The Semester in Review

We survived a very exhausting semester. Between Austin finishing up his MBA coursework, Tracy's coursework, and (the straw that broke the camel's back) Tracy teaching a course, it was pretty rough. The good and bad was that our schedules were staggered so that we could trade watching the kids and going to class, but as a result we haven't seen each other very much. Here are a few photos of things that I didn't have time to post throughout the fall.
Ripken when he first started sitting up. No more infant tub!





They have fun splashing each other, although Ainsleigh still requests a few minutes at the end to have the tub all to herself so she can play "rough stuff" without Rippy.






My Mom came to visit for Halloween weekend. We posted lots of Halloween pics previously, but here are a few more from that weekend. Museum of Life and Science train ride.


Grandma, Grandpa, Rippy, Ainsleigh











One of the last soccer games of the season. After the first game (posted previously) Ainsleigh didn't sit down when someone else got the ball. However, she never really understood the part about chasing after the ball and trying to get it back. By the end of the season she would sometimes follow the swarm of kids, but the ball still regularly went right by her without any attempt to get it.
When I asked her if she wanted to play on a soccer team again in the spring, she said "maybe we can just play soccer in the backyard." Sounds good to us!

Thanksgiving

(sorry about the layout...I keep fixing it on my screen, but then it gets messed up when it publishes!)

Ripken was the perfect age for Thanksgiving...as in, able to EAT! And boy, can he ever. He is truly a bottomless pit.

In addition to being his usual charming self, the day before Thanksgiving he also...

...started to crawl! The good thing was that he waited until the end of the semester to start getting into everything; the bad thing was it was the end of the semester, so the house was a mess and there was a lot that he could (and did) get into!
More sweet potatoes, please!

Full? I'm not full. I'm never full!

Austin had many interviews through recruiting at the Business School in November. He had several second-round interviews, so he was traveling at the end of every week for about a month. We sent him this when he was gone for the first out-of-town interview. So far no job offers, so we're in a state of uncertainty right now, in terms of the job and if we're moving this spring like we had planned (even if just locally). Surely something will work out, but right now we can't tell what that will be. We're glad to now be on break for a few weeks, although we've put off so many house projects we won't have much time to relax. Still, it's nicer to be focused on things around here rather than writing random papers (says Austin) and grading heaps of papers (says Tracy).