The Prom Pictures

Kyle and his Prom Date


Kyle and his girl friend...don't ask.




A beautiful sight!!

DID YOU SEE THOSE COUNTERS????

The Taiwan counter: 5 months since log in.. I can't even tell you how fast that time flew by. I hope that it keeps going that way... Maybe only 3 months to go until I see that face for the first time.

The second counter; SUMMER FREAKIN VACATION.... I have one more day of going in to do "work", then just run in on Friday for my summer check and then the kids and I start chanting "WE ARE ON VAAAACAAAAATION", of which my husband just shakes his head and says "you teachers.."

The final week

In less than a week I will be the mom of a child going to college. There are a lot of emotions that go with High School graduations.

This week I will cry when I see him dressed for his senior prom. John and I went to our senior prom...if I can dig up a photo of us I will post it.

I found the picture of John and I at my senior prom. Georgeous aren't we??


I will cry at his graduation on Saturday. Many people have asked me what does it feel like? I can't quite put a word to the emotion. Of course there is the happiness that he made it through High School, then there is the sadness that he is going to start to lead his own life. It has been quite the turbulent time the last few weeks in my house when he is home. He purposely goes out of his way to aggravate us, and say and do things he knows we don't like. I have talked to a few of you who have older children and you have all said that this is what they do to start the process of breaking away from their parents. Interesting.

Kyle has accomplished so much, and he has overcome a lot too. We are of course very proud of him. So that is another emotion. Then there is also a sense of excitement and worry for him going out in the real world. You see, there are many emotions tied up with this one event.


I always think of one poem when graduation rolls around: We have encouraged him to write, and take pictures and he has "taken the road least traveled".

I want for Kyle to always try things and to always "go for it".

The Road Not Taken
by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.


It is my hope that he continues to look for this road and to create a path in life that will lead him to happiness in all areas.

Update on Paige

Yesterday we received our monthly newsletter from our agency. There were 4 girl referrals in May for the Program we are in. Only 2 of them were on the yahoo group that I am part of. Not everyone enters their information on our database, so every month we need to add one or two surprise families on the list. It makes keeping track of when we might get our referral very challenging. So it feels like we have been twelfth on the list for a few months. Hopefully we will see a few more referrals in June,,,,, we have had one already.

That still could put us in August or September for referral. NOt too bad, and when I do allow myself to think about it pretty darn exciting. Especially when I think that her natural mom is pregnant with her right at this moment, and that she will be born soon. It also saddens me to think that when I get so excited about seeing her face there is her natural mom that will feel just the opposite. Hopefully her birth mom will be at peace over allowing us to adopt her baby.
Ok... so I will keep you posted about the rest of June referrals when I hear about them.

Graduation madness

My son has been undecided for weeks about having a graduation party. He finally decided that he wanted to have one last week. We have been scrambling to get everything together. So far we have the tent, the servers, the bouncy for the little kids. What we don't have yet.....the caterer, undecided about the dj or the band.

We are having a hard time deciding if we should have a bbq company do the bbqing, or if we should just cater from our favorite Italian caterer. We are not sure if having a DJ would be over kill... we were thinking a band but they cant start until a few hours into the party...... DECISIONS DECISIONS....

So this is all we have to accomplish in the next week and a half. In the mean time we have to attend Coleton's playoff baseball games, John and Cole are going camping, football camp is in the evenings all next week, the prom, and Coleton is having a class party on the last day of school here at our house. Oh yea, I am still working full time too for the next 2 weeks. I guess I do work better under pressure.

TIM RUSSERT

I don't know why but I have taken the death of this newsman very hard. I am so saddened by his sudden tragic death. I have been glued to the tributes in his honor, and everytime they start talking about him I cry like I knew him,,, which of course I did not. Kyle was lucky enough to meet him when he went to Washington for his Free Spirit Scholarship. If you click on the link on the upper right for Kyle's news blog you will see a picture of him and Tim on Meet The Press set. He attended a taping on March 16 of Meet the Press. Kyle also has an autographed book from Tim Russert. Kyle said he was extremely nice to them.... You just never know when it is your time. I spend so much of my time wishing for time to pass, and this puts it all back in check for me. I do have to live for the moment so much more than I do, and enjoy the journey...it is the only journey we get on this earth....

So to the Russert family, I am so sorry for your loss.

