And 7 months later......

I had to quit blogging for a bit there - stuff was going on and it was just too stressful. So to catch you up:

January/February - Dad was taken off the ventilator and eventually got to leave the CCU, then the hospital.  He is fine now!  Carey Grace turned 15, I turned 38.  Grandpa got moved out of assisted living into a nursing home.  He was there about two weeks with only minor mishaps, falls, grumpy spells, misunderstandings, etc.  Then he had a BAD fall and was sent to the hospital. He had a broken arm and some other injuries, but mentally he started sliding downhill FAST. A resident's wife (at the nursing home) told mom that she didn't think Grandpa "fell".  That on top of some other stuff bothering mom caused her to choose another nursing home, which he went to when he was released from the hospital.  A week after that he was put on Hospice... which brings us to

March - we didn't get to go skiing, but we did take our first ever family vacation!  The four Hutchins and the five of us (Rufus got to go!) went camping at Boiling Springs State Park near Woodward Oklahoma.  It was WONDERFUL!  We had a great time doing nothing!  We did tour a cave, took a couple of hikes, did a lot of cooking and just hanging out!  Last night there the wind was bad so instead of cooking sans fire, we went to town and had BBQ at a hole in the wall place.  It was a fabulous trip and I look forward to going camping again sometime if I can get Aron to agree!
Gpa was put on hospice, and on March 22 he passed away.  He was burried in Shawnee OK and Aron and the girls and I all went to the funeral in Plano. While all this was happening, I found out that my contract was not being renewed.  I resigned to prevent that from happening, and I was mildly comforted that 11 people resigned when I did and I know only one of them that resigned willingly (she was moving) and over half of the remaining 10 were in the same boat as me!  Budget cuts suck.

April May.... went on the Band trip to St. Louis - it was awesome and I had a great time! So glad I was able to make this memory with CG..... don't know that I will get to go on band trips again, as the time off will be harder to arrange!

June-July.... Went to camp (Panfork) with Madi, then turned around and went to camp (Piney Woods) with CG.  Spent some time with mom, visited 6th floor museum in Dallas that I have been wanting to go to for forever!

August.... Summer band!  This year they had THREE A DAYS!  We have a new director (the previous director was forced to resign the same month I was!) and he is really whipping the kids into shape!!  They went from 8- 12, then home for lunch and back from 1-4:00, then home for supper and back from 6-8:30.  Only home 3 1/2 hrs out of 12 1/2!  BUT they are doing AMAZING! they sound so good!  The new guy seems to really have great plans for our little band, and right now the district is willing to give him whatever he wants.... we are getting new uniforms, new percussion instruments, new equipment, mikes, even a new wood floor for the band hall!!!!
Also our landlords are divorcing and selling the house to split the assets, so we are having to move.  Found a TINY duplex that accepts pets so it looks like we will put half our stuff in storage and be moving the 1st of September AGAIN!  Oh how I hate moving in Sept!!! Oh well, praise the Lord we are all together and okay.... don't know how we will pay our bills, but somehow we will make it!

School starts next week, Aron is already back doing inservice.  This is the first time in 16 years that I haven't been up at the school helping him get ready or getting myself ready for the new year.  It feels weird.  Also knowing that I won't have summers off, 2 weeks at Christmas, etc..... very weird.

Anyhow, that about catches you up.  Perhaps I can post more regularly now.... hahaha, yeah, we shall see huh?  Next post will be less day to day and more profound, just needed to fill the gap from January to August!

Everybody have a great day!