Thanksgiving Time

It's been awhile since I updated whats UP in my life. There is short explanation for that. I can pretty much sum the last month up in one sentence: I went to work. 

You don't get paid a lot as an AmeriCorps member so we haven't been able to go do a lot. It also gets dark really early here which means our days are cut short and we don't get a lot of adventuring in. 

Luckily, we did have an eventful weekend last week because it was Thanksgiving and my parents drove from Utah to celebrate with us. I can't believe it has been fourth months since I had seen them. Four months... four months... wow, we have lived in Spokane for four months! 

I cooked Thanksgiving for my family!! I was really excited to do this for the first time! I love doing things for the people I love and I also love traditions. To me, the act of cooking a Thanksgiving meal is a very traditional family activity and I just loved being in charge and taking care of those I love. 

I didn't cook turkey because I honestly don't like turkey that much so I made ham instead. We also ate stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ginger-honey glazed carrots, pink stuff (this is a food that Calebs family makes each year-it's basically cool whip, cottage cheese and pineapple), pie and rolls. We only had one fiasco the whole weekend and that was because I stepped on the rolls as they were rising. I had them on the ground next to our heater so they would rise and I forgot they were there and I stepped on them and slid across the living room. Oops! Good thing Safeway is a block away and we could run to the store and buy some. Thank you to the sweet workers who were working on Thanksgiving day. I wish that I hadn't of been so clumsy so that I wouldn't have been one of the reasons that they had to be at work instead of with family. 

I think I gained ten pounds in the last four days!

While my parents were here we did lots of yacking, shopping, and watching movies. I am so excited to see them again in January when we go home to Utah. 

Alright, enough script and time for pics. 

My Rolls.... if the pic was larger you could see my toe imprints

I cooked that, and it is ALL bad for you

After lunch we explored Riverside State Park a bit

The Christmas Tree we didn't buy. As small as this tree is, it is still too big for our apartment

My cute mom! She and my dad are sweet for driving 10 hours to celebrate with us

Cool Cool parents right here

The feast

I am really hoping that the food is edible at this point

I should be ashamed of the amount of selfies I take like this...#ohwelldontcare #hashtagsnowonmyblog #sorrynotsorry #whenwillitstop #ohlozz

Rose: I still have leftovers and haven't had to cook since Thursday (today is Monday)

Bud: Caleb and I are going to Canada on a snowboard trip in a few weeks and then spending Christmas Eve with our friends Chelsey and Brian in Colville, WA. 

Thorn: My work schedule changed and I now get off at 5:30 instead of 4:00. Bla. 

Teaching the children about Bob Marley

In one of my pre-school classes the teacher has this amazing book based off the song "One Love" by Bob Marley. I always pick it to read to the kids. Last week I was reading it to two girls and I noticed that there was picture of Bob Marley on one of the pages so I showed the girls the picture. They noticed that on the next page there was another picture of him. So for the rest of the book they tried to find Bob Marley on each page. It was adorable hearing a two year old say (in her tiny toddler voice), "Where's Bob Marley?" Later on in class I told one of the girls to go ask her other teacher where Bob Marley was. She followed my orders very diligently and asked her other teacher where he was. She received a strange look and some redirection from the other teacher. I can imagine the confused parents when their child went home that day asking about Bob Marley. :)

When kids learn about bodies

Recently one of my preschool boys was using the bathroom and I had to be in the bathroom also to help another boy. Boy #1 looks at me and says, "Miss Ammie, You don't have a peanut". I agree with him and say that he is right- I don't have a peanut. "But I have a peanut."

Also this week- a preschool girl has a doll up her shirt. This happens a lot in this class because their teacher is pregnant but today I noticed that the doll us higher up on the chest and the girl is giggling like mad. I ask her what she is doing and she shakes her head and won't tell me. I am sure I know what she is up to but I want to hear what she has to say about it so I keep asking her. Finally she says, "She is eating off my boobies." 

How do kids learn the things they do??? 

This video makes me want a baby. It is beautiful! 

Pure perfection! 

Why I work with Kids

Kids are so awesome! In the last few years I have worked a lot with different kids in different situations. I have a Smashbook that I keep all of their funny/sad/ridiculous quotes in and I think today I should share a few of my favorites!

-Miss Ammie: What is your favorite song?

-Four year old girl: Pitch Perfect.

-Miss Ammie: Oh, what song on Pitch Perfect?

-Four year old girl: The barf one! 

-Six year old boy in Transformers costume: Miss Ammie, does this costume make me look skinny? 

