Summer fun in Philly

This summer's free events is quickly developing! Here are a few spots I've noticed so far:

Wednesday free concerts.
Wednesday cheap happy hours at Center City Sips.
Thursday free movies at Penn's Landing.

I'm sure there are more to come! Let me know if you find any others...

Memorial Day plans

Sarah and I will be flying into Grand Rapids Friday night. We'll be in the Holland area for the weekend to celebrate Jordan's high school graduation!!! The graduation ceremony will be Sunday afternoon, with his open house to follow. We'll fly back to Philly on Monday afternoon. We can't wait!!

We will also be returning to Holland at the end of June for two reasons. First, our dear friend Rebecca Marcus is marrying a wonderful man named John Brown. And second, we will have our Michigan wedding reception on June 28. If you're reading this, you're invited to attend! The event will be from 1-3PM at the De Boer house on 40th St. More to come on this soon...

Three more weeks

The countdown has begun! I only have 13 more days of teaching to do before school is out! Our last day is June 6, but with Memorial Day in there and a trip to Washington DC on May 30th, there are only 13 actual teaching days remaining. =)

Sarah has been making huge strides into becoming a De Boer. She changed her name with social security, driver's license, and bank, and now she just needs to inform the credit card companies. The whole process hasn't been as bad as I thought it might have been. Before her name was on my checking account, I deposited a check made out to her into my account with her name on it. Normally that's fine as long as she has signed the back, but only I had signed it. Still, it went through! When we told the bank manager today as Sarah changed her name, she said that shouldn't have happened.

Cubs games have been a source of great joy recently. They're the second best team in baseball right now, and expectations are being raised for this year. Let's go Cubs!

Sabbatical no longer

My wedding sabbatical has ended: I am returning to my weekly blogging. While things haven't quite settled down in the De Boer household yet, they're close enough. Actually, Sarah asked me the other day if I felt settled. I responded that I did, and she said that she wasn't quite yet. Maybe it's the stack of five crates in our hallway? We've made progress though, and that's what counts.

I am approaching the four week mark of school. At times, it seems really far away. Other times, it seems really close! I know it'll be over before we know it. This week, my students have been pretty good. We've had a great understanding and expectation for how things are supposed to run in our classroom. The warmer weather and excitement for special events has made things more talkative in the classroom, but there are fewer conflicts.

My allergies have been awful the past week. Sarah and I made the financial decision to leave the windows down yesterday after my fauc--I mean nose kept running all night for a few straight days. Today's rain helped though; I feel leaps and bounds better than any other day this week. I even had a student bring in a note from her mom saying that she needed to stay inside during recess to avoid the pollen.

With my new move, I'm carpooling to school now! Laura (the 4th grade teacher) and I drive from Fairmount together. It's been great having company in the car and saving on gas!

Sarah and I are still developing new routines in our new life as a married couple. One of my favorites so far has been our bi-weekly trip to New Jersey, where we go to Wegman's for groceries and get the cheapest gas in the country (only $3.40 last week). We've also stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to spend our gift certificates and fill out our home. Who'd of thunk shopping would be fun? Certainly not me!

I'm pretty excited about the Cubs this year. Even though they've been in a funk recently, their offense has played well. Half their starters are reliable, and the other half should only be used as middle relievers.

This afternoon, I got an e-mail from Walden (where I'm getting my masters in reading). They approved my request to take two classes at a time this summer. Consequently, my final portfolio is due on September 15. After I turn that puppy in, I'll be done!!! Can't wait.

Cubs game in DC

So, as fate would have it, the one weekend in the 52-week year that I decide to get married is the ONE weekend that the Cubs come into Philadelphia. Blast. Sarah offered to go to the game after our reception, but we both decided it'd be a little too much. Instead, we snagged tickets with our friends Will and Michelle to the Cubs/Nationals game in Washington DC at the Nationals new ballpark! We're heading there for the weekend tomorrow, and we're pretty pumped for our first roadtrip as newly weds. GO CUBS!

Just married!

It's been over three weeks since I've posted to this blog. In that time, I've undergone a major life change: getting married to my girlfriend of three years, Sarah Elizabeth Gardner (now De Boer!). It was an incredible experience, filled with grace and blessing. For me to describe it would not do it justice. We're LOVING marriage so far, even finding shopping and organizing all of our stuff enjoyable together. Yep, we're certainly newly weds. So what?? =)

Freakonomics

I'm a fan of the book Freakonomics. The authors started a blog after writing the book in order to continue the conversation on a daily basis. It became so popular that the NY Times bought it! One of today's articles discusses how reporters react to the stock market and make unproven claims about its ebb and flow. Here's my favorite line:

"Here are a couple of stock-market headlines I’d love to read one day:

“Stocks Surge, Reasons Unknown; May Be Nothing More Than the Random Fluctuation of a Complex System”"