December 2012

I can't believe we are at the end of another year!

Donnie completed all of his applications and sent them out last month. He Applied to 32 schools, but not all were hiring this year. He just wanted to get his info out there so they would be familiar with him down the road.

He applied to GA Tech and GA State, but everything else was out of state, one was even out of the country! At the beginning of December he went to Miami to a rookie conference. Basically people who are on the job market apply to attend, are given a time slot to make a presentation (dissertation, research interests, why I'm the guy for you...), and try to impress the hiring schools. Schools looking for new hires send delegations to check out the applicants. They can then set up private interviews with you to get a better feel of who you are, and tell you more about their program.

Not everyone gets interviews there, but Donnie had 9! He came back home with a few front runners: Pittsburgh, Florida, Iowa, GA Tech, Chapman; and some previous front runners fell down the list: Illinois and Cornell.

We find out next month who wants to interview him for a position, and in March, we'll finally know where we will be next year!

This year for Christmas, Bob and Brenda came out for a visit again. We spent a few days at Deidra's hanging out with all of them, but for the most part, Christmas was very low key and relaxing - the way it should be. We spent a lot of time, just the five of us, doing things around home. We went to LEGOLAND, Stone Mountain, movies, and rode The Pink Pig again.

It was a great year, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

November 2012

November flew by so quickly this year! Not knowing where we will be after Donnie graduates next Spring, we decided to take the kids to Disney World again. We went the week before Thanksgiving, and it was awesome!

We took a stroller for Charlotte, and I nursed her when ever Donnie and Jaxy would ride the "scary roller coasters." Sydney hung out with me as she is a little more cautious than her brother :) Each park had a special building for mothers and babies (rocking chairs, changing tables, high chairs, microwaves, restrooms...), but they were not always in the most convenient locations. We tried to plan our park mapping so that we would be around that area for feedings, but sometimes I would just sit down and feed her wherever!

Jaxon and Sydney had such a great time! They were big enough to ride almost all of the rides, and to sit through all of the shows too. Charlotte was a champ and just went a long with our craziness. We stayed at the Disney Resort at Port Orleans Riverside. It was really nice, and a big step up from All Star Movies.

Jaxon's favorite rides were The Hollywood Tower of Terror and the Tomorrowland Speedway. Sydney loved Buzz Lightyear and The People Mover. Jaxon rode Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Mt. Everest, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Star Wars with Donnie. He was so happy! Sydney refused to even think about any of those rides.

We went with the dining plan again, but instead of only quick service, we had one sit-down meal a day too.

We ate at a lot of yummy places - California Grill (Contemporary Resort), 1900 Park Fare: Cinderella's Royal Banquet (The Grand Floridian), Hollywood & Vine: Disney Jr. (Hollywood Studios), and Akershus Royal Banquet Hall: Disney Princess Dinner (Epcot). It was great having the character dining because they came to your table for photos and autographs, and we didn't have to stand in line in the parks for photo ops.

We spent six months convincing Jaxon that he had to eat his vegetables if he wanted to be tall enough for the scary rides at Disney, so now that it's over, I don't know how we can convince him broccoli is tasty!

On our way home from Disney, we decided to drive out to the coast to Cape Canaveral. We then headed up to spend two days in Savannah before making it home for Thanksgiving dinner.

October 2012

Another month has come and gone :). Donnie has been working nonstop to finish his dissertation and job applications. He finally had things at a point where he felt confident in his work and submitted all of his materials to start the application process. A lot of schools are hiring this year, which is nice, but Donnie really wants to work at a place that focuses more on research than teaching, and has a good resource system for his type of research: financial, behavioral accounting research.

He has chosen to apply to 30 schools, but not all of them are hiring this year, and the ones that are hiring are not necessarily hiring financial behavioral researchers. He said it is still good to get his name and face out there so that maybe down the road...

So that is what is going on in Donnie's world.

Sydney and Jaxon are loving school. Sydney's teacher calls her "The Mouth of the South" (playfully, I think). She says Sydney is such a good reader she has her work on the 2nd grade books. Jaxon is opening up more and more each day at school. He still will not dance during movement time, but when his teachers are not actively observing him, he is quite animated with the other kids. :) Ms. Vaughn said she wishes she could just listen in because she's sure it would be awesome.

Charlotte is growing and changing too - except for her hair. It is still short and crazy :) She looks just like Donnie!  She loves to watch people and observe what's happening around her. She always has an inquisitive look on her face which sometimes looks like she is giving dirty looks. That can be a little awkward :) She still hates her carseat, but she does a better job of sleeping in it while in the car, so she doesn't suffer too much :)

For Halloween this year, Jaxon wanted to be anything that had a sword as part of the costume, and Sydney wanted to have a costume with a wig and high heels. Who are these kids ? :) Jaxon ended up opting for the red ninja with one long sword (which magically keeps disappearing :)), and Sydney chose some sort of moonlight princess with a big puffy dress, jewelry, a wand, but no high heels. She did manage to find a black wig with a hot pink streak, so she went with that too. Charlotte was a little kitty. 

We missed the Halloween party at our church this year, but we had a great time trick or treating around our neighborhood. The kids came home with so much candy that we ended up donating a few pounds to a collection for soldiers overseas.

The best part of October was when we were able to see the Cougars beat up Ga Tech. This year BYU played in Atlanta, and Donnie, Jaxon, Charlotte, and I went to cheer on our team. Sydney was adamant that she would not attend, so she stayed with my parents, and Corey came along. It was such a great game! We sat with the Hansens, so Jaxy stayed pretty entertained too. The Cougars won 42-17, and we ate at the Varsity, so it was a pretty successful day.