The Graduate...

It's official- Anna has graduated! The ceremony was beautiful and A REALLY BIG DEAL. Which is good... there are certain occasions were all stops should be pulled out and high school graduation qualifies as such a time. The young ladies wore white gowns and the gentlemen tuxedos with tails...each graduate was shiny, bright and completely stunning. The ceremony itself full of pomp and circumstance and every minute was absolutely perfect. You could almost hear all of the memories running through the minds of all of the parents of the kids when they were little kids. The chapel was filled with emotion... the adults were reflective and graduates were just so incredibly excited... isn't that the way it always is?

The kids relaxed a bit after the diplomas were awarded.

As Anna hung out at the house all morning, we played Pomp and Circumstance on i-tunes whenever she entered a room. This desensitizes a person to the meaning of the song and after the third time of my getting teary when Anna stumbled into the kitchen to the march of the Pomp... Karl got annoyed at me for making myself cry and "changed the channel." It worked though... I was glad to get some of the teariness out of the way before the actual graduation took place.

Grandma and Grandpa with their first graduate grandkid.

Seating was limited at the ceremony so siblings of the graduates were not able to attend. Mary arrived just afterwards and posed with Anna for photos.

We are so proud and plan to completely enjoy the next two months of Anna at home before she leaves for college in August. I am excited and happy for her to start the next phase of her life and am doing my best to step away from getting caught up in the nostalgia of little Anna. She has many gifts to offer and a gentle heart and I really can't wait to see where she goes and what she becomes.

"The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change."
Maya Angelou

"The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades..."
Timbuk 3

Musette

Thank you J.S. Bach, for writing such a lovely piece. Lily rocked her 3rd grade violin recital and couldn't have done it without you.

Beaming at the post show certificate and pencil distribution for the young musicians.

Miss Lily with her dear dad- my two musicians.

Wordless Wednesday

Spark!

SCDS presents The Sound of Music
fun times backstage...

I love it when one of my kiddos find something in their life that gives them a happy spark.
Our Mary has really developed a love of acting and the theater over the past year and it has been wonderful to watch her excitement and commitment to her new passion. She LOVES it! Her school just finished their production of The Sound of Music. Mary played the part of Brigitta Von Trapp very convincingly- as a completely unbiased mom- I thought she was completely perfect...grin.
The show was great... teamwork at it's best- they all understood that they were dependent on each other to pull together a successful show and they were all completely supportive of each other as they did this. One of the best things for me was watching the kids who weren't used to singing and dancing on stage belt out a musical number with confidence.
Here is a fun little video of her and her buddy Alex, aka Rolf the delivery boy/reluctant Nazi doing a hippy cool handshake.

As a bonus Mary turned 15 on opening night- she said that it was her best birthday ever!
Bravo Mary!

Carrie in Concert

Carrie Underwood! The dude in front of Anna tooted a big rudy and while you think that Anna would be used to those smells living in our family, she was grossed out. This thrilled Mary and I was able to capture her look of glee at Anna's discomfort.

Sons of Sylvia opened for Carrie and my girls went to get autographs in the lobby after they left the stage. I must admit I'm not a huge fan of their body of work. Don't they look like every parents nightmare AND don't my daughters look very comfortable with these scary fellows?!

Later in the concert- during a less gassy time.

Carrie sang a few songs from the flatbed of a blue vintage Chevy suspended over the audience- the car "drove" over the top of us... we were all happy that their were no terrible traffic accidents in the US Bank Arena- safety first Carrie.

A Rose at the Altar

Rosie was all smiles and polite sunshine at lunch following the service.

Miss Rose was baptized last Sunday... and even though she was only at the altar for about two minutes she thought she would use those two minutes to take a stand for fashion. As she was being welcomed and received into our church...with our whole lovely congregation as witness- she and I had quite the heated discussion. It turns out that she really, really wanted to wear her big sister's sunglasses while she was being baptized. She thought that these oversized fashion sunglasses were the coolest thing that she ever got a hold of and she was really passionate about her plan to incorporate them into her baptism. First she wanted to wear them, I disagreed, then she wanted me to wear them- I wouldn't- we went back and forth a few times as our kind and patient pastor politely ignored our wrestling match and continued with the job at hand.In the end, she won the argument and I learned not to offer a two year old such a fun distraction if you plan to take it away any time soon. Apparently nothing gets between Rosie and her fashion glasses.It was noted that while Rosie was argumentative at the altar, she was at her most polite and sweet at the lunch following the service. Timing really is everything.

Here is our family photo with everyone except Anna who was waiting outside for us to take a family photo...sorry Anna.

Here is our family photo after lunch with everyone except for Jamie who had to leave early for a soccer game..sorry Jamie.

Weapons of Williamsburg

As an attempt to bring some history and culture to our little darlings Karl and I took the gang to Williamsburg, Virginia over spring break. Anna the Unadventurous flat out refused to join us- her loss. While there were some trying moments during the trek- the kids now seem to have only happy memories. All of the kids that is, except for Lily who tends to document things by listing them. Today I found a note in "her" seat in the van that was titled "List of Injuries." First item on her list was "poked in the eye by Jamie's gun" #2 -"skinned knee very badly." Number 3 was "poked in the face by Henry's camera" and #4,5,6, all read the same..."eye problems, see #1." That's right... Lily was poked in the eye by Jamie's cool colonial rifle 4 times in 3 days. Yikes! Jamie and Henry completely embraced all of the historical weaponry which made the rest of the family- Lily especially- victims of numerous eye pokes. Next time we go on a family vacation we will make sure that all of the children are equally armed.

Ready aim... poke my sister in the eye 4 times...Lily with her gift shop choice... next time, better off with a firearm... notice Jamie lurking nearby.

Rosie and Mary in Jamestown- for the most part these two steered clear of the weapon obsession, except for one evening when we went for ice cream and my sweet little babygirl became...

Guns & Rosie!

Henry and Lily plot their escape while sporting their tri-corners while Jamie takes a break from colonial family warfare.

Shooting pirates in Jamestown.

We all agreed that a poufy white shirt added to his colonial machismo.

Big grins up front... and the rifleman lurks behind.

Henry preferred the look of a baseball hat and pistol... more CIS Miami then colonial Williamsburg.

Young James defending the fort in Jamestown- he was serious about keeping us all safe from any wandering terrorists.