Everything about Fall rocks my socks off. Although, I'm not currently wearing socks, like you would think at this time of year. I long to be cuddled up, wearing wooly socks right now. Yes, friends, it's been in the 80's. 87 degrees today, to be exact. What is up with that? This girl is ready and wanting Fall, needing Fall. I want to be in a sweater with the windows wide, not turning our AC back on. 

Cheers to the freakin weekend! My goodness. I said to my Co-teacher today, "If there was a sixth day of this, I don't think I could do it." I also asked everyone yesterday if there was a full moon, because my GOSH, are my kids nuts today. I live for my weekends. What would I do without them? Praise the lord, it's the weekend.

Last weekend was a wonderful time, celebrating love. Beautiful, Fall, full of love, gosh, you guys, that's my jam. Joel and I flew home and made the, almost four hour, trip to Wisconsin Dells with his family for his Cousin's wedding. The last time I was at the Dells, I think I was like four? Maybe six? And I was on a dragon roller coaster ride and I was laughing so hard, I couldn't even bring myself to wave at the video camera someone in my family was holding. Hilarious. Lets take a minute to thank everyone who took home videos! And to those who still do! The conversation has come up multiple times lately, about how in this generation, nobody prints pictures off. Everyone takes videos, yes, but I'm talking pictures. When I was home over Christmas, my girlfriend said, "When Sloane grows up I'm going to have to say something like, 'Honey, when you were young, we had something called SnapChat and we have videos of you, but they're floating around in space somewhere, they didn't save to any of our phones.'" Joel thinks we need to print pictures off, at least of our life here in Colorado. We purposely bought a nice little mumble, jumble of frames last week, or one frame made into a cluster, simply to motivate us to print off some great moments we've shared. I said, "Well done" to a girlfriend about a week ago, in regards to a baby photo album I saw sitting on her coffee table. "Good job at actually doing this. I loved looking at photo albums of myself as a baby. Nobody does this anymore!" Cheers to those that still do this. I'm going to be that Mom that's always taking pictures of her kids. I mean, you guys know me with my cats right now. Imagine me with babies. 

I appreciate being able to fly, so much. The ability to just fly home for a weekend, a short, sweet weekend, well, that's something. We had lots of laughs and spent quality time with Joel's parents and extended family at the inside water park and all weekend long, actually. We spent time with his brothers and their wives and both Joel and I got to know his cousins a little more. I love spending time with family outside of holidays. It's just the opportunity to spend that time aside from just holidays. And who doesn't love a wedding? It was fun to be involved with such great people and, oh man, do I look forward to the day that I'm a Kachel and I get to be in the photo entitled, "The Kachel Wives." It makes me smile just thinking about it. Come our wedding day, I will be the last one to turn Kachel, until the day when one of our boys, gets married and turns some other lucky lady, Kachel. Life is so great to day dream about, oofta. I saw Joel's Mom, naked. Did I say, we had many laughs? We danced to Taylor Swift and many other beats and ate probably 6 cupcakes each, then left a trail of frosting back to our hotel room, literally. We saw so many beautiful, seriously, breathtakingly amazing looking trees filled with leaves of maroon, fuchsia, red, orange, you name it, it was that color. Ah, Fall, I want to be on you. We had great company from both sets of our parents the day after the wedding, over wine at a winery in Minnesota and I bought a super comfortable scarf that I realized was Broncos colors after the fact, but hey, I didn't return it. I giggled to myself, thinking how often I relate everything to sports colors. I refrain from decorating anything in my classroom yellow and purple because I won't have Vikings colors in my room. Green and gold! I'm going off on so many tangents tonight. Back to the weekend greats, we spent the morning of the day we flew home, with my girlfriend, her boyfriend and their baby who isn't even a baby anymore! You know when your friends have kids and they do such a good job at being a parent and you feel so proud and happy about it? That was me. Working with kids and seeing it all, I greatly appreciate the ones who do it right. Then again, is there really a right and a wrong way? Well, that's different for everyone, and is a whole other post entirely. It was amazing to just be in their company, eat breakfast and put colored links on and off and on and off Sloane's little wrist as bracelets, after she says, "Help, please," which is really, "ha peas" over and over. Weekend highlights in pictures, ready, go!

