Cheerios are made to play with, right?

I was on Facebook this morning and saw this funny idea where a dad put Cheerios on his sleeping baby in a tower formation. 

So I thought, why not try this out with preschool when we are awake? 

It didn't turn out too well...the kids got irritated with how easily the Cheerios fell. Instead, I decided to let the kids cover a child in Cheerios?  

Each kid grabbed a limb to cover in Cheerios. The youngest didn't understand to put them in a like so they were scattrered on his leg. 

The fact the kid out Cheerios down to his fingers was funny. 

They decided to even cover his chest and stomach with cheerios, they started with his neck. If only you could see the face of the child being covered with cheerios. It was priceless!

It was also the last day we would be doing preschool before our summer groups came and would have to use the room as sleeping quarters. So! We had a time of cleaning the room, pushing furniture to the back of the room, and mopping. The kids each got a rag soaked with water and soap and the kids mopped the floor in any way they wanted. They had a blast!

Bring on these summer groups! Can't wait to see what amazing things happen here. 

I Challenge You to a Sword Fight

Sometimes, I have to let go of my love for order and let the kids go a little crazy. 

Today happened to be that day. 

For some reason, my classroom has a lot of pool noodles cut in half. The kids grabbed them and started to sword fight in the classroom. When more than 2 kids joined, I took them outside. Boy, did they have a blast. 

The kids ganged up on eachother, on me and my teen helper, and we even attacked the house parent that was going to the giant 15 passenger van. When we attacked the house parent, he grabbed our extra noodles and started fighting us around the parking lot (no worries, we are the only one using it, and we watch carefully when we are doing activities in the parking lot).  The kids lost :p

I love these kids that challenge me to better myself and my love for order. 

Lizards, and Snakes, Oh My!

I have a friend who owns a ton of reptiles....4 snakes, a bearded dragon, and also has 24 rats! She breeds her own rats as food for the snakes but also keeps some as pets.

Today, Laura (the owner of the pets) and Hannah came out to Naomi House today to share the snakes and bearded dragon with us. The kids were SO EXCITED!

This child was so nervous to touch the bearded dragon. The second she touched it, she jumped but realized that she liked the poky skin. 

Our youngest tater tot was in love with the snakes. She won't even go near a goat, but would pet the snake as long as she was allowed. She kept petting Dante the corn snakes scales with such happiness. 

The youngest one also loved petting Thresh. The second Laura pulled him out of the pillow case, the kids were in awe. One of the kids even yelled 'Holy Moly Bologna' which made us all laugh. She also has a rainbow boa that is not pictured that the kids thought were so pretty. 

Even the teenagers enjoyed seeing the animals. 

Lastly, Laura brought out a snake skin that her pregnant snake had shed. She let the kids tear off a piece to keep. They wore them as bracelets until it broke. 

Laura was also beyond gracious to answer all the questions the kids had (and there was a lot). She knew so much, and the kids learned a lot from today. 

Let's Trace Ourselves!

I have learned that children love tracing themselves and drawing what they look like, no matter the age. I'm 22 and still enjoy it haha. So for today, we traced ourselves on huge paper and colored it!

This kiddo colored himself red. I can't get over how cute he drew his face. When he saw it hanging up, his face lit up with excitement and he started petting his creation. 

When this little one was coloring himself, he decided to color his shirt. He actually made it look like Batman! (see below picture)

See! How cute is his Batman. It's a Lego Batman. It even has the claw hands. And a Batman symbol. 

On a random side note, she wrapped herself in a nap may and thought it was hilarious. She walked like a penguin 😄

And this little one. She hugged the picture of herself. 

As I have said a ton of times, I can't get over how cute these kids are. 

Preschool Play!

Let me tell you....this morning, I was really stressed trying to think of how I was going to manage kids ages 1-6 in a classroom designed for young children. Somehow, I managed with the awesome help of one of our preteens. 

My helper of the day took it upon herself to make an awesome enclosure to our ballpit so the balls did not go all over the room. I think we have a future engineer on our hands!

The little girl had fallen and hurt herself. The boy came to her and started telling her a story from the book to help her calm down. How sweet! 

We had a long music session! All the kids joined in on the percussion instruments and danced away. Talk about cute!

Our youngest tater tot played for the longest time on the piano. He would start dancing while playing. Every time I went to get a video, he quit. But oh man was it cute!!!

Tambourines are truly meant for hats, right?

We found some alphabet magnets and used it to play with! This crazy smart kid was able to tell me what the letters were and their sound when putting it on the board. 

My helper decided to play basketball with the ball pit and it's container. I love their creativity!

Volunteer Groups

Groups are such a blessing!

