Our Holiday Festivities...Part 2

Just wanted to quickly fill you all in on the rest of our holiday festivities. Our New Year's travels to Charlotte and Anderson were great fun. In Charlotte, we visited with Kristin, Mike, Madison and Brady and exchanged gifts with them. I got some great jewelry, Duane got a nice shirt, and Sarah got a very cool MegaBlocks Princess Castle set of blocks! She has enjoyed playing with it, even though she does not quite yet know how to put the blocks together - Duane has been building various castles for her!

Sarah opening her Princess Castle in Charlotte.
We then headed down to Anderson for a few days. Sarah had lots of gifts waiting for her from Santa, Mimi and Papa, and Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Marisa. She got a giant coloring book and crayons, a new puzzle, the Fisher Price Animal Train, the Fisher Price bouncing zebra toy, some books, some clothes, a monogrammed necklace, a stuffed puppy dog and a nifty stuffed unicorn backpack that also serves as a sort of "leash" so we can keep up with her when she is walking through stores when we are out and about. Sarah must have been a very good girl this year!

Sarah just loved the little tree that was decorated for her at Mimi and Papa's house!

One evening we headed to Gray Court to visit with Frances, Kim, Luke and Ashlee, who are all part of my extended family. This was the first time that Luke, Ashlee and Sarah have all been together, so it was a lot of fun to see the three of them interact. We had a nice visit with everyone.

Me, Sarah (15 months), Luke (8 years), and Ashlee (3 years)

On New Year's Eve we went out to a nice restaurant in Anderson to celebrate the New Year and also Mimi's birthday. We enjoyed a great dinner, and Sarah was a very good girl while we were at the restaurant so that made the evening even more enjoyable. On New Year's Day we visited for a while with my Grandma Kathleen and we were able to watch her open her Christmas gifts at that time. She really enjoyed spending time with Sarah and laughing at all the funny little things Sarah does these days! She even got down in the floor and played with Sarah for a bit! We also took Sarah to the local pond in Anderson and let her feed the ducks. She LOVED the ducks, and wanted to chase them around the pond.

Sarah and Daddy watching the ducks...

We traveled back to Winston-Salem last Wednesday, and on Thursday it was back to the regular routine! Sarah is back into her groove at daycare, and Duane and I are settled back into the work routine. We are still on the job search as well, so hopefully we will have some good news for you all soon! Duane is still waiting to hear whether he got the last position he interviewed for...hopefully we will get an update on where the selection process stands for that company either today or later this week. I applied for a tenure-track assistant professor position at Elon University, and I have a phone interview scheduled with the head of their search committee next week. So that is exciting for me! I am also planning to apply for an upcoming position at a research and development company that is located in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) general area. This position would mostly involve medical writing, which I have recently become interested in, so hopefully I will get the opportunity to interview there as well and learn more about what the position would entail.

Guess those are all of our recent updates. Hopefully we will have some more news-worthy information to share in the upcoming weeks regarding our job searches! Hope you are all enjoying the New Year thus far!