twenty-first & grace : April 2013

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Blessed

It's Sunday afternoon, and here I am just getting out of a hot bath, laying in bed with a sweet tea and cosmopolitan magazine beside me. This is the first moment I have been able to relax this week. With work all week and the Tecumseh Art walk Friday night, I had no spare time whatsoever. {I missed blogging by the way} But each time I sat down to blog, my mind filled with 1000+ things that I should do to prepare for the Art Walk.

Please note: I am NOT complaining by any means. I had an amazing time doing all that I did. {hence the title of this post} I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to be a part of the Art Walk. It was worth every bit of hard work put into it. Here are some pictures for those of you who were unable to attend...

My table.

Could not have done any of this without my mom {and Lex-photographer} They helped with set up, and Mom gave me some awesome pointers before going into this. She's incredible.

My sweet husband and me. He probably had equal the amount of work to do for this show. He made the beautiful jewelry display for me. He loaded up all of my things and started setting up for me before I could get there. Darling, you're wonderful.

Here are some of my loyal "fans" and customers...

Aunt Vicki & Aunt Debbi

Brother-Zach & lovely sister-Ashley

Cousin-Josh & his beautiful wife, Jessy

The night was no doubt a success. I had the best time meeting new people and spending sweet time with my family. Plus, Be You. got her name out there. :) Thank you, Jessy, for including Be You. in the Tecumseh Art walk. You're the best!

Whenever life gets busy, I am always afraid that I will forget gratitude. I never want to get "too busy" to be kind, show gratitude, and praise God for His goodness.

Here is a little something I like to do in my journal...

love in numbers:

Four: the amount of days I had the privilege to nanny Madeleine this week.

ten: how many sweet teas I've drank this week. I love sweet tea.

180: dollars I made at the Art Walk.

one: trip to the Spotted Cow.

sixty four: degrees on Saturday. Mr. Sun, it was lovely to see you again.

fifty-two: the new age of my Dad. Happy birthday, Dad! I love you.

thousand+ : the amount of times I laughed, was kissed, and heard Madeleine ask, "why, Kiki?"

Countless: The number of prayers and the gratitude I have for this life and the people in it.

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Nanny 101 Part. 1> to: parents love, your nanny

As you all know, I am a full time nanny. Let me just say, I absolutely adore my job.

It's not unusual, though, to hear a pity "oh" after I tell someone what I do for a living. Why? I honestly don't know. For a while I assumed that it was because it's such a "personal" job. Maybe those people thought it was too hard not to get too attached to the children you care for. All of that is true. In fact, I would say, that will be the hardest part for me. I have been Madeleine's nanny for a little over two years now {and she is 28 months old} I met Madeleine when she was two months old. I don't think she even knows me as her nanny. To her, I'm her "Kiki" {that's her name for me} She doesn't really know life without me. I love that little girl to pieces!

When my time as Mad's nanny is up, my heart will {no doubt} break. Her parents have become my dear friends and Madeleine has become my best bud. I have most definitely become "too attached."

Many of my friends and family have recently joined the "nanny industry." After exchanging stories with some of them, I now see what the pity "oh's" were all about. I have heard some outrageous stories! <parents not paying enough, nanny lying to the parents, parents ~~always~~ getting home late, nanny on the phone/computer all day, parents treating the nanny as "the help", parents taking obvious advantage of the nanny, nanny complaining about parents on Facebook, distrust between the parties> I could go on. I couldn't believe any of it!

Now I am no expert, but I have been asked for "nanny tips" from several friends. So I thought I would share them with you. Part 1 will be to the parents from the nanny. I have never been a parent in search of a nanny, but I have been a nanny to two GREAT parents. Here is what has worked for us:

1- open communication. Not only will this help your nanny's job tremendously, but this key will only be beneficial to you. If you have a certain schedule in mind, tell the nanny. If you have a problem with something your nanny did, tell them immediately. If you are pleased with how things are going, tell your nanny how happy you are. Talk openly about all topics: money, discipline, schedule, chores, everything.

2- the kids. I love watching my employers with their kids. Not only is it just wonderful to see, but it helps me during the day when it's just Madeleine and me. When we have a particularly long day, I remember seeing Aimee and Matt enjoying and loving their little girl. It truly keeps me motivated to do an "above the expected" job. Also, make sure the kids know that you and nanny are on the same team. I personally have never run into this problem with my job, but some of my friends say that the kids they watch have no respect for them. This is the parents responsibility. Your kids should know that when the nanny is here, she/he is in charge. The kids should know that you "have your nanny's back"

3- Trust is key. This {to me} seems that it should be obvious. I was shocked to find out how many of my nanny friends feel that their employers don't trust them. You should be able to go to work and not have one concern in the world about what is going on at home. If you do not feel this way, you and your nanny need to have a serious talk about why. You should feel that your child is being given the care you would give if you could be home. In almost every note or thank you card my employers have written to me, they sign, "thank you for loving our girl almost as much as we do." I love that. You may say, "I trust my nanny completely" but then you don't let him/her drive your children from place to place. To me, that is not complete trust.

