Life Update

Wow..I was rereading some of my post today and it made me miss blogging on a consistent basis. So here i am again..trying. We'll see how it goes.

Work: Words cannot even begin to describe how much i LOVE my class. It is so depressing knowing that i am half way done with them. These past 12 weeks have been flying by. Dont get me wrong, they test my patience on a daily and even hourly basis. But i love it :) They truly are a great group of kids and i am going to be so sad to have to leave in February. Besides the love of my class, I really enjoy the staff. They were all so welcoming and helpful! Only 3 more days till christmas break and the kiddos are def ready for a break.

Wedding: Guess what I am not going to say i haven't done anything. Because its been so long since i blogged i have accomplished some. We booked the DJ, Photographer, Reception hall, 95 % of the center pieces are bought (just need candles), Save the dates are printed and in hand (sending them out after the Holidays), favors are bought (just need to print the cards that go with), My dress was purchased, and the bridesmaids dresses are picked out and ordered! YAY!! My next goal is to focus on cake and flowers.

Life: Life has been pretty well. I will be an aunt to two little boys come feb/jan. I am looking forward to christmas!!! Luke and i are keeping it kind of small. We are exchanging small gifts then we are buying tile for our bathroom..ugh we are getting old and boring. haha

Welp thats all for now :)

Lyss

Great News :)

So, i feel like i start every post the same way....talking about how i have not written in a while and im going to try to write more often. I really want to.. i just feel like i never have the time... but with beebs coaching hockey 2 nights a week... maybe i will start to have more time!

I have some wonderful news... From November to February i will be a 6th grade teacher :) Yupp this girl is filling in for a teacher going on maternity leave! I have so many mixed emotions. I am excited because long term sub positions can lead to a teaching job, however...i am so nervous! Most/all of my experience has been with the little ones (k-2) and i loved it..and i have never been in a 6th grade classroom. It will be challenging and tough but i am looking forward to the challenge... it will only make me more marketable and a better teacher :)

As of right now i am still TSSing and hopefully starting to day to day sub. Our sub positions are posted online and they are first come first serve.. so i have been stalking the website to ensure that i will be working everyday.. however teachers tend not to take off in the beginning of school..so for now ive been being a bum.. :) --which gets very boring. -- haha!

Wedding planning is actually starting to come together...updates and pictures to come soon :)


Alyssa :)

Decisions Decisions

I really need to write more often..more for myself then for others. Although I often have a hard time putting my emotions and feelings into words... it really can help to get them out. And sometimes it very therapeutic to go back and read the some of my exciting and good post.

I have been making some pretty sweet decisions lately!

While on vacation, Lukes aunt (who is amazing at decorating) bought us a ton of stuff for our center pieces. Our center pieces are going to basically be a white lantern with 2 shells and a star fish. There will also be fishing net and a small piece of drift wood. I am so excited and i hope the picture in my head matches what it will really look like. Making progress people!!! I also plan on booking the DJ and photographer VERY soon! We are shopping for dresses for my bridemaids in a few weeks.

I have officially put my 2 weeks in at work and will be a substitute teacher for the upcoming school year at 5 local schools. I hope this was the right choice to make....well cross our fingers and pray.

More post to come soon..hopefully

Great News

It feels so great to finally have some good news around here! I feel like my life has fallen into a rut or bad news and drama. None of which I am a fan of. This is a little sign that even in a time of life when NOTHING is going right..someone up there is still looking down on you.

Janelle, my twin/other half, had an interview today for a preschool intervention position at our local school.....and she got offered the position! How FREAKING sweet! I am beyond stoked for her (a little jealous? yes) But she totally deserves it!

I am so happy for so many reasons.. 1) my wedding gift will be AMAZING because she will be making bank ( haha jk..a little) 2) I feel like its the step she needed to feel as if her life was moving in the next direction. (with living at home after college..it can kind of feel like HS) 3) I know she'll go out there and make some awesome connections so that i can be right behind her in getting a job!

Shes excited and a little nervous but you can bet little sis will be right by her side helping her all the way.

Life..you still kinda are good!

Lyss :)

Updated Pics of the house

I have not updated pictures of our house in so long. Not too much has changed. Our house is finally starting to feel like a home and its so exciting. There is so much more we want to update, however it is on hold until after the wedding.

Our bedroom...I really need help with the direction
I want this room to go in.

