Curls Gone Wild

My curls are my signature. It's is what makes the Curly Hair Nanny. According to naturallycurly.com my curls are a 3B such a Bernadette Peters, Melina Kankaredes, and Keri Russell. I wash, condition, apply leave-in conditioner, put whatever hair product in that they want, flip my head over and defuse. When all is said and done I, as well as many others, tell them just how beautiful they are looking. However, MY CURLS HATE THE SOUTH!!!!! They are revolting against me and are out to ruin this experience. I have had horrible hair days since they first time I washed my hair when I got here last week. WHAT GIVES??? I have an uncontrollable amount of frizz, which is not like me and it hasn't even been all that hot. I even bought a different brand of products and they still hate me. There is only so much wearing a ponytail I can handle. And what ticks me off even more is that the mom has curly hair (she is no 3B) and always had a good hair day. Most be something in the nanny suit's water!

Merry Christmas

Thank you Santa and Mrs. Clause for bringing me such a nice family to be with this holiday. I did have a bit of a difficult time not being with any family (yes, I know, alot of you told me not to leave until after christmas!) but that is life. My phone wouldn't stop ringing from all my friends and family calling and texting to wish me a Merry Christmas!

Westpark Neighborhood's Breeakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Clause at Taggarts

The parents were out late Christmas Eve night delivering presents, so I got the boys up at 8am, made some delicious french toast and we played until mom and dad were awake. Grandparents came over then it was time to go hog wild opening presents. I must say the boys looked absolutely adorable in their matching Thomas the Train flannel pajamas that I got them for Christmas!! They opened so many different types of cars and truck which they wanted out of the box immediately! I had a little difficulty doing so. Later that night we joined the mom's parents and close friends for a more formal holiday dinner. I was a little on edge making sure the boys ate, didn't eat a lot of sugar, weren't too loud, and the toys were cleaned up. Don't forget I am the nanny!

 The best part of Christmas was my mom getting a laptop so we can Skype. Watch out world, here she comes!!!!

First Day In A New Town

My first day out taking the kids out and about was a real experience. The "nanny mobile" is a very large SUV with a built in GPS. The boys had art class which is 20 minutes away. Everything was going smoothly, up at 8AM, breakfast, dressed, teeth brushed, diaper bag packed, in the car by 9AM. Sure enough we were in the car at 9. Plugged the address into the GPS, well it lead us in a big circle. 85 must be the magical number here in the south. I called the family friend who was meeting us at art class and she talked me through where I was then FINALLY the GPS kicked in. I remained calm and just kept laughing, This would only happen to me!  The parrots in the back kept saying "Oh no, Tara lost." and "Oh my goodness!" and were awesome the whole time.

  Definitely a lesson learned: Never trust the GPS.

Driving South For The Winter

9 hours in the car, all by myself, not knowing where I am going, made me a little frantic. "Just stay on 77 until you get into North Carolina." My dad seems to think it's just that easy. I celebrated Christmas early with my parents to which I was surprised to get a new GPS. I think I love this thing as much as my cute Jeep. She doesn't yell at me to "make a U turn when possible" if I miss a turn like Glenda did. There is no "stay on this road for a while" either. I have yet to come up with the perfect name for my new best friend.

My new best friend

"BLUE" follows me everywhere

  The West Virgina mountains was what I most nervous about, I just coasted through. I am still waiting to see what the "Best of West Virgina" exactly is. Seeing the sun set in Virgina was pretty. Watching other people being pulled over getting tickets put a smile on my face. Believe it or not, I kept my cruise control set 5 miles over. (Dad's strict orders!) I stopped to have a bowl of cereal with my brother in Charlotte, NC, then it was the home stretch. Two more hours to Greenville. 

   

  The family lives in a gated community. I was at the gate ready to call them when another car pulled up. So I followed them in. I would have done anything to hear what those people were saying about my scratched up Jeep following them. HA!  I was greeted by both parents with big smiles and hugs, they were very excited I had arrived! (I know what a few of you are thinking "OF COURSE they were excited!"less work for them.) 

