Revenge

Ryan says he can't be bothered to read the blog anymore...

So I figured I would just randomly post embarrassing pictures of him and see how long till he notices...

Happy Wednesday!

Weekend Update - Spring Finally Arrives!

It's was a warm weekend and we could finally get out of the house and do some things that don't cost money. It's the best feeling in the world!

Friday night we had all three of Ryan's kid's over for dinner and then Gabby stayed the night. When we woke up the weather was warm and bright and felt like spring at last.  We threw open the windows and then decided to get out of the house for a bit. They have FINALLY extended the Schuylkill River Trail up to my house so we decided to invetigate.  We walked a little more than a mile of it.  I was surprised the kids held up so well.

 

From there we went to Manderach Park for a little bit to let the kids run wild.  I ended up getting a pretty decent sunburn.

 

 

The last stop of the day was Five Below for a gift bag for a birthday present.  When these two are together they can keep themselves busy no matter where we end up. 

It was this little guy's second birthday, so Ryan took Gabby home and Isaac along too for a little family birthday party. 

They had so much playing, they ended up staying for almost five hours! 

I don't think the girls usually look much alike, but in this picture their little faces look identical!

In other weekend new I busted out the 5K app once again and made it through day 1.  It starts off so easy, it is confidence building even for someone like me who has done nothing all winter but watch TV and eat ice cream and is huffing and puffing through the "run" intervals. 

 

Our weekend was rounded out with a little bit of conference, a soccer scrimmage (Isaac's team got creamed, but he did score his team's lone goal) and finished another book, Jodi Piccoult's The Plain Truth. Now I have nothing else to read, so I am going to start Les Miserables.  For real.  Tomorrow maybe.

 

Happy Monday!

 





 

 

Random Thursday - Day in the Life Edition

This week's topic is an interesting one for other people, but not that exciting for me. 

My day starts at 6:00 when my alarm goes off.  I hit snooze a few times and wake up at 6:30 and check facebook/e-mail/blogs about half of the time .  The other half of the time I sleep another fifteen minutes or so and then throw myself around the house frantically trying to do everything that needs done before work.

The morning routine includes making lunches (if I haven't taken the time to make them the night before), breakfast for me, Isaac and on occasion, Ryan, packing up all of the schoolbags, sometimes a shower, approving Isaac's outfit (always a lot of drama with him and clothes), sometimes make up, rarely blow drying, and the goal is to be dropping Isaac at school by 7:30. 

Once I roll out of Isaac's school I make it over the bridge to my school, hopefully by 7:45 (though school doesn't start till 8, so I do have a built in cushion for disasters).  If I have time, I may treat myself to something from the Dunkin Donuts drive through.  My school is in the middle of PSSA hell mania.  Our theme is "Rock the PSSA".  I teach third grade, but my classroom is in the fifth grade wing, so I have a fifth grade poster on my door.  This morning I wrote myself up a to do list before dashing off to a faculty meeting.  It's the end of the marking period which always means a rush in paperwork due.  Plus all of the end of the year paperwork is due in only a few short weeks. The last shot is my computer screen as I have been doing progress reports any spare minute. 

At around 8:50 the kids roll in and the day begins.  I have to pull some kids to do some quick reading screeners and then a few other kids to do some math while my co-teacher led a multiplication lesson.  A reading test rounded out the morning, before lunch and then freezing at recess duty.  It was sunny and nice looking but still FREEZING.  Where's spring?  After recess I had a prep period (more paperwork!), got some adapted homework together for my IEP kiddos, and then I pulled a small group out for a reading skills group.  It was a good day at work overall.  I stayed an extra hour or so to keep working on paperwork and then headed home.

 

When I got home, Ryan had already put a frozen lasagna in the oven.  He and I cleaned up and vacuumed the bedroom quickly (long overdue!), tried to catch up on the dishes, tidied the kitchen, played a little Ruzzle, threw some dinner rolls in and then we all had a decent family dinner.

