Weekend Update

 Isaac rediscovered our karoake game on the Wii and has been singing Rick Astley's Never Going to Give You Up over and over and over.  He seriously knows every word.  It's sort of cute...

 

 and sort of disturbing...  I put my foot down with the video games and have relegated them to weekends only.  I expected it to be a much bigger problem than it has been.  Not worrying about video games leaves times during our crammed weeknights for a little bit of reading or family togetherness.  I figured Fridays and Saturdays he would revert to zombie status in front of the screen, but he has been actually using it in moderation.  I am so happy.  I hate video games, so this feels like a compromise we all can live with.

 

 

Saturday had us trekking down to Delaware for a soccer game.  Isaac played goalie again and did a great job.  The team had their third win in a row.  It is nice to see all of the hours and hours of practice paying off.  From there we  decided to check out Dorney Park's Halloween Festivities.  I loved these chairs spotted at a rest stop along the way.  I want some keystone chairs for my house.

 

Whenever we decide to go to Dorney Park on a whim, it always seems to pour on us.  Saturday was no exception.   We did get a few rides in before the deluge though.  This was my favorite shot of the weekend taken on Isaac's favorite ride, the Tilt-A-Whirl.

 

I'm not sure what is going on with me this weekend, but I broke three things.  A candle holder in my house, an outrageously expensive Yankee Candle at Target, and (worst of all), Ryan's favorite Phillies glass.  He was so sad.  This comes about a week after I washed (and ruined) his wallet and cracked the corner of his iPad.  I will never be domestic.

 

 

We have been having Ryan's girls over on Fridays.  The past few weeks we have taken them swimming at the YMCA, but this Friday we decided to change it up.  We took the kids to a little petting zoo.  It actually was pretty underwhelming as far as petting zoos go, but it was free and entertained the kids for an hour or so, so it still counts as a success in my book.

 

 

We finished up the night at Friendly's with some icecream. These two are buddies.  They worked together so nicely on the puzzle. 

 

 

Our weekend was fast but fun.  How was yours?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few quick things

Another week rolled by...

Whew.

As usual, we have been doing a lot of this...

 





So far his team has a had a couple of ties and a few losses.  Hopefully we get a win under our belt sooner or later.  Isaac has been rotating through positions including quite a bit of time as goalie.  I was concerned because he is the shortest on the team, but he gets better every time he goes in.  He has had a few excellent saves. 

 

I am really enjoying my new job.  It still feels like there are a million new things to learn and adjust to, but everyone is very nice and I think I feel like I am starting to get the hang of things more.  We had an inservice day to review all of the beginning of the year data which was information overload.  Preparing my third graders for mandatory state testing is a huge part of my job now, which is uncharted territory.

 

Ryan has been working on his training at Walmart.  Pottstown Walmart is finally becoming a SUPERWalmart with a Subway, nail salon, full blown grocery store, etc.  He is in charge of the whole new grocery side-- deli, bakery, frozen, produce, etc., etc,.  The best part is his shifts are either 8-5 or 11-8 and the store is only 10 minutes away.  Blissful after his long string of overnight shifts at a store an hour away.    Both of us feel a bit overwhelmed with our new jobs, but we are both really excited and happy. 

 

With Ryan's help I have been making headway on organizing all of my crafting supplies in the office, so that I actually use it as such.  Right now it is kind of a storage, catchall space with random piles of stuff.  Some of it is in boxes that I haven't opened since I moved in (over three years ago!).  When I want to work on cardmaking or crafting, I usually take all of my stuff downstairs in a big laundry basket and spread it out all over the living room or kitchen for several weeks days, which drives everyone except me crazy.  Anyways, with switching grade levels I brought home a ton of school stuff that now has to be stored in there too, so it was time to finally tackle it.  I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff, found new homes for a lot of stuff in other places, and started to organize what is left.   Ryan surprised me by cashing in some Best Buy points he had and getting me a small flat screen TV for that room, so I can still watch TV when I am working on cards.  When I finally finish in there I will post some pics.

 

Not too much to report on the wedding planning front.  Invitations should be coming out shortly, once we take the time to finalize the menu.  I swear, I am the most apathetic bride on the planet.

 

Happy Friday!  We will be spending our weekend taking Ryan's girls swimming, watching two soccer games, catching up on things around the house, and having dinner with my mom and dad.  What will you be up to?

 

 

P.S. I know the blog looks all kinds of messed up right now.  I am trying to change a few things up so hopefully it looks new and improved before too long. 

Just seems fitting somehow

Trying to remember...

 

 

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down.

Without the rain, there would be no rainbow....