They entertain kids with games and activities such as crafts and nail polish and doing hair. They fix things up around our property such as weeding the crazy amount of weeds that grow, or fixing appliances and building cabinets. Don't even get me started on all the yummy food they make for us! You name it, and groups will do their best to help.

In these pictures, a group member had taught our kids to lasso. Several of the kids absolutely loved it and started to lasso toys and dragged things around, thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.

But as mentioned before, groups that come to Naomi House as a mission team are amazing and help us do things we normally wouldn't be able to do! Praise God for these people.

Park's Sharks

Though Naomi House has a playground, we occasionally take the kids to a neighboring town for their playground since its something different and the playground is a lot more fun.

Today, all of the kids (13 in all) played Shark on the playground. It's very rare to see all the kids join in on a game so it was really fun to see this! Just try to watch 13 kids ranging from ages 2-15 run across a playground at the same time. There is nothing else like it.

One of the kids climbed a tree (using a trash can to hoist herself up) and the kids worked really hard to hoist each other up to try to catch her. It was very unsuccessful, but so funny to watch.

With us living in the desert, we normally don't see grass. This playground is surrounded by grass and several us went on a scavenger hunt for 'wishy flowers' .

All in all, a good day! Now to get food at McDonald's. Have a great day :)

Summer Shenanigans

Summer break has officially begun here at Naomi House! Along with that comes long days, and tons of time to think of things to occupy kids that are fun. Pintrest has become my best friend during this time!

Today, we made homemade sidewalk paint. And it is a hit with the kiddos!

We made it in a muffin tin in order to make a lot of colors. We mixed it with corn starch, water, and food coloring/washable tempera paint. Make sure to use more corn starch than you think is needed. 

The paint dries really quick and is brighter than normal sidewalk chalk. 

What are some things you do in the summer to entertain your little ones? Let me know in the comments :)

I will never get over how blessed I am to call Naomi House as my work, as my home.

Quite often, I think that I am absolutely and horribly wrong for this job. But then I see how much my preschool children have grown in every aspect of life, and I realize I helped in their development. I have positively impacted their life, and that is exactly what I came here to do.

My little girls love love love to help me do anything...especially cooking and baking. Anytime I mention it, they run to find chairs to stand at the counter with and help me. Today, we made cookies and scooped the batter up with our hands and put them in a muffin tin. Perfect bite size for children!!!

Seeing their joy with getting to scoop dough, lick it all off their fingers and arms, and even watch the cookies bake in the oven just helps reassure me in where I am supposed to be.

Just look around your life. What is positive? Find that positive thing and hold on to it. There is a purpose for it :)

Motivtional Story

All during my 21 years of life, I have always been taught to love God, to pray to God, to worship God, make God and His perfect will be your life.
I literally grew up in church. I attended my first service when I was 3 days old, and as a child, I was in church whenever the doors were open.  I loved participating in anything my church had to offer. I sang on the children's choir, I danced during worship, I did sign language during worship, I even played piano and bass during worship.  It seems like worship may be something I love!

At the age of 12, I knew that I was supposed to work with children, specifically preschool age, for the rest of my life.  I worked with the kids at my church, I worked at daycares, I babysat.  It pained me to see children hurting in any way, shape, or form.

Summer of 2014, I came to NAOMI House as an intern.  I absolutely fell in love with the children, the culture, and the overall ministry that NAOMI House was and still is. Going back to my home in Kentucky was so hard to do.  Not even a month after being back in Kentucky, I knew I was called to move to Arizona.  Wait...WHAT! I was about to graduate college.  I have never lived on my own.  I have never spent more than 5 weeks without my parents. I doubted myself like crazy.  I doubted God, and what seemed to be His will for my life.  He must have been crazy.

For years, I had a sign on my closet door that read 'Trust and Obey, God will do the rest'. My mom constantly reminded me that all I have to do when I felt like I couldn't make this move, that I was going to fail at my calling, is to TRUST God.  He is capable of WAY more than I could ever imagine. He called me to this ministry, and He was going to equip me with what I need to be successful.  My mom also told me I needed to OBEY God. So I did just that...I moved 2000 miles away from my friends, family, and my comfort.  I am living in my most favorite place on Earth doing what I know God has called me to do. I get to teach these children about God, I get to love on these children, and my most favorite part: I get to impact their life for the better.
And guess what? I play piano on the praise team at my new church.  Not even a month after being here, we played the hymn 'Trust and Obey' (didn't even know it was a hymn).  God has a nice way of reassurance, even if it is by a song referencing something you made years ago.

"O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you."- Psalm 84:12

Until next time,
Ashley :)

I'm Back, and Better Than Ever!

