Party Time!!! Caytie Edition

Caytie had a sweet group of friends that she invited over on Memorial Day for a birthday party.  We started with gifts and then headed to Celebration Station in Dallas for some mini golf.

 

It turned out to be fun, but super hot, and one of her friends almost fainted and Benson stepped on a rusty nail through his flip flop, so... we went to Sonic for drinks and then headed back for some birthday brownies and ice cream.

Then they all headed over to Abby's house, for her birthday party. ☺

Happy Memorial birthday party day!

Sunday Slumber

 

I walked into my room on Sunday afternoon, and this is how I found Caytie and Tessa.  It looks like they're posing for a renaissance painting or something. ☺

Gracie's Graduation!!!

She came.  She saw.  She conquered!

Gracie had cords for the honor roll (blue, silver, and white), National Honors Society (double gold), National Art Honors Society (rainbow), Eagle Scout (red, white, and blue), and humanities (pink), as well as medals for art, and a gold tassel for being in the top 10%.

We were assigned seats on the floor behind the graduates, which I was worried about, but turned out to be a pretty good setup as they walked by.

It was a nice ceremony  This is the part we were waiting (and waiting...) for:

Hooray!

Since she was on the front row, the official photographer got this great picture of her celebrating at the end.  She's right in the center.

This was our view from the back. ☺

She's an amazing girl who worked hard for every honor she received.

Well done, Gracie. 💗

First Day/Last Day for Gracie

 

Gracie's first day of kindergarten and her last day of high school 💓

Scott and Emma had to go to work that morning, so we didn't get this gem recreated

And Gracie drove herself, so she didn't recreate this one, either.

Nevertheless, she had an amazing public school career, and is so very ready to move on to the next stage.

The Sweetest Day of All

Caytie's Sweet Sixteen was the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  She didn't have seminary, so sleeping in was a present in itself, but we had some gifts ready to go, including watercolors, Peanuts movies, a hair dryer, candies, and a promise of a new dress and a trip to see Oklahoma! in the theater later in the summer.

Off to one more day of school.  She had a fun time in her sculpture class, and finished sewing her felt school bus just in time.

She also got two more gifts after school--a Clue group mystery game and an aloe plant.

She requested a purple cheesecake, so we made that happen with blueberries.  It was a delicious choice.  Timmy really wanted to help with the candles, but the smoke isn't great for him, so he had to go to bed.

A sweet day for a sweet sixteen year old.

 

Spring Scenes

I was able to take a lovely walk around the library trails, and couldn't help taking pictures of the little creatures I saw.  The wildflowers were out in full force, and the caterpillars were loving them.

Google Lens says this cute little one is a Lycaenid.

Wedgling moth caterpillar

Yellow-striped Armyworm 

Ochre Dagger Moth caterpillar

Spring Beauty Mining Bee (?)

Texas Brown Snake (?)

Greenhouse millipede

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

 

Last Week of School--Awards!

High School awards on Tuesday--Caytie received an award for All A's all year and for World History.  (Her teacher called me personally to tell me how much he appreciated her in his class.)  Gracie was nominated to the Master of the Arts superlative award, though she didn't win.  Unfortunately--I forgot to go to this awards assembly! 😖 I picked up these pictures from the school Facebook page.

  Caytie forgave me and let me take a picture when she came home.

Mr. Benson's 5th Grade awards on Wednesday:

All A's this term, Social Studies, and a medal for All A's all year.  Well done, my boy.

Tessa's turn for 8th Grade on Thursday.  I had a great seat, but camera malfunction and people walking in front of me made this my best picture:

She received awards for Algebra 1, AB Honor Roll, and the Wind Ensemble.  She also made a good new friend, Alanah, as they shared most of their classes together.

Everyone worked hard this year, and we're all about ready for the summer to finally start!