-Fourteen year old girl: I'm sorry I coughed in your face. I just didn't want to cough on the spider! 

Background info: It's lunch time and I am cooking in the kitchen when I suddenly realize that I am sicker than I thought. I can't make it the the bathroom so I puke in the kitchen garbage can. 

-Five year old boy and his sister: You need your mommy don't you? 

-Me: I do but I don't live with my mom anymore. 

Background info: I call my supervisor and she comes to help me. 

-Fiver year old boy and his sister: Her mommy doesn't love her anymore. 

Background info: We've been practicing for the church childrens program for two weeks. Today we've been sitting in our chairs for about an hour

-Seven year old girl: I am SO done with church. 

-Five year old girl: God only has one rule about littering...NO LITTERING!!

-Me: You silly pumpking

-Young girl: People don't say that! They say silly goose!

Background info: Caleb (my husband) has long hair. 

-Seven year old girl: I've seen a boy with hair like that! It was on Mulan! 

-Another seven year old: Boy's don't usually have hair that long. My daddy gets his cut! 

Me: Do you need to go to the bathroom? 

5-6 year old boy: No, I was just moving my penis. I didn't want my penis to get stuck to the side of my leg. 

Background info: We are getting lunch ready and I ask the kids what they want to be when they grow up. 

Young boy:  Can I be two things? Because I want to be a dad and a hot dog cook! 

Okay that's all for today! I hope they make you laugh at least a little bit. Some of them are not near as funny when I say them. You just gotta hear those sweet little souls say these things and then they really sound adorably funny!

Another good weekend

Before living in Spokane I had never had a week day job. This job is my first job where I have weekends, holidays, and evenings off. 

I struggle with the week because I have previously always had a break during the week but worked the weekends as well. I now more fully understand why people "live for the weekend". I used to kinda dislike weekends as much as the week because I always worked. Now I LOVE my weekends! Caleb and I both do not have to work and other than homework, we get to enjoy all of our free time together. 

This weekend Caleb and I went on two great bike rides, hung out with some new friends and ate junk food, picked pumpkins and carved them with new friends, had a fun day at church with the Primary program, and caught up on laundry. 

Bike ride @ Riverside State Park

My perfect pumpkins from Knapp's Farm

I LLLOOOOVVVEEE this picture of us!

Caleb is a great husband and can hold both of our pumpkins at the same time!

Family pics with our two pumpkin babies :) 

The finished product. Calebs pumpkin had too much to drink and my pumpkin is supposed to be a cat . Carving pumpkins is hard!!

Our friend is a master pumpkin carver! I don't know how he even thought up this idea! 

Rose: Had a fun weekend with Caleb and friends

Bud: Going trick-or-treating with the grand kids of a lady from our church!

Thorn: I work extra hours this week and next week I have to go to Yakima for Americorps training for three days :( 

Hello my name is Ammie, and I love to go to the park.

This weekend Caleb and I spent most of our time at parks. One thing I really like about Spokane is that there are parks everywhere! You drive half a block and there is another park; just like Starbucks!

A favorite park of ours is Comstock Park. We love all of the trees there. Its a jackpot for slack lining! We end up there about once a week. This weekend we found another slackline at REI for 35 bucks!!! ( For those who don't know... that is a good deal! The one we bought was valued at $90) So we set up both of our lines and played around.

Another park we went to is Manito Park. This park is BEAUTIFUL! There are different types of flower gardens, a pond, splash pad, and a playground. The tree's have started to change colors, making the park even more stunning than before.

Lastly we went to Mirabeau Point Park in Spokane Valley. This park is pretty big and includes some walk ways, views of the Spokane River, a waterfall, and an adorable playground. If I had kids I would take them there all of the time.

And that was our weekend!

Oh, we also started making panini's  and they are the most amazing things in the world!

My pictures didn't capture the goodness. My favorite so far had pesto, mozzarella, pepperoni, tomato, olive oil and basil on it. It was amazing! I want to eat one everyday. My mouth is watering right now just thinking of it.

Hope you had a fun weekend too :)

Backpacking in the Dark!

Last weekend Caleb and I went backpacking to Stevens Lake in Idaho. I got off of work at four and we started off on our journey. We got lost a bit but finally made it to the trail head. We didn't take into account that it is fall and we now live in Washington which means that it got dark a lot earlier than we expected! We ended up hiking half of the trail in the dark - woops! It was pretty spooky and the trail was HARD! I wasn't sure if we would make it but we did. We only stayed the night but it was beautiful and so fun to get out of the city.