Life in the PNW

And just like that, September is over. It flew by. Gone are the sunny, cool days and the newness of school. Now begins the gloomy, rainy, muddy weather for the next 7-8 months. Boots, scarves, jackets, hats, hot coffee, baking while it's raining out, pumpkin everything... I am overflowing with joy for these months.

Reflecting on the last few weeks, I am amazed at how good God is. I've been learning 2 Corinthians 12:9 first hand...

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

I have very few moments to myself, and they are usually spent sleeping. Otherwise I am working at Fox Hollow, making coffee for all the lovely faces of Orting. Or watching Ashton and playing with trucks and books and trains. Or doing endless homework and studying for Psychology and Apologetics. Or working at the high school, doing office work and talking to students and wishing it were my real job right now. Or running Maschhoff children somewhere... gymnastics, karate, school, Fox Hollow. :) I love all of these things, but there is absolutely no way I could do all of this on my own.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a worship night at Fox Hollow. It was the last time Mary, Sarah and I all worked together... bittersweet. :) I am so thankful for them in my life! We all went to high school together, each a year apart. I probably wouldn't have been close with them if it weren't for Fox Hollow, but now I can't imagine life without them! [Super cheesy, I know.] I used to think Mary was shy, but I know different now. She is honestly one of the funniest people I know. And Sarah is just plain wonderful. I will miss working with both of them, but I'm not worried about not seeing them. We all love crafting too much to stay apart. ;)

Speaking of crafting and September, I have been dying to have Scrabble magnets. I think they are the coolest thing ever. Well... Mary and Sarah made me a set for my birthday! I was so surprised and so happy! I went to Ikea with Gram like I do every year for my birthday, and I bought a white magnetic board for the letters. The verse I have up on it in the picture is Psalm 27:14. :)

Lastly, a picture of my sweet hometown. Pam makes fun of me because I am always in awe of Mt. Rainier. It is so beautiful! This picture is like a perfect fall day. Cloudy and cool but the mountain is peeking out! I love it!

Thankfulness: Day 3-6. :)

Once upon a time, I was a terrible blogger. And that time was the past 3 days.
So much for thankfulness, right? WRONG.
I have been writing down and photographing the things I've been thankful for in the past few days, even though I haven't been blogging about it. Sometimes I just don't have time, you know?

[Sidenote: I don't know how moms of small children can be so up to date with Facebook and blogger and such. When I am nanny-ing, I literally have to be with them every second or the crazies dump my purse on the floor and eat my necklaces! Haha. My only internet time is the small time where their naps overlap. Maybe it will be different with my own kids?]

Anyway, thankfulness.
First, I am so thankful for fall in Washington.
I love the rain. The cold. The storms. The leaves.
Its so beautiful. It makes my life more enjoyable.

I am also thankful for the vast array of coffee shops in Washington. Today I visited one I had never been to before, Satellite Coffee in Tacoma. I was looking at a couple apartments, saw this place, and had to try it.
I got an americano with a little bit of vanilla in it. Mmmmmmm.
Perfection.

I am always thankful for these precious prizes. I am especially thankful for their parents' old cell phones. The boys constantly want mine. They know I keep it in my purse [hence the purse dumping]. But since they are only babies, they don't quite realize that these phones don't really work anymore. :)

[Sidenote: Note Cam's little face. He is ALWAYS looking to Brody to see what Brody will do next. Dangerous of course, because Brody is daring and defiant, but so cute!]

More coffee? No. This picture is about these boys. The two on the right have been my favorite family to babysit for since the Isbells left Washington. They love me and I can't figure out why. [Seriously these kids call me, on their own and ask me to babysit. Miles once offered to give me his room is I would live with them.] Anyway, I just always take them to Forza and read to them a lot? I guess we have similar interests? :)
Usually I have all three Omans [Alex, Claire and Miles] but tonight I just had the boys, plus their cousin. They were so excited to make all the decisions without the input of their sister. I am so thankful for these boys. For the joy they bring when I watch them. And for their parents, who have become my friends, not just my employers. Love love love the Oman family!

Fall Days

The Pumpkin Patch. Quite possibly my favorite place in the world.
In Puyallup, everyone [mostly] goes to Spooner Farms. There are millions of pumpkins, a corn maze, homemade caramel corn, hot apple cider, pumpkin slingshots, animals... basically everything fall that you can think of!
This past week, Kelsey and I went down to Spooner's, braved the mud and picked out a couple BEAUTIFUL pumpkins.

