Rachael Turns Pages Turns 4 Years Old!

And another year has past! Rachael Turns Pages is officially 4 years old! I started this blog my senior year of high school and I can't believe I have continued it for my past 4 years of college. 2016 was another year where I didn't blog as much as I have in previous years, but I blogged whenever I felt like it and I feel like I have renewed energy for the new year. As usual prepare for the wrap up posts glore in January.

It's now time for my annual life update as I review my year and share pictures. There were a lot of fun memories I had in 2016. I just finished reading my 2015 overview and I think this year can hardly compare, but has its own exciting moments.

As usual I start with the update on my little cousins. My cousin Dylan was born on my blogoaversary December 31st. He turned 4 years old this year. He is getting so big and he talks nonstop. His little siblings Cameron and Sydney (the twins) are now two years old. They are working on potty training. Syd is a social butterfly and Cam is more shy, but both of their vocabulary's are growing and they are fun to play with.

Jill's kids are Emma who is now 4 years old. She will be five in April and starting Kindergarten in 2017. She is so bossy, but she has been getting better. Allianna is 3 and will be 4 in August. She is quiet, but sneaky. She is still very petite. Beckett is the youngest and he will be 2 in April. He is still such a happy baby and a mamma's boy for sure.

January 2016 I returned to college to start my semester where I would take 21 credits. I will never recommend this to another person. It was crazy. I had to finish off my early childhood endorsement. I had to complete 150 field experience hours on my own time. I completed majority of them over Spring Break. I completed a good portion of the hours at Vermillion Headstart also. It was a fun experience to work with those kids. In January my early childhood professor, Gera Jacobs, announced that she had cancer. She originally planned to only take about half the semester off as she began treatment, but her cancer was more agressive then they originally thought. She just checked in periodically with us about our placements through video chat. She ended up passing away in early June. She lost her fight with cancer 6 months after diagnosis. She was such an inspiring person and I have never seen a person love children the way Gera does. She left such an amazing impact on the world of early childhood and I'm so thankful for her advice and support over my college years. I was so lucky to take three classes with her and I will share her joy and wisdom in my classroom.

My college town got 17 inches of snow in February
and we had our first ever college snow day.
We had a day of playing games and fun inside.
Digging my car out later wasn't fun, but the
memories were great. 

In March I got the surprise of a lifetime when my friend who was taking a road trip to California over spring break sent me a picture to announce that she had eloped in Vegas. Its cheesy, but it alivated so much family drama for her and she was glad to finally be married. After we finished our spring semester we headed down to Des Moines, Iowa to celebrate her wedding at a late wedding reception. We had a great weekend and it was so relaxing and great to spend time with my friends before we separated for the summer.

In May my sister graduated high school. After I came home from school we spent a lot of time preparing for her graduatation and everything turned out great.

My siblings and I. I'm the oldest, my sister, Renae is the middle,
and Ryan is the youngest. 

I returned to my daycare job in June and also helped out with another year of kindercamp. We had a great group of students this year. I began preparing for my upcoming year in student teaching.

June was also the month my sister and I got tickets to see Scotty Mccreery. He did a great job and he sang almost all the songs that he has on his two albums. I'm looking forward to a new album from him in the future.

I ran this 5K in April. It was fun to be a fairy.
I got some weird looks walking back to my dorm.

My sister and I Scotty Mccreery. 

In July we took our family vacation to Missouri. I finally completed my dream of seeing Laura Ingalls Wilder's house. I have loved her books forever and it was a dream come true to see where she spent most of her adult life. I have now seen Desmet, Walnut Grove, and Mansfield, so I have completed most of the Laura Ingalls Wilder destinations. We also went to Silver Dollar City. The amusement park was not that great, but the water park was fun. We also went to see Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede, which is a dinner theatre and we all enjoyed that a lot. We also visited the Precious Moments Museum and Harry Truman library on our way home.

Me in front of Laura Ingalls Wilder's home.

Dolly's Coat of many colors butterfly.

My dad and I at Carrie Underwood. 

July was also the month that I found out my best friend Rachel was going to have a baby in March right around the time of her first wedding anniversary. I'm happy for her and excited for the baby to make his or her appearance in a few months.

In August I begun my student teaching journey. I started out my year with Kindergarten and then in October I moved to 5th grade. Student Teaching has been an amazing experience. I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and the way I want to run my classroom. I'm excited to put my ideas into action next year no matter what grade I end up teaching.

In October I took my dad to see Carrie Underwood. This concert was a dream come true. Her storyteller album has so far been one of my favorite albums and it was a blessing to see her preform the songs live. My favorites of the show were Dirty Laundry, Church Bells, and What I Never Knew I Always Wanted. We had a blast and she had such an amazing turn out for her concert. I don't think it was sold out, but it had to be close.

Disney on Ice during the Peter Pan segment. 

In November my mom and I went to Disney on Ice. You could tell it was made for kids, but I'm a kid at heart and I enjoyed the show a lot. They featured Lion King, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, and Frozen. Most of those are the movies I grew up with. We got super great seats close to the stage. I forgot to get a picture with my mom at the concert.

The year as usual ended with my favorite time of year, Christmastime. My time has been spent finishing up my semester of student teaching and just a short Christmas break this year. I will have to get used to these teacher breaks instead of the student ones. I spent lots of time watching Christmas movies with my dad. The Hallmark movies that have been my favorite this year are Broadcasting Christmas, Every Christmas has a Story, and Christmas in Homestead. I also have really been enjoying the Hallmark movies and mystery movies. Finding Father Christmas has been my favorite so far.

The year ended on a sad note as we lost my Grandpa on December 22, 2016. It was hard to lose him only a couple days before Christmas, but we all knew he was not doing well. He has been on a rapid decline since June, but was admited to the hospital on December 12, 2016 where he then went into hospice care. Hospice took wonderful care of him, but he spent most of his time sleeping and he just knew that he was ready to go to heaven to be with God. He is now playing in the dirt in heaven and enjoying being able to do all the things he was unable to do here on earth. We just had the funeral on December 27. It was hard to say goodbye, but my heart knows that he is in a better place. He got the chance to see my siblings and I grow up and that has been a blessing I will always remember.