Guest room

Kitchen

Dinning Room

Living room

Loving the way the living room is coming together

Office

Back porch

Backyard

- lyss

work, pup, life update

I wish i had more time to write everything that is going on in my life..but i dont nearly have enough time. But since i was a bad girl and skipped church to sleep in this morning (first time in over a week).... i thought i would try to blog a little.


Work: The school year is over. Somewhat bittersweet. I am going to miss my little boy i TSS for so much! It was the most amazing feeling and experience to see how much he has grown and progressed in the past year. I could not of had a better client and i am going to miss him! This experience has reminded me over and over again why i picked the profession i did. And even though it could be years (yes years) that i have my own classroom, i know i made the right decision. Tomorrow starts the kickoff of summer camp for job #2. Its going to be different. Ill finally work straight through the day without awards amounts of time off in between...and most of the time i WONT have to get up at 530! Yay :) The one thing I'm concerned about about camp is this nature thing they are trying to push. Don't get me wrong nature is amazing and i think kids spend WAY to much time inside being entertained by games, toys, etc, when they should be outside playing using their imaginations.... But they want us to take the kids on nature trials and do activities in the woods where there are poison ivory, snakes, and all the other wonders of the woods....i feel as if i am not trained enough in nature to take 32 2nd and 3rd graders into the woods and feel comfortable with all that liability on me.

Pup: Luke contacted the breeder at the beginning of the week to get an update and shes doing GREAT so far. She has not growled, or tried to bite yet. Which is totally awesome but yet i broke down and cried..Why..Why..why is she being good for her? and not us? Why couldn't it of worked here? I was/am so torn. The breeder said we could visit her and take her back...but i'm afraid it is going to happen all over again..and i cant give her away twice. But the positive note is if we do not take her back the breeder is going to keep her. She has always wanted to keep a pup from her litter...and Lakota will be with her parents. I miss her everyday.

Life: Life is life. I have some not so good things going on right now that does not need aired on here..so keep my family in your prayers.

I am starting to come to the conclusion that just because someone is "family" doesn't mean i can continually try and work things out with them..when they clearly dont give a damn (this topic i may write more about later..when i have 5 hrs to spare)

Wedding: What am i engaged? yup. and nothing has been done. I suck. Bottom line. I need help.

lyss :)

I didnt want to...but i had to...

This is so hard for me to type.. yet its been 5 days.

Luke and I have been having problems with our pup. She recently became aggressive and possessive. It started out small, just over her rawhide, but eventually turned into her rawhide, toys, things she wasn't suppose to have, if she didn't want to move, and food. We tried everything we could. We had her fixed, obedience school, trying certain training tools at home, and even paying 100$ for 1 hr of training. Nothing worked. We made the decision to return her to the breeder. It was one of the toughest decisions we have ever made. My heart and head battled. But it was obv that she had established dominance in our house and we couldn't fix it.

We are heart broken, devastated, and at a lost for words. This wasn't what was suppose to happen. She was suppose to be my our sides for years to come. But it wasn't meant to happen i suppose everything happens for a reason.

If there is a positive side, Luke and i are able to enjoy our life as a couple. We are free to come and go as we please, but i would do anything to have her back.

We love and miss her to pieces but like they say the right decision and the easiest decision are not always the same. I pray that the breeder can work with her and find her a loving family.

We miss you koters and you will always have a special place in our heats.

Thank-you Teachers

This week is teacher appreciation week. I had my kiddos make cards for all of their awesome and wonderful teachers! When i walked in the house after my 14 hour day there stood luke, pup in one arm and flowers in the other. I know i am not a real teacher yet, but it made me happy :) It also makes me want to teach even more.



Thank-you to all the teachers out there :)

lyss :)

Good News

The good news i was talking about is finally here..well as of Friday but im a tad behind in life. But Lukas got a job offer at a new company! YAY! We are so excited he will be working in the HR department. He totally deserves it and has been working so hard recently! so...now if only i can be happy in my career life.,..but i won't hold my breath.


lyss :)

Update on life

Life is life. Duh. I feel like i have been just going with the flow. A wise girl once said..only dead fish go with the flow. (that girl was me).. and here i am doing what i never wanted to do. I feel like im sorta at a standstill. I am TRYING to get my teaching stuff together to submit to the ONE yes ONE job within an hour radius of my town. Now you see, it shouldnt be all that hard.. i had all of my info updated and ready to go a few months ago....but technology loves to screw me and my jump drive decided to get a virus and refuse to open...so right now it is in good hands trying to get fixed. Im praying. seriously. ALL my student teaching stuff is on there along with everything i need to apply to jobs. Fingers and toes crossed that it will be fixed by monday.

