Our Serendipitous Journey

Andy Black here. It’s been a long while since the last blog update and for reasons that might become clear, Diane has delegated this update to me. I will do my best. My first thought was to make an April Fools Day prank out of this post by giving some outlandish update (or, alternatively, and very mundane one) but I don’t think I’m up for it right now because I only got a few hours sleep last night.  Also, I'm a little late for that and there's nothing worse than a late (or early) April Fool's joke. Diane and I welcomed the newest member of our family, James Michael Black, on March 31st at 11:53am. He weighed 9lbs, 9oz. and was 20.5” long. I’m told this is on the larger side, but I don’t have much experience with newborn infants, so he really seems like a baby to me. Diane is doing great and I’m very proud of how well she did. We had a scheduled cesarean-section because James was flipped upside down, or right-side up, or “breech”. On March 30th I would have very little idea...

Well, since we are well into spring I guess it's time to update you on what we did this past winter.  I have been working since November and it's been a fantastic change for me.  I was ready to get into a different realm of teaching and that's exactly what I did.  My favorite thing about my new job is the learning aspect.  It's so nice to be challenged in a new way and learning new material, while still working with children to some extent. I am incredibly busy with work right now as the we are moving the training to an online format, as is the rest of the world.  It's been a drastic change, but I've really enjoyed the learning curve. So, back to November.  Aunt Patty came for Thanksgiving and we had a fantastic time with her.  She sent me the grocery list ahead of time and then helped me with some of the last minute items we needed to pick up for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I took some time off and we spent one day shopping and running errands, and...

October felt like one long weekend. November has been fairly quiet in the Black household as we are settling in and getting ready for our first holiday season in New Jersey. Andy's been busy at work, as always, and I've been trying to keep myself busy while not working. Our friends, Scott and Linda, were in town for a weekend in October and we did a day in NYC. I posted a picture in the last post but didn't share much about it. We started the day by breezing through Hudson Yards and then heading to the Upper West Side and had lunch at Jacob's Pickles. That place is insanely good! We walked over to Joe's coffee and then headed into Central Park. I was hoping for some fall colors but we were a little too early. It was still a super pretty day and fun to walk in the park. We walked all the way to Times Square, and then headed home. It was a LONG day, but we saw so much! Every day in NYC is a long day when it's all about sight seeing. I would much rather walk everyw...

This was my first year in more than a decade that I didn't have a classroom to set up in the fall.  Andy and I decided that with the logistics of the move, this was a good time for me to take a break from teaching and decide what I want to be when I grow up.  I have not said goodbye to education forever, but it will probably look a bit different in the future as I don't see myself going back into a classroom as a classroom teacher.  We shall see!  That being said, somehow this summer went faster than any other that I can remember.  To even think that it's October feels strange as my daily routine is so different than it would normally be this time of year. The changing of the trees even surprised me as I didn't realize how late in the year it was.  So let's take a trip down memory lane and review what the last part of what our summer looked like. As I mentioned previously, teachers have to take advantage of their time off in the summer, so I had some frie...

Well, I've been in no rush to unpack. I've decided that I'll really start the job hunt once the house is put together. Last time it took me 3 years and I'm moving at a bit of a slower pace this time around. The things that are distracting me are waking up late, taking time to drink my multiple cups of coffee, reading books, floating in the pool, and NYC. Many of these things can only truly be enjoyed during the summer months so I think it makes sense to use the time while I have it. Andy hasn't disagreed yet, but I'm sure I'll start to get some looks come fall. For the 4th of July we decided to stay home and see what we could see from our house. We live on a hill so we were hopeful we'd have a view. I had the great idea to watch from the roof. Turns our my fear of heights is as bad as I remember it being so I only made it, shaking, for about 5 minutes before I had to climb down. We ended up being able to watch the fireworks from our staircase. ...

Well, we did it. We moved to New Jersey! It wasn't exactly easy, and parts of it weren't fun, but we did it! Our stuff is moved in and definitely not unpacked, and we are starting Chapter 3 of our house tour. I'm hoping this is a long chapter. Back to March, we put in the offer on the house in NJ, it was accepted, and we sold our house in PA. Our inspection went fine in PA, but the one on the new house wasn't without issue. We were able to negotiate what we needed to and everything worked out extremely well.We closed a few weeks before school was out so we could get most of the work done before moving in. Every single timeline was met perfectly from floor guys to painters to the roofer. Andy was able to stay in NJ and meet contractors as needed while I stayed with friends (seriously, the BEST friends a girl could ask for) in PA. The movers did a fantastic job and I got to leave my teaching job in PA and drive home to NJ. I am in a bit of a fog as I can't be...