Brooke and Katelyn are both in the 8th grade currently, which means high school next year!
Katelyn spends every living moment possible dancing. Go to school, go to dance, come home, eat dinner, practice dance, sleep, repeat. I admire her dedication and talent so much. I can't wait to see her dance her way through high school!

Brooke and Katelyn are both in the 8th grade currently, which means high school next year!
Brooke is one of my little academic superstars. She's in all advanced classes and is heading off to an environmental science high school. I know she'll do great there and I can't wait to see what new adventures she embarks on!

Next year my not-so-little Alice is off to a whole new world - middle school. She's going to a different one than her sisters, and will be there all alone. She's so smart, and I am just so proud of her!

It's nearly official: 13 kids in grade school!
 
How crazy is that?
 
Kayla's senior year - 2015-16 - all of of the kids will be enrolled in either elementary, middle, or high school.
Talk about expensive!

Kate's dance season is winding down - their last competition and recital are in the next 2 months. Between the two, Katelyn has 3 solos - jazz, lyrical, and ballet.As her "Mom", it's my job to pick and buy her costumes for each solo.
I'm so proud of the dedication she's had this dance season. Since September she's been at the studio nearly every day rehearsing, learning, and helping others. She's really stepped it up this year, and that's while maintaining great grades, friendships, and family relationships.
After her Mom and Father were both killed, she quit dance and kept to herself for a while. She slowly started to come around, and return to my little niece I've always loved. She started thinking about joining dance a while ago, but couldn't find one dance studio that offered all the dances she wanted. When we moved to Maryland though, I helped her find the perfect little studio near our house. She loves it there and really considers it her second home. It's where she met her best friends and spends every possible minute. I'm just so glad to see her this happy. Even after 3 years of not dancing, she's above her age level in most styles and is a favorite of many of the instructors. I really couldn't be more proud of Katey.

I'm just going to buy all new clothes, shoes, towels, etc. for each of the girls. It saves a lot of hassel, especially just weeks after moving. I'm also starting packing now, or at least ordering/organizing, to save time later when I have 10000 other things going on.

Kayla's last day of school is June 13th; everyone else gets out on June 18th.
 
Katelyn and Brooke both applied - and got accepted to - a "magnet" high school. This means that neither of them will be going to Perry Hall. Katelyn's high school specializes in the arts, specifically dance, and Brooke's specializes in environmental science.
 
Alice also got into the "magnet school" she wanted. Her new middle school is exploratory, meaning she gets to try Mass Communications, Environmental Science, Fine Arts, and Engineering.
 
The new house is getting closer to completion. It's estimated completion date is June 21st, so our move-in date is June 30th!
 
Summer plans are starting to fall into place. No Disney again this year - with another new house it would just be far too expensive. Instead, we're going on a cruise! While this doesn't seem much cheaper, when you think about Disney lodging, tickets, transportation, food, souveneirs, etc., we actually save a lot by cruising since everything is all-inclusive. The cruise departs Baltimore on July 11th to return on the 18th.
 
The girls are also doing various summer camps, more info on those later.
 
We're still unsure about the annual trip to Wildwood, NJ this year. I'm leaning towards yes, but reality is leaning towards no...
 
School starts back up on August 26th for everyone! (except Taylor & Maddie - I still get a few more years with them at home)

Hundreds of dollars later, the girls have dresses for the dinner coming up. Jason has repeatedly reassured me that his boss is kind and understanding to our situation; we have 15 daughters - it's going to be hectic. But, I still want it to go perfectly. We'll see.

So Jason's company has this requirement to meet the family of each employee before giving them a large promotion, like the one Jason is going after. The position he wants is very high up in the company and does require a lot of social, black-tie events. In a way I understand the premise: the boss wants to personally know his employees as much as possible, to ensure that he is as he seems. But this whole idea is just very stressful. He insisted on a 5-star restaurant and that all fifteen of our children come. All of them. He's paying for dinner, which is very generous, but we have to get dresses for all of our children as well as for myself. AND we need to pray that our children are on their best behavior. This interview is crucial for Jason's job, which puts a lot of pressure on myself and our girls to behave.
The dinner is next Friday, the 8th and I am dreading it.

On Saturday, February 16th, Kayla's High School is having their annual winter dance. Kayla doesn't know who she's going with yet, but Katelyn has again been asked to the dance with Matt. Matt and Kate have had this on-going friendship for several months now; they're each other's best friends, they know everything about each other, and they like each other, but they're afraid that next step.