Never say never, you don’t know what’s gonna happen – but whatever the future may bring, we are very very hopeful that this new crib of ours will be our forever home.

The plan had always been that our first house was a “starter home”, something to get us used to homeownership, that was low maintenance for while the kids were little, and that could build up some equity for our forever house. And it did all of that. After seven years the time had come to part with our first house. Thanks to the rising housing market and all the upgrades we installed, we were able to sell it quickly and at a good profit.

In July this year we said goodbye to our first house. The first home we bought and had made our own, where all our memories as a family were made to that point. While some of us were excited for the next adventure, we all were sad to leave this beautiful place behind. Some serious tears were shed. 

There is just something about all the memories in the home, about all the work that was put into making it perfect for our family, that made it very hard to part. Not a single surface, fixture, or piece of equipment in this house was left untouched after we were done with all renovations. It took us seven years to optimize this place to its fullest potential and going back to the very beginning in a new house was pretty rough for me. It took me about four months before I had left the old house behind enough that I could start liking the new house and write this post.

I just love taking ripping old stuff out and putting new stuff back in. Sometimes it’s just not that simple. We thought we would just be able to simply buy a bathroom vent and do a simple swap. Nope. The new ones are shaped differently and will require a bit of drywall modifications. Ugh. I. Hate. Drywall.

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Creepy spookiness has been a thing for me ever since a sleepover when I was 15 years old and a group of friends and me watched three zombie movies in a row. I can’t really say what the fascination is about, but I’ve always enjoyed a good scary movie since then. So just imagine my giddiness when I moved to the original land of the creepy tradition of Halloween and October rolled around for the first time. Who can deny that this holiday is obviously a very close second to Christmas.

We just returned from paradise. After spending 5 days at Fairmont Mayakoba in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico, we don’t think we’ll ever find a more relaxing and beautiful getaway. The food was amazing and the resort was tucked away in a beautiful little jungle packed with wildlife. I can’t wait to return and I hope it won’t take another 10 years to do so.

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Das Jahr begann für uns mit Rekordschneefall von einem Meter, der drei Tage schulfrei bescherte und das Bauen von ganzen unterirdischen Tunnelstädten ermöglichte – ein großer Spaß für die Kinder, aber lästiges Übel für all diejenigen, die trotzdem irgendwie zur Arbeit kommen mussten.

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Milo is doing his homework as sloppily as possible and drawing outside of the lines.

Nic: “Come on, Milo you can do better than that. You draw like a 3 year old kid.”

Milo: “That’s just my style.”

Felix as we are driving on the highway: “The other cars are going slower than us because they don’t know where their hyper speed button is, right mom?”

Milo: “At school Emma is always following me because she is in love with me.”

Nic: “Aww that’s sweet.”

Milo: “No, its not! She loves me.”

Nic: “Yes, what’s wrong with that?”

Milo: “But she is way too young to get married!”

Nic after carrying Felix’s motorcycle toy for a few minutes: “Felix, can you please hold your own toy.”

Felix: “But I look awesome without holding anything though.”