Graduation day!

Here's E walking in for graduation. She was near the end. It was overcast and chilly so she was wearing a jacket. At least we were able to spot her with the jacket on.

Accepting her diploma.

Walking back to her seat.

Shaking hands with the principal.

Celebrating the end of the graduation ceremony! A couple of beach balls were making their rounds among the graduates.

Afterward by the Environmental Club's garden. Notice the leggings poking out from under her dress. It was a cold day. Probably 55 degrees. Brrr. I was just glad she took off the coat when she went up and got her diploma.

Siblings.

Marathon sleepover

L brought her friend, M, home with her from school yesterday and they had a sleepover that will continue until tomorrow morning. L is having a blast and since it's been a rainy day, it's nice to have someone here to play with. For dinner tonight, they made their own pizzas. L took M's "order" and topped it for her - just like in a restaurant.

One last project

L's (hopefully) last project of the year has taken over our dining room table.

Study of contrasts

Our lawn was sprayed over a week ago to kill all the grass and weeds so the landscapers could start with a clean slate. It looks really bad compared to our neighbor's lawn. The landscapers are expected to start tomorrow and have it done before E's graduation party.

Sweet cat

I'm pretty sure the only thing sweeter than August licking my hand is when he holds my arm with his paw so I don't leave.

Last Scout meeting

E's Girl Scout troop held its last meeting last night and celebrated with a dinner. The girls all received gifts from their leader and participated in their final friendship circle.

E has been part of this troop since the beginning of high school when her former troop disbanded. One of the girls is receiving her Gold Award soon and the others are continuing to work on their projects. They have until the end of September to complete the requirements for the project. E has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten and recently was bridged into adult Scouting.

It was with these girls that E went to Springfield and Washington, D.C. Hard to believe they'll all be graduating Sunday.

E with her fearless leader, who asked all the girls to keep in touch.

Memorial Day

Snoozin'

Certainly seems like a good way to spend the afternoon of a long weekend when it looks like rain.

Japanese class farewell

E's Japanese teacher hosted a luncheon for the families of her senior students today. The students had to be at the high school at 9 a.m. to cook and prepare for the luncheon. Families arrived at noon. The tables were decorated with flowers, napkin rings, utensil holders and placecards - all made with origami. The meal was Yakisoba noodles with ground beef, cucumbers in soy sauce and rice vinegar, and rice that was wrapped in tofu (glad I learned that after I ate it).

I had to get a pic of E when she was serving pop because the bottle she had appropriately said "Class of 2015."

Here's E with sensei. We gave sensei a card and box of candy as a thank you for being E's favorite teacher. I also handed her a note B wrote in Japanese telling her why he couldn't come to the luncheon - he had three of his friends over last night (IB, IR and B) and they were up until at least 3 a.m. playing video games.

Rooms and roommates

E had her scheduled time tonight to request a dorm room and a roommate at U of I. She was on the computer and simultaneously texting a girl she met on the Class of 2019 U of I page who's agreed to be her roommate. They went back on forth on what floor to request when they saw which rooms were filled and which had space available. She ended up with her roommate, who's a future biology major from Huntley, on the 10th floor of Wardall, one of the Illinois Street Residences, which she thinks are closest to the engineering classrooms. She's stayed in these dorms before for the engineering camps she's attended, so she knows exactly what to expect. When it was all over, she said, "Well, that was stressful."

Last day for E!

E was thrilled when she got home after her last day of high school today! She had a white rose from sensei and said her Japanese class cried as they read noted from their teacher and got the roses. B has finals next week and E has graduation practice and a senior barbecue, but she's essentially done. L has another two weeks of school.

Bespectacled

L had been complaining that she can't see the board in school for a while so we took her a couple of weeks ago to get her eyes check. Sure enough, she needs glasses, though the doctor said she could just wear them when she feels she needs them. She picked out "nerdy" looking glasses with pink crystals at the corners. She says she loves them. At left is L at the appointment when she was choosing her frames, taking a selfie to send to her friends. It's what middle-schoolers do.

