Maggie's Thanksgiving kill

The other day, Maggie found one of the "Santa" gifts we had bought for her.  I thought it was kind of cool that she wanted a bow and arrows.  Here she is testing it out with some target practice in the front yard.

Looks like "Gerber Baby" will be on the menu at this year's Thanksgiving feast.

My job interviews start next week with Alabama and Maryland.  The following week will be Kansas State and Minnesota and the week after that will be UT San Antonio and Penn State.  I'll have a busy run up to the Christmas/New Year holiday.  It will be challenging and exhausting, but also exciting.  The future is now, as they say.

Playing in the snow

We got maybe an inch or so of snow on Saturday morning.  Not much, but still enough to get the girls excited.  It appears Maggie has still not lost her fondness for the taste of snow.

Well....

We've officially crossed the threshold into full-fledged middle age.  Bye youth...

With a 3rd kid on the way, it was time for a spatial upgrade.

Job Update:

Since our last post, I've added a few additional interviews (two of which Gabby is really excited about (see if you can guess which two).

1. Penn State
2. University of Central Florida
3. University of Texas, San Antonio

I am now sitting at 11 interviews with at least 7 of them at top 50 Chemistry programs (MIT, Penn State, Minnesota, Indiana, Maryland, Boston College and Colorado State).  I am getting more and more confident that I will land a nice position at a top university.

We'll keep youposted.  We may get our first snow tonight!

Update:  We did get our first snow.

The Maggie Special...

One of our favorite breakfasts (cookie crisp, coco puffs, and chocolate milk)

The aftermath.

Finally, here's the girl's new trick.

Baby and Job Update

Gabby had another check up this week, and all of the baby's measurements look normal.  Here are a couple of sonogram pics.

Job update:  I've had a busy week. I now have interviews scheduled at:

1. Alabama
2. Maryland
3. Kansas State
4. Minnesota
5. Indiana
6. Boston College
7. Colorado State
8. MIT!!!!

What an unbelievable opportunity at MIT.  It will be like arguing a case before the Supreme Court. This is the best Chemistry Department in the world.

I finally raked some leaves up for these girls

The sycamores have been dropping their leaves over the last few weeks and, after allowing a substantial portion to blow onto our neighbor's lawn, I finally decided to rake the front yard.  For those of you who don't know - sycamores make great leaf piles!!!

Gabby is doing well with the baby.  She is still getting a little sick at times, but that should pass soon.  We have a doctor's appointment this week to check up on the baby.  I'm not sure what they are measuring this time, but all of the major tests were normal on our last visit.

We're still not completely settled on the name, but our initial name is Augustus James Thibodeaux (Gus) - just like this guy:

On the job front, I have interviews scheduled with the the Chemistry Departments at the Universities of Alabama and Maryland in early December and at the University of Indiana in January.  Things are looking good in the early goings, and I am really optimistic that I will get at least a few more interviews.  The application deadlines for many of the schools that I applied to have not yet passed and I know that many places are still reviewing applications.  With a little bit of luck, I will lock up at least 6 or 7 interviews, which should be enough to get at least one offer.  It is a very competitive career path, but it is all I really want to do, so I'm hopeful that I'll find a way to make it happen.

I'll be sure to keep you all updated.

And now for the big moment you've all been waiting for...

...raise the curtains, pan the lights...

Gran and Papa visit

I did not take many pictures, but I was able to capture a few notable vignettes that nicely summarize Gran and Papa's visit.

First, Maggie ensured that Gran and Papa took note of the items she had circled in the Christmas catalogue.

Second, Papa's sciatic problems helped him to get a lot of interaction time with Bea.

Finally, we had such nice weather on Sunday that Papa and I slow-cooked an elk roast on the BBQ pit.  Papa will post some pictures of that one, but BB kept us company with her stick.

For the job update, I have interviews scheduled with the Chemistry Departments at Alabama (on Dec 1-2) and at Maryland (Dec 3-4).  I'll make sure to load up on Thanksgiving food, because it looks like I'm going to have a busy week.