I just had a feeling that wheelbarrow number 12 was lucky. I was right.

Are white pumpkins supposed to be green inside? You can't quite tell from this picture, but it was definitely a Halloween-y shade of green. Very creepy. Kelsey and I both gasped when the top came off!

It took a long time, but the pumpkins turned out incredible! I am so happy with them, I love them!

On a totally unrelated but still dear to my heart subject, Brody has learned to eat all by himself! Under my supervision of course. He ate a whole sandwich and half a banana all on his own! Without it being cut into pieces or anything. He had such good self control, eating small bites and chewing it all. Ha, he's such a cute kid. I love him!

Fall Dinner Party: Invitations.

If you happen to be bored and want to check out how our Fall Dinner Party invitations turned out... go check out my friend Kelsey's blog. She posted with pictures! They are wonderful!!

Apples.

Apparently its now 'apple season.' Living in Washington, I thought every season was apple season. Who knew?

I want to make something with apples in the next couple days. Any suggestions?

Apple crisp? Apple sauce? Apple cider? Caramel apples? Apple scones?

Rain, rain! Come back!

Every year in early/mid August, I get sick of summer. Don't get me wrong, I love sunshine and swimming and BBQ-ing, but not as much as I love rain and baking and my yellow Northface rain jacket!

I can't wait to make homemade caramel corn. And for it to be dark by 5pm. I really am a night person. And in winter and fall, the nights are much longer! I can't wait to go to Spooner's and get pumpkins.

Ah fall. Hurry please!

Things I love about Puyallup- Post #1

One fine Friday night, while Kraig and Annie Oman went to Seattle to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat [which they said was amazing]... I was left in charge of their three beautiful children.

The youngest is Miles. He has a lot of energy. A LOT. And a lot of love. Especially for all things sugary. When handed his first cookie, he promptly took a bite, decorated for literally 2 seconds, and then he stuck his finger in the frosting asking, "Can I eat this?"

Middle child and only girl, Claire, is hilarious. She is super smart and a great cookie decorater. :) She did not, however, enjoy scooping out the insides of the pumpkins. Too gross, she said.

Alex is the oldest. If you didnt already get that. Don't let this picture fool you into thinking he is just calm and a diligent cookie decorater. The next picture in my camera is him holding up the knife with dark gray frosting coating his teeth. :)

The finished product was... DELICIOUS.

Next time I babysit, we'll probably go to Forza and then play with goop at their house. Yeah goop is a long story but its super fun and entertaining. Ages 4-21.... perfect. ;)

remember, remember the 7th of november...

No, that's not right. Oh well.

This afternoon, Bellingham is calling my name. I can hear it. That voice from up north, "Meagannnn.... Meaaaagannnn!" [It might just be Julia and Savanah via Facebook, but I still hear it.] I think this Saturday, the 7th of November, will be one to remember.

I love looking back and going... "Hey, remember that day we were so spontaneous and [insert fun thing here]?" I have had a lot of those days in my short life and I don't plan on stopping them either.

I am still chained to Forza for about 40 more minutes. Then I shall go home, change into more socially accepted clothes [not all black], put on a raincoat [ITS POURING], possibly rainboots and jump on I-5.

The catch on this excursion: I have to be at Bethany, alive, awake and fully functioning, by 9:45AM. Is it worth it? Will I be tired? Will I hate my life when my alarm goes off in the morning? Will I need a nap tomorrow afternoon? Do I have time for a nap tomorrow afternoon? These are the questions I must ask myself.

And the ansers: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. YES!

All systems go.

happy halloween...soon. :)

octobrrrrrrr.

This. is. ridiculous.

I have tried 3 times to post something. Anything. Nothing comes to mind. I mean, I do have a lot of thoughts. I just don't know what to type.

Think, think, think.

I'm sitting here in our COLD living room. My nail polish is chipping, I should fix that. I'm reading two books. Thats a total of 5 now. In the past 5 days. If I were still in elementary school, where you won prizes for reading certain amounts of pages, I would probably have won a car by now. Not kidding.

I'll try to blog more tomorrow. About more interesting stuff than chipping nail polish.