Like I said, "Short and sweet." So sweet.

This weather just makes me want to watch Hocus Pocus.

I'm laying down in my back yard and I'm wondering what in the world I would do without my weekends. A weekend is exactly like a good night's sleep; relaxing, recharging, calm. Unless you drank Zquil before going to bed, than your nights are filled with mind boggling dreams and appearances of all the men you've been with in the past, not the current one you love. 

So many times this year, Joel and I have sat in our backyard together and talked about how we got so lucky with our place. We think, "What a perfect 'first time' place for us... we'll never again be so lucky... I could just live out here... psithurism is my most favorite sound in the world." 

I don't think I would appreciate my weekends if I didn't spend 40 hours a week with insane, hilarious, potty training two year olds, that are literally like the energizer bunny. I kid you not, they run laps around my room at 7:30 in the morning and good thing I've had my coffee! "Friends, lets use our walking feet over to the circle time carpet and read some books!" I'm thankful of my ability to turn anything into a song and make everything ten times more exciting and inviting.

I have to say, the only thing cramping my style right now, is Olive to my left, scratching and very aggressively trying to open the door on her own and join me outside. Dear Olive, when you make the choice of trying to burrow your way under the fence and make an escape, you go right inside, love. I trust that you won't attempt it next time you're out. Love, your Mama whose just teaching you boundaries.

This weekend we ventured to the mountains for the 20th Annual Oktoberfest in Breckenridge. It was our third year in a row and I cannot believe my two year anniversary in Colorado is coming up, and quick! We made too much coffee and left the house by 7:30 yesterday and hit no traffic whatsoever. We were already winning. We drank bier out of steins bigger than my head and enjoyed German Music as well as a handful of German chants and bier chugging only for a second. 

 

 I learned this weekend, friends, that I am fine with getting old older. After a stroll through the craziness of Main Street, we finished our biers, hopped in a gondola and ventured 12,998 ft. and played some mini golf on top of a mountain. Upon stopping back to the hotel and eating five pieces of pizza, we went to bed at 9pm. 9pm, you guys! I woke up this morning at 5:55 and felt like a million bucks. I felt like a million bucks because I had probably 4 biers yesterday and I am so cool with that. I am so cool with not drinking a lot and going to bed early. If this is what "getting old" is, "old" is what I want to be when I grow up! Wait, what?

 Joel and I have already decided to make it a point to come back out to Colorado every year for Oktoberfest, even once we move back to the good ol' Midwest. It somewhat marks a different chapter in our life together, maybe the second chapter, and it's a time to remember and a time that we've thoroughly enjoyed the last three years in a row. The changing colors in the trees on the drive there, well, that's something in itself. 

Needless to say, it was a relaxing very grown up weekend and time well spent with friends I hadn't seen in far too long, and my love, who I had been without for a little over a month. Yes, you read that right; a month! A month without kisses is far too long. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers to Fall, Bier, reunions and getting older! 

 

Today, I am thankful for green tea and honey. 

I am thankful for beautiful weather. 

I am thankful for Joel's green thumb, and enjoy taking over for him when he's away. 

I am thankful for a delicious smelling house. 

It's not November but it doesn't matter. 

What are you feeling thankful for today? 

"To a great mind, nothing is little." -Arthur Conan Doyle

I bet you thought I dipped out of the gratitude challenge, didn't you? Well, alongside the fact that I am a stubborn, routine stricken Taurus, I very rarely start things and don't finish them. So, it's your lucky day, and mine, apparently. 

