and July is over..

Hello out there in blogland.  Do I even have any readers anymore?  Who knows.  It seems like the blogging community has really petered out the past few years.  I guess with Instagram and Facebook it is just an easier way to keep people updated.  Also a lot of the blogs I used to read regularly have either turned into giant advertisements (Beach Body!  Essential Oils!) or again just sort of faded away.  If anyone has any recommendations for honest, parenty blogs that don't fall into those two categories.  We have really been enjoying our summer and I haven't taken much time to sit down and update.  

Summer highlights so far include:

Putting our hair in pigtails!  Seriously, could there be a cuter hairstyle for a 18 month old?

Getting good use of our season tickets to Sesame Place.  We took all of Ryan's kids and we have gone back one more time.  Hannah's obsessed with Sesame Street but Isaac likes a lot of the rides too, especially the water park.

She actually was really excited to meet Murray despite the look on her face in this picture.

Her favorite.  She ran right to him to hug him.  It was ridiculously adorable.

Playdates and babysitting with friends.

Hannah and Alexander

We have been doing some shopping.  We have already started some Christmas shopping and did some back to school.

We all got a free dinner on Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fila.

Isaac has been doing stuff too, he is just resistant to having his picture taken.  He has done a bunch of sports camps which has kept him busy.  We both did the dentist yesterday-- NO CAVITIES!  He spends a lot of time roaming around the neighborhood with a big group of boys, riding bikes and playing cricket.  Soccer has started up again with twice a week practices.  He is in a wedding in a few weeks and my parents are taking him to Virginia to see his first real Shakespeare play.

We have been trying to limit screen time, do some cleaning and organizing and hauling stuff to Goodwill, keep Hannah on a decent sleep/nap schedule, listening to NPR

We still have quite a few things on our list left for summer and only a few weeks left until I have to head back to school.  

July!

Happy mid-July people.

It has been a whirlwind few weeks.

This school year finally came to an end.  This was my worst year ever as far as special education paperwork.  My best years I have arranged things to have no paperwork at all the whole last quarter of school, but this year I had meetings and paperwork due literally until the very last day of school. Yes, you read that right.  I had no choice but to schedule an IEP meeting on the last day.  Also, I had to pack all my stuff and move classrooms for the sixth time in seven years in the district.  I am keeping most of my kids for the third year in a row, so it didn't quite have the finality that the end of the school year usually does.

I have been applying to other districts and even had one interview.  I felt pretty confident leaving the interview, but I guess I was overly confident because I never heard back from them for a second interview.  The other day I got an email saying they decided to go with another candidate. Womp, womp.  I wasn't convinced it was the right position for me anyways but I have applied to at least 20 positions now and haven't heard back from anyone.  My mom and I did go shopping though and got me two incredible Ann Taylor suits, so when the opportunity for an interview comes, at least I will kill it in the fashion department.

Anyways, to add the the craziness of the end of the year we left for our roadtrip to Florida immediately.  Like, Ryan pulled up to the school with the packed up minivan and we started driving.  It was a little intense but better than our last roadtrip where we got on the road straight after my brother Tom's wedding.  I will write more about our Florida trip later.  Highlights including finally meeting my nephew Lucas:

Lots of relaxing pool time at the resort:

Hitting all four Disney Parks:

and lots of great family time with Ryan's siblings and parents.  It was a great trip, but it took a few days to recover from it.  It was a long car ride but the kids did great. 

The Fourth of July was a nice low key day.  Isaac was with his dad.  We took Hannah to the Pottstown Parade.  It rained off and on during the parade but really started pouring after it ended.  That derailed the plans we had for the rest of the day.  

The rain did let up in the evening and we did see some fireworks at the Reading Phils game.  Hannah watched for a few minutes but slept through most of the show.  Isaac saw several fireworks displays in Philly.

Now that we are home we have been working on things around the house (looking at new flooring and some updates in the kitchen), cooking and baking, sending Isaac to various sports camps, track club and soccer practices and having fun family times. I opted out of ESY summer school this year, so it is nice to have another summer entirely to spend with the kids.  My brother Joe met up with us and took Isaac Go Karting over the weekend.  Ryan and Isaac got to see a play in Lancaster and then we all had fun with my parents.   Summer is flying by.  

