Great Gift

I struggle on Jason's birthday to buy him something that he will love, but also is still heartfelt.  This year, of course I bought him the material things like a sweatshirt, zip-up and watch, but I also made him a gift that he's still talking about.

 

I made him "Open When Cards."

 

I had seen the idea on Pinterest, and my students helped me with some of the topics.  I started with a set of cards and enveloped form Target for $10.  I chose a set that didn't have folded cards, but just a flat insert.  I also liked that it had a little gift box that they were already in.

 

Coming up with the Open When topics were the hardest part.  The first 20 were easy.  It wasn't until I got home and had a clear head that I could come up with the other 30. 

 

They are the gift that keeps on giving.  Each one is filled with a situation like:

-Open When: It's Central's MiniThon (that will be in March)

-Open When: You Miss Me

-Open When: You Want To Know How I Knew You Were The One

 

They were so much fun to do, and Jason has them sitting on his nightstand.  It warms my heart to see that he's opened one on his own when he sees that the time fits.

 

Here are the final products: 

 

 

 

If you're looking for an easy but thoughtful gift, this was a great idea!

Payback

This day has been a long time coming... It's the ultimate payback!!

 

For those of you that know my husband, you know that he can fall asleep absolutely anywhere at anytime.  He likes to play this game at night where he says "watch this" and he's asleep within seconds.  Sometimes I wish I had that capability, but most times not, since it creates the opportunity for some embarrassing pictures.

 

So without further ado, I present to you... the many places Jason has fallen sleep:

 

 In my parents basement on the sectional after Thanksgiving dinner

 

 At the cabin on the porch

 

 At Gammy's House

 

 At Grandma's House

 

 Closer Up At Grandma's House

 

 During the Family Ocean City, Maryland beach trip

 

 On Grandma's Porch

 

 Closer Up On Grandma's Porch

 

 Outside Grandma's Porch... man, he must have been tired this day ;-)

 

 At Gammy's House

 

 Easter at Grandma's House

 

 On Grandma's Living Room Chair

 

 During Christmas at My Parent's House

 

 During the family beach trip to Ocean City, New Jersey

 

 Actually on the beach of Ocean City, New Jersey

 

 On the Way to an Eagles Game

 

 Again in Gammy's Living Room

 

 On our living room/foyer floor after a long day of baseball

 

 In the car

 

 On the way back from our honeymoon

 

And finally, on the couch at the beach of OCNJ again

 

I realize that this opens me up for cruel punishment, but that's okay, I'm willing to take the chance.  A special thanks to my sister, Meghan for helping me compile these pictures, and I'm sure all the many pictures just like them to come in the future!!



Central League

If you've followed my Facebook page, you would have seen that Jason's summer baseball team won the Central League Championship this year, which hasn't been done since the 1980's!

What's even cooler is that there wasn't a photographer at the game that night, so the local newspapers printed my pictures :-)

How awesome is this!?!

P-a-t-i-o

One of my favorite things to do at my parents house was sit out on their screened-in-porch.  While I knew I'd never win the screened-in vs. patio battle, I couldn't wait to get a backyard that I loved to spend time in.

 

Cue the backyard that we moved into...

 

 

Beautiful, huh?  While it wasn't our dream backyard, we got a steal on our house, so we knew we could eventually make it what we wanted it to be.  So what we did originally is just rip up the gorgeous hideous mismatched pavers that were so strategically put in place, run where the sump pump puts out the water to farther away from the house and we got this once the grass grew in:

 

 

 

 We filled in the big hole in front of the Bilco doors and gave them a fresh coat of paint as well.

 

We didn't spend much time out in the backyard even though the grass grew in, instead we were those people who sat on their driveway in folding chairs at nighttime to enjoy the outside.

 

We saved up for two whole years and finally got the ball rolling with Travis from Webster's Landscaping and of course I took pictures to document the process.

 

This was the end of day 1, ground leveled and graded, and ready for day 2.

 

Day 2 was full of stones and compacting

 

 

 

Day 3 was pavers, pavers and more pavers.  Somehow I even got roped into helping with this day.

 

 

 

Finally, Jason added some new beds, we put out our patio furniture, and we're starting to get the yard back in order with grass seed and straw.

 

 

 

We have already spent many nights out on this patio and cannot wait for all the memories to come!  It's FINALLY finished!!!

 

Check out pictures from this project and other house projects here: http://jasonandmalerieshouse.weebly.com/

 

 

Aruba

We were lucky enough to go on a second vacation this summer, and this vacation was to Aruba!  We got up extremely early on a Sunday morning and returned extremely late the following Sunday, but it was totally worth it!

 

I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from the trip!

 

This was our resort at the Marriott Surf Club in Aruba.

 

 This picture was taken from our room.

 

The beach was a few steps past the pool area.

 

 Here is the same view at sunset.

 

While we were walking downtown one night, we found this sign, and while they are dark, we took them anyway!  They turned out great!

 Ryan and Felicia

 

 Gary and Sue

 

 Jason and I

 

 Original Kelly Family

 

 Aruba was so Americanized that there was a Hard Rock Café downtown!

 

 

We spent one day exploring the island of Aruba and we saw many great places! 

 The lighthouse in Aruba

 

 Ryan and Felicia

 

 Sue and Ethan

 

Jason and I

 

 I loved these gorgeous flowers!!

 

 The breathtaking view

 

The trip wouldn't be complete without these pictures...

 

 

 

 The church in Aruba

 

 Gorgeous sea cliffs (yes, that's the Science teacher coming out in me)

 

 Caught the water just right

 

So pretty!!

 

 This was at what was called the Natural Bridge

 

 Ryan, Felicia, Ethan, Jason and I

 

Gary and Sue

 

 Jason with the money he won at the casino!  He was one happy camper!

 

 So Americanized that they not only had McDonalds restaurants, but locations dedicated solely to dessert.

 

Our last night there, we went on a Sunset Cruise, which was a lot of fun, and to answer your question: no, none of us got sick!

 

 Crazy wind, but on the cruise

 

Ryan and Felicia

 

They even had seagulls!

 

How cute is he?!?

 

 All of us on the boat, the guy who was running the cruise insisted on taking our picture

 

 As much of a sunset as we got that night because it was overcast.

 

 He loves ruining my pictures...

 

 Three brothers

 

Gary and Sue

 

 Felicia enjoying the cruise

 

 This one is blurry, but I still had to share it.  The guy running the cruise was so good at his job, that he even got a conga line going at the end.  Everyone enjoyed it!!

 

 Until next time, Aruba!!!  We had an amazing experience!!