Awesome Moments in Life #1 and #2

So my friend Casey's facebook status the other day was about how she has a friend who posts awesome moments in his life as a status. He is up to like 23 or so I think. She has now started to do this too and I just thought it was such a great idea. And of course, what better place to post awesome moments in my life than on my blog that I sadly do not write on enough. So here you go:

Awesome Moment in Life #1: The moment when your nephew offers his crying little sister his ice cream because hers is gone and she is sad.

Awesome Moment in Life #2: The moment when your niece is riding a carousel for the first time and keeps laughing and telling you "Its so funny Aunt Ticole! Its so funny!"

Now a little background on these two awesome moments. A couple of weeks ago it was my brothers weekend to have the rugrats and since I hadn't seen them in over a month, I decided we should take them to get ice cream. So Mike and I went to pick them up at my brother's apartment and took them to the mall for ice cream and the Disney store. Sadly, I was unaware when this arrangement was made that my little niece, Kylee, (she's 2) had not had a nap and was in an awful mood. At the mall, they were both so tired Mike and I each had to pick one up and carry them to TCBY. We sat at a little table with our ice cream and of course my massive eater, Kylee, finished her ice cream in lightening speed. As soon as I told her it was all gone you would have thought the world had ended. She started bawling. Being the sweet and absolutely wonderful big brother Dylan (he's 3) is, he tried to give her his ice cream to make her feel better. I was so proud of him for sharing.

After our ice cream melt down, I thought the carousel would be a fun way to end the mall trip. Neither of them had ever been on one as far as I know and they loved it. They laughed the entire time and it made me appreciate how such small things make kids so happy.



We ended our mall adventure with a trip to the Disney store and two precious bean bag stuffed animals, one of which I literally could not pry out of the hands of my niece in order to pay for it. We had to put her on the counter so that they lady could scan the tag, which she still couldn't get to so Mike finally just tore it off and handed it to her.

Thought this was super cute!

"Anyone Else But You"

Pretty much love this song. The Juno version is great because of the awkwardness that is Michael Cera and Ellen Page, but the original by The Moldy Peaches (or is it just Moldy Peaches... I'm not sure) is great. I'm putting both here, so just take your pick and enjoy!

Time Flies

Tomorrow is my last day of my first year of teaching! How crazy is that? I was rereading some of my old posts, and a little less than a year ago I was asking the blog world for prayers for my interview. Time seriously has flown by so fast. I wanted to dedicate this post to some of my most memorable moments with my wonderfully unique class:

*My first interaction with a student went something like this:
Boy: "Miss Ecton, can I tell you a secret?"
Me: "Sure" while thinking 'Oh goodness please don't make this be something serious that I have to report on my first day.'
Boy: "I am a vampire. They removed my fangs. Sometimes I miss them."
Me: "Well isn't that cool." while thinking 'Oh dear lord, what did I get myself into?'

*My first throw up
Girl: "Miss Ecton, I think I'm going to be sick"
Me: "Ok, lets just to get you to the bathroom"
Girl: "BLAH!!!" All over my jeans and shoe.

*My First Cursing Situation
Boy: "He cussed at me!"
Me: "What did he say?"
Boy; " He said the S word!"
Me: "Oh goodness! The S word?"
Boy: "Yeah, he told me to (whisper) shut up"
Me: Trying not to giggle "Ok i'll talk to him"

*My favorite make believe story
Boy (same boy from the vampire incident): Miss Ecton, I need to tell you something.
Me: Yes?
Boy: Last night something very strange happened to me.
Me: Really? What happened?
Boy: You know how I told you that Percy Jackson was claimed by the god's in the Lightening Thief?
Me: Yeah, I think I remember that.
Boy: Well last night while i was in the shower, I was claimed by Poseidon.
Me: What does that mean?
Boy: I can control water. I am going to be playing in the sink a lot more often now. I just wanted you to know.
Me: Thanks for telling me.

I'll post more memories later. Just know, I have the most fabulous class a first year teacher could have. Tomorrow is a bittersweet day for me. Love them more than I could have ever imagined, and am so sad to say goodbye!

Reflection

Today is my last day to be 24. At 11 tomorrow morning I will officially be a quarter of a century old. This honestly doesn't seem possible until I start thinking of everything that has happened in my life and realize how much I have lived. I have experienced so many great things in my first 25 years, and I now I am so excited to see whats in store for me in the next 25. Its crazy to think about being in my midtwenties. I remember being younger and thinking 'Wow! 25 is so old!'

Anyway... its been forever since I've written mainly because I've been busy and also because I wasn't ready to share that part of my life with the world just yet. Here's a recap of my last 2 months:

*Eli Young Band concert back the weekend of valentine's day! Loved it!
*Random trips to OKC to hang out with my bestie Holly and our new friends! Celebrations for Fat Tuesday and of course, OSU beating Kansas!
*OKC Crawl 2010 with Holly, Travis and Matt A. Such a blast.
*Kansas City trip for the Big 12 Tournament. Went to the Power and light District which resulted in a random and first trip to Lawrence that same weekend.
*NCAA tournament with both our KU friends and our KState friends in OKC. Great weekend, even if KU did lose.
*First weekend in Lawrence. Hung out on Massachusetts street, went to the legends shopping complex, and just explored some :)
*Second weekend in Lawrence, which included my first time out on the town there, my first trip to the Plaza in Kansas City, great Mexican food, and lots and lots of basketball watching.

Ok... well there you have it. The last 2 months in a nutshell. Basically, its just been a lot of traveling and enjoying life. Now, I'm off to watch the NCAA Championship game. I promise I will try to keep everyone updated on life a bit more frequently :)

Sunday Posts

Postsecret has been my Sunday ritual for well over a year now. Every Sunday morning, I wake up and get on my computer. I first open Tulsaworld.com and check out the classifieds for their pet adds. Then I look at who is engaged or just got married to see if I know anyone. Then I go to my favorite part, postsecrets Sunday Posts. I can not even begin to tell you how happy it makes me to read these. Some of them are funny, while others are sad, and some give me hope. I tend to relate best to the ones about love, taking chances and self discovery the most. I just think there is something really incredible about putting a secret out there for the whole world to see, even if they have no idea who's secret it is. I have a favorite, but I can't currently find it, so here are a few of the others I love:

Happy 2010!!!

Its 2010 and I can't believe how fast this year went by. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting at the Crown Woods apartment with everyone ringing in 2009. So much has changed in my life since. While some of it is hard and I am still searching for reasons why certain things happen, I feel more blessed today than ever for the people that God has blessed me with and the life I get to live everyday. Sometimes I think we lose track of the things than truly matter, and my new years resolution I've decided is to let those people that mean the most to me know it every chance I get. My other New Year's Resolution is to find an activity that really makes me happy to do. I feel like I don't have anything that I just purely enjoy to do for myself, and I want that to change. Whether thats taking a dance class, joining a book club, taking bubble baths, walking down riverside, photography... I don't know. I just want to do something for myself and this year I fully intend to try new things to learn what I love. I am 24 years old. Its about time I figure out what makes me happy. Anyway, I am welcoming 2010 with open arms and an open heart. Here's to living every breath of my life!