early november

If you follow me on Instagram, a lot of these pics will be reruns but oh well.

1. This boy is cute:

2. How many people can say that they love their job? Well count me among that percentage because I am one of them. I love making a difference, and to see progress within even a couple months is so fulfilling. It feels so amazing to know that I am influencing the lives of the children that I work with in such a monumental way. I am essentially helping to prepare them for one of the most important part of their lives...school. Not only school, but I should also include the successful integration into our society. That's a pretty big one.

3. Kobe got his annual shots and he was not a happy pup. He sulked in his bed in the corner for a couple days. I've never seen him so sad for so long.

At least we got him a new name tag. My phone number on the back of the old one was pretty worn.

4. Burns and I babysat Nitty and Naves. Natalie wore her princess dress the entire time and as usual (when Kobe is there) the girls stayed up late. They just love him. Here's Burns serenading the little princess with some Handel.

5. Last Sunday I was resting on the couch and Kobe came and collapsed on me. He is so nice. Whenever he does this, my heart melts like an ice cube thrown into the Sun.

6. I took the car through a touchless car wash the other day. For $6 it was so great to not have to do anything, but it didn't get the car as clean as $2 would have if I had just done it myself.

7. Fennec Foxes are so freakin' cute! Look up videos on YouTube of them. People have them as pets and they are so adorable! So adorable, in fact, that they reminded me of a little dog I know.

8. Wow, this past weekend was ridiculously snowy! I took Kobe on a walk and he loved just leaping and bounding everywhere through the snow.

I shovelled my sidewalk and I got dumped on.

9. Haha!

10. I hosted my first bridal shower. It was for Bryanne Litousky, soon to be Ogden. I can't believe her wedding is in less than 3 weeks! I made a bunch of appetizers. I don't know what I would have done without Pinterest.

I had cups of veggies and ranch; mozzarella, basil, cherry tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar (sooo delicious!!!); cucumbers and roasted red pepper hummus; and cups of tomato soup with triangles of grilled cheese sandwiches. The other two bridesmaids (Alyssa Lamb and Haillee Litousky) made the cupcakes and the punch.

Pinterest also provided free printables that said "Almost Married".

We played some games. Some were pretty classic, like the toilet paper wedding dress:

I also had the girls who came draw or write some memories that they have with Bryanne. Some were pretty funny. We gave the papers of memories to her to add to a journal or scrapbook. Another fun game was while she was opening gifts, we made a "Poem for the Bride". I started the poem with one sentence, then the next girl added another sentence. The girl after that could only see what the previous girl had written because we folded the previous lines down and added to the poem. It turned out to be pretty great! Bryanne's mom made her a nice wedding hat out of the ribbons from the presents.

I gave Bryanne a "It's the Little Things Care Package". I put a bottle of sparkling grape juice, post-it notes, a box of cheap date ideas, a box of questions to ask each other when she and Trajan are bored, and decision dice, all in a felt box. 

I'm not going to lie, I liked hosting this bridal shower waaaaaay better than attending bridal showers. I think I was just so busy trying to keep people entertained that I didn't have time to sit awkwardly making small talk with people I didn't know. It was great! 

And now I'm making snowflakes out of coffee filters for Bryanne's reception. They're going to hang tonnes of these snowflakes to get the feeling of a lower ceiling in the Cochrane chapel's gym. I've already made a few and I can't wait to see what it will look like all put together. I'll be sure to take pics when that time comes.