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Well, it has been a busy few months for us.  I’ve been traveling around the country, interviewing at universities for faculty positions.  I visited 11 different universities in 5 weeks, racking up about 19,000 air miles in the process.  We had three different schools make offers: USC, Northwestern and University of Washington.  We’ve decided to take the job at UW in Seattle starting in late summer.  So we’re moving back to the West Coast!  We’ll keep you posted as more details emerge.

Once upon a time we updated our blog regularly. That time is not now. I’m so sorry if you have kept coming back for updates on the Thornocks only to find the same old Christmas post. I know I LOVE reading your blogs but updating my own has become homework…and let’s face it, I’ve always been a procrastinator with homework. Instead of updating you on the past three months, which have been full of adventures, I’m not going to burn myself out of blogging and instead keep this post to the point so that I’ll want to come back and update you some more. Fingers crossed.

We love holidays! I love making them a big deal because I enjoy seeing Allie get so excited for the big day to come. So I tend to go overboard at times, which I may have done this St. Patrick’s day. But, we’re Irish, so I have a good reason to celebrate it. In past years, we’ve made leprechaun traps, wore green, had green breakfast foods, had the traditional St. Paddy’s day meal: corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, rolls, etc, and we have always ended the night with some delicious green dessert. This year was no exception.

However, this year we caught the elusive little leprechaun. We made the trap with rainbows and shamrocks, sparkly gold glitter and a welcome sign. Inside the trap was a homemade blanket and pillow (made by Allie with my help) to lure him in. Allie was informed the night before that leprechauns turn to stone when you look at or touch them but they quickly run away and hide if they have a spare moment. So when she awoke to find the leprechaun sleeping in her trap, she snatched him out and would not let him out of her sight for fear of him escaping. She carried him everywhere; he even came to the park with us. Every once in awhile when she’d leave him alone for a minute he would sneak away. But she always found him.

Other than catching the leprechaun, which was really a garden gnome that I painted green, she found a trail of gold chocolate coins that led her to a green sparkly box with treasures inside. These treasures included a clover planting kit, chapstick, a green crown, Lucky Charms cereal and more gold coins.

After our traditional corned been and cabbage dinner, we had rainbow cake with lime sherbet. Allie tucked Pat into his homemade blanket right next to her bed that night. Unfortunately, he was gone the next morning and in his place he had left a note of thanks for such a fun filled day. We hope Pat will come back to visit us next year.

That pretty much sums up our St. Patrick’s day. Now it’s on to planning Easter. To enlarge the pictures, click on the picture two times.

As for other news, Jake had been gone for about 6 weeks interviewing for a job. He had 13 interviews lined up. He is done with the interviewing phase and is now receiving offers. We are trying to decide between three wonderful universities and hope to come to a conclusion within the next week. We’ll keep you posted.

Lastly, our little girl is scheduled to come via c-section on May 27th. We are excited to meet her.

P.S. I stole some of my St. Patrick’s day ideas from a super fun and creative friend. Thanks Gina!