Skype deal ending 31-Jan

All,

Just FYI, Skype has a deal until the end of January: Free dial-out for entire US and Canada for $15. Usually it's $30. I tried it out, and it works great for calling my folks - they say I sound just fine (or, no worse than usual.)

So for what it's worth, thought you all would be interested.

The Magic Flute

Last night John and I were lucky enough to stumble The Magic Flute, televised on PBS here in Rochester. It's a new production from The Met, and directed by Julie Taymour, who also directed Broadway's version of The Lion King. The puppetry was totally awesome. It was in English, which helped me quite a bit. I'm generally not into opera, but it was quite a visual treat.

I'm not sure it would hold the attention of any of the kiddies (in fact, I'd rather doubt it), but if any of you get a chance to see even a bit of it, I highly recommend it. Check your local PBS station. It was aired as part of Great Performances here.

Adorable!

Kris, I must say Noah is beautiful! I just saw the two recent pictures of him (one on blanket and other on boppy). His smile melts my heart! Does he like tummy time? Both of mine hated it! Although, Emily hated it so much she was rolling over at three months. Where as caleb just screamed the whole time. My dr. said he needed a minimum of twenty minutes a day on his tummy, well lets say I was lucky if he got ten minutes. He would scream the W H O L E time so he got tummy time in like two or three minute intervals. Thus the reason a ten minute max. Well Kris I just wanted to tell you how beautiful he is. I wish we lived closer so I could hold him and cuddle him. Take care.

jenn

It's snowing in Austin!

I'll post some pics soon!

Matt
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Movin' Right Along (or, Here We Go Again)

I might have told all of you before that John's position here was for two years. The expectation was that we'd move back to Rochester, and the two years would give John enough time to find a permanent job elsewhere in research.

Well, as soon as we got here, John started looking for a new job. He quickly decided that he wanted to leave science, and look for something different. The main reason was that life at the next level would be mostly grant writing, stress about grant money, and supervising other people doing what he'd rather be doing himself. He's been looking at lots of different options, and one in the Rochester area came up that he was particularly interested in. He went in for an interview a few weeks ago, and it looks like he has the job! The "catch" is he will be a consultant for a company in Buffalo (East Aurora, to be exact, and no, it's not Fisher Price). He'll be doing programing, which he really enjoys. He's really excited. We'll know for certain on Thursday, but unless something really odd happens, he's going to take the job.

My thoughts? I'm thrilled for him, but can't help thinking, "Oh, bother, not again!" He'll be training in Rochester through February, but then he'll have to commute until we settle our housing situation. We have a one-year lease on this apartment, good through July. We'd like to buy a house in the Buffalo area, but I'm not sure the timing will work out. If nothing else, it certainly means we'll be moving again sometime between this spring and summer, and I just got my books settled onto the shelves the way I like 'em!

Considering the worries about the new job, I'm doing fine. I'm just getting our health insurance and whatnot settled from the last move, so I don't relish starting that over again, but what else can I do? Noah continues to be a really easy baby, and we're enjoying him immensely. He's smiling and laughing now, and it's just adorable. We all went to Wegman's for our first official outing last weekend, and survived quite well. I've just been cleared to go back to "normal" activities, although the doctor warned that "normal" will probably cause pain for another 3-6 months. No more excuses about not doing laundry!

Square Bunch Bob's Pants!

Why do Baby Boomers have such a hard time with current children's programming? The title line is a direct quote from my mother tonight! She was trying to recall the name of Sponge Bob and began blurting out name combinations that just had me ROLLING! Dayve I particularly thought of you! Do you remember "Melanoma Chuckle Suck" for bright blue Kool Aide?! Another of my mom's funny coined phrases! In other funnyness Karen's dad says "Pokey MAN" and has said it thus for YEARS! We don't have the heart to tell him how funny he sounds! The strange thing is the girls don't even know about these programs yet, or else I'm sure they would correct their grandparents blunders! I'm sure Janie would. She's talking sooooo much lately, and in a very intelligent way! I'm not used to my kids TALKING to me. Anna never did and still doesn't... with words anyway. I'm certainly not used to the word NO yet from Janie, even when she does it very sweetly. The other day I went up to get them out of bed in the morning and her reply, while lying covered up, was "No. Sorry Daddy. I'm sleeping." I was flumoxed! Eventually she did get up but I didn't quite know what I was going to do!

Anna is standing more and more. She cruizes around the house holding onto furniture, the wall, the Christmas Tree, counter tops, chairs, coats, door handles, anything she can get her hands on. Now, when we put her down for naps we find her out of bed and standing, STANDING at the top of the steps holding onto the railing! She can't quite make it down the steps on her own but with support she can now grip the rail and step by step leading with her left she can go all the way down! Unbelieveable!

We've had a great holiday with my family here in Maine. My whole family came up and stayed with my Grandma. Our girls did very well despite the hectic pace and had fun with all their Aunties, Uncle and Grandparents. Janie truely enjoyed every aspect of the Christmas season. In fact we remarked today that our Christmas Tree is practically a member of the family since Janie likes it SOOOO much and talks about it ALL THE TIME! We're afraid to take it down!

In other news the pic you see was taken with our brand spankin' new web cam and I'm really excited about video calls so if you don't already have one then GET ONE and let's start SKYPE-ing!

OK. It's late. And I must snooze!

Goodnight fellow members of... The Square Bunch!

Nate