Catching up or trying to...

Wow!  Life is really flying by at mach 5 these days!

Things have been "somewhat difficult" since all of the weather.
My kids with past traumas have not been on their finest behavior...and everybody else has been pulled into that zone by the aggravations of dealing with those who are revisiting all of their past traumas.  Adventures in behavior management going on here.

But, we are moving on.  Almost done with schooling for another year, as well as ordering, registering, meetings, evaluations, etc. for next year!  Sarah Ying will continue reading and doing little math exercises through the summer since she tends to forget everything if we don't keep working.  Josh will be doing math also.  He does enough recreational reading to keep those skills going.  But he will be working in Saxon 56 through the summer to keep his thinking cap on in the number zone.  Hannah will finish her school work (Calvert 7th grade) in another month or so and break until ASFA begins in August.  Abby finishes at ASFA next week, but then has a tour and a 2 week camp in June.  Moriah has already finished at UAB and is now on her way to China to work at the the Starfish Foster Home for a month.  (My camera has gone there, too, so only phone pics until it returns.)

These last few weeks have been a real organizational challenge involving moving out of dorm rooms (still quite a bit of that to go) and storing stuff away and getting bags packed and driving to extra end-of-year performances and doing make-up lessons, etc.  Everything is very difficult in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham with driving/coping with closed streets/missing businesses/etc.  Most everyone we know is back to work to try and finish up the year, but all our concerts and recitals ended up being cancelled.  Really a very minor inconvenience compared to what so many families have had to deal with, but a big loss for Hannah...her last performance with the TYO.  Abby did have all her scheduled recitals and performances at ASFA (and a few more to go, too.)  One of her recitals is now on a youtube video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNpzFH050MU&list=PLF4C28C4059301907   (Not the greatest cinematography, acoustics, or music selection in my opinion.  But no one is asking me anyway!)   Next week after her finals I will move her home and then take her back to Bham the next day to leave for a trip to NY with the music department.  They have a packed agenda that will include playing at the Church of the Intercession for the National Festival of the States.  And performances and clinics at New York University and the Harlem School of the Arts.  I expect she will have to sleep for a week to recover from this trip.  It is 5 loooooooooong days of traveling and sightseeing and performing.  Whew.  I originally volunteered to be a chaperone, but they had so many other parents that wanted to go, I didn't feel necessary.  (And thank heavens for that!)

This time last year, I was already doing pool maintenance and the kids were swimming daily...last night we turned the heat on.  It is chilly and dismal and we haven't even cleaned the pool out yet.  But summer IS coming eventually!  So I am planning to get some new parts for the pump and get started this weekend whatever the weather is like.
 
Last thought for this post...this link http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=47772  to a Thank You letter to all the rural "rednecks" who have worked to help out during the big cleanup.  My DH, Jim is one of them, of course!  He definitely fits the description...got the chainsaw, the tractors, the big truck, the flashilight, the pocket knife, the "nothing is too dirty" attitude.  He was hard at it less than half an hour after the tornadoes passed through here.  Kept it up all night and the next day, too.  Local power company crews know him by name!  
Still a helluva mess to clean up around here though. 
Wondering if it will ever get done...

Amy