The Big Move!!!

So the day after Christmas we had our nanny work all day so Gabe, his mom and I could do some more packing. This was on a Monday and we got TONS done, but of course not everything. We knew on Tuesday the packers were coming to do the kitchen, my china cabinet and our shed and on Wednesday the movers were coming to load the house up. I remember sitting with Gabe on the couch Monday night thinking how nice it is that we have 2 nights left and that tomorrow night (Tuesday) that we should do something special.

We went to bed to wake up to the crater for my chandelier to be ringing the door bell...everyone on the Jonas house overslept which NEVER happens. We had to get moving right away. The crater was in and out in no time. About 20 minutes after he was done we all sat at the table as a family have breakfast...and then the doorbell rings and it is the packers...my day was about to be rocked...The packers walk in, give their small talk speech and then look around to see we are not 100% done packing. She says to me, "you are not done packing as I see boxes open." My response, "I know we are going to finish today while you guys are here." Ready - - she says, "the movers are on their way right now to load this house up...you guys need to be packed." I was for sure she must be mistaken. I try and call the moving company but it isn't even 9 am so no answer. We immediately call Dyann to please come over, have Miriam (nanny) load up the boys for a full days work of adventure and Gabe and I quickly get dressed. Within minutes the movers were at our house and the day of chaos began.

I really could not tell you much about the day because it was such a blur. I started the day off thinking it would be relaxing and that we should do a super fun family dinner our last night, to the entire house and memories being packed up with no time to reminisce. Come 5 pm, everything in our house was packed on a truck and our home was empty!

We went to pick up the boys from a friends house and came back so they could understand that all of their stuff was coming with us. While they ran around the house enjoying the echos of the load voices in our empty hardwood floor house...I really looked around and felt like I was in a movie...I remembered the day Gabe and I moved into our first home together, the fun we had unpacking and making it a home and our first fight in our new house on where to put the glasses.  I remembered having Gabe's 30th birthday party there and celebrating with all of our family and friends. I remembered laying in my bedroom getting the call my grandmother had passed. I remembered a month later coming home from a night out with friends thinking I was pregnant and Gabe and I taking a pregnancy test in the middle of the night...We were pregnant!! I remember bringing Landon home from the hospital with Gabe...placing his carrier on the floor and looking at one another going...what are we supposed to do now? :) I remember where Landon was when he first smiled, laughed, crawled, talked and walked.  I remember finding out just 11 months later that we were pregnant again and chasing Landon around the house to get a picture in his "I am going to be a big brother" t-shirt...I remember Landon's first birthday party covered in cake...I remember kissing my baby boy good-bye when I left to go to the hospital to give birth to Dylan...I remember bringing Dylan home placing his carrier on the floor and Gabe and I looking at one another going" We got this" :) I remember Dylan's first smiles..I remember Dylan taking his first steps in the den. I remembered his first birthday in our big back yard and how we always lucked out on the weather. I remembered the water fight we had in our kitchen...I remembered the tough love cries from my kids when I wouldn't give them their way...I remembered all their smiles when I walked in the door from work after a long day...

I know it sounds like so much but it all zipped through my brain in a matter in minutes...Gabe loaded the boys in the car...I took one last look around...I turned off the lights, shut the door behind me and walked away...I got in the car and Gabe and I looked at one another and all he said was, "home is where we all are as a family and all of the memories come with us". We didn't say a word on the way home, just held hands and prepared for our next adventure in this journey of life!

Our first house!!!

Christmas!

This past Christmas was wonderful but also very bittersweet! We spent Christmas Eve with Dyann (my mother in law). She comes over in the morning and we do gifts and then we do a nice lunch. This year...we did Chick-fil-A. Give me a break people...I was moving in 2 days, I was not able to start making huge meals. Anyway, we did that, went home and played with toys and headed off to Christmas Eve Service at First Presbyterian Church where we meet my parents and sister. I always have loved the candlelight service there...they sing beautiful music and the boys pay attention as they do the story of Mary and Joseph on Jesus' birthday. The boys love the candles as well but not because they think they are beautiful but because I think they are already part pyromaniac :)

After Church we usually go to the Varsity but we went to a nice Italian place this year! And after that we go to my Aunt and Uncle's house for their annual Christmas Eve party. The day was great but by the time we got to the party, Dylan was already asleep on Gabe and Landon wanted to touch everything and their house IS NOT TOUCHABLE. I was exhausted after 20 minutes of saying be careful, don't take that, and its not a toy that it was time to go. Plus, Santa still had to lay everything out for the big day. Santa didn't bring too much this year because we knew it would be packed up 2 days later and also because Santa knew where we were moving to and had already made a stop there with a big gift!

