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!