November

Matthew has now been with Johns Hopkins for over a month. He loves working there. Still no bites on our house. Hopefully it is just because of the Holiday season. The kids and I were able to drive up to Baltimore for a weekend last month. We looked at a few houses up there and have picked out one in particular that we absolutely love. The price is higher than we'd like, but we'll see what we can do on that. We are waiting on the roofers estimate before we put an offer on the house.
Matthew will be comming home for Christmas, or at least the weekend before. We're still not sure if he has to work Christmas eve or not. But the main things is he'll be home for a few days.
The kids will be in 2 Christmas parades this year. One in York with girl scouts and cub scouts and one in Ft Mill with 4-H! They are very excited about that.
Brittin did well with his popcorn sales. He got a certificate to go to Summer camp free this year. He also raised enough to re-register him with scouts for the new year! He will be getting a few new belt loops that he qualified for over the Summer.
Aleyna is liking Girl Scouts. They always have a ton of projects for them to do at the meetings. She has a lot of fun!
Jayden is just biding his time waiting for when he gets to be in cub scouts. They aren't too interested in 4-H this year. They love going to the meetings, but hate going to dog practice. Our dogs just aren't too cooperative with the kids!
All in all we are trying to stay busy while Matt is so far away.

To Baltimore we go!

Matt was offered the job last night and has accepted! He will be starting at Johns Hopkins October 15th. He will be sending out his application for his MD license tomorrow and that will take 2-4 weeks. Depending on when he gets that back, he may start working earlier. We have been looking for houses in the area and will be able to plan a trip in late October to go look at a few. Still no calls on our house. I believe that's a good thing. Maybe now that he got the job we'll start getting calls? This means I have to start slowly packing the house so it's not all left to last minute. Thankfully I have some good friends here who have offered to help. I've never had to pack our house myself. That was the good thing about being in the military. They did it all for you and for free! Thankfully we are getting a relocation bonus with this job, so that should help out a good bit.

Just some news

Last night was the big Popcorn kickoff for Brittin's cub scout troop. Let me know if anyone would like to buy some. The prizes from his sales will include uniform, patches, and many other things. The popcorn is really good! We bought a tin last year and all fought over who got to eat it! We also signed Aleyna up for Brownies. We won't know for a couple days which church she'll be going to. She has friends going to 2 out of the 5 in the area, so we're crossing our fingers on that. Matthew will be getting an email with an offer today or tomorrow, so buy the end of the week I'll have news on Baltimore.

Aleyna came down with the chicken pox yesterday!! We have no idea how she caught them. All 3 of the kids have been vaccinated, but being Aleyna, she's got em. Thankfully she doesn't have a fever anymore and they aren't very itchy at all. We'll just have to wait and see if the boys get them. I really hope not because it is Jayden's Birthday on Friday!!! We're having a little cookout and cake and a couple neighbors over. He is very excited because he is getting closer to being able to be in cub scouts. That's what he wants more than anything right now! Thankfully we have some wonderful leaders who let him participate in some of the things the older boys do. I will really miss this pack when we have to leave.

Baltimore

Matthew Flew to Baltimore yesterday on 9/11. He had his interview today. He says Baltimore looks a lot like Seattle. We loved living in Tacoma, so that is a really good thing. He hasn't told me what happened at the interview, just that he met everyone he would be working with and they took him to lunch. He is at the airport now waiting his flight and I'll find out more details at 9:30 tonight. I will post them as soon as I can get to the computer. Keep your fingers crossed!

Our house went on the market yesterday. We got tons of pictures taken. You can see it on Realtor.com as well. We're praying that the sale of the house goes nice and smooth.

First post

I've decided to start an account on this site since 3 other people I know have one. It seems to be a great way for family and friends to stay current with what's going on in our family.
Right now Matthew is in between jobs. He has had a phone interview with both Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and a hospital in Salt Lake city. JH is flying him up for an interview next Tuesday. Utah has stated that they would like to fly him over and has sent his information to HR. He also has a phone interview in Greenville SC this week and one with a hospital in Racine WI. So our options are very open. It looks like his best opportunity will be with Johns Hopkins. They want to teach him IR and Neurology. That will seriously expand his knowledge in his field and increase the job opportunities later. I have already been looking into housing in the area, and although I will not be able to have the land I have here, we will be able to have a nice house.
All 3 of thkids are in school now. Jayden is in half day 4k. He absolutely loves it. He does not stop talking about his day once he gets home from school. Our dinners are filled with stories of what went on all day at school. They are all so glad to be back in school. I am quite happy to have them in school! i get to have a couple of hours to myself! I've spent them going to the YMCA and am now able to clean house without them being underfoot! I really hope that Jayden can continue to stay in preschool once we move. He really needs the social aspect of it. He gets so bored at home when Aleyna and Brittin are at school.
All 3 are in 4-h now with their dogs. We get to help out at a livestock show this weekend. That will be interesting. I will probably keep Jayden home with Matt because it will be concession work and the like. He'll get bored.
This weekend we plan to work on the house, painting trim, cleaning, weeding, doing everything we can to get it picture ready for Monday. House will go on the market beginning of next week. It is a very stressful time, yet it is also exciting moving to a new place. I've always enjoyed the aspect of moving every few years when Matt was in the Army. You get to spend a good deal of time seeing new places.