Loving his leap pad game!

Dylan LOVES his leap pad and now they don't have to share!

Nona loves her Santa picture with the boys!

Seriously mom...take the picture already!

Come on...take it already so I can play with my car track!

Nona loved her gift...we got her aquamarine earrings from when I was in Brazil last year!

Christmas was the same as always! Cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we always sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then it is time to play with our toys and then off to Tink and Poppa's to open gifts!

Dylan got dancing/singing Elmo!

He is ready for Elmo to rock!

Sweet brothers!

Dylan was obsessed with the guitar!

Yes, Landon got presents but wanted nothing to do with the camera...

Dylan having a conversation with Elmo!

Landon got Francesco...couldn't have been happier!

Here we are at Tink and Poppa's house!

Dad very excited about his steaks!

Dylan is stumped on how to get into the box...plus I love the picture of his curls!

Landon keeps Leap in business!

Very excited about the Lion King!

Yes, this is my mom...she is an original!

We got Caroline aquamarine earrings as well...She loved them!

Exhausted after opening gifts and now time to watch The Lion King!

Dylan is impersonating Tink of her phone...make sure you check out the glasses hidden in his hair :)

Can I help you?

LOVE my Sissy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!

Family Pictures!

I really wanted to get one last set of family pictures before we left for Florida. Of course it was a great attempt at trying to get a Christmas card picture, but family pictures are hard to come by these days. You try and get two young and EXTREMELY rambunctious boys to sit still and look at the camera...HA! That's funny! Needless to say, I loved the pictures but it didn't work for our Christmas card.

Here was the best one of the four of us!

Boys School Holiday Parties...

I LOVE the holidays!! I love to decorate the tree and the house. This year was a bit different as we were not decorating at all...We were scheduled to move on December 27 so there was really no point when our whole house was almost completely packed up...BUT, we still had an AMAZING holiday with family and friends! I was glad  that our boys were young enough that they really didn't know the difference one way or another.

In between the Christmas parties and Christmas day, some of our amazing friends had a going away party for us...It was so much fun and such a great way to say, "See you soon". More to come on that in a couple of days once I get the pictures!

The first of the holiday parties was the boys school parties which were of course on the same day. So I took Landon to his and Gabe took Dylan...then we switched...It was loads of fun and comical to pass one another on the street :)

Chowing down on donuts...such his mothers child :)

Saying good-bye to Ms. Tomlinson

Saying goodbye to Ms. Hall

After I said my goodbye's to Landon's teachers, then I was off to Dylan's party!

Saying goodbye to Ms. Priss - who Dylan called Ms. Piss...HILARIOUS!

Dylan's other teacher Ms. Karen was not able to be there which was a huge bummer as she had been with Dylan from his first day in MMO.

We were so lucky to have such wonderful teachers for our boys...Florida has a lot to live up to!

Holiday Party and Zurich

So Gabe left for Florida on November 30 as he had to be back down here for work, and I was leaving on the 3rd so it was going to be the first time ever we have both traveled for work the same time. We always said we wouldn't do that but this time we didn't have any choice. It was the longest time ever we have been apart. Thank goodness for our wonderful au pair, my sister and my mother in law as they all took such amazing care of my boys!!!

On the 3rd, Caroline went with me and the boys to the kids holiday party for my job. The boys LOVE going to this every year. They go all out with the food, crafts, face painters, balloon makers, a cookie stand where you can decorate your own cookie, a caricature artist (we do this every year and have them from when they were born, TOO CUTE!!!) and most importantly Santa Claus. We have the BEST Santa that comes to the office, takes pictures and talks to the kids and all for free...doesn't get better than that when you don't have to wait in line at the mall :)

Landon was all about Santa this year and couldn't wait to tell him what he wanted...Dylan on the other hand just wanted presents but wanted nothing at all to do with Santa :)

Priceless!!!

