And... we're back!

So yeah, I live in Austin. Feels damn good to say that again. Cass got here about 4 weeks ago, and the kids and I got here 3 weeks ago. It's already home.

We love our new house. I've pretty much gotten everything unpacked. We have to get some new furniture to go in our family room, and we need some new bookcases. When we get that done, we can unpack the rest of the boxes (mostly just books).

I have submitted all the paperwork to get the kids registered in their schools. Cameron needs 2 vaccinations (chicken pox booster and meningoococcal) before they will actually register her. She's getting them tomorrow. Her middle school does an Eagle Camp for incoming 6th graders and new students - so she'll go to that in early August. Logan and Luke will go to meet the teacher night, probably the Friday before school starts. I've ordered school supply kits for all of them.

Since we didn't already have enough to do, we adopted a rescue dog just over a week ago. It has gone far better than I was expecting. We ended up with a younger dog (puppy) than I wanted, but he's a Yorkie mix and he's pretty darn cute and friendly. The kids have done all of the housetraining cleanup without complaint. I hope that he's pretty trained by the time school starts. His name is Bernie.

I am currently looking at a program for CLS (clinical laboratory science). UT doesn't really have anything that I want to do, but ASH does. That's right, Austin State Hospital has a CLS training program. It's one year, and it would start for me in September 2011. I'm going to apply, but I've got to really think about it. And what I would do with it when I'm finished.

And just to prove to Marcus that there are some sane people who live in Texas :), this is an article about a school district that has dropped abstinence-only sex-ed in favor of abstinence plus sex-ed. We're not in either of the school districts mentioned (San Marcos and Lake Travis) - but Lake Travis is literally on the other side of the river from us. Of course, my kids all get their sex-ed info from me.

Writing by Cameron E.

As soon as paper touches pen,

I'm in a trance that never ends,

I browse through my imagination,

Through countless ideas, awaiting their creation.

I select a few, then let them run free

Onto my paper, in an adventurous spree,

They have some good times, and some tough ones too,

And sometimes they just don't know what to do.

But they always get through it, no matter the strife,

They're like heirlooms that I pass down through my life,

They record their journies, their mistakes, their glories,

And that, my friends, is how I write my stories.

6th grade choral concert

The 6th grade chorus and 7th and 8th grade showchoirs had their end of the year concert last night. It was really good. Cameron was a little disappointed that she won't be here to be in showchoir next year. But it doesn't matter anyway, since the Wake County Public School System has decided to cut all of the arts programs from middle schools starting next year (that's choir, showchoir, drama, dance, art). Awesome. I'm sure they didn't even bat their eyes at the budget of stupid athletics. I'd say about 90% of the kids on the stage last night in choir were the same ones I saw at the honor roll ceremonies all year long (including Cameron). So the kids that earn the honors for the schools get their programs cut. Jerks. But thank God they'll still have a football team. That's so enriching.

Cameron had a solo. It's hard to hear what she's singing - because for some strange reason the music teacher wouldn't let them stand close to the microphone. It's the 3rd verse to My Country 'Tis of Thee.

Misc.

We have booked our move. Good thing we had some pricing issues, because while Cass was asking questions he found out that the moving company was planning to take our stuff to California. That would have been fun. So instead of a 2600 mile move, we're just going 1300 miles. That helped with the price issues tremendously.

The packers are coming on the 16th and 17th, they'll load on the 18th. The delivery will be between the 24th and 26th. Cass is going to meet the truck there, and the rest of us will come later.

In the meantime, the kids get out of school on the 10th. We close on the new house on the 14th. The kids and I are leaving on the 15th or 16th to drive to Mississippi - so we will miss out on the packing and loading. YAY!

My cousin is getting married in Louisiana on the 19th. We are going down early to stay in New Orleans for a night. We are staying at the Hotel Monteleone. I don't know what we'll do besides go to Cafe du Monde and the French Market. But we don't have a whole lot of time anyway.

The girls are going to Camp Lake Stephens the 21st through the 26th.

I can't wait to be OUT of this townhouse. And be in a house that I own. The girls won't have to share a room any more. We will have storage space, and the clutter will be gone. We will have a swimming pool - make that 3 swimming pools - in our neighborhood. And a lake club on Lake Austin. And we will be in Austin.

The World Cup starts on June 11th. I've had an app on my phone that does a countdown. I remember when it was 100+ days left. Now it's just 2 weeks! England's first game is against USA. Go England!

Logan wants to go on a cruise for her birthday this year. We usually celebrate her birthday along with Luke's, since they are only 4 days apart. It usually doesn't work out to have a traditional party, since it falls right before school starts. A couple of years ago, we tried to go to Sea World in San Antonio for a few days. A tropical storm hit, and it completely ruined everything. We had to bail out early. So I am a little hesitant to do any grand gesture like that again. With our luck, there will be a hurricane. I will still look into it, but it's not cheap with 5 of us going.

That reminds me that the girls' passports are expired. Time for new ones!

Frustration

I was going to make a post about my frustration with Cameron and being responsible about her schoolwork. But then Luke got home from school and totally changed my focus. So same topic, different subject.

"Luke decided to use the bathroom all over the walls and floor today. When I figured out it was him, he said it was an 'accident.' He helped Mr. W, our custodian, clean it up. Please discuss with him. Thanks."

Almost made it through the school year.....

New house in Austin!

I went to Austin last week and spent 2 days house shopping. I saw 13 houses the first day, which I narrowed down to 2 finalists. The second day, I went back to those 2 and we decided to make an offer on one. It was a great house with a pool - but it wasn't the 'favorite'. Luckily, we didn't come to an agreement, so we moved on to the next one. This is the one that I just loved when I walked into it. We made an offer on it, and it was accepted.

There was some drama involved, but ultimately we are happy with how it worked out. Cass and the kids didn't go to Austin, so they haven't even laid eyes on it!

(These photos are different than the ones on FB. These were on the realtor.com listing.)

We are going to try to move pretty soon after closing. That should put it around mid to late June.

The girls are taking EOG (end of grade) tests this week. Only 3.5 weeks left!

WCMS Idol

Cameron's school had a program last night that's their take on American Idol. They held tryouts last week. I don't know how many kids tried out, but Cameron was 1 of 17 kids picked to be in the show. The kids loved it, and the school raised money for the drama/chorus department from it.

Cameron is on the far left end

2 things: 1) Cameron is totally going to make me take her to try out for American Idol one day. If she does, I'm going to wear a disguise. 2) It has taken me 3 hours (THREE HOURS!) 4 hours (FOUR HOURS NOW! because the last one failed) to upload these video clips. Blogger = FAIL.