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.