As of last Friday, I am officially done with work. For those who don't know, I gave up full time wedding photography 2 years ago and nannied/worked for multiple families, so that I could have a steady income to pay for my living situation and other expenses. The whole "freelance" thing was becoming too unstable for me and providing a monthly income was always a guess every month. Plus, rent in Seattle for a 1 bedroom is no joke. By the grace of God, I've been blessed with some really amazing families. They each took me into their families/homes and provided me with substantial income that I could live off of and finally be able to buy my own groceries. Even though I always felt like a total newb in the nanny world, they all trusted me with their children, and I've grown SO much in such a short amount of time. The craziest part is seeing how much the kids have grown up since I first started. It's so cool to look back and actually notice the differences and areas they have changed.

I made all the kids take a selfie with me on my last day:

G is super fun. She makes me laugh every morning and we are similar in so many ways. We like to sing in the mornings together and finish each other's sentences. She loves anything outdoors and being active. She's currently super into playing crazy 8's and is getting REALLY good at winning. She loves school and homework, always wants to include all her classmates in everything and be their friends. D is one of the sweetest boys that I know. He's obsessed with Minecraft and computers and will no doubt be a computer science guy when he grows up. He has a really big heart and is sensitive. He loves anything with trains, light trails and transportation systems. He's super creative and is always creating his own board games or comic books. He is also an early bird just like me. :) He has these little quirks that I adore about him.

D and G made me these super sweet cards.  Yes, they call me KK. :) — D and G made me these super sweet cards. Yes, they call me KK. :)

The Shafers are probably the most special to me because they were the very first family to take me in. I had not babysat since I was like 15, and they completely trusted me with their children in the summer of 2013. If it weren't for them, I would've never been able to work for my other families. Even though I only watched the girls once a week, I became really close to them. I feel like they were just little babies when I first started watching them. I could barely understand Lucy's words and Cora had these little baby bangs back in the day. Even though they have also grown up SO much, they are still the same as when I first met them. When you first meet Bean, she doesn't like to talk to you and gives you the eyes. She doesn't really care about what all the other kids are doing, she's always fine doing her own thing. When you get to know her though, she's super funny and surprisingly chatty. She's super into pre-k right now and is learning how to read/write so quickly! Cora is also super funny. She's growing up into such a big girl so fast. She loves going on adventures and looking at all the pretty flowers/plants when we go on walks. She likes to be silly but is also becoming more responsible. She is really good at math and spelling. She was telling her 1st grade class about me, and they all want me to come and talk to them about the PCT haha. Apparently, they had so many questions that Ms. Kauffman couldn't answer. So I'm going to their class this week to do a little presentation on my trip haha. :)

I technically don't watch Tanvi and Shilpa since they're older, but I do house stuff for their family, and I've gotten to know the girls while I was there. Tanvi is pretty hilarious, loves music, soccer, and the Seahawks. She always has high energy and is always creating some type of baking experiment in the kitchen. She also loves to read books and keeps me up to date on celebrity news. Shilpa is very quiet and is one of the most mature high schoolers I've ever met. She values good conversations and friendships. She is multi-talented and loves art, music and horses. I feel like we both have similar clothing styles. Casper is also their new puppy right now, and he's super cute but I am allergic. :(

I am going to try my hardest to remember to write letters to my kids when I have my zeros. Kids LOVE getting mail, and it'll be super fun for them to see where I'm writing from. I will miss seeing them so much. It's going to be SO crazy to see how much they've grown when I get back.

I know this blog is not really PCT related, so most of you won't care about my children, but they're a huge part of my life right now. It's going be super weird not seeing kids everyday, which wasn't my life at all just a few years ago. I feel like kids all of a sudden came at me in 2013, and every mom I knew was always texting me to to have their watch their kids and I just couldn't say no haha. But it has changed my life completely. I've always loved kids, but I am so much more confident around them and learning how to have authority so they don't walk all over you.

Something I've been thinking about lately is how I am wanting some type of "vacation." I mean yes, technically I am going on this 5 month vacation where I don't have to work, but it's by far a luxury vacation. I'm talking like going somewhere where I can just lay around on a big comfy bed, go to spas all day and eat delicious meals. But no, people choose to make themselves uncomfortable, put their bodies into extreme pain, walk all day, be really dirty and have to work really hard. It's kind of funny that people think of vacation differently. Some people choose luxury and some people choose to sleep on the ground. I've never really taken a luxury vacation before and all my past times I've taken work off is to go walk really far and camp. Not that I will actually go on some vacation, but something I've just been thinking about. :) I am going to get my nails done right before I go though haha.

So I have a very big goal of finishing ALL of resupply by this Friday. This gives me 5 full days to be done. Done as in food completely packed, all labels printed and paid for and ready to take over to Nancy's to give her a run down on how to send me boxes. Since I won't have work to distract me, I am sure hoping I can be super productive and knock it all out before my going away party this weekend! I need all the prayers I can get this last week and a half!!