Mary Lynn

Just wanted to take a moment to talk about another beautiful girl in our lives. Though we haven't seen Mary Lynn in a painfully long time she does a good job of keeping up with her crazy Aunt Cindy and I am very grateful. She is pretty isn't she?

Best Friends

Willow has had a unique experience for one of my children. She alone has had "friends" since the day she was born. She has grown up knowing and loving the same group of amazing children their entire lives. Still there are two that stand out above the others and soon she will be facing the loss of one of those when her dear friend Cicely moves with her family to England. You can tell these girls love each other and we all hope they find a way to remain close all the way across the ocean. Cicely and her family have been a wonderful part of my life and I love each of them dearly. Just thought I'd throw that in because someday I hope they read this blog as a way of keeping up with the Claytons.

Higher education

Cailyn got word concerning the full scholarship to Berea in Kentucky. She took too long getting the final information in (a letter of recommendation, that the teacher told her was sent long ago) to qualify for this fall. That's fine with her as she wanted to take a semester off and start college in the spring. She can always reapply. And now she has clarity that this is, in fact, what she wants.

birthdays and graduations

Time brings changes of its own. Do absolutely nothing and still there are events and milestones. Cailyn turned 18, with absolutely no hoopla or ceremony. Not because I didn't feel ceremony was warented but simply because she was "too old" for that stuff and prefered to spend the day camping with friends. The irony was that we got her camping gear for her birthday but haven't had five quiet minutes with her since then so now she gets them for graduation (am I stingy or what?). There seems no end to her accomplishements at the moment; she completed the educational portion of massage school and started internship, graduates with honors from high school the end of May and massage school in early July. She interviewed for a full scholarship in Kentucky over Thanksgiving and might well be headed that direction by late summer.
Auburn is taking a different approach to life and left the highschool she was attending- no longer interested in band or college credit courses- and started the charter school Cailyn attends at the semester. She had accumulated enough credits to potentially graduate at the end of this year but as she's already skipped a year, decided she didn't want to do that. She has dazzled her art teacher with her broad talent and got a perfect score on one piece of art she submitted in the contest Cailyn won last year and placed second with another piece (the judge flat out told her she didn't like the artist whose work inspired that piece so I don't think the results were fair). She is, as always, excelling in everything she does and she seems much happier in the more casual atmosphere of the new school.
Orion got a perfect score on an advance placement science exam and then asked if he could be homeschooled next year. I allowed the girls to make that decision so I guess I'll allow him the same option. He's a hard worker and a charming guy so he'll do well where ever he is- provided of course that he can charm me.
Rheannon and Rowan both had birthdays and the biggest news there is that she smashed her finger in March and might need surgery. We're still hoping it will mend on its own but the orthopedist gave it a 10% chance. It doesn't bother her much so she tends to overuse it. It is hard for her to play the guitar and since that's important to her we'll do whatever needs done to keep that option open to her.
My only news is that I changed majors and will graduate in the Fall. I'm anxious to finish up this semester so I can spend more time playing with the kids. They've all been very patient- especially Willow who needs to talk 80% of the time she's awake and who has been very understanding that I can't devote that much time to listening.