Ready for Spring!

Ranting about my family...

Claire is just the cutest thing in the world and I will never think anything else! She has been learning so fast and is so spunky and adventurous. She still seems to be small to me but hopefully she'll catch up and get her growth spurts soon because she is 7 months old and still wearing 3-6 month cloths! I have loved learning how to be the best parent possible with Chris and still know there are many more...conversations...to come about what will be best for our children. Having support for all aspects of my life from someone I know loves me has helped me be confident in taking care of Claire. 

I've felt like I've had more energy to be productive and take care of the house these past few weeks and we have homemade dinners 4-5 times a week, chores usually get done, and we make time for each other. We are able to enjoy so much in our life that everything else just falls into place and we are so lucky to have each other as we work through our trials together. Now comes the time that I feel like I missed completely last year, good weather! I was so uncomfortable during the summer and worried about how I would fair when I was pregnant that I didn't enjoy myself as much as I could have. We are excited to introduce Claire to being outside all the time and going camping, hiking, and everything else that spring brings.

Ranting about my job...

I have the best job ever! I love being a teacher and want to share it with everyone so maybe I can find someone who loves it too. I've had fun decorating my classroom and home in preparation for Spring because it is my favorite season, but I consider myself a minimalist when it comes to my classroom. I like the rewards that only have one moving part like Dino traveling through a board game, a monkey climbing along a vine, and now this watering flowers. With spring, I took time to make a new 'Water the Flowers' reward for VIPKID classroom and as I've been using it I've really loved it. Another idea I plan to use for summer is walking along the beach collecting STARfish.

My minimalism isn't as extreme as I'm sure some others are because I still like visual aids from some of the students that seem to need it. I have magnetic letters, flashcards, plastic fruits, and puppets that I bought when I first started and of course my white board. Since then I've added some of the VIPKID characters printed and laminated, my different reward systems, a stop watch, and books to the classroom. I know what I absolutely need because I could travel with these items and be able to teach any lesson: flashcards, a mouse finger puppet, laminated reward with blank back for dry erase things, a book, and the characters. 

I believe that any class can be interesting if the teacher does it right!

Ranting about my exercise...

Other things that get me excited for spring time is the warmer weather and being able to go outside without a jacket! I love when I can run outside and it be cool enough that I don't feel like I'm dying but also not freeze my fingers like in winter. Running may be hard but I personally believe it should be made more comfortable by circumstance. I also thing running shouldn't be boring which is why I picked up the habit of watching TV shows from Netflix while I have to run on a treadmill and listening to audio books when I run other places.

This brings me to how awesome things have been and how impressed I am with myself! I've been tracking my running since having Claire and recently sat down to look at the pace times and progress since I got serious about running a half marathon. I loved it! I saw that my pace has been getting better when I run short distances because I push myself and I'm back up to running 7 miles nonstop which I haven't done since college! Taking running seriously and getting back on a good calorie tracking habit has been really helpful losing more weight too. Still a long way to go until my half marathon!

Learning New Skills

Giving my self projects that encourage my learning in new skills keeps me busy when I shouldn't even have extra time. I've found that I love learning all the new things from those projects whether I am sewing, cooking, crafting, organizing, or whatever I find interesting. Pinterest is one of those places I like to explore to get ideas for all of my projects and even though some are a little complicated, I like to make simplified versions.

When I find things that my husband likes me to cook, I look for ways to improve the recipes or get faster and making certain dishes. It helps that I like to watch cooking shows and I can see how they organize and create delicious meals so I can try too. Pinterest is the best place too look up recipes and ideas that make cooking easier and tastier since I don't plan on going to school I practice and learn how to do things on my own. What I didn't get from my mom, I got from the internet.

Sewing is something that comes and goes for me and it started when I worked at Hancock Fabrics and saw other people doing projects that looked really cool. I learned how to make no sew blankets first and looked up several different ways to tie the ends and connect the two fleece pieces. I was able to share what I learned with others and it was great when they liked the different options which made it even more awesome and rewarding. After starting to get interested (even though my mom tried to teach me when I was younger) I mad myself a few dresses, scarfs, Christmas presents for my nieces, and a tie! Most fun was learning different techniques to make the dresses like pleats and learning how to make a tie.

Another thing I like to learn more about is crafts of all kinds especially with my VIPKID classroom when I'm wanting to redecorate. I recently made a new reward for spring time and enjoyed coming up with the idea and making it come together. Other plans for more decorations around my house I get from Pinterest just like recipes are holiday/seasonal door wreaths, table decorations, gifts, and treats. Spring is my favorite season because I love the colors and weather that is starting to warm up so I also love decorating.

When I reorganize and plan, I like to learn new ways to do these things like how to budget, planning my half marathon training, packing for moving, or making a daily schedule for myself. In doing these things I become a little less scatter brained and learn what is important to myself, even if I don't always follow those new plans. I like to think it helps me improve myself just making the plans because it does last sometimes even if not all the time since there's a baby to occupy most of my time and energy.

Speaking of a wonderful baby...she is going to be turning 7 months and is soooooooooo active! She loves to roll and scoot around the floor to get to toys and closer to us when we are on the couch and we think it is so funny. She still loves bath time and is starting to push her butt up off the floor so crawling isn't too far away now! She is chewing on everything she touches and can eat a good amount of baby food when she isn't mad at mommy for not feeding her fast enough. We have been so blessed to have Claire in our lives and we are looking forward to her growing and learning more.

How I Knew He Was the One

Dating is hard and I am very glad to be over that phase of my life and be able to put all my energy into my relationship with my husband. I'm not one to dwell on the past, but to talk about how different my dating with Chris was than with other guys, you need to know a little of my background with dating. My experience in the 8 long years I was single and dating included differing levels of relationships with 97 guys. Let me explain...60% of them lasted only a date or two before we decided things weren't going to work out, another 30% had more connection as friends too, and only 10% were serious relationships. I learned a lot and met some amazing people along the way, even if they weren't my perfect match, I know many that found their companion. I can't say I was an expert at all my relationships but I've obviously done my fair share of searching and ultimately won the dating game to find my match!

What I noticed was different almost immediately when Chris walked up to me after getting off the airplane to visit was the comfort I usually didn't feel with people until after knowing them for a long time. Our time emailing for 10 months and talking over the phone for a month helped my connection to him skip all the insecurities that usually happened. I tried not to admit it was 'love at first sight' because I didn't want to believe in that, and we had already known each other through technology. The truth was that when we met for the first time in the airport we embraced like we were the oldest and closest of friends that had been away from each other for a long time. I probably was a little in love with him at that point and my love grew until I actually acknowledged it and let it grow more.

Now we have a wonderful life and family, and we feel so blessed to have found each other. Our little Claire can now roll around the house and has fun exploring anything she can get her hands on (or more like her mouth on!). We still have to spend time apart because of his service in the military but those days don't seem so long when we know we love each other. I'm so glad to have started my online journaling in this blog because I love sharing how happy our lives are with Claire and each other. Working my two jobs, watching Claire on my off days, and trying to keep our house in order is great but I live for Sundays when life slows down and I can recharge.