Hello, blog world!
Last summer, I blogged about my summer internship at NAOMI House.  For those who are unaware of what this is, NAOMI stands for Native American Outreach Ministries.  It is basically a foster home/emergency placement home for Navajo and other Native American tribes. 
I had the time of my life last summer.  I got back to Kentucky, and I felt so unsettled.  After praying and talking to some dear friends, I realized that my heart and my home was no longer in Kentucky, I was called to work at NAOMI House. Even though I wanted the move to be immediate, I decided to finish up my Associate's Degree, and to save up money (thankfully!).
Soooooo, on July 18, 2015, I left my home of 21 years and made my move to Arizona!

This move was the most scary thing I have ever had to do.  I was going to be living without my parents...I would not have the comfort and security of living at home.  I would not have the comfort of having all my friends near me.  I would not have the comfort of making more than double the income I make now.  I honestly struggled with all of these factors the entire time I was preparing to make my move here.  If I let myself think about it, I still worry about every single factor that was just mentioned.  But you know what, God has got me covered! He called me to be here! He will provide in every way that I truly need, even if it is not in the way I anticipate (funny how God knows best!:] )

While I am working here (which will be until I feel like God is calling me to be somewhere else), I am the preschool teacher for such lovely, adorable kiddos, and a childcare assistant,  This goes from basic childcare, to driving children to doctor appointments, random shopping trips, church, and anywhere else we decide to go. 

As mentioned above, I am the preschool teacher here.  I also struggled often with my ability to teach these children well.  I am barely out of college, with half of a degree at that.  I feel crazy unqualified! BUT...the week before I moved, my Pastor did a sermon on how God does not call the equipped, he equips the called,  He also said that if we feel like we can do something else or be somewhere else, we are not doing what we are called to do,  Well guess what, I feel like I am exactly where I am called to be,  There is no greater feeling to be where God wants me to be.  I have never been happier and more content with my life.

With all this being said, I shall close this blog post.  Sorry for talking your ear off (I need friends...hahahaha), hope to see you back here soon! I will *hopefully* post at least once a week...we shall see how that goes.

Until next time,
Ashley :)

The Fourth of July

Despite how awful the 4th of July was in 2013, it was quite spectacular this year!

It started out with a swim at the local pool.  Normally, the pool is quite crowded and it opens at 1 PM. Since it was a holiday, the pool opened at 10 AM, and our large crew was the majority of the pool occupants! It was a bit chilly since the sun hadn't fully made its appearance, but it was still very fun.

After we came home, my uncle had made lunch for us.  It was your typical hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, chips, juice, and this awesome cake that was red white and blue.  The cake took 5 cake boxes and 21 eggs. We overestimated how many people would be eating with us on that day because we had tons of food and cake leftover.  But since we have a large household, we didn't care! Leftovers just meant less food we had to prepare later on.

Later on in the day, we went to a local high school to watch the fireworks.  We arrived very early, but the kids had a blast running up and down the school bleachers.  The firework show was very pretty.

Elizabeth and I ended the night about an hour before the rest of our crew did.  Elizabeth and I took a couple kids to Walmart, and came home right before everyone else did.  It was difficult to find the right key to get in the door!

I am so glad I have gotten the opportunity to make amazing 4th of July memories and learn to love it once again! :)

Disney Movie, 'Cars'

Hello! I went to Arizona with the mindset of, 'I will update this blog all the time!'.... Yeah, didn't happen.  :p We did not have unlimited wi-fi, so I had to use my phone for all the blog posts.  It became very hard, especially since I want to include pictures.  So now that I am home, I will update with posts and pictures and all that awesome stuff! :)

The Disney movie, 'Cars', is one of my many favorite children's movies.  In this movie, there are tons of references to things that can be seen on Route 66. I mean, c'mon, they even have a song about Route 66!

The best part is, Naomi House was literally on (one of) the ends of Route 66!!!  Route 66 is broken up throughout the West now because of the interstate.

Remember how Lightning McQueen got lost on the interstate trying to find Mack, and ended up on Route 66, which landed him in Radiator Springs?  He got lost because there were no street lamps.  Well, in real life, this is very true.  There literally are no street lamps near Naomi House on the interstate.  It was so hard trying to find the exit! I would be at least a mile back from the exit, slowing down so I could find the curved line so I would know when to                                                                                       turn.

In the middle left of the above picture, you will see a tractor with the words 'HERE IT IS' next to it.  The sign that this derived from was RIGHT DOWN THE STREET FROM THE HOUSE!!!!! I absolutely love this fact.  :D

You may also remember the Cozy Cone Hotel.  This is also derived from something in Arizona.  The Wigwam Motel, which is located in Holbrook, looks like Native American Wigwams.  In the movie, the hotel rooms were just like traffic cones.  The Wigwam Motel has beds, a TV, and an interestingly-shaped bathroom.

So there is how cool Arizona really is. They have a famous movie fashioning animated versions of their landmarks! :)