Wednesday, September 23, 2015

We're Back! With Big News!

Where oh where have you been, Baileys!?!

Well, to make a long story short, we moved to Germany!

For those who wish to read the slightly longer (!) version, keep reading.  Back (way back!) in the spring of 2014, Todd saw a job in Vicenza, Italy for a contracts attorney.  He applied for it, and while he was a finalist for the job, he didn't get it.  But when he got the phone call telling him he didn't get the job in October 2014, he was told about a job in Grafenwoehr, Germany that would be advertising soon.  So that finally happened in late December 2014.  He applied for a job, and not surprising, got an interview in February.  But then we waited.  And we waited.  But no one called to tell him he DIDN'T get the job.  Of course, no news is good news, right?  Well... finally in mid May, he got a call and they asked him if he was still interested in the job.  Of COURSE he's still interested.  He got a verbal offer in June, and on a whim, decided to ask for total student loan repayment.  Well, that took another few weeks, but in the end, we are glad he asked because he got it!  But the back and forth took FOREVER, so he finally got all of the details finalized at the end August/first week of September and we had three short weeks to get everything packed and ready to go.  This means the kids had to start school at Memorial again this year.  First day of school for my babies- kindergarten and third grade!


Brother and sister, hand in hand.


Obligatory picture in front of the school and of course, one in front of the house, below.


In addition to arranging the movers, we sold some stuff on Craigslist.  We got a temporary storage for some of our appliances which wouldn't convert in Germany.  We had to order medical records, school records, and get flu shots.  Todd had to drive down to Baltimore to deliver Harry Highlander so they could put it on a boat and ship it to Bremerhaven.  I had to give Sally Civic to our niece Madison. We had to cancel utilities, and insurance and all kind of other mundane tasks that have to be done when you move.

I also had to quit my job.  I wasn't really sure how I would feel about this.  I've always been a working mom, something I'm proud of.  I started from nothing in the world of floodplain management, and worked my way up and I felt like I was doing a pretty darn good job and was one of the best in my field.  Not to toot my own horn, but I really enjoyed my job with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  It really made me sad to leave.  I'm really, really hoping that there's a spot for me in the floodplain management world when we return.


Boy, do they know me or what!  WSP group of DCR knows I love me some cake!!!  Meanwhile, my boss Rich also retired earlier in the year, which made the decision somewhat easier.  He was an amazing boss... one I'm so thankful to have worked for. 

We also decided to hit up a few awesome late summer concerts before we moved!  First, Scars on 45 and Saint Motel up in Newburyport.


Sponsored by our favorite radio station!


This is the second time we had met the band... and Natalie declared, "Scars on 45 is my favorite band!"

Plus, we had a date night out and got to see Death Cab for Cutie in Boston.  Awesome show... ended with Transatlanticism!  SO SO GOOD!


Meanwhile, my nephew and Godson James was baptized the second weekend of September, so I went down to Florida for a few days for that.  It was really good to see a lot of people one more time before we moved overseas. 


Not only that, but I got to see Big Papi hit his 500th career homerun down at the Trop!  WHAT?  How awesome was that!  Not only that, but back in 1992, the original four Griswolds went on a weekend trip to San Francisco to see the Giants play in what might have been their second to last game at Candlestick Park.  At the time, they were thinking about selling the team to Tampa Bay (in the end, of course, they didn't).  Back in 1992 when we were out on the west coast that day watching the game, the St. Petersburg Times interviewed us (along with a couple of Tampa TV stations), and we decided to recreate the picture from that day. SO HILARIOUS!!!!

I mean, it just doesn't get any better than that.


Sunset at my parents house.  So beautiful.


My niece Greta discovered Croco.  No Greta, I love you but you must give him back! 


My brother's little cute family and my parents at James' baptism.

A few days before our departure date, the movers came and took our stuff. It was a long process and I pretty much did it all by myself since Todd had to work right up until the end. 


Most of our belongings out in the driveway.


Packing it all up.


After most of the stuff was gone, the kids came home from school on their last day and played with their tablets on the living room floor. I don't know why, but this picture made me really sad.

We went down to Plymouth for a couple of days to spend time with Todd's family before we left.  Literally, leaving his family is by far the hardest thing we have had to deal with in moving to Germany.  It's so wonderful to have his big, happy, fun family so close to us.  Two nights before we left, we went into Boston and stayed at the Hilton at Logan airport.  We spent the day before we left tooling around Boston, seeing some last minute sights and relaxing.


