Reliving My Childhood

The past few days I've been reliving my childhood. Once we get older, many of us get nostalgic and try to capture something that made our childhood so fun and exciting. To the tune of "Dance of the Cucumber" I realized how much I had missed being a kid. I know for myself during the academic year I try to watch Disney movies with my friend Allyson to take a break from the monotony that is college life.

Another part of my college life is with my faith family, a program with Campus Ministry . From the website:

"This program provides a chance for students and permanent community members to get to know one another, share a meal or activity, and build relationships. We hope that this program will strengthen our connection between our permanent community members that worship at Saint Michael's Chapel and students. We also want to offer students the opportunity to enjoy a home environment while they are away from their families."

I have been so lucky to my paired with my faith family! They welcomed me into their lives with open arms. It really is wonderful to have a place to get off campus for a while and have a home-cooked meal!

This past weekend YaYa moved to Vermont from Illinois! I helped set up her apartment a little bit; This mainly consisted of my IT abilities setting up the phone and internet. Just call me part of the Nerd Herd!

I also helped tape up pieces of artwork done by the kids including this welcome sign. Seeing all the handprints and footprints made me reminisce about my own finger-painting experiences and how I would love to do that again! I live vicarously through these girls.

It was also Bridget's birthday! I offered another pair of hands to help wrangle kids during the day as well as prepping cupcakes using my baking skills. I love love LOVE to bake and these cupcakes came out perfectly!

Pouring the batter:

Such a nice golden brown!

Finally frosted!

Sleeping over also meant helping out at the party! Of course gotta check out the presents. My 2-year-old self would have been ECSTATIC to get this cool racer ramp! I helped pick this out and going through Toys "R" Us made me realize how much fun I'm going to have picking out gifts for future kids - clearly I'm just going to pick out the toys that I think are cool and want to play with!

Also part of the birthday girl swag was this cool Calico Critter playhouse. It brings me back to my Barbie-playing days and how I loved all the furniture, clothes, and accessories that Barbie had. I wished they were life-size most of the time!

I simply adore this picture! Capturing the two sisters playing with the house is just too cute. I remember playing with my brother and how much fun we had. Granted we still have fun but in different ways. I love that kid to death.

As the party continued, there was a range of kids from 1 to 7. It's been a while since I was around so many kids but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was given books to read, bubbles to blow, swings to push, and even used my old soccer skills to do a one-on-one pick-up game. I'm lucky because I get to play with the kids when they're fun but not deal with any of the hard stuff.

I was so tired from running around that I took a nap - only to be woken up by the girls an hour later. This was for going hiking in the woods. I was so impressed by girls trekking through the underbush - and in dresses no less! After that a trip to the playground was in order - and boy this playground was top notch. I loved getting to play on it myself... and also helping the girls climb, slide, and swing everywhere.

This fun-filled weekend got my fix for kids and helped me cherish all the childhood memories I have with my family. Especially trips to Disney - where I will be traveling later this summer! It's the happiest place on earth where you can be a kid at any age! I'm so excited it's not even funny. Forever on the quest for reliving my childhood!