Family Update

What have we been up to over the past few weeks? Hmm. Let’s see. As you know, we got a hamster named Tom for Christmas. Claire turned four on January 10th and we decided to get her a hamster of her own. She decided that she would name her hamster Tom as well. Very original of her. Unfortunately, Tom # 2 died yesterday. We are not sure why, but we have a pretty good idea that it was from sheer terror. Claire gets a little excited with the hamsters. So, yesterday afternoon we replaced Tom # 2 with Tom # 3. Tom # 3 is a big guy and seems very sturdy. I think he will fair a little better. The funny thing is that Tom # 3 has some anatomy that Tom # 1 does not have. So, it seems that Tom # 1 is actually a Tomette and we will need to rename him….her.

We also received a little snow here in Nashville last weekend. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to have some fun sledding. My mom and dad were up for Claire’s birthday, so they got to share in the snowy fun. Dad had a big time pushing the kids on the sled. I hope we get a bigger snow at some point this winter, so we can do some real sledding.

I am trying to learn to play my new guitar and I am training for the Country Music ½ Marathon. I’m not sure which is more difficult. I am sure which one is more fun! I finished last in my group on our 5 mile run on Saturday. That didn’t do much for the old confidence. I wish I had someone to play my guitar with. You can find a lot of good lessons on YouTube and the internet, but that gets old after a while.

Stephanie starts her new job next week. I hope she likes it. She is a great talent and I know that she will surpass her new boss’s expectations. She is training for the ½ marathon as well. She beat me in the 5 mile run by 10 minutes. Uhg.

Anyway, the kids are well. Max is doing great in school and Claire continues to improve her skills. I can’t wait for “Clearvoice” from Advanced Bionics to come out. It is new software and I hear that the clarity is nothing short of a miracle. The FDA needs to get the lead out and approve this thing. I know that it will do wonders for Max and Claire. Check it out on the Advanced Bionics web site.