Came out of the tunnel and BAM I am in Virginia.

So close, yet so far.

 








OH MY GOSH! I completely forgot..... I had texted the mom earlier in the week telling her she couldn't be upset if I brought every article of clothing. As soon as I left home she texted me " Have a safe drive, can't wait to see you. Are you bringing a u-haul trailer or is everything in your car?" OH MY GOODNESS I wasn't going to do that to myself! They were shocked as to how little I brought. Which I suppose is a good thing!

 Blondie,

   I tried my hardest to get a picture of Appalachian State but there the sign is so damn small! What the heck?!?!

Princess of Quitalot

I have entirely too much stuff! Not so much a pack rat but I have ALOT of clothes, shoes, bags, etc. I wait to the last minute to do everything. As my weeks with JAK were coming to an end, I never really took anything home. Instead I kept bringing more and more stuff up to Cleveland with me. With Beachwood mall being close by, my shopping issues did not help my packing problems. I packed up my 3 tote bags as jammed packed as I could but I still ended up stuffing things in any sort of shopping bag I found. My car was loaded down with pillows, boxes full of shoes, school stuff, you name it I had it.

This was just my back seat leaving Cleveland.
My trunk was just as bad!

What do take to SC? How about all of it!

The real excitement went down when I had to start packing for my trip down south. I had to pack as many clothes as I could for 60 degree weather, 70 degree weather (we leave the day after Christmas for the Bahamas) and still try and do laundry! Yes, as one point I was kicking myself for how many articles of clothing I have, but more so for why I have 4 long sleeved black t-shirts.

I am scared to return and see what amount of clothing I have left. My mom couldn't want to get her hands on the mass chaos coming out of my room!

Celebrating Good Times!

Tuesday: drinks and dessert with my Cleveland friends

Thursday: mexican with the LOF

 One week is not enough time to finish school, pack, and say Goodbyes. However, I did it to myself. It was a crazy week but I survived! I never expected me moving to be such a big deal. I have looked at it as Ohio is still home, I will be back before everyone knows it. Lucky enough home is a short plane ride.

Monday I met my cousin for italian, Tuesday was drinks and dessert, Thursday was mexican, Friday was the after work celebration and saturday was saying "see you soon" to the kids, my practicum family and finally dessert with my Godparents and G-Sis. Needless to say I was all smiles and full of tears the whole week.  

Thank you to all my friends at work and all of the customers who came in to see me one last friday night! I can not Thank You all enough for your support and excitement through this whole process. Your cards and hugs came along with me to South Carolina.

This picture was taken for a special young customer who knows the employees by name
 and has chatted with us as we scoop ice cream cones and perfected sundaes. I can still remember
the first time he pulled up a chair to the counter.
It was around Valentine's Day, and I asked him if he would be my Valentine, to which he
responded "You are starting to creep me out." He was 7 years old.

Done with the Suits

Never did us nannies think graduation would come!  We were suppose to come up with some sort of entertainment and read a book to our practicum children who attended. Because we are a very diverse group, we sang our version of  "12 Days of Christmas" easily titled "12 weeks of Nanny School".  It was our little surprise to the staff, which they laughed at! We also had one of our first time teachers give a speech which was great. Thinking back to almost a week ago, I have no idea what it was about, but I remember it being very personal and touching. 

Anita Eddy, one of our child development teachers

"On the 5th week of nanny school Mrs. Roth gave to me,
RESPECT THE SPOON!"  

Getting my certificate from the
very tiny Mrs. Roth.

  I had so much stuff to unpack from JAK's and repack for my trip south that all I wanted to do was go home after graduation.  My parents were came up as well as JAK, who was cutting out of work, 

Best surprises!

to watch my 3 months of hard work finally pay off.  Little to my surprise my brother drove in for the day from Buffalo, NY and 2 of my FAVORITES. Instantly put me in tears when I saw that! After saying my goodbyes to my new circle of friends, I joined my family for lunch. 

