Our Next Chapter...

After 6 years of graduate school and not to mention the hard work, Mike will be finishing this spring with his doctorate in electrical engineering. He recently interviewed, and was offered a faculty position at Western New England College as an assistant professor in the Biomedical Department. In June we will be moving to Springfield, Massachusetts to begin a new chapter in our lives as we leave Cincinnati after 11 years.

So where the heck is Springfield? I asked since I myself haven't even seen the city. It is 90 minutes west of Boston, 30 minutes north of Hartford, CT and approximately 2.5 hours from NYC. It is actually the 3rd largest and most populated city in MA even though it's smaller than Cincinnati and about 13 hours driving distance.

Holiday Re-Cap

So we're a little behind in our updates, but let this post re-cap our holiday in Cincinnati extravaganza.

This year, we decided to not travel anywhere for the holidays. My mom came into town for Thanksgiving as well as Mike's grandparents, Aunt Mary Ellen and Uncle Bill, Michael Huber's parents, and Se Hwan, not to mention all 9 of us and Noah. We had quite a full house at the Rust B&B in Cold Spring, KY.

For Christmas, we veggied out for 5 days at Mike's parents and participated in a few Christmas traditions including the following:
1. baking cookies
2. watching holiday movies (Rudolph, A Christmas Story, The Grinch, White Christmas, etc.)
3. Gingerbread house making contest (my group won of course--go spouses!!)
4. putting puzzles together
5. playing games (Scrabble and Mille Bornes)
6. decorating the tree
7. hunting at the farm
8. drinking cup after cup of coffee
9. eating Wendy's on Christmas Eve
10. oohing and awing Christmas morning

Mike and Mace Grandpa and Noah

Mike, Andrea, and Ari The winning gingerbread house

For New Year's, Annie came into town and party hopped with us to Nick's, then Katie's. We visited the Art Museum and snuck into the China Now exhibit for free thanks to a sweet elderly docent. Annie also helped us purchase our first piece of furniture--a used Norka Futon. Mike finally agreed with me that our 15 year old hand me down couch needed to go. So we opted for a futon to ensure the comfort for our overnight guests (usually Annie).

Annie, Lisa, Katie, Me, and Robin

Our 3 Cincinnati holidays were a much needed break for the both us. Now we're back to the daily grind with Mike writing his dissertation and me molding the minds of young teens as we are about to embrace the month of February.

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

Only in Cincinnati can you experience a snow/ice storm that makes a city immobile for 4 days. The storm started Monday evening, and ended Wednesday afternoon, leaving us with about 10 inches of snow with a layer of ice in between. And here I am on this beautiful Friday morning, bored out of my mind because school has been closed since Tuesday. I can understand school closings for Tuesday and Wednesday, but for the past two days the roads have been clear and the sun is actually out. I know, most people would probably enjoy and even be elated to have 4 days off work, but most other places of employment don't have to make up those days. Where as for me, these 4 missed instructional days will in turn be tacked onto the end of the already too long school year and dig into my much needed summer break. But hey at least I'm leaving the teaching sector just in time, as our new Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, has just decided to add 20 more days to the school calendar beginning next year. I guess 180 instructional days just isn't cutting it anymore and 200 will catch us up to snuff with No Child Left Behind.