VERY BUSY INDEED

Yesterday was Father's Day and I realized today that I didn't take one picture. I was kind of busy. I had my entire family over for brunch. and then some stayed and so we made a bbq in the late afternoon. I truly am married to the best father in the world. Yesterday morning at about 5am, my son runs into our room crying that he over slept. You know when you are sleeping and jump up suddenly awake, and you can't figure out the day of the week, or where you are? That is how I felt. Anyway, he had to be in the city for work at 6am, overslept and now didnt know what he was to do. Normally, he has to leave himself 2 hours for the train and subway commute. So being the unselfish loving father John is he drove him all the way into the city at 5:30 am. He was only about 45 minutes late since there wasn't any traffic on the road at that time of day. All, in all it was a great day and I got to spend it with my hubby, and my dad....along with the rest of my family. I am so amazed that my father will be turning 79 in a few short months. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!



Saturday, Coleton played his first baseball playoff game and his team rocked. We will have another play off game tomorrow. It is single elimination playooffs so if they lose they are out.

June Secret Buddy

Yeah secret buddy struck again. I recieved this beatiful doll for Paige from our secret buddy today. The sender said that she remembered playing with a special doll during the summer. The theme for this month is summer fun..... so what a great gift this little doll is. She is soososo cute. THanks to you Secret Buddy

2nd Grade Picnic

Today was Coleton's 2nd grade picnic. He will be moving from a primary school to an intermediate school next year. They do a picnic instead of a formal graduation. In my opinion much nicer. Both John and I went today. They started with a few rounds of silly relay races. We all gathered as a class and spread out blankets under the shade and had a hotdog, chip and watermelon lunch together. Then they went on to a few crafts, very cute. They ended by doing a little school song for us. Again tears came out of my eyes, as another one of my children passes to another era in their lives.

HOT, HOT, HOT

Some of you may say "quit complaining" (like my husband). But the last few days at work have been the worst I can remember. We don't have air conditioning in the school I work in. The building must have reached at least 95 degrees and Oh that humidity. You would be standing up or sitting down and the sweat would just drip down your body. It definately is not a place for learning. Both days I got home and luckily didnt have any actiivities. Coleton and I jumped into the pool right away after school, and stayed in both nights til about 7:00.
Today was a little better, the humidity dropped and the temp dropped down to 84. WEWWWW.. Only a few more weeks and we are done for the summer. This seems like a very long year. We have to go through the 27th of June. I am so jealous of all those blogging buddies out there that have already started their summer vacation.

Blessings for the class of 2008

Tonight we attended 5:oo mass at our church. We had recieved an invite a few weeks back inviting our grad to this special mass. It truly was very sweet, as the same Bishop that presided..not sure that is the right word... Kyle's confirmation when he was in 8th grade. The Bishop asked all the grads to stand and be recognized at the beginning of the mass. After communion he invited all of them up to the altar for a special prayer, and the church gave each grad a beautiful Plaque titled: GOD BLESS YOU GRADUATE
Very sweet. Unfortunately I thought I would be corny if I took my camera and so I was very disapointed when the Bishop offered to take pictures under the same cherry tree that we took of Kyle when he made his confirmation, Coleton's communion. Oh well. It was very nice though.. I did managed to cry again during the mass as the Bishop was talking about the grads..... I am going to need lots of tissues during the graduation ceremony.

Another June Last

Sitting on my kitchen table today when I arrived home from work was Kyle's last HS yearbook. It was fun to look through it. He took many of the pictures so he is behind the camera for most of them instead of in front. He recieved the honor of "MOST CHANGED". He lost about 65 pounds this year. I love to see all the senior kids' pictures. They look so grown up and full of promise. I am not sure if the yearbook made me meloncholy because it was his or because it brings back memories of being in High School, especially senior year. I remember it as if it were yesterday. Sometimes it feels surreal that I have a child that is graduating.

Announcements

Today we recieved the official "THE GRADUATING CLASS OF 2008" Announcements. I actually did not even know that we would be getting them. I am glad that I did not order them. Our High Schoolmust have provided these and forgot to tell everyone. I will use them if we are having a grad party, which my son wanted me to wait a few more days until he decides if he wants one. Then I will put them out as an invitation. I really don't believe in sending them out to everyone just as an announcement.

We also recieved the Graduation Reheasal schedule... all too much for this mom.

Sex and the City

Last Saturday evening, my friends and I went to see this movie. I loved the series since day one... and I loved the movie. I thought that everyone ended up exactly as I wanted them to at the end. I will admit though that it is so depressing to say good bye to those characters again for a final time.. It is like when you get to the end of a good book... you felt the very essence of the characters and then.... it was over.... Well back to real life.