So Sew

I impressed the teacher with my zipper fixing skills!

The last week of school was filled with little things we will need in life. Like sewing. Believe it or not, I can sew. Who do you think shorten the hem on my skirts in high school? Ha, just kidding. As we were taught how to make the perfect stitch, we all reminisced to our childhoods and laughed at the crazy clothes our mom's made for us.

It's the end of nanny school as we know it..... AND I FEEL FINE!

Last day of school..... Woohoooooo!! What a great feeling. As I was all dressed up for a typical school day, the other nannies showed up in sweatpants and hoodies. ( I didn't get the memo and immediately changed.) Lynne came in for our last meeting to discuss new families. We took out 2.5 hr certification exam which, lets face it, I didn't study for. I really should have looked over all the different child development theories but I wasn't a fan of the teacher so I threw all the notes away! One question on the exam that was NEVER brought up in class was how to get gum out of hair. Flashback to my childhood, all my mom used was ice. After class I found out peanut butter works just as good. WHO KNEW!

Boredom strikes during class

After an easy afternoon of martial arts, we called it a day and filled the office one last night to chat with the ladies and listen to Mrs. Roth gush over us being her favorite session. What can we say.... We are kind of a big deal!

Nannies On The Loose

After our zoo party, it was only fitting for a field trip to the zoo. December is not the ideal time but we made it work by laying up. The sun was out which helped a little bit. Maria let us loose around the zoo and quizzed us on the 3 different themes of the zoo. My answers of cold, snow and Christmas were not correct answer. To my surprise there was a lot more animals than we expected.

  

Welcome to the Zany Zoo

Mr. Gaylord and Barbara Frances
thrilled about our party!

All of our delicious snacks

Last week for our creative play class we had to create a themed party for children. The ages we geared towards were 4 to 6. Since we all love the zoo, or because some of the nannies act like they should be in a zoo, we decided it was an appropriate theme. We broke off into groups in charge of invitations, decorations, food and games. The ENGS staff were our guests wearing hats of their favorite animals. We had a great time and plenty of laughs!

Lucky for ENGS, we had a reporter from W magazine in town working on a story about school and nannies. She had no idea what was in store for her when she walked through our doors. Daphne was great and took part on all the activities.

Our teacher Maria, Daphne from W, founder of ENGS Mrs. Roth,
Lynne our placement director, and Riki who is currently working the front desk.

Movin' On Up..... or down

Oh, and by the way!!

  I was offered the position in South Carolina. The parents called school last week asking for a second visit. I Flew down Sunday evening arriving just in time for baths. I jumped right in giving the boys a bath, which one was not exactly excited about. After the parents and I put the boys to bed, I was extremely nervous for the next morning when I was on my own. All I could think about was the boys freaking out at 8AM when I opened their bedroom door.

  The boys are both so easy going and warmed up to me with no problem. Monday night after the boys went to bed the parents and I sat and talked for 3 hours. They asked how I would adjust to being away from my parents, if I would be ok with the living arrangements, etc. They are both very open and easy to talk to which is great for me.

  Tuesday morning when the mom was leaving for work she said she would call the school and hopefully have paper work ready for me if I was interested in the job.

I will be living around the Greenville area.

  Ahhhhh I am so excited! 

JuMp ArOuNd

Just a few of my little friends who I have cared for over the years

Don't know what I would ever do without these ladies!

Before I left for South Carolina I was surprised by 12 of my "little friends" and their 4 mom's with a Going Away party at Pump It Up. Even though the mom's had to tell me about it before hand because of my fly out, I was Shocked!! These 4 families have been so near and dear to my heart, I never excepted anything like this. The kids all had a blast, as did I. And I have the battle scares to prove it!

I always get stuck at the kids table!

