And so Summer Ends...

So, we while away 2012, slowly treading through the year -- sometimes with galoshes and sometimes with running shoes!

The summer of '12 was full of activity. It was Kennedy's first real summer off since 3rd grade since she moved from year-round calendars to traditional after graduating from 8th grade in June. Unprepared as we were for it, she vacillated between intense boredom and a packed schedule depending on the week. We took advantage of most of Center Stage Center for Performing Arts' summer camp offerings because they were inexpensive and in the evenings, but it meant driving three towns away four nights a week for camp!

Kennedy also went on two trips this summer... she went with her friend Caroline to the Floyd Music Festival in Floyd, Virginia for four nights and survived! It was a unique experience that she seemed to enjoy most of -- saw some new age hippies, and fully had a Woodstock-style experience. Then, the most anticipated trip of the year was to Texas to visit Serena. It was her first plane flight without us, but Cassie flew out with her and stayed for a few days on the front end, and then Serena and Charlie flew back home with her 8 days later. They went bowling, on an overnight river rafting expedition, spent some time in Serena's lab, took a yoga class, explored Galveston boutiques, and more... For a kid who couldn't spend a night away from us for years, these two trips were a HUGE step forward. She may be able to go off to college after all!

The big news happened that weekend after they all came home. We had planned a surprise party for my parents because it was their 45th anniversary this year. So, Serena and Charlie came home and joined Cassie, Kennedy and I for a trip to Williamsburg. My parents knew that Mark and I were coming, but they had no idea that any other kids were with us -- and they especially had no idea that Serena and Charlie were part of the entourage. Anyway, after surprising them with the kids, we went out for dinner Saturday night at the Polo Club to celebrate their anniversary. After we got home, we settled in to watch a movie, and Charlie surprised Serena with a proposal of marriage! We were all in shock -- but a good kind of shock! We are all very excited about Charlie becoming a member of the family, but we had no idea that was going to happen that weekend. :)

So... all that excitement behind us, we got ready for the beginning of school around here. This was the big HIGH SCHOOL transition year for Kennedy! We haven't done this since 2001 when Cassie skipped 8th grade and went directly to high school. The new schedule requires that we get up at 5:25 in the morning now, and the first couple of weeks kicked our collective butts. Mark and I feel like we've lost our grip on real life, because we are both ready to collapse by 9-9:30 every night now. But, we have fully transitioned to the new schedule and Kennedy is doing well with her classes. She's actually not being challenged yet, and she's taking every honors class she can, so she wants to look at AP classes for next year.

End of Summer Pool Party!

Another change was a girl scout troop switch. Her previous troop was unaccommodating with her dance schedule, so Kennedy found a new troop that is very excited about including her in their activities. The girls are planning a cruise next summer, so things are very positive with this change!

Dance has transitioned again, too. We know that dance is Kennedy's passion, but this year it was pretty obvious. Kennedy was on the dance team last year, and was talked into trying clogging (the state dance) this year by her jazz team friends. But, rather than wait to take a clogging class starting in September, Kennedy bought herself clogging shoes in June and taught herself how to clog over the summer using YouTube videos. She went to clogging team tryouts and made it on the team as an alternate!! So, she is on two teams this year! Yikes! Luckily the teams travel together, so there isn't any added travel or scheduling. She also added lyrical and a second ballet class for this year. She is assisting in a lyrical class to help pay for her tuition, and is planning to compete a duet with a friend this year. It's going to be a lot of fun!

So, our house is still on the market. We've had 10 showings in 2.5 months, but no takers. We'll sit it out for as long as it takes. The market is trying to tell us we have to sell low to get out, but its only depressed because people are in a rush and buyers think everything should be a bargain. But, we can't sell unless we can get a set amount out of the house, so we'll take whatever time we need to until the right buyer comes along. We're in a very desirable neighborhood, so it will eventually sell. House prices are coming back up slowly, and the timing will be perfect at some point.

