Last Girl's Night in Syracuse

I just took a peak at the last month's worth of blogs to see what I have actually blogged about and what I haven't, boy do I have a lot to catch up on!

Rewind to Easter Sunday.
My guy was home all of 48 hours and departed with our fur babies for St. Louis Easter night.
Monday morning the packers arrived bright and early to start packing away all of our belongings and memories.
The girls were finally starting to feel better but Quinn started exhibiting major signs of separation anxiety. So despite the fact that I had hired help that week with the Zabies, I still had an appendage by the name of Quinn Harper.
Josh was scheduled to arrive back in Syracuse late Wednesday night, scheduled being the key word.
Bad weather in the mid-west caused his flight to be delayed out of St. Louis and he then missed his connection. Thursday was a day full of cancelled flights out of Chicago (where he landed around 3:00 AM). He moved his reservations around a few times and finally ended up getting a flight to Rochester, NY (that actually took off) and driving home to Syracuse, getting in around 7:30PM.

I had my last Girl's Night that night. We spent it in, in our pajamas to accommodate all of our tears.
It was a nice evening with the ladies I spent many of my days and nights with while I lived in Syracuse.
I love this group of ladies and I miss them terribly.
I just want to call them and schedule a play date.

Towards the end of the night they brought me this bag as a gift. It's a Wegmans cooler bag... a really nice cooler bag too! I had no idea what to expect inside of the bag but it was one of the most thoughtful gifts I could have ever gotten.

The bag was just the beginning of the trend of the items inside. 

The theme was Central New York. 

All things were special to Central New York. 

Such as Dinosaur Bar-B-Que sauce. 

Dinosaur is a local restaurant that is yum-o!

A Syracuse ornament was the perfect addition so I can add it to our tree this year.

And of course you can never have too many beer openers.

Lucky Goat is a local goat milk soap store in Skaneateles, NY. They have their own goats and make all of their own soaps. The store is super cute!

These Witty Wick candles are locally made and sold at the Farmers Market. They smell divine, are made of soy and their names are very witty. Your house or mine? When life hands you lemons, light up a jar of grass.  

Both appropriate candle names for the occasion. 

They also gave me a photo album of all of our play dates and family pictures of each of them. 

Syracuse Love.

This culinary flake salt is found at the bottom of one of the Finger Lakes, Seneca Lake. 

And my very own Syracuse Tee Shirt. 

I love this mug. I frequently refer to Syracuse or CNY as my home in New York but I lived in the Village of Baldwinsville and LOVED it. So this mug is very special to me. 

Terrell's is New York's only independent Potato Chip company. 

Potato Chips made by New Yorkers for New Yorkers. 

Very cool!

I loved my gifts from my girlfriends. 

I brought little pieces of CNY to St. Louis with me because of them. 

So sweet!

Last night I lit one of the candles that mirrored my mood.

When life hands you lemons, light up a jar of grass. 

I'm missing my friends. 

Is it too soon to visit?

Phone Blogging...

I'm blogging from my phone today! We have officially said goodbye to our home in CNY. It was an emotional farewell but I will spare you the details (for today, at least)! We are making a grand road trip out of our trek to St. Louis, MO as a family of four. There are a few stops along our way and I can't wait to share all of the details! I promise I will be back to blogging on a regular basis as soon as we have settled into our new home. For now I'll leave you with this photo! 

We are all over the moon the be reunited as a family of four! 

Smiling

The last few weeks have been crazy. I would be lying if I said that anything about moving 1,000 miles away for a job relocation is easy while your spouse is already in the new location, coupled with being sick and having sick children. 

A couple weeks ago I called my husband crying. I was sick with bronchitis and was barely able to complete the daily tasks that was needed of me for our girls. 

I just needed him to come home to help. 

My husband, who was thinking more clearly than I, quickly called my cousin who he knew was on spring break from her teaching job and recruited her for help. 

She was here for almost a week helping with everything.

He knew he could only come to help for 48 hours and that she would be of more help than he would. 

And boy was she!! 