Never a dull moment...

Hello, hello!

Our life continues to be a whirlwind of sports obligations, family time, work projects, and handling minor disasters relating to our house and vehicles. I haven't been able to blog at home since I misplaced the powercord to my laptop.  I took a sick day today for Hannah's dermatologist appointment, so I found some extra time.  Here are some highlights from the past few weeks:

 We took all five kids to Sesame Place.  It was EXHAUSTING.

Ryan and I took Hannah and squeezed in a quick overnight trip to Ocean City, New Jersey.

We made a trip out to Lancaster to spend mother's day with my parents.  My brother Joe and his girlfriend Rachel were also there. 

We went to an icecream social and got to see Isaac's artwork at school.  He wanted to play football with some friends on the recess yard and this was the face I got when I asked him to actually come in and show us some of his pieces.  We ended up spending some time on the playground to let him get some football time in before we left.

This little lady is still a happy little clam despite her continuous skin issues and teething to boot.  When we went to Uncle Tom's work, she got this balloon and it provided endless enjoyment for several days afterward.

Ryan wanted to go to the Phillies for his birthday.  They are doing so badly this season that tickets are insanely cheap.  He took Isaac on Wednesday night and then Hannah and I on Saturday when Isaac was with his dad for the weekend.  Hannah was a pretty good sport.  She loved the french fries.  The game ended up getting rained out after 3 and a half innings, so that was disappointing.



We drove out to Lancaster for a birthday dinner at Miller's, a buffet Ryan has wanted to try out for a while.  We loved the food.  They even gave Ryan a little cake to take home.  We are celebrating again tonight at Margarita's a local Mexican restaurant.

Five for Friday

ONE

 

Kind of a dark shot, but our neighbor put this gorgeous dollhouse out for trash.  It even had some furniture in it.  We snatched it right up and brought it in for Hannah.  She is a little young for it now, but she has enjoyed opening it and closing it up.  

TWO

 

A new Chick Fila is opening not far from us.  They had people nominate local schools to recieve a catered lunch for teachers as part of Teacher Appreciation week next week.  The school I work at ended up being the winner!  Packing lunches is the bane of my existance, so I am pretty excited about this, plus it is nice to feel appreciated.

 

THREE

10 days later state testing is OFFICIALLY done!  Proctoring them is the worst and it's such a stressor for students.  I am glad it is out of the way and the rest of the year can be more relaxed for the kids without the pressure of a huge testing looming over them. 

 

FOUR

 Finally nice enough weather to break out some spring clothes.  Sorry for a gross feet shot, but I was so excited to finally wear these sandals.  They are cute and comfortable-- the Holy Grail of work shoes. 



FIVE

 

 We had a playdate set to walk and play with my friend Kim and Hannah's friend Quentin.  It ended up being the most perfect spring day and we stayed out much longer than we planned because the babies were having so much fun.  Both of the them loved the slide and Hannah would shout "Wee!!!" when she went down.  Quentin is a hugger and always wants to let Hannah know how much he loves her.  Unfortunately, Hannah is like me, definitely NOT a hugger.  We had a whole series of hilarious pictures like this.  Some day he will win her over!

 

We have an especially busy weekend on the books.  Ryan is spending all day today as a field trip chaperone in Washington D.C. with Allison's sixth grade class.  The buses rolled out at 6:15.  He will get home after 9 tonight.  Tomorrow we have Isaac's baseball pictures at 8 am, then a baseball game, then we go straight from there to soccer tryouts.  My school is also having a rededication/ open house thing, so I need to make an appearance there at some point. All of this with a toddler in tow! Saturday is also a night we have tickets to the Reading Phillies.  If I make it through Saturday alive, it will be a miracle! 

 

 

 

 

Linking up with these ladies.... 

Signs of Spring

Signs of spring....

Take your child to work day with Uncle Joe.

Spring soccer.  So much better than indoor (winter) soccer.

 And of course spring means lots and lots of time spent at the ball fields.

Baseball games with family.  Dad game in for a Saturday morning game.

Joe joined us for another.  He and Hannah became best buds.

