Another update from the Bryants!

Life continues to be busy, but laid back. The new semester seems to be going well. I am taking 4 classes- 3 of which are online. This means we might rethink the whole “get rid of expensive internet and go for the school’s free dial up” thing, but for now it is going alright. Maybe one of the local ISPs will run a good special and we can get “good” internet for $20 or something. Now that would rock! Anyhoo…two of my classes are for my teacher prep program and the other two are for my masters in biology program. They are easy classes, just time consuming-especially the teaching ones. Both of the professors are picky on their formatting, which is quite an annoyance. In all my science classes, very few professors have been quite as picky on formatting. The thought is that all scientific journals have different formatting standards, so if we are able to follow a general formatting pattern, we can get more detailed when (if) we decide to publish. Well…apparently this is not quite acceptable in the “teaching world”. Each class has its own format for the actual assignments, as well as its own format for submitting e-mails to each other or to the professor, as well as a different set of formatting guidelines for communicating online within the class, as well as different formats for logging the actual time spent on the class, as well as blah, blah, blah… Most of the content is rather intuitive, so once I get the hang of all the formatting junk this should be another easy semester.

The kids are all doing well. Here’s what they are doing:

Collin- is LOVING 1st grade! He is about to lose his first tooth. It is barely hanging on, but he doesn’t want to pull it yet. I think he’s scared! The new tooth is growing in behind his baby tooth, though, so he really needs to pull it- soon. Every day when I pick him up from school, he gets in the car and shows me how wiggly his tooth is- it’s adorable :-) He made very good grades on his last report card, and has met all his reading goals for the entire year. Good job son!

Cameron- Loves Kindergarten! His teacher is awesome! When we had our ice day, he disappeared for a little while. I was not sure where he went, but figured he was somewhere in the house, so didn’t worry about it. Well, after a little while, he walked in the front door with no jacket, socks on his hands and feet, and a nose that would put Rudolph’s to shame. The first words out of his mouth were “Mom! I did it! I have all the right survival skills!” He cracks me up! He's so obsessed with Survivor Man and Man vs. Wild!

Caitlyn- enjoys staying home, but I think she’s itching for some sort of “program” or outside social interaction. She goes to an hour-long “preschool” (aka story time/ craft/ snack thingie) at the Children’s Museum and loves it. I’m thinking about sending her to mother’s day out or a similar program. We’ll see. She is excited for her birthday on Monday and cannot wait to turn four. She found a cd of nursery rhymes in one of her books, and has been playing it nonstop for about a week. It’s so adorable!

Caleigh- is gaining weight! Good job, baby girl! She loves to pull people’s hair and scream. It’s really funny to watch. She is such a good baby. She is sitting up now and trying to crawl and has pretty much mastered rolling over. Also, she has started taking baths in the big girl bathtub.

John- is still looking for a new job. It seems like everyone either has a hiring freeze or wants senior level accountants. Is there a market for entry and junior level accountants any more? He is thinking about starting his MBA in the summer. If he can attend classes full time, he should be able to finish it in 15-18 months. We’ll see. Hopefully, I will be able to get a job with a good district, so he can focus on his MBA. It will be fun to be the breadwinner for a while :-) And he can see what it is like to be the “stay at home” parent. This should be an adventure!

I hope everyone is happy and healthy! Oh, and we are thinking about a trip to Arizona during Spring Break (3rd week of March). I. can’t. wait!