Sunday, September 6, 2015

Is Sunday the beginning or end of the week?


                                                                      
Is it the beginning or the end of the week? Some people may argue that Sunday is the start of a new week; others may say it’s the end. Well today I have decided it’s the end, which may only be because I promised two blog posts this week so I’m considering this the same week.
This post is about what I did this summer. I was a nanny for a family I have been babysitting for since my senior year in high school. I know most people are probably thinking, “why is this post going to be important” or “most girls nanny at least once in their lifetime.” Well this is different. My dad actually introduced this family to me, he knew the father from when he was in a praise and worship band. When I started caring for their, at the time, two kids, I would just come over for a few hours at night to let their parents have a date night every once and while. Towards the end of the school year their mom, Kristin, asked me if I would be interested in a summer job that would be a few hours a day, a couple days a week. Saying yes that summer was the best thing I chose to do!
                             
I learned a lot from these two little kids. I know, it sounds weird, I learned a lot from two children who at the time were 4 and 2 and a half, but I did! These two kids could make me laugh when my day seemed way longer than any other day, have more patience, have a more protective side, and just learning how to deal with different situations.  
 I may have started with just the two of them but the summer before my freshman year at college, Ella, the oldest, told me she was going to be another big sister. Every time people ask me, “How many kids do they have?” every time I excitedly answer, “They have 3!!” Every time that question is followed with, “oh wow and what are the ages?” And again, I excitedly respond with “6, 4 and roughly 1 and half!” Most people follow that answer up with, “how do you do that”, “you must be brave”, “I assume you’ve known them for a while and feel obligated”. I may be “brave” or “crazy” but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I have personally known them for about 3 years (I think), I’ve honestly lost track. All I know is those 3 years have been the best summer!                     


               
I already said I’ve learned a lot from the kids, but I have also learned a lot from their mother. She is not only a mother of three, a wife to their daddy, but also an extremely hard working businesswoman. Kristin is a photographer, weddings, engagement sessions, family portraits, family, children, anything and she will capture the moment beautiful with not just her camera but her words as well. My favorite thing she does is her Hope series. She meets a family and captures their life and the challenges they may be going through. She has her own family she has to worry about and care for and then she adds more to it. Her blog is beautifully written, can be a tearjerker and have stunning photos with it.
 
Kristin has taught me so much about patience, hard work ethic, creativity, finding the funny in things that probably aren’t so funny (#whymiloscrying), balancing fun and education when it comes to school work and so much more! Sometimes I wonder if I stick through the crying of Ollie, ignoring from Milo and attitude from Ella just so I can talk to Kristin that day about whatever is going on or advice I need. When I wonder this, I think how lucky I am to have such a rewarding job every summer.
Now I can’t forget about their dad. I don’t get as much time to talk to him but one thing I can know for sure even if I never met him is that he is so loved, a wonderful father and an extremely supportive husband. Before I even started working for the Seward’s my dad always spoke highly of Jake. I am always raving about how cute their family is, or how adorable a picture of the 3 children being crazy is, or just squealing of how the Christmas card was the best one yet.
  I may leave their house at the end of the day exhausted, one kid may have cried pretty much the whole day, it could be raining the whole 15 minute commute home (this happened quite a lot), but I love every day there. It may just be a nanny job to some people, but for me it’s a rewarding job with so many lessons learned and taught.

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Way Overdue


This post is way overdue, like a month overdue.  I have been busy; working, planning, vacationing, relaxing, so I guess that’s a little bit of an excuse. Truth is, I’ve been lazy, and my computer has been running extremely slow, which was also my fault since it had about 4 different programs that needed to be updated. On the plus side, there will be two posts this week! This post is about the awesome experience I had about a month ago helping a friend of a friend with a wedding! Some of you may have heard of her, others who haven’t really need to check her out because she is awesome at what she does! Her name is Kat and she is a wedding planner plus so much more. Her website is dearsweetheartevents.com, on her website you can see she is not just a wedding planner but also the creator and educator of so much more! I met her through Katelyn Alsop, a wedding photographer (you should also check her out).
Meeting Katelyn about 5 years ago was one of the best things that happened to me in my high school career and then having her tell me about Kat got me even more excited. I emailed with Kat back and forth for a few months until we finally met face to face, which also happened to be the day of the wedding I was assisting her with. When I met Kat outside her brand new (adorable) house I instantly was so excited! I drove two hours to meet with her and then she and I had about two hours together in the car driving to our destination. I learned so much about her and she gave me some amazing advice about starting my future business. The experience I had with her was so eye opening and taught me a lot. Kat was extremely organized, she got everything done in a timely fashion but still made it fun and a learning experience at the same time!
That weekend with Kat and assisting her was one of the highlights of the summer. I learned how to organize stuff specifically for planning a wedding, I learned punctuality, how to please people at the event while getting what needs to be done, done, and what little details go into an event that aren’t always thought of when thinking about planning a wedding. I fully enjoyed my experience and would do it again in a heartbeat.