Cassie has found a significant other. She and Cole Long have been dating for a couple of months now, and they've spent several Sunday afternoons here watching football with us. Cole is great and we're enjoying getting to know him.

Other than that, life remains the same. Mark was rolled into a permanent IBM position this month, with no real loss in income, plus the addition of some great benefits including vacation, sick time, and holidays off! We are very happy about that. :)  This may be the first holiday season that we do not have most of the kids here, but they were all with us last year, and we'll be using the family pics we took in 2011 for our Christmas newsletter/card this year!  Here's to hoping the Fall season is good to us all!

Milestones...

Okay, here we are on the eve of July 1st -- exactly halfway through 2012 -- and I haven't posted a thing since Christmas! I guess I need to do something about that, don't I?!

This has been a crazy six months. Work has been very, very busy, and its been a busy year in general, but there have been several milestones this spring that deserve documentation at least, and probably some celebration at best!

First and probably foremost, was Kennedy's graduation from 8th grade this week. Although Kennedy feels that this year "flew by," it was a tough year of juggling academics, extracurricular activities, and middle school drama that I wasn't always sure we would live through. However, she is now fully transitioned into the world of teenagers and will be a "Golden Hawk" at Holly Springs High School at the end of August. She has learned many valuable lessons this year that I hope she will take with her to the new campus. She has developed some great friends this year outside of school that she will enjoy all summer and could carry her through high school and beyond if she can leave some of the more destructive relationships behind her next year.

Kennedy and Madison in
recital ballet costumes

Another big thing was the end of Kennedy's third year of dance at Center Stage. This year we discovered just how talented and passionate she is about dancing. There is a magic that happens when a young person discovers what lights their fire, and we watched her find that in herself and enjoyed watching her develop that passion all year. She added ballet to her class load this year, and added a sense of elegance to her dancing that I didn't know she was capable of. It was a joy to watch! She also earned a spot on the Junior Jazz team at her studio (and on the mini hip hop team) this year, and we spent the spring learning all about the world of competitive dance. She developed some great friendships with teammates that will last for years, and her confidence in her own ability grew exponentially. I enjoyed getting to know the other dance parents (and they are NOT like the ones on TV, believe me!), and we got to go to Myrtle Beach twice!! She has fallen in love with clogging -- even bought her own pair of clogging shoes -- and thank goodness she is old enough to work as an assistant this next year so it can offset the extra classes she wants to take!

Kennedy also earned a spot in her middle school dance company this year, and after choreographing two dances this year (a trio in the Fall and her own solo this Spring), her dance company director selected her for the Choreography award at their dance awards party last week! After winning that award, we traveled to Morehead City, NC where the Center Stage jazz team competed in a national competition. They came in 1st in their division and 3rd overall -- a pretty good showing!

Another milestone in our family was Cassie's new job at Cisco Systems, working in their HR department! She made the transition from retail management back in February, starting as a scheduler where she scheduled people for interviews, and organized rooms and teams and resources, etc. She's gotten a couple of promotions since then, however, and now is an Engagement Coordinator, which means she processes background checks, references, and all the paperwork that has to be completed when a person is given a verbal job offer. She loves the work, and the fact that she gets weekends and holidays off is an added bonus!

Another change in our lives is that Sam and his girlfriend Colleen moved here in April so that Colleen could take an internship in a doctor's office in Raleigh to finish her billing and coding certification. She had hoped it would turn into a full-time job, but it didn't, so they are both still looking for decent jobs while living with a friend in Raleigh. We see them from time-to-time as their budget and access to wheels permits. Its good to have them back here, tho... it was much harder to help them with anything when they were living in Massachusetts.

That kind of wraps up our Milestones Report for the first half of the year... I will make more of an effort to post in the upcoming six months. :)  One of my resolutions this year was to make more time for writing, and I haven't done a good job with that. The summer looks to be a little less crazy now that I'm no longer in a leadership position in Rotary or driving Kennedy to dance three times a week, so hopefully I can get some writing done!