A Change of Luck

So so so sorry it has taken me so long to update!
Anyway,
Since I last updated the family and I took a vacation to Kitty Hawk, NC. The weather was as fabulous as the company and we had a blast. It's hard for me to conceptualize just how lucky I am to have such a good job with such great perks. Here's a picture of just how nice it was:

That's the kids in the background having a blast.
Recently I have been having a bit of trouble with the smallest, aka N. We have been having power struggles and attitude adjustments constantly. It gets frustrating but I feel that I am learning as I go and some progress is being made daily. Today she let me braid her hair! A first!
Today's lesson, therefore, is patience and the acceptance of change:
We as a culture are used to having everything we want, whenever we want. Instant gratification is our middle name. Whatever happened to the days when we actually prepared our food (yes, it took longer than five minutes!) or waited for a letter to arrive (instead of instant email)? I have caught myself lacking patience and looking for instant gratification more and more recently. I however, am not the only sufferer, it seems that N also lacks patience. We have trouble throughout the day waiting for things to dry or waiting for mealtimes. Is this something the newest generation is going to expect? Instant gratification? I'd like to reintroduce patience and time into my life. But I am not sure how, any suggestions (oh so patient followers)?
The second topic of today's lesson is change. Change happens all the time, and sometimes it is not always a positive change. N has a very hard time with this, but then, looking at my life I can see that there is room for improvement in me too. I have been thinking long about this and I think a good technique (that I have recently learned) is that every time one has anxiety about either a fear of change to take a couple seconds, and breathe in and out and think "Ok, this change isn't going to end my world. I'm going to continue living no matter what happens today". I wonder if I can get a six year old to do this? It will probably require a lot of patience!
So what's on the Virginia nanny's plate in the near future? Next week the family and I will be going to NY state (with a couple of surprises!) and a friend from far far away will be coming back to Virginia for a couple of days, so that is really exciting!
So,
What's on your plate for the 4th of July?
What do you need to be more patient with?
Sincerely,
The Virginia Nanny

Have Fun and Have Fun Often

So a lot has happened since my last post- I had a weekend full of fun that I cannot wait to tell you about.

On Saturday G and N and Ann (the Mom) traveled to a local theme park called Kings Dominion for a day filled with roller coasters, water slides and every fattening food you could imagine possible. It was an especially exciting day as it was N's first time on roller coasters- this it turned out could go one of two ways. 1. N could find roller coasters absolutely horrible and either a. not want to go near them for the rest of the day, or b. throw up profusely. OR 2. N could love them. On the first ride of the day I chose to sit behind N as a preventative measure to 1,b. N chose however to follow path number 2. She LOVED it. She spent the whole day giggling and laughing hysterically at how much fun was being had. We went on every scary roller coaster that was allowed at her height. This child had more fun than I have seen in a long long time, it made me wish that I had that much fun more often.
Life Lesson: Have Fun and Have Fun Often 
It seems that everyone's life is filled with getting from point A to point B and then going to sleep. We are so consumed with providing a good life for our families or getting a good education to be able to provide a good life for ourselves that we get caught up and forget to have fun. Truly isn't life all about the fun? Because let's be honest, no one is going to make it out alive! I think that we should take a lesson from children-let's all try to have more fun. And, i'm not imposing something radical here, rather, just take a couple minutes out of your day to do something fun. Smile. Laugh. Play. It's good for you.
Let me know, what are you going to do to have more fun in your life?
Sincerely,
The Virginia Nanny.

Promises Kept

So the last couple of days have been hot hot hot- in the mid to upper 90's, which is pretty unusual for the end of May/beginning of June. They have consisted of a whirlwind of events including: more pool time, riding friend's horses, seeing old friends and adjusting to the time zone. I cannot believe how much I have missed this area and all the people who live here.
However, this has nothing to do with today's life lesson.
Life Lesson: Make promises mean something.
As I was casually promising to N today that she could sit in my saddle and then realizing just a few minutes later that she in fact could not (the saddle was located somewhere else) it hit me- Why don't promises mean anything anymore? It's not just here in this situation that this is applicable. Promises everywhere are casually being tossed around like a football during thanksgiving without even the slightest thought as to whether or not they can be kept. How many times has a high school girl heard the words "I promise I will always love you" only to have that promise broken in a heartbeat. But this isn't a jaded love issue-It's something I am guilty of in my own life. The situation between N and I today led me to believe that maybe it's something we have instilled into our life at an early age, that promises are informal. "I promise we will keep in touch"- This one is big, especially in my life. I have made so many friends that I have ultimately lost simply because my life has been too hectic to bother to actually keep in touch with them. Maybe I meant it at the time but couldn't follow through or maybe it was just a casual version of a good bye. Either way, something is out of whack.
So tell me, how can we fix this?
Should promises be less common or should we work harder to keep them?
Sincerely,
The Nanny

Introductions and a minor PSA

Well, let me introduce my self, my name is Alli, and we'll leave it at that. I am a college graduate, actually an alumna of Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. I majored in business management with a minor in accounting and have a lifetime love and passion for all things horses. Currently, I am taking classes to continue my Accounting studies so that I can take my CPA exam.
For the summer I am located in a small town in Virginia where I am nanny-ing and chauffeuring around two very awesome kids. We'll call those two kids G and N. This blog will center around my day to day activities and any fun and exciting things I learn while I am here (for a second time, this isn't my first go-around).

Today's life lesson: Sunscreen and Sunscreen often
Yesterday I spent the day at a local club pool with G and N- what a great idea! The temperature hit highs of 96 so what's better to do than be in the cool water, nothing, if you ask me. My fair skin had other thoughts, however. While I did sunscreen (with an 85 spf) I learned the wonderful lesson of sunscreen often. Not applying sunscreen to myself (the children got reapplied often!) was my own fault. I did think about it, and then decided not to. As many of you probably know, there are two types of sunscreen, greasy, and more greasy. I have a thing against greasy hair so I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to only sunscreen once, to avoid such nastiness. Well I'm burnt, as you can imagine.
The children are a BLAST to be around in the pool, and while I am not old, they really make me feel like I am reliving my childhood! I spent over an hour throwing little N off my knees in the shallow end. Her giggles and laughter warmed my heart, she is just the cutest! I also had several squirt gun fights with G that ended in a loss (he's much faster than me!). Lunches were eaten, cupcakes (yum) were consumed and lots of fun was had!

Truly, I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I will!
Sincerely,
The Nanny.