Adorable

Honors for both!

Tonight we went to the high school for its annual Honors Convocation. B was honored as the recipient of a $500 Alumni Foundation scholarship toward his marine biology trip to Florida this summer and E received the Robert Gauger Memorial Scholarship from the Community Foundation for a graduating senior "who has demonstrated outstanding mechanical/technical skills and an intellectual curiosity in technology, physics, and/or science." E gets $1,500 that she'll be using toward books this fall.

Blooming

It's been a late spring, but the Lily of the Valley, which we don't know how it got in our yard, is blooming, as are our Bridal Wreath bushes along the house.

And the iris by the stoplight control box are in bloom. The village did some work by the box this spring so I'm kind of surprised any of them survived.

Back from Cleveland!

L returned this afternoon from a weekend band trip to Cleveland. She left at 4:30 a.m. Friday. They visited the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame (where she got the cute shirt, above), went on a boat ride on Lake Erie, performed at a band competition (the band got three first-place awards!), spent an afternoon at Cedar Point Amusement Park and stayed in a hotel. L played lots of games at Cedar Point and won some prizes. She spent so much money she had to go without lunch today. Maybe next time she'll plan a little better. She's also a little hoarse and we figured she'd been talking a lot over the weekend, but she said there was a kid with a cough on her bus. Let's hope she gets better soon.

Alternative to prom

It's E's prom night, but instead of getting dolled up in a dress (!) and getting her hair done (!) E and her boyfriend decided to take us up on an offer of a nice dinner at Italian Village. Andy drove them downtown this evening so they could enjoy a quiet, casual dinner for two. It seemed logical to take their picture in front of E's favorite bush which she's nicknamed "plant porn." (When we got the plants years ago, there was a male and a female plant which are suppose to entwine and bloom. They've entwined and taken over a bit of the garden, but there hasn't been any blooms. The landscapers plan to remove so the end is near.) E had the Chicken Parmigiana and P had the Three-Cheese Tortelli. They both said it was good.

Glow-in-the-dark cat hat

Apparently when we were watching the NCAA tournament in March, L saw a Lowe's commercial for a glow-in-the-dark cat hat. From what I've read, it was conceived as a joke, but people started requested it. Maybe the company did something similar last year? Anyway, L saw the ad and went to the website to submit her email and address, who she thought would win the tournament (Kentucky) and, surprise, the hat arrived in the mail the other day. She thought it was just a joke. Even the box is funny - "Cat not included," it says. Muffles isn't much of a fan of it. If you look closely, it does glow:

Construction: Day 6 and done!

I think the workers are done with the stairs. Today they installed a handrail and curved the bottom step. Now it's time for the landscaping to begin.

Construction: Day 5

Today's addition

More pink

L shows off her newly re-dyed pink hair this morning before going to school.

Ready for Disney!

Our Disney World magic bands arrived today!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day 2015. First thing on the day's agenda was to get the kids to church so E and B could participate in the youth service.

Here the two of them are sharing a hymnal as the congregation sang the Opening Hymn. Apparently, they thought something was pretty funny.

E led the congregation in the Prayer of Confession.

And B gave the Words of Assurance and introduced the Passing the Peace of God. They both did a really good job. All of the kids were great - speaking clearly and slowly. The students who planned the service and participated in it are the ones who are going on the mission trip to Atlanta this summer.

After church we stopped by Grandma B's apartment to drop off her Mother's Day present (an assortment of jellies). Then we decided to let B drive as he needs more hours of practice before taking his driver's ed final exam. He drove on Roosevelt Road out to Warrenville where we had a very late lunch at Red Robin. He drove back on Ogden Avenue. We think he logged about three hours of driving time today. I had to take a picture of this Shell gas station, advertising gas for free! Of course, Andy pointed out that it's not free; it's 9/10 of a cent. Gotta love him.