Zack is 17 years old and is a high school senior this year!!! What happened to our baby?!?!? Zack continues to do well in school. He is taking all AP classes and band. He opted to take English and Economics online so that he could take more math and science courses at school. Yes, he's an odd child.

Zack has applied for engineering at 9 universities and is in the process of hearing back regarding acceptance and scholarships. We will keep you posted on the final decision! He spent a week at Purdue University over the summer participating in a week-long engineering camp that also invovled a lot of computer science.

Band remains Zack's primary activity. He continued on as section leader in marching band, and first chair in symphonic winds. He participated in a 20+ member trombone ensemble, pit orchestra for the school play, honor band, various ensembles and solos. He has been able to share these experiences with great friends.

Jackie is 12 years old, and in 7th grade. She moved on to junior high this year! Jackie had been open-enrolled at my school which meant that she then went to a different junior high than all her friends. While there was some apprehension as the beginning of the year approached, she adjusted just fine and has met nice new friends.

Jackie is playing the flute and continues to make great progress with that. This summer she decided to teach herself the clarinet. Recently Zack taught her to play the trombone. Right now they are both learning the trumpet. Will she stay with the flute? We'll see. In the meantime she is having fun experimenting with the other instruments. She auditioned and was chosen for Honor Band and is starting Jazz Band in January.

In addition to playing music, Jackie loves listening to music and seems to have her earbuds permanently stuck in her ears. She's often multi-tasking, listening to music, playing Minecraft and texting / face-timing with friends. She spends a lot of time drawing, both on paper and on the computer.

Peter has kept himself busy this year doing projects around the house. His last holdout has been plumbing - he had never attempted it by himself before now. Several bathroom/kitchen projects later and I have now declared him a professional!

In addition, he demolished our deck, making way for a new patio to be poured. Unfortunately we had a big tree that was dying and needed to come down, which he did using his trusty chainsaw he got last year. It got quite a workout. He also painted the shed which turned out to be a very long project.