Ode to my nieces and nephews

I seriously love my nieces and nephews. A lot. I love to play with them and it is SO fun to see them growing up and how smart, and beautiful, and fun they are!! I LOVE being an aunt!! SO I thought I'd just do a little over view of all 8 of my favoritest little people on this Earth!!

(I'm going in descending age order and using the most recent pictures I have :) )

Julia Louise (8)- Now, I don't have favorites, but Julia was the first grand kid and she was the only one for a long time, so she had us all good and wrapped around her little finger! I simply adore this girl! I was in high school for the first couple of years of her growing up so I got to see her a ton and I wish I had that with all of my nieces and nephews!! It was so fun to see her grow through different stages and try new things, and go from a baby to a toddler, to a little girl! She got baptized in January, and I couldn't be more proud of her! She is about the age of what I want to end up teaching, so I just had so much fun being with her this last Christmas break! She is such a good big sister, and seeing her and Rock play together reminds me a lot of when Michael and I were growing up! She is just so smart, and happy, and fun, and I just love my little Julia Louise!

Rock (5)- Rocky-roo was the first boy to come along, and he was a whole new adventure! This boy is just that- ALL boy!! He loves things blowing up, fighting, dinosaurs, cars, bad guys, angry birds, running around outside, running into stuff- the works. At a million miles per hour. But he is so fun! And he has such a sweet little tender side underneath all his rough and tough boy stuff. He LOVES his little brother and it is the cutest thing ever! He is such a good looking kid and looks like an indian all year round. Crazy. But I love this cute sweet little boy!

Caroline Joy (4)- Right before Caroline was born, the song "Sweet Caroline" was really popular, and Julia really wanted to name the new baby Caroline I think from listening to that song so much! But it totally fits this sweet little girl! The song was probably written about her- they just didn't know it :) But this girl LOVES to snuggle babies, give kisses, give hugs, laugh, and smile away!! I can already tell she just has such a tender little heart, and she melts all of ours with it! She's a girl after my own heart and plays with Barbies and baby dolls every time she comes over to GramE's house! She doesn't talk as much as Julia and Rock did, but she sure knows how to make herself heard. Which is good for a third child :)

Clara Jane (4)- Clara is just a happy little child! She is an Emily mini-me, which is such a great thing for her! She is kind of shy at first with people, but once you get her to open up she is about as happy as can be! She is always singing (I can hear her in the background when I talk to Emily) and has an amazing imagination! She can play lollies (legos) by herself for hours! She is also a very good big sister and loves to take care of her little sister and brother! She also really loves the Disney princesses, and pretty much anything Disney, but I think that has to do with some genetics from her parents ;) I got to spend a couple of weeks with Clara (and Paisley) this last summer, so it was good to have some good bonding time with them that I don't usually get since I live so far away :(

Paisley Grace (2)- Paisley is a sweet little fireball! She knows what she wants and she will tell you even though she still doesn't talk a ton! I love her little spirited self! She is also a very happy little girl and loves to laugh and dance and sing just like her big sister! Paisley also LOVES animals! She loves the horse from Tangled, and loves to pretend to be a cat, and gets excited when she sees cats or dogs outside. She is one cute little sassy sister!

William Rock (~1)- William was a little miracle baby, but he was worth all the trouble! This little guy is so chill and sweet! And boy is he loved by his siblings! So far I've only spent a couple weeks with him, but his big brown eyes and cheesy grin just melt my heart! He's such a sweetie pie!

Beckham Michael- (2 months) Beckham is the first boy in the Deardeuff clan, so that's a fun adventure for them! He is still really little, but I already love him! Look at those beautiful eyes!

Clark James- (3 days)- Clark is the newest addition to the Erekson grandkid clan, and boy is he a cutie!! We bonded over Christmas while he was still in the womb, so I'm pretty sure I'm already his favorite :) But I just love his sweet little face already! And its also fun since he's Elizabeth and Andrew's first! I just love all these new babies around, but it makes me sad that I don't get to see them :(

So if you can't tell, these kids are just the cutest, sweetest, most beautiful children around and I love them quite a lot. I wish I lived close to all of them so I could give them hugs and kisses every day and tell them I love them! Maybe one day my dream will come true. But I hope all these cute kiddos know how much I love them even from far away!! And I can't wait to watch them grow up and see what great people they'll turn into one day!