Natalie sang Grant to sleep that night.  It was the sweetest thing I've ever seen her do with him.  She's a sweet, sweet girl... but when it comes to her brother, her favorite saying is, "I don't like him!"


Hanging out at the Charles River Dam, playing some tunes on the bridge piano, and enjoying the sun.  The Zakim Bridge and the Garden are in the background.  My favorite city.

Finally on September 21, we departed from Boston to Frankfurt!



Nat and Todd trying to check in our 10 bags.  Yes.  10 bags.  To be fair, we did not have any Unaccompanied Baggage.  We put everything on the plane!


And they weren't exactly small bags, either!

 

Hey!  Who was at the airport with us?  Aunt Betty!  She was off on another one of her adventures... heading to England this time.  One Bailey to London, the other four to Frankfurt.


Natalie is super excited.  She was also a bit sad and nostalgic as we headed down the jetway.


Thankfully, they both slept on the plane without me having to drug them.  No seriously.  I mean, I had to drug myself, but not them.

Finally... Frankfurt!


After another short flight to Nuremberg, we finally were greeted by Randy, one of Todd's coworkers who picked us up at the airport and brought us to our temporary home in Eschenbach.


Welp, the kids liked it!



Jet lag.  The struggle (!!) is real.

Friday, May 29, 2015

Natalie-ism

"When we listen to Felger and Mazz, I feel like I'm eavesdropping on a conversation between two people that don't like the Patriots." - Natalie Bailey

Monday, March 9, 2015

Grantism of the Day

As I (Todd) drove Grant and Natalie to school this morning, I told them to look out the window at the snow.  "Before you know it, you'll blink and all the snow will be gone and it will be summer," I said.

Grant did not like that and told me that he didn't want the winter to be gone.  After a moment, he then told me that when he grows up, he's moving to Alaska! "Why Alaska?" I asked.  "Because they don't have any policemen," he confidently replied. "And why would that be a good thing?" I prodded.  "Because I want to explore ghost towns!"

Of course, little buddy, of course...

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Morning rituals and growing up!

In the morning when I drop off Natalie, we have this little routine whereby she stands inside at the window and I stand outside.  Then we draw little pictures to each other on the window with our fingers.  One morning it's a rainbow and gold, the next it is a heart and a flower and then the third morning a smiley face and star.  And we just rotate through those.  I started it in Kindergarten as a way to get me out the door but still be able to say goodbye.  Then she watches and waves from the window until I leave.  

Well, yesterday she told me she didn't want to do it. But she was in a grumpy mood at the time so I figured that was the reason.  Then this morning, I asked her whether we were doing smiley face and stars or hearts and flowers and she said, "I need to whisper something to you."  So, I bent down and she said, "I don't want my friends to make fun of me."  I told her we didn't have to do it if she wanted to stop, but she said, "No, I want to, but I don't want my friends to make fun of me."  I asked her what they said, and she said, that they said, "I saw what you were doing with your Dad."  Not too bad, but still for a 7 year old, you don't want any type of attention like that!  So, I told her she could just tell them, "Yeah, it's kind of silly.  But I just do it so that my dad doesn't feel bad."  Her face lit up and she said, "Yeah, that's a good idea... Smiley Face and Stars."  

 It was a very sweet moment.  Walking the line between two worlds.  Still holding on to being a little kid, but starting to feel the pull of growing up. I definitely took a moment to enjoy our "picture at the window" a little bit more this morning as I now know I may not have that many more left!

Monday, December 23, 2013

Natalie-ism!

Natalie: That person looked like a hippie.
Todd: Do you know what a hippie is?
Natalie: Yeah, it's a girl that acts cool. And she sometimes wears a short skirt. And they hula dance. Or sometimes just hula hoop.
Todd: Are you sure about that?
Natalie: Yes!

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Official 2013 Santa Photo

Presenting the 2013 Official Santa Photo.  And when I say this was the best photo of the bunch, I really mean it.


Because this was one of the other ones we took today.


