"Woah"

So Will's favorite new words are "woah!" and "yay!" and he says them all. the. time.

It makes us so adorably happy.

And he said them over and over again when we took him to the top (ahem, 86th floor) of the Empire State Building on Thursday afternoon, yet another one of our NYC "must-do's" before we head south come May.

Clay had never been to the top either, so all three of us marveled at the fact that we somehow became a family who lived in this majestic city. I say "majestic" because I have found myself lately loving what this city is all about: the subway, the cabs, the little markets, the endless line of playgrounds in the parks, Zabar's (why it took me so long to discover this GEM of a market on the UWS, I don't know), the constant activity and energy and talent that is New York. Perhaps it is because of the GORGEOUS weather we have been enjoying (we picked the right winter to be here!) or the knowledge that we are only going to live here for 2 more months or the sense of familiarity I now feel after living in this city for a little while...I don't know. I feel like I "get" NYC now, and thus I love NYC now, and while it might be hard to live here longterm, I am grateful for the opportunity to experience it for enough time that my morning runs and my Trader Joe's on W. 72nd and my subway stop on the 1 line really do feel familiar.

East Side

Hey! Look at those cuties!

This is just a tiny piece of the NYC puzzle. Imagine this x1000 and you'll get a sense of just how endless this city is.

love the gold roof

North (see Central Park in the middle there?)

Woah.

The cool Flatiron building. Supposedly the wind gushes are so powerful there that police once had to crack down on people trying to see a woman's skirt fly up as she rounded the corner. Also, the famous Shake Shack often seen in movies is in that park there.

Looking south (Financial district).

We are enjoying our Spring Break in the city!

Exploring our own backyard: Brooklyn!

Today=Bliss.

No job interviews, no classes, no obligations...so we decided to have some fun!

So we jumped (aka 90 minutes after starting the process of leaving and after several clothing and diaper changes for sweet Will) on the subway and headed down to the Brooklyn Bridge!

Will cracks me up in this picture: he is basically paralyzed from the four layers (the vest was just too cute and he had to wear it, but of course he also needed a coat...) and stroller BundleMe we packed him up in. Sweet thing. He is SUCH a trooper!

Children's playground in forefront. Adult playground in the background :-).

Will's got it all to himself today.

Man, we love family time. Hallelujah for family time.

Will's favorite word right now is "woah!" Picture him saying it right here.

I love this picture. Me and my little man. He looks so grown up all of a sudden, and while I can't believe he turning into a little boy, I have to confess that this age (21 months) might be my favorite so far. He is so interactive, fun, communicative, and happy!

He really is my little buddy, and I thank God every day he is ours.

Clay took this picture, and I love how he captured the whimsy of the carousel alongside the majesty of the Manhattan skyline.

Will loves pointing these days. I find myself identifying objects and people all day long,

and I love it!

Post Brooklyn Bridge and Carousel, we headed to famous Grimaldi's for some super yummy pizza. I meant to take a picture of our pies, but we ate them too quickly!

Happy Weekend!

A Picture Says A Lot of Words

February has been a lot of this:

This month has been the craziest, most exhausting, and most challenging month yet in our adventure. But as always, we stumble upon the most magical moments thanks to our family, friends, and the sweet little guy who always reminds us to focus on the little things :-).

It's late, my computer is about to run out of juice, and there is simply way too much to say, too many lessons I've learned, too many memories to document.

So for now, these gems will have to do.

Welcome to our February

(what happens in between is all job job job search, which is much less exciting and fun).

Sprinting

How cute are these two?

"No, no, Will. We are on our way to story time."

The past three weeks have been INSANE. Gahan Job Search 2012 is in full swing right now, folks, and our emails, Skype log, and frequent flyer miles prove it.

Clay and I have jumped into a joint search, which means that we are both looking for jobs, pursuing all our leads, and seeing where they lead in terms of possibilities for both of us. It's a tricky process, and some moments are more encouraging than others, but in general, we are feeling pretty jazzed about where we are in this first week in February. We are getting lots of referrals through our search agencies, we have engaged in over 14 phone interviews with schools, we have been invited to 6 campuses so far, and we have several schools we are really excited about and keen on staying in close touch with. This past weekend, we travelled to Louisville for a joint interview that we feel like went well, and this weekend Clay is in Atlanta for an on-campus interview and then two days of educator job fair meet-and-greets. He is talking to at least two schools there that we could get really excited about. I head to Atlanta next Tuesday-Wednesday for an interview. I was invited to my dream school in Nashville, but so far we know of no openings there for Clay, so I finally had to excuse myself from the search. There are many ways this job search could work out well for us, and we are starting to have real moments when we think this whole adventure might position us for a great next step, but we also have moments when we very keenly feel that the job market is super competitive right now and it's scary to be unemployed. But we are staying super positive, giving each other lots of high fives and fist bumps, and trying to listen to our hearts and guts in terms of what feels right.

Clay just left for Atlanta until late Saturday night, and it's a little pathetic how much I already miss him. I realized that we have been together pretty much every single day for a year. I have never felt more of a team with my husband than right now. This whole process and experience has challenged us to work together in every possible way (as teachers, as students, as parents, as friends), and the more we do work together, the more we think we might actually prefer working at the same school. And how cool if the school was a Pre-K through 12 and Will could go there too? We could all go to school together! That would be either really cute or a recipe for disaster :-).

Anyways, my dear, dear friends Katie and Deanna are coming TOMORROW for a GIRLS (+Will) WEEKEND in the BIG APPLE and I couldn't be more excited! Three full days of funness. I am not doing any CTY, ant TeenInk, any tutoring, and hopefully not much job stuff while they are here. I have been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, and I couldn't be more excited it is here and now.

Love to you all--and know that we appreciate your prayers and encouragement at this uncertain but exciting time!

xoxo

S, C, and W