TX Grad

Our Godson graduated from high school in Texas this year. 

Out of 800 students, he was #4! Not that I'm bragging, as I would have attended no matter what rank he made. 

But as he was the 4th student called to the stage for his diploma, we didn't have to pay attention for 2 hours after that. We simply did the "golf clap" for each of the 800+ students. I was quite impressed with the speakers for pronouncing all those names so well.

He was also among the tallest in his grade at 6' 6". But how did his height compare to his Uncle Joe?

Nope, just shy of matching him. Maybe 6 more months and he'll surpass his uncle. I got to stay in his room. This kid (and his brother) are lego geniuses! It makes sense they are both planning be engineers.

Set of Seinfeld.

The celebration dinner took 20 hours in the making. It was one of the best brisket's I've ever tasted!

Congratulations and best of luck! 

Then one of just my siblings.

Sophomore Recap

When your teenager doesn't allow you to be as involved in the school as when they were younger, parents can still keep up with activities through the school's social media accounts. Here are all the Insta posts I've saved during her 10th grade year:

From science class challenges to mock trial competitions, she was definitely busy. In the mock trial, she was voted "Best Defense Lawyer". 

Then for Student Council, she dressed up every theme day. This one was Pink Out.

Rappers vs. Preppy - Our little "rapper" in the middle is already preparing her rap to run again for Student Council Treasurer.

Soccer Mom vs. BBQ Dad - Yep, she nailed it! I love her "Cool Mom" sweatshirt she stole from my closet. 😆

Rhyme without a Reason - This one was a bit harder to figure out, but the kids seem to like it. You pick two unrelated things that rhyme and pick a friend to dress with you. 

BOLC Send Off

Army officers are required to attend a 4-month training of their assigned field called Basic Officer Leadership Course (BOLC). Luke's ordnance assignment led him to Ft. Gregg-Adams in Virginia.

He reported for duty on April 30th. But before he left, we had to give him a nice send off with his favorite meals.

We also helped him train for his 12-mile ruck. 

On the evening before he left, we played a game called "What is this?" I sent them out one at a time so they couldn't compare notes or talk. Our youngest went first. She stared at everything and said this wasn't a fair game. Although most of her guesses were left blank, she did get one correct...a VHS tape.

Our son went next. His guesses were my favorite. The vinyl record single (aka 45) he called a "Record 2.0". He did get a really close by guessing a Blue Ray for the DVD (I actually would have used a Blue Ray instead if I had one). Another great guess was the 8-track that he called a floppy disk. Now it makes me want to go out and find an old floppy disk to add to this collection. 

Eric went last and, of course, he did quite well. This was our lived era!

The winner received a pina colada to reminisce our recent time at St. Martin. Actually, we all sampled the drink, so we're all winners! 

But then it was time for Luke to head up north. His truck was packed with all his Army gear and fueled with gas for the trip.

We gave him one last lunch for the road at India Palace. 

Luke arrived safely and sent back this picture of his "home" for the next four months. 

We plan to visit him over Father's Day when he has a long weekend off. Missing my boy already. 💝