Come on, this is HILARIOUS!!!!  This is what Christmas is all about!  I kind of want to buy another funny one that they took, but I had a $5 credit which made this second download only cost $4.99.  The head down is classic.  Merry Christmas from Natalie and the Grinch!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Plymouth Thanksgiving Parade

We decided not to go to Florida for Thanksgiving this year.  With Natalie in first grade, we didn't want her to miss a bunch of school.  And since Todd got furloughed earlier this year, it just didn't make a lot of financial sense to spend a ton of money to get down to Florida for what basically amounts to a long weekend.  We're hoping to go in the spring or summer of 2014. 
Instead, we stuck close to home and were able to go to the Plymouth "America's Hometown" Thanksgiving parade.  It's billed as the nations "second best parade."  I don't know why, but that makes me laugh!


Here's Natalie and Grant waiting with Bean for the parade to start. It was a really cold day but the rain held off!  Later, KK and Seth joined us too.


The very start of the parade.  The Pilgrim's return to their hometown.


There were some really neat floats like this one above of the Mayflower.  It actually rocked back and forth which was pretty cool.


 Grant really thought all of the cars were super cool, but really?  Whoopi Goldberg? I don't get it!


 I think Natalie must have taken this picture.  Where is she???  Grant, Mommy and Daddy enjoying the parade.


Oh wait, there she is.  Natalie looking cute as one of the floats goes by.  This float was a "before and after" showing what a classroom looked like during days past, and what a classroom looks like in the present.


They have this massive turkey float that goes by, but they have to stop and pull it's head down to make sure it can get under all of the power lines!


The Budweiser Clydesdales are always a big hit.  It always surprises me how big they are!  I love the little Dalmatian too.  He's so cute in all of their commercials.


There was a nice tribute to the victims of the Marathon bombing too.  It was a huge float with the Boston skyline and this was on the back of it.


Steve Horgan, the bullpen cop from the World Series was a part of the parade too!  Here is his with his hands in the air, just like he did after David Ortiz hit a grand slam in Game 1 of the ALCS vs. Detroit. 


This was the actual picture from the game. 


And of course, last but certainly not least was the Big Man himself.  Santa Claus.  Natalie and Grant were jumping with excitement.  It was another successful parade - and I think the kids enjoyed it much more than they did in 2009 (when Grant was only about 4 weeks old!) 

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Natalie-ism

Me: Do you know who this is on my hat? (Showing Natalie my new Pat Patriot winter hat.)
Natalie: Oh! It's a pirate bending over to pick up a coconut.

Nailed it.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Grant's Birthday Party with his Friends

Grant had his first ever "friend" birthday party this year.  We had it at Playtown Express in Southborough.  We booked 2 months in advance and STILL only got a Sunday evening party.  But that was about all there was if you wanted a private party. 


We had this entire place to ourselves!  We only had about 10 kids there (total including mine).  Since he's only 4, I didn't invite a ton.  Maybe next year!  When I first walked in, I thought, "Why did we book this place?" because we own a bouncy castle and Grant won't come near it.  He's afraid of the noise that the motor makes to keep in inflated.  This place is pretty much all made up of motorized bouncy castles!


But, he loved it!  Here are Grant and his buddies playing in one of the jumpy houses.  


 The boys were running back and forth on this thing (we have one of these at gymnastics) and crashing into each other.  It was hilarious.  They're such boys!  Natalie tried to get in and play with them but even though she's a lot bigger than all of them, she told us these boys were too rough!


Listen... Mommies can have fun too!


Grant gives this party two thumbs up!


Natalie had fun for a while, but got bored pretty quickly.  I probably should have invited a friend for her to play with rather than a bunch of 4-year-olds.


After about an hour and 15 minutes of play time, we had pizza, Hoodsie cups and cake from the Bistro in Westborough (formerly Bagel Bistro).  Grant got to sit in the big birthday chair and all of the kids crowded around him.  As you can see, he's not quite sure what to make of this. 


This was his cake- pretty much the same cake we got him last year, but he loves it!  I love the Bistro's cakes.  They're always yummy!

Happy birthday little buddy!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Grant's 4 Year Stats

Big boy isn't a ridiculously big boy, but he's definitely a big boy!

Today he measured 41" (up 3" in the past year) which is 3 feet, 5 inches tall.  That's 67th percentile - so, tall but not crazy tall.  He weighed 39 pounds, which was up 4 pounds from last year.  That's 76th percentile. 

The Bailey Planet

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