I just gotta say...

I feel SOO blessed today!! And I love to record the good days for when those crummy days come along, so I can remember how good life can really be!

Why was it so good you ask? Well I shall tell you. (lots of words. Not so many pics. you have been warned)

So it had the makings for a crummy day seeing as I woke up at 6:52 for my 6:50 carpool- yikes!! But luckily they picked someone else first and came back and got me around 7! Tender mercy: I packed my lunch the night before AND picked out my outfit AND showered. That does not happen often let me tell you. So it made it so I could dart out of bed and zip out the door! (Clarissa woke up to go to the bathroom and I was still in bed and then I was dressed and almost ready when she got out. I am talkin speed!)

The reason I had to be up so early was because I had my second first day of school for the semester! We started our Second Practicum aka the last real obstacle standing between me and an internship or student teaching. Wow. I was feeling REALLY stressed and apprehensive this semester about all the responsibilities of teaching and doing it well etc. But let me tell you, they were all assuaged at school today. I mean I don't think it'll be easy by ANY means, but I feel like I CAN do it and I remembered why I love it. Seriously, teaching is just in my blood. Some days I wished I liked something easy.....like being a doctor.....but alas. ;) (Totally kidding. Being a doctor is killer. I'm glad I'm not a doctor)

I am just in awe and so grateful for our mentor teachers though! I'm in kind of a unique situation because my partner and I teach in a dual immersion program, so we have two mentor teachers and work with 41 kids. Oh and we teach in English and Spanish. So it adds a little extra element of difficulty, but oh how I love it! It amazes me what these kids can do! But one of the teachers is a BYU grad and so she knows what we're going through, and the other is a professional rodeo star who is just the cutest thing ever (and her husband is a professional bull rider- seriously??) . I love them both!

The best part of my day though was probably all our second graders from last semester running up and giving me and Mr. Daniel hugs every time they saw us in the halls! Oh man how I miss those children dearly. It was SO good to see them! And they remembered us! Happy Day!!!

Our new kids haven't quite warmed up to us yet, but they're "cool" third graders, so we have to win their favors a little more. But man oh man do they have crazy names.....

Some highlights:

- they took the kids swimming today! So random!! They all piled onto a bus and drove over to the community pool and they went swimming for like an hour and then we came back to school! So some funny things that happened there

-this one boy comes out from changing EVERY time with his shirt off, probably in hopes someone will be out there for him to show off to....so cute!

-Another boy comes out holding his underwear and was like "MAN! Now I can't wear my underwear cuz they're WET!!" Definitely went commando the rest of the day. bahahahaha

- I introduced myself using a mad lib game and the kids do

a "comments, questions, connections" after anyone shares, so one kid commented "I like how you called us smart" hahahaaha. Then another one said "If you ever get to be a teacher one day, you'll be a good one." SO sweet. Automatic favorite. hahahaha

So just a great day of school!!! And we listened to Taylor Swift on the way up and back! So great!

And to top it off- my sister Elizabeth went and had her baby to celebrate my great day! hahahaha- but I am SOOO happy and excited for her!!! I don't have a name or pictures, but he weighed 8 lbs 6 ozs! So that'll have to do until I do a post sometime bragging on all my ADORABLE nieces and nephews!! Until then.....

I'm going to bed.

And this time I'm actually setting an alarm. :)

(Life Rocks. Get it? hahahaha)

peace and blessins.

Monday Musings....

Maybe I would get more dates if I actually tried to dress up when I study at the library. My like only interaction with males at BYU, and I come straight from Zumba sweaty and grungy. I think I'm on to something. Or maybe if I dressed up more in general. Yeah. That'd be good.

Who wants to buy me new clothes??