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Weekend Report

My weekend started a day early. Isaac had a morning appointment at the pediatric cardiologist at Dupont.  His pediatrician was concerned that Isaac's has a heart murmur and that his heartbeat is irregular so he referred us.  We were very impressed with Dupont.  They were very friendly, they put Isaac right at ease.  Isaac did a great job for his EKG and ultrasound.  I was so proud of him.  They decided that he has an innocent heart murmur but he does NOT have an arthymia.  So that was great news.

 

 

After we finished up at the doctor's office, we *probably* had enough time to go back to school, but seeing as it was Friday, we decided to play a little hooky.  We got some lunch and did a little shopping.  We checked out a fun new bookstore we had never been in before and (of course) I couldn't walk out empty handed.   

 

 

It is soooooo good.  I've already torn through about half of it.  We rounded out our fun day by picking up Ryan's girls and going swimming.  It was a great day of family fun. 

 

The next day Isaac had a soccer game and I headed into the city to the Paper Source to try to tackle my wedding invites. 

 

 

 

Isaac and Ryan took a train into the city and met up with me afterwards.  I had bought a Groupon for a reduced admission price to the Acadamy of Natural Sciences.   

 

They had an amazing butterfly garden...

 

 

 

 

We loved the dinosaur bones...

 

 

It was hot as blazes that day.  I was a sweaty mess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope your weekend was as fun as ours was!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linking up with Molly for YOLOMonday

This is my life...

Insta-Friday

 

A few randoms from this week:

 

These were in five dollar bin at Target.  These were two of my favorite movies when I was a kid.  We have rewatched them both this week.  "Did he just say funky butt-loving?"

 

So I made a few new recipes this week successfully.  I'm on a domestic roll. These strawberry muffins were to DIE FOR.  Ryan doesn't like chocolate OR peanut butter (*gasp*), so I am always on the lookout for desserts that don't have either of those.  This oatmeal spice cake with brown butter frosting was a winner with all three of us.

 

 

Ryan has a new job which means he officially quit 7-11 [insert Hallelujah chorus here].  The tiny old Walmart in town is finally getting the facelift into a huge nice Super Walmart and Ryan is in charge of all of the new departments (meat, bakery, frozen, produce, dairy and the deli).  His new job comes with a much shorter commute, an employee discount, and no overnight shifts!  They gave him a few days off before he begins training and we have been loving having him home.  

 

 

We tried to squeeze in a Labor Day trip to Dorney Park and Wild Water Kingdom but the weather didn't cooperate...

 

 

 

I had a quick trip to Lancaster.  This is always a familiar sight when I am at my mom's.

 

 

 

When I was there my mom had picked me up this hot pink shirt from H and M.  You can't really see from the picture but the top part is sheer fabric.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE that it is neon and pink. (Ryan is coming to the realization that I will probably be one of those old ladies in gawdy polyester pantsuits). 

 



 

Lastly, I finally had to force myself to retire my favorite Zebra bag.  It has been such a good, faithful purse for many years.  I am on the lookout for a good replacement. 

 

 

How is your weekend shaping up?  We have soccer, I am doing a wedding workshop at the Paper Source that will hopefully result in getting my wedding invitations out. 

Perfect Saturday

Do you ever just have just a wonderful day, that leaves you so content and grateful when you hop in bed at night? That was me Saturday.

First of all, I had a great hair day.

 

 I spent Friday night at my parent's house in Lancaster because my favorite almost second grader was spending the day at beach in Atlantic City with his dad and "56 of his dad's closest friends".

 

After a huge breakfast with my parents at a cute little diner, my mom and I headed out to Blue Ball, for Blue Ball Days (go ahead and giggle, I know it is funny).  Basically, the entire town has a yardsale.  We went last year and I made out pretty well, so now it's a tradition.  The Amish and Mennonites take yardsaling very seriously.  They will put anything up for sale.  We saw old rusty tools, bras, ancient appliances.   They also set up shop selling food, drinks and lemonade. 

 

I didn't buy these (too expensive... and Ryan would have killed me if I wore them anywhere...)

 

But I did buy these:

Having taught kindergarten and first for the past four years, I have discovered I am lacking age appropriate materials for third graders.  I could have brought home four times as many books.  There were great books everywhere we went.

 

After that I went home and met up with Ryan for a bit.  We had been coming and going all week it felt like, and it was so nice to just take some time together to reconnect.  He was able to join us for my brother Joe's birthday dinner.  We had a very fancy schmancy dinner at Creed's in King of Prussia.  Then, of course, we had to do Zwahlen's for dessert.

 

 

Hope your Monday is super! 

 

 

 

 

Linking up with Molly...