plan anything too extravagant since it was Sunday and she got in a little late Saturday night. She came to church with us and checked out our ward here in Philly, we took our regular Sunday naps, had some dinner, and then we walked on this BEAUTIFUL walking trail that's about 20 mins from our place.

The next morning Jared and Chelsea came strolling in on the train. They had a red eye flight from Arizona where they had been for Chelsea's family reunion. We planned to go to New York as soon as they got here if everything worked out right and if they were still up for it after their flight. Well lets just say they were troopers and still wanted to head to New York the very same day! They seriously needed an award on this trip because I didn't hear them complain once. We took the train to New York since that was easier than driving. We planned to stay over night so that we could see all the things that we wanted and also went to a session in the temple. Can I just say that was amazing. Once you walk in the temple all the city noises disappear and it was so peaceful and so refreshing to get away from all the rush and people surrounding us. It was a perfect start to our morning the last day there.

They had to sleep any chance they could get. We had to take pictures of them any chance we could get....

Time Square

Grand Central Station like you see off of the movie Madagascar

Ground Zero

This picture cracks us up... Sorry Jared

View of the city on the Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan Temple was beautiful!

 

The next trip for the week was DC. We got up bright and early and made the 2 hour drive to DC. We were pretty tired from walking the streets of New York so we ended up renting bikes and riding those all over town. They were so cool! We covered so much ground and we ended up seeing all the cool sights without being too tired from all the walking.

Capital Building

Lincoln Memorial

 

After DC Cody and I went to one day of school and work while the gang headed into Philly to see all the cool stuff there is to see there. We figured we had seen it enough, and Cody's classes were mandatory that day, we would just meet them after we were finished. When we got there we took them to the best cheese steak place there is and had some Philly Cheese Steaks. I mean you gotta have one when you're in Philly right?! After that we hopped on a bus and went to a Phillies game! So. Much. Fun. And still my favorite sports game to go to live.

The next day was the last day the fam would be in town. :( We didn't plan anything special since they only had a little while before they had to be at the airport. We have been into frisbee golf for the past little while (thanks to Chelsea :) )  so we went to a frisbee golf course here and played 18 holes. Now this frisbee golf isn't your average course. You are basically in the forest so your discs can get lost easily and you can get some major bug bites. When we got back to the car we decided  we better check and make sure we didn't have any ticks since the fam would be traveling home all afternoon and wouldn't really be able to check. When we got back to our apartment I guess we didn't look close enough because Cody had one on his leg!! It was just getting ready to burrow its little self right in so I'm glad we caught in time. And luckily no one else had one so no Lyme Disease here. Thank heavens!!


We had such a good time with family and we're so thankful we were able to see some of them. Thanks Momma Lu, Jared, and Chelsea for coming to see us we can't wait to see you in a few short weeks!

Surprise Visitors!

Ever since we went home for Christmas we have been planning on when the next visits would be. Cody and I decided that we weren't going to be able to go home again until August with all his school stuff and me nannying full time. So our parents decided they would come out and visit us during that 8 month stretch. We tried to cordinate the visits so our parents didn't come out on the same weekend. Which would have been so much fun, but we wanted to spread out our visitors so they didn't all come at once! My parents talked about coming out for Cody's Spring Break, or sometime in July, but then Easter weekend looked a little better if everything worked out at home. Well, it was getting closer to April and my parents still hadn't booked their tickets yet. I thought it was kind of weird because they are always on the ball with that kind of stuff so when it was only about four weeks away I was gettin' a little nervous if they were even going to be able to come. They finally booked their flights and were set to come late April 23rd. I was so excited I couldn't wait for them to get here! Their plane was suppose to land at 11:22p.m. so I had all day to wait for them... It was kind of a long day to be honest! We decided to go pick them up from the airport since the train doesn't always make a stop by our apartment after 10 p.m. We headed to the airport and got there a few minutes before they were ready to come out. As we were waiting I was watching for them and I saw through the glass windows a girl that looked a lot like my sister, Steph. I was getting my phone out to take a picture of her so I could send it to her when I had to keep staring because she was starting to look more and more like her the closer she was getting. As I was watching "this girl" I kept thinking, "how cool would it be if she came with mom and dad..." well that thought I had came true because it really was my sister! I honestly couldn't believe it.  As soon as I saw her I saw another sister, Tiff, and my mom, walk out from behind her and then thats when I jumped out of the car and started crying, and running towards them. I was so happy to see them and in shock they came.Well it turns out that my dad wasn't going to be able to come since he had a lot of things going on back home with his business and so two of my sisters decided to come along with my mom. They thought it would be fun to surprise me and they did just that! They had this whole thing planned out for about six weeks and everyone was in on it. Everything started to come together though when we talked about the whole thing. They had the tickets already booked and were just playing their little game with me. I honestly don't know how they kept it from me for so long without giving it away. I did not see it coming at all! :)

They had a plan on how they wanted to surprise me but I saw them before they could do it. Sorry guys! These were the signs they made for me.

 

The first day they were here we went and got pedicures. I love and hate pedicures... I have the most ticklish feet so I was trying not to kick the girl every time she was doing my toes.

They came and met the family I nanny for. Addie was in heaven.

 

 

On our way to center city Philadelphia

Tiff bein a goof!

These two get car sick so they were the ones in front

Center City Philadelphia

We had to take pictures by the Rocky stairs and statue

Funny story: While we were at the Rocky stairs, and statue, we were about 45 mins walking distance away from our car and we didn't have bus passes so we walked in the pouring rain the entire way back.... We were soaked! Made for some blistered feet and good memories :)

We took these guys to Rita's which has custard and water ice and we were all addicted so it called for a late night run! Tiff didn't care she went in her nighty!

Last day in PA :( We had such a fun time with them here. We stayed up way too late every night, talking, laughing, watching movies, playing games, eating way too much... and just havin' a good time! I am so blessed with the families I have. They always make goodbyes hard. On the bright side, we will see them in three months and we have Cody's family coming out the end of this month! Yay for visitors!