SOLD

 Our first house is officially sold. It is completely bittersweet and leaves me feeling at loose ends right now. I have had communication with the buyers and they are very excited about their new home. We are currently homeless until our rental is ready, but we are in good hands with Grandma and Poppy Puccia. It feels very very strange living back home for the time being. I haven't stayed in that house in over 8 years.

 Farewell first home, you were wonderful and we enjoyed every minute.

Randomness

 When we were in GE we went to a restaurant called Enzo's. At the end of the meal Enzo sat down with us, did shots and chatted about life in Italy versus Germany. It was so fun. As we were leaving his daughter took this picture. It turned out so good. Miss you Castana's.

 On Monday Leah went to Judi's for the morning to see her friends and Judi. She had SO much fun. We miss you Judi.

This week our school pet is visiting my classroom. It is just what the doctor ordered. With all the change in my life I needed a fury critter to love and take care of.

Move Crew

 When we found out that we needed to be out of our house rather quickly we assembled a move crew right away and they did not disappoint. We moved our entire house in 4.5 hours. I am so grateful for the 5 heavy lifters we had plus the girls for box control.

 Check out Steve's shortie move shorts. I seriously died laughing when he walked in.

 These girlies helped a ton.

 The moms helped load the tractor trailer.

 Time for a beer...at 11am.

Thank you thank you thank you to our amazing move crew. We truly appreciate all of your hard work.

Saturday 4/25 Recap

 The weekend is an utter blur, but we made the very most of it. Saturday Seth had his first game back on the big field and they rocked it. We have four new teammates that are amazing and we beat The Victory Lions 3-2 with a buzzer beater from SPC. It was a truly amazing game.

 Way to go Watertown FC-B

 Let's play in the hole that will be our basement in a week or so.

Happy Birthday to my Mom. We had a super fun birthday dinner Saturday night and we surprised her with Gram and Gramp. Now that they can't drive into town we have to pick them up and bring them. It is worth it to see them though.

Moving and Life is a Blur

I feel like right now I spend my time teaching, packing, thinking about packing, meeting with our contractor, stressing about where to pack things and then talking myself down to a calm phase. We have one week left in our house, but it doesn't even feel close to being our house anymore. Everything is packed except the necessities and I'm just trying to savor the last moments. I'm so excited about this new journey, but it was our first house and it holds so much sentimentality.

 Last week during one of our sessions with the contractor at the land my friend Shannon kindly took the kids to the playground for us.

Best gift.

They had a blast and we weren't stressing about keeping them busy while we discussed topics such as house placement, septic and basements. I don't think the kids would have enjoyed it.

 Saturday night we had our last fire at our house. We had s'mores and reminisced about Rocky. It was such a fun night.

 Last night was the final soccer game of the season...until next year. Leah loved every minute with her soccer buddies and she is excited to go to school with many of them next year at Sherman.

Dessert before dinner? Why not.

Tonight we start swim class back up for Bean. Pray for no tears.

See You Soon Castana Family

 Monday morning we were up and out early to head back to Munich to catch a flight. Seth looked like he needed to sleep for about 8 more hours.

 Leah spent some of her money at the airport on this stuffed dog which literally kept her happy the entire 8 hour flight.

 We love you Kristen, Lee, Jacob and Lindsey. See you in December.

 Our kids were utterly AMAZING on the flight. No fighting, no whining, nothing. They watched TV, did crafts, played on the ipad and just hung out. They were AWESOME.

 Then they crashed on the ride back to Watertown. They fell asleep until we stopped at a McDonald's, ate and then fell right back to sleep.

The finale of the trip was Seth getting an ear infection the very next day.

 He fell asleep at the doctors office on the table. Can you say jet lag??

Easter GE Style

 The Easter Bunny came all the way to GE this year to deliver the kids baskets and he even hid them just like at home.

 That sneaky bunny, he hid Leah's in the oven.

 After all of the baskets were found Lindsey and I got busy making monkey bread.

 The boys had a Pokémon battle

 Yummy

 We decided to dressed the BFFs in matchy clothes for the holiday.

 Ready for the Easter Egg Hunt??

 Nap time for Jen and Lee.

 In the afternoon we headed to the Rocket Playground on a nearby base. It was awesome and the slides were off the charts. They were seriously SO high and fast.

 A little game of 2 on 2

 Castana's versus Charlton's for a friendly soccer game.

 Our final hours in GE

Roland and his favorite girls.