Isaac has Cub Scouts on Wednesdays, so that was our next stop.  We didn't have any errands to run today, so I stayed in the car and worked on my new book The Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult.  After was done we had a parent meeting where we talked about things like scout camp.  They want us all to volunteer at least one day of the weeklong camp, which I can totally do in the summer.  Afterwards Isaac told me that he would really rather have Ryan do it because I will surely embarrass him.  WELL then. 

I rounded out the night with a little bit of American Idol.  (I know Lazaro is horrible, but I vote for him because it irritates Ryan).  Then we watched Survivor on the DVR and went to bed.

Super exciting life I lead on a random Wednesday, right?

Ten on Tuesday - Easter Recap edition

  one Today was my first day back to school after a pitifully short spring break (Thank you Hurricane Sandy!).  I managed to get to work on time, so I will count that as a success in my book.   two I decided to wear the dress I was going to wear to my brother's wedding to church on Easter.  Cute dress, terrible facial expression, right?    three Isaac actually spent Easter morning at his dad's house.  We picked him up in the afternoon and headed out to Lancaster for an egg hunt and a nice dinner with my parents and brother Joe.  Isaac was so proud to divvy up the hard boiled eggs that he and my mother had dyed earlier in the week. And then he burst into tears when Ryan cracked and ate his.  "I worked so hard on those!" he sobbed.    four I picked up Les Miserables from the library today.  It is number 34 on my 101 in 1001.  .I am feeling behind on that whole project.  All I am accomplishing reading tons of books.  Technically, this is just reading a book too, but at least it is a new item to cross off.  They only gave me a few weeks until it is due back, so I better get cracking since it is about a million pages long.
five My neighbor still has Christmas lights up on his porch and around his garage.  I am annoyed the HOA hasn't said anything to him.  Mostly because I am bitter that ONE TIME I left my trashcan in the street and they sent me a harsh written warning.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised though.  This is the same neighbor that ONLY stained the parts of his deck he can see.  

six Also, remember last week when I blogged about getting up close and personal with my neighbor's dirty laundry?  Same guy.  So I guess I better just keep my mouth closed.
seven This old guy at work asked me if I am being a good wife and cooking lots of wonderful meals for my husband.  I had to resist rolling my eyes and informed him that we have a modern and progressive marriage where we share cooking and household chores.  Usually whoever is home from work first cooks.  Ryan some made bangin' chili last night.  Ridiculously good!
eight We received two Fandango gift cards for our wedding and we decided to use them over Spring break.  We saw Oz the Great and Powerful with Isaac. Ryan and Isaac seemed to like it but I couldn't get into it.  I legit passed out for like the first half of the movie.  The worst part was, I woke up in the second half of the movie, and really hadn't missed anything. I had no trouble following the second half.  
nine Just Ryan and I returned to the movies later that night to see The Host.  I had really enjoyed the book and had forced Ryan to read it in preparation for the movie.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  Overall, kind of an underwhelming weekend for movies. 
ten   Tuesday night is Splash, me and Isaac's new show.  Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Louey Anderson doing synchronized swan dives?  Hosted by Joey Lawrence? You can't make this up!  Isaac and I watched it over and over again cracking up.
Have a great day everyone!

Wedding Recap (as requested)

Okay, so here is a little wedding recap as requested.  I didn't take any pictures that day, so these are ones I got from other people mostly through text or facebook.  I will post some nice ones whenever I get them back from the photographer.

Ryan bought me some really lovely presents for our wedding day.  He bought me this really pretty box to keep my rings in.  It is engraved with a little message, our names and the date.

 

He bought also bought me a beautiful necklace engraved with a message from him.  This picture really doesn't do it justice at all. I considered wearing it to the wedding, but decided to wear the beautiful pearls he got me for Christmas.

 

He also bought me a face mask from Lush my favorite store.  It was a lovely surprise.   I had my hair and make-up done at Lords and Ladies in Pottstown.  They did a fabulous job.  The make-up was a little more dramatic than I probably would have opted for (I don't generally reach for navy blue eyeshadow) but I thought it looked really pretty in person.  They also put in the veil (thank goodness, because I had no idea how to put it in).  It was the veil my sister wore in her wedding.  I just wore my hair half up and in long loose curls.  I was so impressed with the girl who did my hair, because my hair is so fine and never holds a curl. Even with the icky rainy misty weather my hair stayed curled until the next day, which is nothing short of a miracle.  She also didn't use pins, she used this stuff thread stuff and literally sewed my hair up in place with a special plastic needle.    This is the only picture I took all day:

The weather has been miserable and rainy earlier that morning, but when we got there, it had let up quite a bit.  It stayed misty, but we did manage to get pictures outdoors. 

