Okay, I think I finally have a chance to sit down and write something here. The question is, where do I start?
Our big news? We're moving! Yep, it's official. Eric got a new job, and sometime this summer we will be packing it all up and moving to ... South Texas. Way South Texas. Like 8 miles from the Mexico border South Texas.
The new job is at the
University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburgh. We'll either live in Edinburgh, or more likely,
McAllen. It is way down in the middle of nowhere, but the
weather is pretty wonderful year round (at least if you like it warm like I do), and it's only about an hour and a half from
South Padre Island which is about as close to Heaven as I've
seen.
The job will be pretty awesome, too. It comes with a fairly substantial raise, and the cost of living is the same or less in that area than it is here. We've looked into housing costs, and they seem to be much, much less than here. Eric's teaching load will be less there as well - a 2/3 or 3/3 load as compared to 4/4 here. He gets to keep his title of Associate Professor, and will be eligible for tenure in 3 years.
We already have friends in the area. Eric's friend Rob, who was the best man at our wedding, teaches in the same department, although he currently lives in San Antonio. We'll also be closer to Rosalind - only about 6 hours away, instead of 14, so we can hopefully see her more often.
I'm also looking forward to being so close to Mexico. For one thing, the boys will definitely grow up learning Spanish, and I think Samantha will be able to pick it up pretty quickly too. I, on the other hand, am really starting to regret never having taken a foreign language. :(
In other news, Eric's new book,
Two-Up, has recently been reviewed in the
San Francisco Chronicle and the
Kansas City Star. It's selling fairly well, and everyone who reads it seems to really enjoy it. My favorite quote from Steve Weinberg's
Star review called Eric "the bard of the blue collar laborer."
Samantha placed 3rd in one of the events at the
Regional Math Competition on March 11, which qualified her for the state competition April 22 in Springfield. (Excuse the crooked scan) She is doing really well in school, as always, and enjoying the gifted program. For her recent report related to ancient China, she wrote about Buddhism. She just recently got back her spring school
picture.
Guthrie is growing and thriving. He turned 2 a few weeks ago. He talks up a storm, and every day does new things to make us laugh and smile. We were picking up some things at the sporting goods store yesterday, and when the cashier gave the total, Guthrie looked at Eric and announced firmly, "Pay it." He has a great imagination, and was just driving around on his toy car, going to the grocery store, and brought us back some strawberries and bananas. He loves his big sister, and gets very excited every day when the school bus comes to drop her off. I'm not sure how he's going to do with his little brother, though. I think he's starting to understand, and sometimes he even talks to the little baby in Mommy's tummy. He even tries to feed him his snacks!
I'm over 37 weeks pregnant now, and baby could make his appearance any time! I'm actually kind of hoping for sooner rather than later, because I very much want to go with Samantha to the state math contest, and don't want to have to do it with just a few day old baby. His due date isn't actually until the 24th, but since neither of my first 2 made it to their due dates, I'm not really expecting this one to either.
I think that's all for now. I'll be sure and let everyone know when the basketball arrives.