Work is work. Nothing new or exciting. Getting ready for summer camp to start..which is a lot of planning and meetings.

The pup is awesome. Shes living the life while driving me nuts. Shes totally ROCKING puppy class and the trainer is stunned by her awesomeness..what can i say..look at her mom. But she is not so awesome and well behaved at home..i dont get it. shes a show off.

We are slowly and when i say slowly i mean baby steps turning our house into a home. We have switched our focus from the inside (which still needs some TLC and decorations) to the outside. We ripped out the wheelchair ramp and racked up the bizzillion leaves.

Wedding stuff has taken a giant leap. Giant for me. We looked at two (yes TWO) reception venues....and i liked the one..but its ALL inclusive and expensive and the other i just was not feeling. Sooooo..we are still planning and talking and trying to make decisions. I want to try on dresses soon. Im getting a little excited...ugh but SOO much stuff to do and many decisions to make..which you all know i hate.

Possibly some SUPER outa this WORLD news to come soon! Fingers crossed!

Lyss :)

My New Sidekick

So i decided...with a little push from Lukas, to upgrade my phone. I was tired of having a ghetto phone and i think i deserved a new one :) So i am now the proud owner of the iphone 4. I am no longer on the loser train when it comes to cell phones..although i about pooped my pants when the guy told us how much our bill would be each month with two iphones.....

i am still happy to have this guy as my new sidekick..now if only i dont drop and break it....haha

lyss :)

Night Out

andy loves pics with us

We met up with the beebs later in the night

My beautiful twin sister

Best friends and causing trouble since 1989.

It was great having a girls night out :) I love these girls to death and i dont know what i would do without them!

Lyss :)

First Day of Puppy Training

Last night was Lakota's first puppy training class. She was excited.. and i was a little nervous. I should of had faith in my baby girl...but luke and i both thought she was going to be the worst puppy there. But she wasnt. She did really well :) I was a proud mama! We did get handed the lemon juice first by the trainer..and i thought oh no its all down hill from here..but it didn't. There were soo many dogs in the class (about 12)...all different kinds and sizes..and i may be just a little bit bias..but Little Lakota was by far the cutest one there!

This week we learned how to sit with release, stay, and laydown. She already kinda had those down..with a treat..but now we are working on it without a treat. So this week we will be working with her so that next week hopefully she'll have it down :) Im excited to see how this class can help us...however the trainer rained on my parade just a little when she said that she has only had one success story with huskies, and that was 4 years ago. Hopefully koters can be the next...bbbahah. We'll see.

All ready for her first day @ school.

lyss :)

St. Patricks Day Art Activities

Paper plate rainbow/pot of gold

I am lucky shamrocks

Handprint Rainbow

Lyss :)

Cut welfare not education

I tried the positive look on life and it was going really great..it was. Until i found out about the education cut and how PA is going on a salary freeze and they are suggesting schools to go on a hiring freeze as well. Now they are considering closing a few elementary schools . Im irritated...cut welfare not education. I did not go to school for 4.5 years and have 250$ + a month in school loans to be a daycare teacher.

Now what? Will the sub list be even more crowded? Will it be worth subbing? Will i even get called in? How long till i can do what i love. Its so hard because i knew it was going to be tough getting a job in this profession in this area....but the outlook is not looking to bright.

I know i need to stay positive. I heard of a few job openings up the mountain. But now my jump drive is not working that has my current resume, application, and cover letter on it. YAY oh the joys of trying to stay positive......

lyss :)

Softa table has arrived

Last week our sofa table finally arrived from overstock. Luke and I (meaning mostly Luke with a little bit of moral support) put it together immediately. We were so excited to get it together. Does this now make us lame home owners? I think so. Once it was together... i loved it! I couldnt wait to hang the mirror above it. Lukes aunt (who is the queen of coupons and deals and can even find a way for a store to pay her to buy stuff got it for us for....3$...yes 3 dollar bills. How? i cant remember. But i know it had to do with a 50% off sale, a coupon, and something else..but yea pretty sweet.

