Yep.

This seems about right. 

Until Your First Visit to Wisconsin

We just said goodbye to Cookie and Grumps. Intellectually, I know that we will see them again, that they will visit, and that we will have all sorts of fun things to show them when they get to Wisconsin. But I'm still sad. And I still cried. And Lucy looked at me, slightly confused, and asked, "Are you crying?" Apparently even she, at 7 years old, can understand that this is not the last time we will see Cookie and Grumps.

So, I will tell myself the message I'm constantly telling the girls when we talk about moving: it's okay to be sad. It's okay to cry and be upset. 

Boat Ride

I don't love the boat the way that Steve loves the boat, but the girls seem to have inherited his love of all things ocean related. Today we had the first boat ride of the season, and the girls were fired up to go fishing with Grumps. 

A Trip to the Whaling Museum

Grumps and Steve checking out the knots:

Caroline and Lucy teaching me about whales:

Caroline spent a solid 10 minutes playing with the vice:

Goofing around with Grumps:

Caroline and Grumps:

 

     

Being silly:

    

Dress Up at Cookie and Grumps' House

Big News

I have been noticeably absent (to my five loyal followers) in recent months. And they have been crazy months. Our big news is that we are moving to Wisconsin this summer!

That move means that we have to sell our house. We have spent the past few weeks painting nearly every wall in our house, replacing countertops, cleaning, and sending many loads to Goodwill in preparation to put our house on the market.

There are so many great things that have happened to us recently. Steve got the job as the head of high school at a private day school. I got a job as a math teacher in the same school. Our girls were accepted to the school as well. We are genuinely excited about the school and think it will be a great place for all four of us. We will be moving closer to my family. We put our house on the market and immediately received a lot of good feedback. We have an offer on the house and are ready to go to contract. We are so lucky. So so so lucky.

But the past month has been hard. While a move has put us closer to my family, it will also take us further away from Steve’s family. I say “Steve’s family” but it is our family, and it makes me sad to leave them. We told the girls about the move. Caroline is unable to really understand what is happening and so she has been pretty positive (and she is just a go-with-the-flow kind of kid to begin with). Lucy, on the other hand, has been sad. She has put on the brave face to people outside of our family, but she has expressed anxiety and sadness to Steve and me about leaving Connecticut. For the adults, it was tough to tell friends that we are leaving. I can’t say that I am meant to be in Fairfield County forever, but we have made some amazing friends here. I will miss them a lot next year.

I’m genuinely happy and excited about the move. But I’m sad. And it’s hard to balance those feelings while trying to get the girls to be excited about all of the changes that are coming their way. It’s hard to explain to them why we have to move and why we got new jobs (a question that Lucy is always asking). I’m also trying to be patient with the girls while being incredibly stressed myself about all of the moving parts of our move – packing, hiring a mover, finding a new place to live,  finishing up my job here in CT, etc. It’s so consuming.

So, a brief summary: good news, move to Wisconsin, stressful but happy times, and great opportunity for all four of us.

I tell Lucy constantly: I am nervous too, but I know that the four of us will be together and so I know it will be okay. It will all be okay.

Super Bowl Madness

The girls were just a touch crazy on Sunday morning after we got home from breakfast. Maybe they were just really excited for the Super Bowl?