I recently noticed how rarely I used the blog during the last year. I'm not one for new year's resolutions, it seems to me they're just a way of being clear about what I'll fail to get accomplished, but I'm willing to go out on a limb and at least say that I hope that I'll do a better job keeping up with entries this year. As I read through some past postings, it was surprising to see how much I have forgotten about the last few years. Even the mundane stuff was interesting.

In light of that, and because I'm not feeling especially creative at this moment, I have decided to do a sort of "time-stamp" by creating a where-we-are-at-the-moment sort of list.

• Kim's job has changed again this school year. Although she's still working with Dylan, Grace and one other new student, she spends the bulk of her day in a Kindergarten classroom working with other teachers. My understanding is that this is partly because of the goals that have been set to see these kids mainstreamed for as much of their program as possible.
• Abbie's in eighth grade. She's having a much better year than last year; she's healthier, her grades are better, and she's seems to be less adversely affected by the social pressures of friends and school. She still texts constantly though, and her Facebook photos and self-portrait postings are becoming the punchline of many jokes. Last night, we had Lynn and Dave Barnes over for dinner. Nate and Abbie each invited one friend, and when Lynn introduced herself to Abbie's friend, she started by speaking to Rachel by name, and then added, as if to explain, "I feel like I already know you from Facebook." I'm not sure Lynn intended to call them out on all of their postings, but her comment was brilliant. I have to remember to thank her for it.
• Abbie's currently taking three dance lessons. Wednesday evenings are for ballet. Thursday nights are for tap and jazz. Because she has an hour break between her two Thursday evening lessons, she and I have been having supper together at the diner that's next door to the dance studio. I'm enjoying our once-a-week dad and daughter time.
• Abbie's also continuing to take guitar lessons from Jordan. I think that this is her third year. She still doesn't "practice" all that much, but plays all the time. I'm fine with the lack of focus on scales and things since I know that she's playing so well, and is getting so much enjoyment out of it. Every now and then we can here her singing too, off in her room or the basement.
• Nate's a junior. He also seems to be having a better year at school. This was the year of testing and trying to get to the bottom of some of his schoolwork issues. At this point, it seems that he's made progress, but I think that he's also become much more aware of how far he has to go. Tech Valley continues to be a great match for him and I know that he's well connected to the kids there.
• Nate's taking tap lessons with Mr. Pigliavento. He's been taking voice lessons with Mr. Gleason since September. He's in his third year with CDYC. He's been cast in the SLOC production of "Les Mis" that will performed in April. He's also recently expressed interest in resuming piano lessons.
• He's not real motivated about getting ready for college. It's time for us to start pushing the issue, since he'll need to start taking tests this spring and we should be visiting a campus or two every month or so. Of course, it's hard to predict, but I'm not sure he's going to be ready to go away to school at the end of high school. The next few months will, no doubt, be pretty important. The thing that I need to keep reminding myself is not to care about it more than he does.
• Work seems to be going better for me this year. It's not that anything significant has been a problem over the last few years, but I was beginning to feel restless and uninspired. During the summer I took the Orff Level I training at Eastman, and it's had a big impact on my teaching. I'm in the process of refining some of what I have always done, as well as, incorporated some new strategies and techniques. Overall, it has made work so much more enjoyable for me, which clearly is also affecting my students. A highlight of this fall was the Amidon's residency in early December. They are amazing with kids, and I learned a great deal from watching them and working with their materials. It was also wonderful to see the effect that their songs had on our school community.
• BRC seems to be getting along well. Our youth work continues to be both satisfying and challenging. It's clear to me that the kids don't view us the same way that the kids ten years ago did. It's also clear that being the parents of two of the youth group members means that most everyone else views us as being "parental." Nevertheless, we're blessed to be working with such great kids in such a supportive environment.
• The dogs are now 18 months old. We seem to be through the most difficult aspects of training. They aren't having any accidents in the house anymore, and we feel as though we can turn our backs for a couple of minutes without having to fear that they'll chew on something. They are great fun, and we all are enjoying them so much.

So hopefully, I can post a few more details in the coming weeks and months. Hopefully, I haven't already doomed myself by committing such an idea to writing...