Anyways the other night we finally got the mirror hung with it. I am a little anal and the mirror was a tad and by tad the little bubble in the level was a weee bit not in the center. I made luke fix it because it drove me nuts. I think he was about to cancel the wedding and leave me with how particular i am. And i might have been a little (a lot) dramatic over the weee croockedness.

But its all done and i think it looks pretty darn cute and finally gives the awkward space behind the couch some purpose.
Lyss :)

Happy Belated Birthday Dr. Seuss

For Dr. Seuss's Birthday Birthday we made Thing 1 and Thing 2 hand prints. We also read some of my favorite Dr. Seuss books. I may or may not have about four of mine own. (For my future classroom of course ;))

All you have to do is:

Paint 4 fingers blue and the palm white (hair and face).
Then on the other hand paint the palm red and your thumb, pinki, and 2 other fingers red (leaving one not painted) For the body and feet.

(i may have accidentally forgot to paint the red palm the first time around and had arms and legs coming out of their faces.....)


lyss :)

Confused... to sub or not to sub?

Recently I have been missing NC... a lot. I am sure a lot of it has to do with the cold snowy days we have been having recently and the fact that my night life was at an all time high..but its more than that. I miss teaching. I miss getting up at 630 (yes that's later than i get up now), going to my classroom, seeing my kids, teaching, and most of all seeing my kids learn. Don't get me wrong I miss the state and I would move there in a heart beat if I could move my house, my family, and fiance there with me..but I know that's not going to happen. So I have decided... I need a teaching job here in my hometown. Not just for the money, for my sanity. I am blessed to have a job right now that pays the bills...but I am simply not happy. I am miserable and its effecting other parts of my life. But at the end of the summer I will face a fork in the road.

Option A: I keep working at my 2 current employers with consistent hours and pay. Giving me some experience, but not the experience I need to get a job in my hometown.

Option B: I go on the sub list for all the surrounding districts. The problem with this is that the pay is extremely low and the hours are not consistent. Therefore a nights and weekend job will be a must.

I need the money, yet i need the experience.

It's a lot to think about and a big decision. And we all know how I am with making decisions....hence why the wedding planning is STILL at an all time slow.

Teachers out there...what do you say?

Lyss :)

Sofa Table

I have been searching for a sofa/hall table f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Okay not exactly forever but for a few months..And i think i finally found one that matches our living room furniture perfectly! I wish our set had one that matched it...but it didn't. I found it on overstock.com. I will be ordering it tomorrow when Lukas gets home from coaching hockey.

Hopefully the color is true to the picture.


Lyss :)

Drama Queen

A new drama queen has entered the family and pushed my sista to the the side. Now starring the drama queen of ALL drama queens.. Miss. Lakota Rose. This is just one of her moments captured with my ever so slow camera phone.....


This is little miss drama queen Lakota ignoring me because i was yelling at her. Sorry koters i will not let you chew on the nails that are holding our floor in place right now. I hope that someday when you are no longer a crazy lil pup, that you will understand. Love you no matter what!


Lyss :)

Winter art projects

We have been doing some fun winter activities at Jgap. Here are just a few that are hanging up now.

The kids made the snow flakes. We talked about how no snow flakes are alike. They had fun designing their own snowflakes.

These are the cutest little penguins (some brown-haha) The bellies are lined paper. On their bellies the kids wrote what they like to do in the winter! So cute and fun :)

Winter pictures made with chalk.


Lyss :)

Am i finally starting to find the motivation?

So wedding has been not only pushed under the rug...but its under the rug that has been rolled up and put in the basement....the house hunting/buying has totally put the wedding plans on a halt...not that they were ever in motion to begin with..but i went to a wedding expo last weekend and it might have just given me the little (big) kick in the butt i needed.

I found this bridesmaid dress at Davids Bridal and it is my far my fav so far. However i want it in the bright blue color :)


There is another Bridal expo Feb 13... so im thinking that might help give me MORE motivation. Bring it on..i need it.

I may be having second thoughts on the reception hall .. i originally wanted it to be at this place:but.. its pretty expensive... and big. (im trying to cut the guest list down to save money and only have the people there who i feel need to be there).

I just wish i could find a place that was as pretty..a little smaller and possibly had an outside area...im on a mission to find exactly what i want...guess i better get moving!

Lyss :)

work in progress

kitchen

downstairs bathroom

living room

guest room

office

our bedroom

so much to to.. a lot of decorating and finishing touches.

lyss :)