When we got there we did a quick rehearsal run through. My poor aunt went to pick up my flowers and her rental car broke down at the florists picking up my bouquet.  We had the same pastor that married Ryan's brother and sister in law marry us.  We liked their ceremony so much that we asked him to do ours.  We took some family photos before the guests arrived.  I will share those as soon as I get them.  Our photographer was Erin Bertoni and she is so sweet!

Oh, here's a shot of one of my pairs of shoes.  I wore these for the ceremony and the pictures.  I feel in love with them at Nine West.  They were adorable, but terribly uncomfortable.  I also had a pair of really cute retro looking bright yellow wedges, which were heavenly to slip into once the pictures were officially over.  The were from Joan and David and I actually found them via an ad in my sidebar on facebook.  My dress was from a random website that I put my measurements into.  The dress came from China a few weeks later.

Soon we were done with family pictures and guests were arriving.  It was a very tiny wedding, and I didn't have bridesmaids or anything.  My family entered and sat to an acoustic version of Lady Antebellum's "Just a Kiss".  I walked in to an instrumental version of Counting Crow's Colorblind (because OF COURSE I had to think of some way to include my favorite band of all time in my wedding). 

a little blurry, but a cute shot of me and my dad via Nicole's cell phone

The ceremony was lovely. We were able to include both of our sister's in the ceremony.   My sister sang Push by Sarah McLachlan and she sounded amazing.  My photographer (who is getting married herself shortly) even asked my sister if she was a wedding singer.  Ryan's sister Katherine did a reading about love.  It was a lovely ceremony. 

We walked out to "Crazy for You" by Madonna.  Everyone else enjoyed some appetizers while we were off for more pictures.  I only got to try one meatball, but I heard the appetizers were yummy. 

This is me and my freshman year roommate Nicole.  I was so glad she and her husband Jon were able to come down from New York City for the wedding.  Besides my siblings, she was the only one I knew for sure would recognize Colorblind. 

 

Anyways, there were some minor issues with placecards and seating that were worked out quickly.  We had a sweetheart table up front for Ryan and I, but Isaac decided he wanted to join us, rather than sit with my parents, and we accommodated him.  The waitress came and asked what he would he having for dinner, and I answered "We ordered him the chicken fingers" which was the children's meal.  He turned to me, totally offended and said "Well I would rather have steak!".  Our waitress obliged. 

 

Isaac with Ryan's parents

 

The salmon and steak were excellent, although we heard from our vegetarian friends that the polenta was a bit of a letdown. 

This is a little collage of pictures my sister in law Deb took.   

 

While everyone enjoyed cake and icecream, we played The Shoe Game which was a total Pinterest find.  Ryan's mother agreed to put the questions together and she did a great job.  We didn't know any of the questions she was going to ask, which made it a riot. 

 Afterward the shoe game, we took a group shot with everyone at the wedding (see, told you it was a small wedding, we all fit in one picture) and then we headed moved the party up the street to the Limerick Bowling Alley. 

 

the only shot of me I have found from the bowling alley.  My mom made me and Ryan "Bride" and "Groom" t-shirts.

 

I was trying to think of something fun to do besides dancing at our wedding.  I love dancing but I thought it might be awkward with such a small group of people.  Then it occurred to me that Limerick Bowling Alley, where Ryan and I had our first date was almost right across the street.  We have taken our kids there for family dates many times since, so it seemed like a natural choice.  My dad arranged for us to have some lanes to ourselves for a few hours.  Some people stayed in their wedding clothes and some people changed.  A few people bowed out, but we had a pretty good group that made it over to the bowling alley.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and it was a great way to break up the formalness of the wedding and really get people to mix and mingle and have fun with each other.  Almost everyone stayed the whole two hours that we rented out the lanes for, even my very pregnant friend Becca, who was a total trooper.

