hello

Oh, hey blog friends.


I have had this post in draft mode for probably six weeks.  I just can't seem to wrap it up.  Or add pictures.  And who wants to read a post with no pictures?







Summer was a whirlwind and is suddenly over and going back to school was harder this year than ever before.  I miss being with Hannah.  I am not excited about my assignment (massive understatement).  I interviewed for jobs that didn't pan out and I put in for an in-district transfer that didn't happen.  There were a lot of tears the first few days (from me, not from Hannah, she is doing great).  It's been really rough and I fantasize about putting in my notice and walking away forever on a daily basis.  This has been my hardest September yet: a caseload twice as big as other years, an onslaught of beginning of the year meetings and paperwork, parents requesting meetings, a student with significant behavior problems.  I have literally been working round the clock, but September is almost over, and things are starting to look up for October.  I am hopeful that Ryan will continue to do well at his job at Comcast and maybe someday I can work part-time or at a job that doesn't require so much of me. 










One major thing I haven't mentioned yet on the blog was that Hannah is now doing speech therapy two times a week.  I began to be concerned at the beginning of the summer because Hannah really only says a few words and she they are the same few words she has said since she started talking-- no new ones.  At her age she should have a large vocabulary of more than 50 words and combining words into phrases.  When I wrote out all of the words she said there were only five words on the list.  We are also seeing an increase in her tantrums and frustration as we are unable to understand or guess what she needs and wants. So I took her in for an evaluation and my suspicions that she is delayed were confirmed.  She is doing well at speech for the most part, but still prefers pointing, gesturing, dragging us around the house and signing as her primary means of communication rather than speaking.   They recommended 12 weeks of therapy and then looking at her progress, so I am anxious to see what her therapists recommend next. 




My sister and brother in law were in town for a visit and it was so fun to see them.  Ryan and I took a day off of work and joined them, my parents and quite a few members of Drew's family in D.C. for Jen's graduation. We all had a nice lunch as a family and then we went to the National Zoo.  It was a really great day to play hooky and have some nice family time.  It's always sad to say good-bye to Jenny as it will be such a long time until we see each other again.


Isaac has been busy with travel soccer again.  His team has had a few losses and a few ties but so far no wins which is discouraging.  Tonight he is being a "ball boy" at the high school jv and varsity soccer games.  He loves doing that.

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.