LAST DAY

10 years later, the day has finally come. I am hanging up my BLUE shirt! Friday night December 16^th (5 pm until midnight) will be my last night at Taggarts as I embark on my new adventure Sunday morning.
  Never did I think the restaurant could handle me for such a long time. We had our laughs (from customers and employees), we had our battles (getting stuck between swinging doors), we’ve had our heart to hearts (front table for dinner. Table 6 for ice cream) and we’ve had tears (mainly from the laughter).  

   All in all it has been a great run, meeting amazing people, hearing stories. The restaurant has been such apart of my life and that will never change!!

 

I appreciate all of the positive words, thoughts and well wishes along the way. That is truly what has gotten me through these last 3 months.

 Stay tuned….

Leaving On A Jet Plane!

 Friday after Thanksgiving I left for my first (Crossing my fingers that it will be the last) job interview in the Greenville area of South Carolina. It really threw me for a loop because the sun was out for most of the weekend! I wasn't nervous one bit. I sat next to this 9 year old boy who was going to Florida for the weekend with his family. As soon as I started talking to him, he put his head phones in and tried to ignore the crazy lady sitting next to him. He eventually warmed up during our 1.5 hr flight to Charlotte and we became best buds.

  The dad picked me up at the airport and took me to the house where the twins were waiting along with their other nanny. The boys were adorable! I had to coax them a little bit about wanting to open my presents, a book and OSU shirt (which they wore on sunday). It was very easy getting to know the parents as well as the other nanny and getting to know the daily routine of the boys. Everything the dad was telling me about what he is looking for in a nanny, I feel I already am. And by no means do I think I am a big deal! I do what I do, I act the way I do, what you get is what you see.

  I keep telling myself that things happen for a reason, and if it is meant to be everything will fall into place. With this particular family, things are falling in to place. They are fun, easy going, and wanting to make me  apart of the family.


  Well...... the mom called school in Monday letting them know about the weekend. Both the parents really liked me and thought I fit in well. They asked if I could come down for a few days to spend more one-on-one time with the boys. With both parents, the nanny, and myself there was a lot going on. So I am leaving sunday afternoon for 2nd interview! I am so excited to be really get to know the boys and hopefully they will like me. That is secretly what this is all about!


      Cross your fingers

Let It Snow

Who is ever ready for the white stuff? No matter if you are physically prepared, there is no way of mentally preparing yourself. I love the snow every time it falls but like everyone else I hate being cold. 

  Chagrin Falls had it's first snow the beginning of November which I missed because I was home. I woke up Wednesday morning to the ground covered with snow. Granted I am closer to the lake so snow comes more often. I was kicking myself because I didn't have any winter coats or scarfs. But I did have automatic start! Hands down the best christmas present my parents have ever given me!!!!! Two little clicks and 5 minutes later I got in to my thawed out, nice warm Jeep. 

   Cold aside, isn't the snow just so pretty? 

However, Thursday morning I wasn't thinking ahead when I noticed frost on my car. My scrapper broke the year before due to the ice storm. I had to made do with my lovely nails. They always come in handy

Friend little ones

After a long week at school, Friday comes and sometimes it is hard to be perky and at the beck n call of kids. But when I arrive at my practicum family, with my "Friend 2 year old" standing at the door SO excited to see her "Friend Tara" it gives me the jolt of energy I need. I can't get my coat and shoes off fast enough for her to ask "Friend Tara, go play in the basement?" She is always one step ahead of me. Before I even make it to the basement she asks "Friend Tara, are you hungry? Want some dinner?" She has a kitchen set, and after watching her mom cook delicious meals, "Friend 2 year old" loves coming up with her own concoctions.

   Her baby sister changes every time I see her! She has come to terms with being on her belly and loves it. While I feed her her bottle, she screams at me if I even think of pulling it out to burp her. She loves to be around her sister and I acting crazy.

  I have said this over and over, but I am so blessed to be able to add this family to my list of families I will always stay in contact with. From day one, the parents made me feel like I have known them forever. The mom is totally awesome providing an ear to listen to all of my crazy school stories and is very eager to where I will be placed. I can only cross my fingers they will be willing to visit me wherever I am placed.