Here is a cute one of Dylan and Aunt Cee Cee!

After the party was over, we rushed home to spend some time together before my car came and picked me up for my trip. Poppa (my dad) came over to see me before I left and Landon had a ball with him making a giant play-doh pizza. It was so big we couldn't even roll it (I think it had 10 small jars in it), so Landon resorted to his feet!

And yes, this is the same table we ate off of!

My car came, I hugged and kissed my boys and I was off. I do enjoys my trips even though I work a ton because I see one of my closest work friends who lives in London...it is like summer camp every 3 months. The flight was great, I SLEPT THE WHOLE 10 HOURS... UNINTERRUPTED!!! It was so nice.

Zurich was beautiful but not what I expected. I was there in December ans there was not an ounce of snow on the ground but it was beautiful...and the most expensive place I have ever been to! We stayed at an amazing hotel (it is the same hotel filmed in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) which has the most bizarre artwork. It could be offense to some but we took pictures of all of it because it was so out there!

NOTE - The pictures are worth it but it is a large download. You can open one pic and then scroll to the right. The last 2 pics are of the hotel and our car for the week...needless to say, we didn't suffer :)

While I was there I was able to sneak away one night and have dinner with our previous au pair, Jacqueline. It was so great to see her and catch up and I am grateful that I am given these opportunities to travel and see such amazing places and see wonderful friends!

After 8 very long days away, I decided to head home one day early...I didn't care the flight was direct...I was going home to see my family. I hopped a flight and got home around 11 pm on Friday night. I surprised Gabe since I didn't tell him I was coming home early...the look on his face and my boys the next morning was well worth the jet lag :)

Thanksgiving!!!

After I got back from Tampa, it was back to crazy town :) I had one week of insane work followed by Thanksgiving followed by my work trip to Zurich!

Work is always nuts but I always know before my big trips that the 2 weeks before that are beyond busy and call for very late nights of work. At least I know it in advance!

So I was back, full speed ahead! Somehow this work trip I was ahead of the game and it wasn't as insane as it usually is which was a nice thing. I was able to get home at a decent time, spend time with the boys and see friends before the holidays started.

We decided that since it was going to be our last year in our house that we wanted to host Thanksgiving. It turned out great! We always do a pot luck with us fixing the same stuff every year...we know what we are good at making. My mom always makes her famous sweet potatoes, Caroline makes her banging Mac n' Cheese and I always make my Caramel Apple Pie. Of course we have a few other things but those are our most important staples :) Dyann (my mother in law) went to see her Dad for the holiday so we missed her and her turkey...which meant it was up to me and Gabe to make the bird.  Now for those of you that don't know we too well, you need to know that I DO NOT do well with any sort of raw meat. Of course, the bird had been thawed and it was time to pull the gizzards and giblets out...and of course, Gabe was out of town. People would have paid money to see me gagging and dry heaving while pulling these objects out of this bird...I mean seriously, it is beyond gross!!! But, I did it!

Thanksgiving was a huge success! We all enjoyed each other and had a blast! The only picture we got was the one my mom used for her Christmas card. We always take her holiday card picture on Thanksgiving day since we all look nice and are together. Thanks goodness for my amazing au pair who took the picture...She is super talented!

Really is one of my favorite pictures ever!!!

After Thanksgiving I had one week and then I was off to Zurich. Remind you that before I left for Zurich, Gabe and I had not packed 1 thing...we were in denial! I left for Zurich on December 3...and we were moving on December 28...

More on Zurich to come...

In between holidays and making decisions...

After we decided that we were for sure going to move to Tampa, we had A LOT of decisions to make.

We had to sell our house, sell our of our cars, find packers/movers, find a new house, new school for the boys, new pediatrician, and much more...all of this while Gabe was basically in Florida full time and I was working full time and coming home to the boys at night!