As it goes for most people, my weeks are extremely busy and my weekends are my time to recap and catch up in the web world. Perhaps, that's why my social media-itis is so bad. At least, that's my theory. 

So far, I've done two days of the challenge and then you lost me to the work week so lets make up for lost time, shall we? Here goes! 

I am grateful for my positive attitude, my ability to see the best in things, find that silver lining (that's sometimes so hard to see) in even the hard times. Right there with that little cleaning gene, I get this attitude from my Mother. I have no doubt in my mind that I will encourage this mindset upon my children, because I try my best to even with the people that surround me on a day to day basis. I actually said to my Co-teacher this week, that shes been great at finding the silver lining in situations lately, better than I have been. Her ability to bring me back to the good side of things, well, that's something to be grateful for, too. 

This can lead me right into the next thing...

I am grateful for my Mom. For the past 26 years and 5 months, she has done nothing but accept me for the person I am. In my younger years, I won't lie to you, I was a shit, and loving the person that I was at times, was hard, but she did it, unconditionally. I actually, until just recently, didn't want to have any girls, because I thought of myself as a teenager and well, I just don't want to go there. The thought of raising myself, especially as a 13 year old, terrified me. And, trust me, I will get what's coming. But, I know that my Mom will be at my side, coaching me along the way, and I have to say, I hope I do everything that you did, because, I think I turned out pretty great. Oh yeah, there's that confidence! Thanks for always loving me and encouraging me to be myself, and to love who I am. 

 

 I am grateful for seasons, but most of all Fall. There's something refreshing and renewing about the changing of seasons. The routine Taurus that I am, believe it or not, enjoys the changing of the seasons. It feels wonderful. I definitely enjoy the changing of the seasons in Colorado, because, lets be real, every season here is amazing. But I've come to realize that the seasons back home are a lot more intense. And I am down with intensity. 

I am grateful for music. Gosh, you guys, what would the world be like without our jams? To imagine the world in silence is kind of like imaging the world without coffee or love. Scarryyyy! 

I am grateful for technology (Skype, Face time, all those great social blessings that connect us). I'll even throw email in there. And Facebook, how could I forget? Because without those things, I would actually have to have a conversation on the phone and we all know I would rather go to the dentist than do that, so. 

I am grateful for the fact that Joel mentioned to me that he always wanted to live in Colorado and "why don't we move there together?"  Because, it's our home now and it started as just a simple thought. Moving here together has brought us so much closer as a couple and living with him is everything I thought it would be and more. Dating for 3 years before living together, well, I continue to encourage anyone and everyone to just take your relationship s l o w l y. Calling Colorado our home (right now) is wonderful and it's been a life changing experience for both of us. 

I am grateful for books! Ah, books! When we looked at our place, that is currently our home, all I had to hear was, "The Community Center and Library are just down the road!" Awesome, here's my money! Take it! I need this place! Well, for that and for many other reasons. I used to hate reading. I hated reading until my Junior year in High School and now I read religiously. I'm convinced reading makes conversing with people a whole lot easier and it makes a person more intelligent. The two year olds in my class are lucky that I enjoy reading the same book a thousand times a day. 

I am grateful for my cats. I'm bad about and overly enthusiastic about pictures and videos of my cats, and other cats, lets be real, and I can only imagine what it will be like with my children someday. My cats continue to entertain me and make me laugh, love and cuddle me when Joel is out of town. They greet me at the door every time I get home and Oscar jumps up on my lap every morning when I first go use the bathroom. They bring a whole lot of life and laughter to our place, even if they leave their hair on and in everything. My life is littered in cat hair and I would have it no other way. 