She cooked us dinner, helped serve every meal, cleaned, changed diapers, played with the Zabies, read them books, kicked the soccer ball around with them and tons of other things.
It was neat to see the young, thriving and passionate teacher in her as she attempted to teach the Zabies things as she played or read to them.
It was all so nice as it gave me the opportunity to relax and heal.

The girls love their Auntie Heather {she's like a sister to me as mentioned here}.
Thankfully they remembered her from our recent trip to Georgia where she was luckily on winter break and could spend lots of time with the girls and I.
She made a great effort to see us while we were visiting, one of the many things I love about her.
We spent time hanging out, going to dinner and shopping.
All fun things that I love to do with her!

I'm currently smiling because I just re-read my sister love post which is also the post hyperlinked above. Reflecting on her time here and what to write about,  I remember feeling very guilty that I took her away from a week of freedom and relaxation to a house full of sickness and whining. She teaches a class of twenty-five 4th graders, so she needed the break. I'm smiling because I am reminded that she is like a sister to me... and that's what sisters do for one another. They drop everything, no matter the importance and help out. I still feel a little guilty because, let's be honest, sick twin toddlers is no cake walk but I'm also smiling because she did it with a smile on her face.
I am so thankful Josh flew Heather up from Georgia to have a partner to help with cleaning-up, baths and watching tv shows {and SO much more!}.

And that she so selflessly took the time to do so!

It's the Little Things Link-Up + Movers

Today I am linking- up with Jess who blogs over at Sadie Sky Boutique for It's the Little Things Link-up.  Go check out her blog and weekly Wednesday link-up!

Movers have descended upon us. 

Everything that the girls know and love about our home has quickly changed. 

While Kensington is unfazed by the packing of all of our cherished family items, Quinn has started having some separation anxiety as a result of it all. 

Accomplishing anything the past two days has been very difficult without a crying Quinn nearby. 

She would rather I sit and hold her until it's all over and done, which is totally unlike her. 

Thankfully, the packers have been amazing with the girls. 

They greet them every morning and have conversations with them throughout the day. 

The guy who has been packing our kitchen let the girls help stuff paper into the boxes for extra cushion. We also made a tunnel and fort out of boxes. Everyone has been letting them "help" draw smiley faces on the extra heavy boxes, too. 

At the end of the day all they wanted to do was stuff more boxes with paper. 

Boxes and paper are truly a toddler's favorite thing to play with!

It's the little things that people do for us that makes difficult situations a little more bearable. 

I am so thankful that our moving crew is so kid friendly. 

It makes this move much more bearable. 

Has anyone done anything for you, recently, that made a difficult situation seem more bearable?

I love to hear about people doing nice things for others so I want to hear about it!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Easter Weekend + Catch-up

I have been out of touch over the last few weeks. I'm alive so no worries!

Life has been full of ups and downs during that time and, honestly, I just didn't have time to blog. 

Once we returned from Georgia we had one week of health and prep-time for moving before I came down with a severe case of bronchitis. It has been such a long time since I've been sick that it took me out for the count making life extra difficult since Josh was away at his new job. 

Despite the fact that I washed my hands five-bazillion times a day, the girls still got sick.

They have been pitiful for over a week and I still have a lingering cough. On Friday we were told they have pneumonia and today the movers come to start packing us up. This should be interesting!

I did everything I could to make them happy while trying to function at a semi normal level last week. 

But at the end of the day snuggles were all they wanted. 

We had two amazing days last week and we went on a few wagon rides. The Zabies were instantly happy the moment we walked outside. They are outdoorsy like their daddy!

Thankfully, everyone was feeling a little (kind of) better by the time supper time rolled around on Easter Sunday. 

We spent it with our sweet neighbors who are our New York family. 

We love them dearly!

Kensington didn't nap all day and this was what happened when her normal bedtime rolled around. 

Nothing completes a Syracuse Easter like Daddy's snow boots. 

Our sweet neighbors! The girls adore them!

This year I used a book to help the girls understand the reason or the season.  

How did you explain it to your kiddos? Any fun activities to help them understand?

I hope everyone had an amazing Easter!

Linking up with:

 Mommy Moments with Faith

Mingle Monday with Meg

Weekending with B Loved Boston