Happy Ground Hog's Day!  Looks like we are going to have 6 more weeks of Winter! (according to the fuzzy creature). We have not had a lot of snow here in Baltimore this winter, but it has been really cold. And we have had several ice storms. Thank goodness we have not lost our power, but Scott has missed out on school due to closings. I am sure the school district will have the kids pay for it somehow in the future to make up the days.

Scott was back to his usual schedule however at school. He also had to attend the NTHS(National Tech Honor Society) Induction Ceremony after getting off work at the After Care program early in the week. He also spent time after school during the week volunteering at the Concession stand for the Basketball games. He is now officially done with all his NHS volunteer hours. He is really moving along! Only 4 more months left of high school! And he brought home another fantastic report card of all A's!  He is busy wrapping up his Engineering project-the handicap planter. He built one by hand in class using left over scrap wood and cut each piece with a hand saw!  It turned out very nice. He is planning on staining it and he added a push handle and some hooks to hang tools off the side. Besides the protocol unit, he also has to turn in drawings to scale and building plans and reports which he has been doing on the computer. In English, his class is wrapping up The Canterbury Tales and Scott had to write a rap song with a group on the story line. They even had to present their song in front of the class. Not one of  Scott's favorite assignments, but they did a great job. Next they will be reading Hamlet and the class is headed to DC to see the play. He also went on line to sign up for housing at Western Michigan. He just saved his place in line basically. He won't be able to choose his dorm or request a type of roommate for a few months, but it is better to be at the top of the list. He is looking to move into the engineering dormitory in the Valley at  WMU. On Friday he decided it would be a good idea to get a flu shot since he works with so many little sick kids at the After Care program. So I headed over to the clinic with Scott for his shot and then we picked up dinner.

Allison also started back to her 3rd semester of Grad school with 3 classes. She was worried the most about her finance class, but turns out the Prof is teaching Excel which Allison is very comfortable with and now it seems to be her favorite class!  On Monday, before she headed back to Salisbury, she had lunch with Tom and one of his previous mentee's Nishay. Nishay is an incredibly wonderful person from Pakistan whose family has had all of us over to their historic home in Catonsville for several traditional meals. She completed the Northrop Management internship and now is a full time employee.We thought it would be helpful if Allison sat down with her for some pointers on the interview and the job description. So all 3 met for lunch at a Kabob place(which now Allison loves) to share info on Northrop and the Professional Development program(PDP). The program rotates new hires through the management department at Northrop for 1 year to get better acclimated to the company.   Allison returned home at the end of the week for her interview. It was scheduled for Thursday, Feb 1 at 4pm, but they bumped her up to 315. So she drove home in the morning, changed clothes and headed to Northrop. She arrived early and Tom and Nishay met her for a small tour and refresher on the company before Allison headed in for the interview. She did not expect to hear back for several weeks. She came home and filled out her Thank You notes, and on Friday, she received a job offer email!  And before she has even finished school! Allison reports the Interviewer thought her resume was impressive. We are all absolutely amazed at the quick response! And this was Allison's first interview! Plus she skipped an interview offer 2 years ago in Virginia with Northrop since she really was not wild on driving over 2 hours each day, there and back home. And Tom was not going to rent another apartment/hotel in Virginia just for an internship. So he was afraid they would no longer be interested in her. But she managed to earn this job all on her own merit! Well done Allison! We are so proud of you. Now comes the Acceptance email and paperwork process/salary negotiation for a Business Management Analyst 2 job position. She can even choose her own starting date, so she is looking to begin work at the end of July offered by the HR Dept. And she can work the flexible 4days, 10 hrs schedule like Tom which would give her every other Friday off. How amazing! Plus she will be working right here in Baltimore in the same building that Tom is at currently.  The extra time off  after graduation will give her the opportunity to move out of her condo in Salisbury and get a bit of a break before starting in the real world!

Allison also spent her weekend home from school volunteering for a day at Girl Scout camp. The scouts put on an overnight winter camping experience and Allison drove up for the day to Camp Conwingo to help out with the activities. She was put in charge of the GPS activity/orienteering. It was a very cold and long day, but she enjoyed being outdoors.

I spent my Saturday at work. We were extremely busy the week before since one of our therapists had a family emergency in Florida and had to travel out of the state for a few days. So we had some catching up to do on the weekend. Afterwards I stopped in for a haircut and did some grocery shopping. On Sunday we were invited to our neighbors to enjoy dinner and the Super Bowl game. Allison and I were busy cooking on Sunday morning-making brownies, chocolate chip banana muffins and Buffalo Chicken Dip.  We had a great time enjoying the game, the silly commercials and the incredible food. We could have used nicer weather though as another ice storm rolled in. Before the weather turned, I spent the afternoon at Girl Scout choir rehearsal. Looks like we are going to have a busy Spring season. I passed on singing the National Anthem for the Baltimore Blast soccer game. Not a huge soccer fan. Looks like I have some new songs to learn though.

And I was glad Tom made it home from New Hampshire before the weather turned. He just flew up for a few days of work. Looks like he will be doing a bit of traveling in the next few months. When he is home, he is busy working on his classwork for his PhD, but it looks like he is finally getting into some steady projects at work with his new position. He took a break with our friend John on Saturday evening to attend a Hershey Hockey game in PA(no win for Hershey, but fun for the boys)

I was sorry I missed my mom this weekend, but the weather was pretty lousy to go out in, and I was not home very much to stop in for a visit. If we had hosted the Super Bowl and the weather was nicer, I would have brought her over to our house. But her facility always puts on a nice Super Bowl party as well. So she was covered for festivities. We plan on taking her out to dinner with us to celebrate Allison's new job next weekend