I feel like there are so many other things that I am grateful for... I'm having a hard time choosing to mention just one last one for this challenge, that isn't even really a challenge. So, I'll make a broad but simple; 

I am grateful for quotes, for other people's wise and inspiring words. Honestly, if I've had a bad day, the last thing I do before I go to bed, is read my quote books. Hm, does this tie right in with books? Perhaps not, since I find a thousand amazing words said by others, simply when I'm enjoying the other blogs that I regularly follow. There is a quote about everything! And those who know me well, know this about me. Heck, if we're friends on Facebook, not a weekend goes by that I don't post a quote as my status. In fact, I came across one I had never heard this morning and couldn't pass up the opportunity to share it with my people. There's just something about wisdom from others; it just makes you want to be better yourself. At least, that's the effect it has on me. 

Now that this Gratitude Challenge has come to an end, I challenge you, although it's quite simple, to note all the things in your life that you're grateful for. You don't need to make those things known, by posting them to Facebook or whatever, but think about them. Think about them on a regular basis and your life will truly be better. 

Love your life and it will love you right back.

 

 

 

Is it seriously September right now? Bring on the changing leaves, scarves and hot apple cider. Being at the drive in the other night and not caring for the second movie, I rolled over in the bed of the truck and watched the stars and wished so badly to make a wish on a shooting one. I thought how badly I want to go camping one last time this year. Can we, please? 

I obviously have a serious case of "social media-itis" this weekend. I can't get off this sheet. I've told Joel so many times, while I've been periodically on Instagram and Facebook for a handful of hours that, "Don't make fun of me, I'm doing what makes my soul happy!" And then I laugh because this statement can literally be applied to anything. The main thing is, if it makes you feel happy, content, thankful, you better keep doing it. It would be silly for you to stop. So, you can imagine how bad my social media-itis is when Joel is out of town and I have a relaxing weekend with literally not an obligation in sight. This is the good life, people! 

I cannot beleive it's September. Labor Day!  This weekend, along with many other summer holidays, I want to be back home. On the river. Or eating everything in sight and on a stick at the MN State Fair. Mini- dough nut beer, you guys? My mouth immediately watered upon reading about this great phenomenon and then I pouted because, once again, I won't be swimming in the state fair greatness this year. Chalk it up onto the list of all the things you take for granted until they're gone. I'll get over it, I will. 

I told myself yesterday that I would keep notes on my continued grateful posts and recap at the end of the week. That is clearly not happening. Let me break today's gratefulness down for you. 

 I am grateful for paid time off. The fact that I am getting paid today, to drink coffee, read way too much, sit in the sunshine with my cats, do even more laundry and gosh, the 65 something year old soul inside me thinks the list could go on. Well, that's just wonderful. 

I am grateful for kids. Especially the kids in my life. The kids in my class, the kids I babysit outside of work and the kids that belong to my dearest friends and family members, that I can't wait to be back around and apart of their lives. I would imagine I fell in love with kids, learning about and realizing how important every single second is that you spend with them. The fact of molding this little human's life into anything you want to teach them and show them and oh, my goodness, it's the coolest concept ever. And lets be real, the scariest. I realize more and more as years go on, that there are few ways of parenting "correctly." One must do the best of how they know and show constant love and encouragement and that's what it's about; showing them as much of the world as you can and constantly showering them with too much love. Kids are so much themselves, and that is something I love. They are so curious and expressive and 100% themselves. What you see is what you get, and that's admirable. While babysitting last night, the 5 year old looked at me with the straightest face and said, "I enjoy picking my boogers. Sometimes I roll them into little balls. It's awesome." I could not hold my silent mode, gut laughter inside. Oh my gosh, you guys! Absolutely no filter. At times, I understand this isn't always the best thing. But that's where you come in. Kids are just hilarious. I'm so lucky to spend my days with them.

One more, super simple thing I am grateful for today, that smiley mug up there. You read correctly, yes, that smiley mug. If you keep up with me, you've seen it before. How can something so ridiculous looking and simple make someone so happy? Maybe it's not the mug. Maybe it's my mentality. Either way, that mug makes me so frickin happy. I smile every time I look at it. 

I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day! I'll be right here, in my back yard, constantly blowing up your news feed. 

Cheers!