 

stolen from Selena's facebook -- isn't she adorable?

It was SO MUCH FUN!  Thanks Mom and Dad for everything you did to make everything that day so special!  And also to my sister Jennifer and brother in law Drew, Aunt Kathy, my grandmother and others who travelled a great distance to be there with us. 

 

We broke the "no cell phones" rule for this quick pic.

 

 We are saving our honeymoon for a cruise this summer when we are both able to take more time off of work, but we did schedule ourselves a little spa day.  We enjoyed sauna time, a Givenchy shower and a couples massage. Ryan was so relaxed, partway through the massage I heard him snoring! 

 

Hope you enjoyed.  =)  Happy Easter!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

blah blah

Source: someecards.com via Lisa on Pinterest

I am trying to register my blog on Blog Lovin and they require you to post this link in a post. Feel free to disregard and carry on.




Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Ten on a Tuesday - Bad Cat Edition

1.  I typed this whole thing out and then accidently deleted it.  Gah!

2. I own a very bad cat as seen below.

 

3. He is really tempermental and moody and pretty much only likes me.  Even I don't really pick him up.  His name is Cody Pablo but my dad calls him Cody Diablo.  No one else likes him.  At all.

 

4. Last Wednesday at about 7:20 before work I am in my kitchen making lunches when the doorbell rings.  I peek out the window and there is a random chick I have never seen before.  I was tempted to just ignore her but I decided to see what she wanted.  I opened the door and she explained that she is my next door neighbor's sister (sidenote-- we wave to the next door neighbor when we come and go and occasionally make small talk with him, but don't know him that well).  She says that my orange cat is trapped upstairs in her brother's master bedroom closet.

 

5.  I followed her in disbelief over to the townhouse next door (that I had never previously set foot it).  She walks me up to the third floor, opens the bedroom closet and sure enough, there is my cat hissing and spitting.  I manage to piece together that the previous night when we were bringing groceries in, he must have slipped unnoticed out the front door.  Over night the weather became cold and rainy, so when my neighbor left for work at 5:30 in the morning, Cody bolted in his house.  They tried to catch him but couldn't, so they just chased him to the closet.   This left me crouched in a pile of my neighbor's dirty laundry trying to coax a furious and terrified cat towards me making "Pssssss psss" noises and saying "Hey Beebs" in a high pitched baby voice.  (Sidenote: It worksto get him to come at home, but it just made me look certifiably insane in this setting).  He  did finally approach me tenatively but wouldn't let me pick him up and I wasn't about to choke hold him and wrestle him down two flights of stairs in short sleeves in front of a stranger. The sister finally just left me alone to figure it out for myself.

 

6.  Thank God Ryan hadn't left for work yet.  He was in the shower when the doorbell rang and when he recieved my multiple near hysterical nervous phone calls from the master bedroom closet he got the carrier and brought it over.  Cody hates the carrier and it was full on war with claws out,  howling, hangers and clothes everywhere and poor Ryan rolling around on the floor in his suit and tie but he managed to stuff the cat in the cage and close the door.  Have I mentioned this guy is my hero?

 

 

 

7.  The cat fiasco ate up about 30 minutes of my morning I hadn't budgeted for.  I barely got Isaac to school on time, and I rolled up to my school a few minutes late.  I parked by the playground with my plan being to slink in through the back door undetected.  Except as I am getting out of the car with my lunch bag, purse, computer bag and two fly swatters (don't ask), a huge crowd of kids rushes at me saying "Thank goodness you are here!  We were waiting for you before we can start walking club!" So I rounded out the morning tromping through the neighborhood with a group of kids in my wedge heels.  Not how I would recommend starting off a Thursday.

 

8.  Isaac had a full on snow day yesterday (Monday).  Sadly, he had to spend it watching movies at the YMCA cause I had school as usual.  Not even a delay for me.  Booooooo.

 

9. So true....

 

 

10.  Is it spring break yet?!

Happy Tuesday!