4- money, money, money. This is a touchy issue. {especially coming from a nanny} but I am just the voice for what all the nannies out there are thinking. This is of course an issue that would be talked about prior to hiring your nanny. And don't worry, I'm not going to give a set rate to go by. I believe the average rate in Michigan is $9.00/hour, but in California the average rate is $40.00/hour. quite a difference! Basically what i will say about this is, don't cheap out on child care. You already know your child deserves the very best. That is why you are going with a nanny instead of day care. Many of my friends have told me that their employer compare the two. To me that is like comparing apples to oranges... you just can't. So please don't plan on paying your nanny what you would pay for day care. You must AT LEAST pay minimum wage. My employers gave me a raise about a year ago. When I thanked them they said, "Madeleine deserves the best and we want you to know that we think you are the best." Let me tell you, friend, you get what you pay for.

5- treat them like family. When my employers hired me, they said, "Welcome to our family, Kendra." It only took a couple of weeks with them to truly feel like I was part of their family. Welcome your nanny with open arms. Make him/her feel loved, appreciated, wanted, and needed. If your nanny does not feel this from you, don't expect much from him/her. Just like in your career, you wouldn't work as hard if you didn't feel appreciated. You may even quit. It's the same with your nanny.

If you have any nanny questions for me {or my employers, I am happy to answer them :)

You can comment below or email me at: kendralavoy@gmail.com

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Brielle

Last week I discovered this AMAZING blog/shop/organization. Link to shop is here. The shop name is "PS I adore you" the Blog name is "PS we adore you." {in love with the names!}

So here is what she does...
She gets hundreds of incredible venders/artists to sell their items on her online store. They sell these items at a major discounted price. {like 50% off} Then an agreed percentage of the money goes to the vender and the rest is given to either a certain child with cancer or toward cancer research.
I am in awe of the ladies who run this organization. I hope {one day soon} I can be a vender on her site. {I will let you know when I do}
Please go visit her site. The products are amazing and the prices are even better. PLUS, you will be able to help a little boy or girl who is fighting for their life. Right now the money is going to this cutie >>>

Her name is Brielle. She has been diagnosed with cancer and cured from cancer two times. When she got it for the third time, the doctors told her that there was nothing else they could do. {read her full story here} Please, please read her story. It will touch your heart.

If you don't find anything you like at the shop, or if you don't have the money to purchase anything, here is an address in which you could send a letter to Brielle. Let her know that you read her story, send a funny note, have your kids draw her a picture, let her know your praying for her... or anything you think may help brighten her day.

Address:

Brielle Beus

4928 W 5300 St

Hooper, UT.

84315

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Eleven months with you...

Cury,

I know I recently wrote a blog post to you, but I love you so why not write another, right?
These past eleven months have been "Incredible, Darling" {said in a British voice of course} Since marrying you, my whole life has changed. I moved out of my parents house. I moved in with a boy for the first time! {outside of Dad and Zach} We have gone on a few trips together. I opened an Etsy shop. We have tried to figure out this whole wife role, husband role thing {maybe one day we will actually figure it out!} You started a new career. We became the youth leaders at our church. We have become more established in our faith. We have watched ALL seven seasons of Supernatural in one summer {talk about accomplishment} We have learned SO much about each other... you don't like tomatoes {no matter how many ways I make you try them} you can fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I know when you're mad because you try to be overly happy. You love popcorn..like every night. You give the best back rubs. You smile the biggest when I surprise you. You have the ability to be best friends with someone you met two seconds ago. You always encourage me to dream big. I could go on and on... back to our lives changing... There really isn't one area that hasn't changed in my life since marrying you. While there are some things that were hard to adjust to {mostly not living with my family} I can honestly say it has been an amazing adventure. An adventure I wouldn't want to miss for the world. Even with its imperfections, tears, and heartache- it's ours, and it's beautiful.

I love you, Cury!

-Ken

My wedding gift to Cury was that I would get him a little something

each month in our first year of marriage.

This month's gift was kind of for both of us...

I ordered a panel of one of our wedding photos through Snapfish.

I was so happy with how it turned out. After seeing Zach and Ashley's {my brother and Sister-in-law}

panel of their wedding photo, I had to get one for us.

I, of course, had to get one of Otis too. I just love this picture of him!

I'm sure I will have a whole wall of panels before long!

We then headed over to the new Spotted Cow in Tecumseh.

Cookies -n- cream for him.. Moose tracks for me!

Happy 11 Months, Love!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

the {current} playlist of my life...

I don't know about you, but Cury and I LOVE music! I feel like it can set the mood for anything. Certain music can make you feel happy, motivated, or energetic; while another kind of music can make you feel sad, tired, or relaxed. Often times a song will come on the radio, and I find myself reminiscing on a family vacation where that song was played, or a night out with Cury. Music is amazing!Here is the list of my favorite songs/artists/Pandora stations I like to listen to, and my favorite time to listen to them:

For my {hour long} drive to work...

anything by Van Morrison

"Days like this"

"And it stoned me"

*The Van Morrison Pandora station is amazing!

For my {hour long} drive back home...

Fun.

"We are Young" by Fun.

*Pandora Stations:The Lumineers, Fun., Norah Jones

When I clean...

Ingrid Michaelson

"You and I"