I love this time of warm weather before spring allergies kick in.

hitting the nail on the head

This has been popping up in my facebook feed today, since roughly 50% of my friends are teachers or work in a related field.  It pretty much sums up all of the conflicting feelings I have swirling around my brain about teaching in public schools in this day and age, especially in a Title 1 School*.  Give it a read if you have time. 

* School with a high percentage of low income students.

Hannah Sixteen Month Update

I figured it was time to do a Hannah update. She is growing up more and more everyday. She is definitely a toddler and not a baby anymore.  She is such a sweet, happy and smart little girl with a really sharp sense of humor and a mop full of curly hair.

Eating
Hannah continues to amaze us with her hearty appetite and her universal love of every food she is offered.  Her recent favorite foods include arroz con pollo, Halo mandarin oranges, and blueberry mini muffins.   Although she is easy going in terms of what she eats, she is very particular in how she eats it.  She doesn't like to feel pressured to eat and she does NOT want to be fed anymore.  She would much rather struggle through spooning herself some yogurt than let me or Ryan feed her.  Like, she becomes enraged if we try to feed her. She also really want to drink out of an open cup, but we haven't been encouraging that.  

Sleeping
Hannah has been doing pretty well with sleep, although she has had a few rough nights with some new teeth coming in.  She will usually sleep until 8:30 or 9 and she is terribly grumpy if she has to be woken up before she is ready.  It takes her a good 20 minutes until she is pleasant.  Her naps are still all over the place.  Sometimes she takes a morning nap, sometimes not, she often takes an afternoon nap but sometimes she drifts off around 4:30 or later which is the worst!!!

Words/Communication
Hannah lets you know she wants to eat by pointing to her high chair.  She will even take your hand and walk you to it.   She babbles constantly and more and more real words seem to be mixed into the gibberish. She says: no, daddy, mum, I dunno, Eesa (Lisa), kay (okay), whee! and cheep cheep (when she sees a picture of baby chicks).  She will consistently wave hello and goodbye and will also independently wave to strangers if she wants their attention.  The only sign she will do independently is "all done" but we are working on "more" and "please".  She will shake her head no and say "uh-uh" or "no" but she doesn't use a word for yes.  She just holds out her hands and makes frantic begging sounds or points to what she wants.  When she wants a diaper change she will lay flat on the ground and put her legs up in the air.  That makes me excited, like maybe she will potty train early.  If she wants to go outside she will bring you her shoes.

Although her expressive language is still rather limited, her receptive language grows by leaps and bounds every day.  Ryan bought her a little brush and he told her to go get it thinking it was in our bedroom with us.  It turns out, it was downstairs, but she found my hairbrush and brought it over to Ryan instead.  She will point to all of her family members when asked

Likes

• Isaac.  She wants to be as close to him as possible at all times.  

Good thing he is usually pretty patient.

                                                

• Sesame Street.  She watches it with rapt attention and dances to all of the songs.  
• Binkies.  She will never give it up. 

• Having her feet tickled.  
• "Singing" and dancing or when other sing and dance.  
• Her toy kitchens, her Elmo doll that sings about being a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, and her shopping cart.
• Cheering, clapping and jumping up and down at sporting events.  It is SO cute.
• Giving kisses, sometimes aggressively, with a loud "MWAH!"
• When Ryan talks to her in silly voices.  She CRACKS up.

Dislikes

• Having dirty hands.  She comes to us over and over during Isaac's baseball games to have us brush dirt and grass off her hands.  We loves to use handiwipes to clean them off.

• Sitting still, especially at sporting events.  She wants to storm the field at Isaac's soccer games.  She want to climb up on things and immediately get back down.  She also drops out the bottom of her stroller if she is not strapped in. 
• Swings.  Our neighborhood has a small playground with a few infant swings and she HATES them.  She will scream bloody murder the whole time.  
• Open doors.  She always has to close them.  No matter what.
• Bathing.  I thought we had conquered her fear but suddenly she is terrified of it again. 

Milestones

• She has gotten really good at going up and down stairs.  She can go upstairs holding a railing totally upright, like a regular little person.  For a while she was going feet first and on her stomach to go downstairs but now she sits on her bottom and scoots down.  
• At least two more teeth have come in.
• Wears 18 month clothes, some size 4 shoes and some size 5 shoes.  She wears size 4 diapers.
• Taking off her pants and attempting to take off her diapers.