Eighth grade Graduation

   Yup, it is official.  We now have two high schoolers in the house.  The eighth grade graduation was Thursday evening, followed by a semi formal dance.  All the young ladies got gussied up in beautiful dresses.  Some of the gents wore  suits or at least ties - some, well, they had collars on their polo shirts, so I think they felt more dressed up than usual!

   Our daughter chose to buy a dress for this event, rather than have me make one - for which I am quite grateful considering how busy things have been. it was a bright green with a front ruffle and showed her figure off nicely.  The silver high heeled sandals finished the ensemble.
   Since there is a dress code, she wore a shrug during the ceremony, but it came off for the dance.
   We are very proud of her academic achievements, as she was on Honor Roll during both years of middle school.  She received the  President's Excellence in Education Award for her academic achievements, "signed" by President Obama.  (I am certain the first copy was, and then his secretary copied the several thousand being sent to all the students earning it across the country.)
  After the ceremony was a mad house. Everyone poured out into the lobby and there was a sea of parents looking for their grad.  We had tried to persuade our eldest to join us, but since crowds make him extremely anxious, he declined.  After the insanity of the after ceremony lobby, we were just as happy he was not there. Here are a few after shots - before the girls headed off to the dance - at which they had a great time.  this class is actually very close, which is wonderful, since they will be together for the next 4 years.  The class of 2015 - gulp!

with her grandmother

with her baby brother

with some of the girls

with mom and dad

Kindergarten Graduation

   This Wednesday we celebrated the graduation of our youngest child from kindergarten.  He was very excited. They were going to wear caps and gowns and even had a graduation practice on Tuesday. Tuesday night he told me the most important thing to remember was "Shake and Take." His grandmother drove up to be at the ceremony, and we all went out to lunch afterwards.
    The principal spoke first and was warm and loving as she always is.  Next, the teacher spoke of the joys and trials of kindergarteners and their first year in school.  We also saw a slide show.

   As the students each processed in - walking down the center aisle of the auditorium and then standing for a photo, the teacher read each child's quote on what they wanted to be when they grew up.   We heard of many who had ambitions to be fire fighters or policemen (there were A LOT of future police men!), one princess, one doctor, and then my son.  His quote (paraphrased) was that "when he grows up he wants to be a geologist because they study shiny rocks, and a paleontologist because dinosaurs are his second favorite animal, and he also thought he would like to be the kind of scientist who studies crocodiles, because they are his favorite animal, but he didn't know the name for that type of scientist, so he had to find that out. "
    During the ceremony they children sang a song, and a handful of them, including my son,  played drums (djembe,  I think they are called).

djembe in the background

     Their Kindergarten teacher is an amazing teacher incorporating the study of world cultures into the classroom.  He calls the children to settle down by using a Tibetan Singing Bowl, they play the various drums, and work to raise money for a sister school in India. They learned about the natural world through field trips and walks, as well as observations in the schoolyard.  This teacher is moving up to teach third grade, and I hope my son will be lucky enough to have him again.

One down several more to go!

The ceremony ended with "diplomas" and the Shake and take training really paid off as the  distribution went without a hitch

the grad with mom and dad

With his grandmother

  .

Father's Day

   This was the first Father's Day in five years that my husband was not working.  One of the inconveniences of working in theatre is that actors do not get weekends and holidays off as this tends to be when the general population comes to see shows.  This is the fifth season we have been working with an Equity Theatre near our area.  My husband has been in the first show since the inception of the theatre, but this year, no, he starts with show two!
   So, we were all able to hang out yesterday - for most of the day.  Our youngest son made  breakfast for Daddy - boiled eggs, melon and crescent rolls.  My daughter and I put together the hammock we gave Daddy for Father's Day which everyone relaxed or played on at some point in the day.  it was sunny and warm, but not hot.  
   I took a couple of hours to dash out for an audition at the local community theatre.  They are producing Cabaret.  I really want to play Fraulein Schneider - she has the most wonderfully complex and poignant music. However, I am at a weird age - I am too old for the characters like Sally or the dancers, and  too young for Fraulein Schneider.  We will wait and see - but at least I finally got my butt out there and auditioned.
    I hope you all had a really nice day with your dads, or husbands and kids.