@moose17 Yep. We're in "patient" mode, just waiting until we know if one of my wife's job opportunities materializes. If it does, we'll go into overdrive/ludicrous mode in how fast we'll get things done in order to move!
Sorry about your mom.

I kind of expect that to happen with my parents. They tend to see what they want and stick with it, regardless of actual evidence to the contrary (they're devoted Fox News viewers). We'll find out next week, as we plan to tell them over Thanksgiving while visiting them... only
after we eat, just in case they don't take it well... my mom's cooking is delicious...
I definitely empathize on not being able to share with everyone no matter how excited we might be. But we can't do much about it. Some folks react weird to knowing you're moving (distance themselves), while others finding out would be very bad (wife's employers). We'll wait until it's pretty much a done deal before we really let everyone know.
@BrittanyElaina No experience here yet. Sorry!
We're doing our landing next month, but we will leave back to the States after just 2 weeks. We're working on our "goods to follow" list now. We plan on giving my BIL's address in BC Canada for our PR cards. He'll mail them to us once he receives them. It's our understanding that this is a (kind of) normal thing to do, since lots of folks need to go back and wrap things up (i.e. sell house, end current job commitments, school, etc.). Some folks apparently setup a mailbox in Canada to receive their PR cards for them.
For us, we decided it would be best to just get the landing out the way and get the PR cards. That way we have 3 years to get a job and move, don't miss any landing COPR deadlines, and can state that we are PRs for job searches. But yeah, that might mean be a problem if you plan to travel back and forth before you get the PR cards.