Thanksmas and Christmagiving

Dinner. Dessert. Christmas. Family Photos.

Thanksgiving is a very big holiday for my family. It is the one holiday that my Dad's brothers, and their families, are all together. There was always 2 tables. One for the 8 adults, the other for the 8 kids. Now it has become the OVER 50 table, and UNDER 50 table. Over the years we have been very lucky to include family friends, in-laws, and spouses or girlfriends/boyfriends. My deacon uncle says grace reminding us all that Uncle Billy is watching over us and how lucky we are to have each other. We enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, sometimes adding meatloaf or brussels sprouts. Only in my family! Our staple desserts? Chocolate lush, creme de mint, and something pumpkin.

absolutely DELICIOUS cupcakes my practicum mom
made for me. White cupcake with mini pumpkin pie
inside with cinnamon buttercream frosting! Mmmm...

  Because we are only all together once a year, we also celebrate Christmas. For years we did a gift exchange, drawling names the year before (and often enough loosing those names). It was a great laugh to see who would receive the worst give. (These are all things we asked for) The filing cabinet and electric skillet are still tied for first place! We have now all come to terms that we are adults and need to give back. Our $50 limit has turned into a $25 gift card for the exchange and $25 worth of toys for the Marine Corp league's Toys For Tots.

Our gifts for Toys for Tots

Megan, Kristen and I were invited to the adult table this year. They all looked so different under the dining room lights. haha  No shopping? No movie? I felt a little lost.

Our fabulous holiday is not over until all 4 families squish together on the couch for a family photo while the paparazzi snap away with their new and old cameras. We know our yearly routine and still continue to laugh along the way as if it was all something new.











This year we added a Skype chat with our west coast family. It was great to laugh and joke with our cousins as if we were all together.

Shout Out To My MOM!

 My Grandma decorated cakes and cookies in her younger days. It was a something she taught my mom, and something my mom has been telling me for years that I need to learn. "You need to make your children's birthday cakes, you need to have the best decorated christmas cookies" she tells me. My response? "There will always be Giant Eagle. Their stuff tastes pretty delicious too!" However some of my best childhood memories were pouring the measurements in, licking the bowl, and being yelled at "TARA ANN!! THAT IS ENOUGH COOKIE DOUGH"

Our last day cooking in the kitchen for nutrition we made healthy snacks. Carrot cake (mmmm... delicious) granola bars, hummus and peta bread. Our teacher gave us a decorating bag, tips and food coloring to use for our homemake icing. Little did the nannies know, and the teacher as well, this was right up my alley. After years of watching my mom decorate, this came very natural!



                    So here is the question.... which decorated cupcakes are mine?

The plate on the LEFT is mine. and I promise Mom, you will not be using butter cream frosting on my wedding cake. It's a pain!

Rain is a Good Thing

 I have done a horrible job at keeping things in order and up to date. With 3 weeks left I will try my best..... I was waiting for pictures to post this.

The nannies and I went on one of our favorite field trips yesterday. We visited the Cleveland Children's Museum for the first time ever. Go to find out it has been around for 30 years, I feel deprived. Though the building is small, as we were guided through the exhibits we couldn't wait to get our own hands on each station. "Bridges of our community" was a great way for children to realize what adults do for us is so important. There was a grocery store, a house, transportation area, bank. Yes, the nannies and I were in heaven channeling our childhoods all over again.

   There was one section that looked like leaves hanging over each other with a net around it. This exhibit encouraged children to climb through it, teaching about the water cycle. Condinsation starts on the ground, is evaporated into the sky, then comes down as rain. As soon as we entered this room I was the first one to yell out "I have to do this!" Sure enough, I was one of the nannies who did, and I didn't even get stuck!

http://www.clevelandchildrensmuseum.org

  This museum is made for all ages, and it being only an hour away, I would definately take advantage of it!