We had one week between when Gabe accepted the job and when he started. In that one week, we packed up a lot of our house, put it in storage, had it staged to sell (thanks to Autumn Banks - - she is the BEST STAGER EVER!!! - If you need help, she is the person to call), listed it and put it on the market. After that one week, Gabe was gone.

I was very nervous about our house selling...let's face it...the market STINKS!!! So I was very anxious to see how everything was going to pan out. I also am a big believer in fate and I truly believed that if Tampa was the place we were supposed to be then everything should work out. People get roadblocks for things they want sometimes and I feel they are ignored...I had my eyes open wide and was very eager to see and Gabe and I were being realistic about that...after 2.5 months of changes, it was very apparent that we WERE supposed to be in Tampa.

We started getting showings on the house right away...but nothing more than once but at least we had traffic which I was told was a lot more than some people were getting. After about 6 weeks, we decided to lower the price a little and then we had A LOT more showings..we had a guy who was very interested but the street killed it (we live on a busy street) and then one day, we had a showing call with a barely another notice...they came and saw our house once and BAM...we had an offer...was it a great offer? No not really but it was an offer and in this market, we decided to make it work. We wouldn't have to take a check to the table which was the most important thing to us right now. So after a bit of back and forth, we had a contract and a date for closing...January 27...so please PRAY that nothing changes in the next week and a half!

That was all said and done by mid-November. One week after that, we were headed to Tampa for a long weekend of finding a place to rent and schools for the boys. We had lots of homes to look at but schools were an issue. I couldn't find ANY preschool that had spots for both Landon and Dylan. I would find one that had a spot for Landon and another that had a spot for Dylan, but nothing together so I was a bit discouraged.

I got to Tampa late Wednesday night and Thursday morning I went to the one and only school that had a spot for both boys...it was NOT GOING TO HAPPEN...I would have left them at home all day before I would have sent them there. I was not happy but had to hold it together because now it was time to find a place to rent.

I got in the car with the agent at noon and we finished at 8:30 pm...we looked at over 30 houses and I was brain dead. I narrowed those 30 down to 5 which Gabe and I were going to look at together on Friday after another visit with another school. I was beyond exhausted.

Friday morning I went to Panera to just relax for a bit and have lunch with a friend I work with as McKinsey has an office in Tampa...by the way, another reason I say Tampa was meant to be is that I got to keep my job...not just with McKinsey but with my boss. I was so happy...I would get to work from home which meant spending more time with my boys and more time for myself...I have an easier time walking away at night when  I am home than when I am at the office. It was just a great feeling to know I was moving somewhere I had never been to before and knew no one but for 8 hours a day, I would know exactly what I was doing and I was good at it...just a good feeling of comfort and security!

Anyway, after lunch, I went to the only other school that was left as nothing else struck me and they only had a spot for Landon...I walked in, took a tour and knew Landon would be great here. Very similar set up as to the day school so I was at least happy for that. I sat down with the Director at noon (supposed to meet Gabe and agent at 12:45) and after blabbing with her for almost an hour, she looked right at me and said she would be right back....She came back in and said, she couldn't bare for my experience not to be great and that she had made a spot for Dylan...I was ECSTATIC!!! Needless to say, I was late for the realtor but I didn't care...I had BOTH my boys in a good school TOGETHER!!! I got the paperwork, wrapped things up and went and met Gabe.

We went and looked at the 5 houses and he helped narrow it down to one. Those who know me know that I am awful and making final decisions. I am glad we met when we did and made a decision. We picked a house and called the agent. He said he needed the paperwork filled out and the deposit check. We booked a time and met him. He said he couldn't tell us on the phone but another couple wanted it as well and were on their way to get their cashiers check...we beat them to it by about an hour...just another sign!!! Gabe and I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and looking around...I was happy as I knew I was going home with a house and a school...mission accomplished...the cherry on top was a friend in Atlanta put me in touch with a couple here and we went to their house for a party and met some great people...we left there with new phone numbers and email...so hopefully leaving with some friends as well!

More to come but don't want to bore you to tears...even though this is mainly for my remembrance, I have to remember people read this :)