The Graduate

Here is a photo that was on the schools web site. A friend emailed it to me and I'm so glad she did. It's a wonderful photo of Caitlin after receiving her diploma and walking off the stage.

Class of 2008

Graduation day was Saturday! Here are a few photo's of the big day.....
Caitlin's Nan & Pop came from Colorado.
And Grandma and Auntie Jen came from New York. The ceremony took about 1 1/2 hours for around 490 graduates.
The Open House was a HUGE success. Special thanks to my best friend Diana for all her help and all her cooking!!! And thank you to my mom, mother-in-law and sister in-law for help in getting everything ready and cleaning it all up!

The night was A LOT of fun! Thank you to all who came and shared in our celebration of Caitlin's Graduation!!! It means the world to us. :)

Count down to GRADUATION DAY!

Well, we're coming down the home stretch. 2.5 days and my little girl will be graduating. I've spent the last 2 months painting, cleaning, planting, scrapbooking and planning. I think this has all been more therapeutic for me than anything. As Hank (Diana's husband) said "no one will even notice". And I'm sure he is correct. :) However, I wanted this day to be perfect for Caitlin. She is a wonderful kid and deserves the best that I can give her.

Tomorrow my parents will arrive in the afternoon. I can't wait to see them, it's been a while since we've seen each other. Brian's mom and sister will arrive on Friday. This weekend there will be a huge void where Barry (Brian's dad) should be. It breaks my heart that he won't be here to see his first grandchild and only granddaughter graduate. This is the type of thing he lived for. But I know in my heart that he is present, not only in our hearts, but in spirit to watch his "little princess" walk up on that stage and receive her diploma. We miss you Poppy.

School is OUT!

Wednesday was Caitlin's last day of high school....FOREVER! And today was Conner's last day of middle school.....FOREVER! Next year I will have 2 Freshman.

Caitlin had a great last few days. The last day of school is "paper day" where the seniors throw paper in the hall's all day in between classes. She went through all her papers the day before and had a folder of papers that she didn't want or need ready to throw on Wednesday. Her friend Victoria showed up at school with a huge garbage bag loaded with papers to throw. Needless to say, they kept the clean up crew's busy cleaning up after them.

Conner's last day was today. They had their end of year dance today. Nope...he didn't dance, I already asked. But they let kids bring in their iPods to play song's, so he did that. That's kind of close to dancing.

Spring Time Swimming

Today was our first outdoor swim meet of the season. The weather was not too bad, it was sunny, a little breezy and the temperature was in the 60's. Perfect weather for working in the yard. But when you are in a wet swim suit andthe breeze is blowing it's not so comfortable. As long as they stayed in the sun or around the heater they were fine. Last year it was FREEZING and rainy.

Spring has sprung~~~

This past weekend I worked on sprucing up our back deck for the big graduation party. When the realtor brought Brian and I to look at the house we knew it was the house for us after seeing the living room with the vaulted ceiling and huge windows on both ends and the back deck. Those two areas sold the home. I just went out at 8:45 p.m. and took a few photos (because I've been told I have not updated my blog....what's to update? We are BORING people) so they are a little dark, but you get the idea.


My faithful sidekick, Barcleigh, was trying to get in the act.

A few more flowers in the front and I belive I'm done with the yard stuff. Now I just need to finish Caitlin's scrapbook before the party. YIKES!

Prom, 2008

Today was Caitlin's Senior Prom. Let me start with the fact that we had our living room painted today. The painter told me that it would only take about 5 hours and he would be done around 2:00. Okay, I thought, Caitlin's date wouldn't be here to pick her up until 4:30. That would give me time to put the room back together before he got here for pictures. Well....at 4:10 when the painter left, Brian and I, with the reluctant help of Conner, threw the room back together in short order.

Caitlin looked beautiful in her dress, she has such a natural beauty. She had a great, relaxing day. She slept in and lounged around until about 3:30 when she finally got in the shower. She blow dried her hair, put it in a pony tail and then I flipped it inside itself to make it a little fancy. Yesterday she had her nails done and got a pedicure with her girl friends. Fake nails always make you feel so pretty...I don't know why.

They went to dinner with a group of friends in a "Party Bus" that they rented. This "party bus" was an old school bus that had the seats replaced with benches and a table with a boom-box and cooler for drinks. The "party bus" was called "Ol' Shorty Express" It was perfect for them, especially since the kids try to out do each other in their rides to the prom. The streets are lined up with parents and friends and the kids drive by in whatever crazy ride they have and honk and and wave ect. They normally drive by a few times, in case someone may have missed them the first time or two around. This year they had the kids park in a corporate parking lot and then bussed them to the prom location. When they get dropped off they "walk the red carpet" around the building in which parents and friends have lined up. I'm not kidding when I say there are well over 3,000 spectators to cheer the kids on. (keep in mind, the prom is for both our high schools...so there are a lot of kids and a lot of parents to watch)

I think that getting to the prom is the funnest part of going to prom!!

PARTY BUS!!!!