PIDDLING...

or as my husband might say, Diddly-squat!  That's the sum of my week.  So I will give you some fun pictures of the last month that I deemed not worthy of posting...but they might make you smile.

 This is one of the reasons I'm spending the next year cleaning... 

found in the dark recesses of the pantry.

 Graduation ceremonies are almost as good as going to the state fair... 

Yes, those are baby feet tattoos...

 It was my pleasure to face paint lots of mustaches on little girls at a "last day of school" party!

 Is that not adorable?  My son in a tent on a little mountain climbing trip...

and a little stop off in SF to check out the bridge!

I FORGOT TO MENTION...

in all the hubbub of graduations recently, my son decided it was prime time to open a business!  Yes, the senior in high school who has worked his "Odd Jobs" business for the past 4 years has a legit business now, with the tax I.D.  to prove it!  I didn't really have much to do with it, in fact, I was the one trying to put the wet blanket on it.  My husband is more of a risk taker and was behind him all the way...which makes me sound horrible but somebody has to talk sensibly around here!

Yes, he is now the proud owner of Skooby Konz, a snow-cone stand.  The previous owner had it for ten years, and it paid for his college.  He has been very helpful and has worked hard, branding it with the Scooby Doo theme...

I am learning to like snow cones!

Oh, and did I mention it includes the Mystery Machine?

So I have passed through the embarrassment stage and have embraced this.  I even gave up some space in my laundry room for snow cone flavors.  But my one stipulation is that the Mystery Machine cannot be in our driveway.  It has to be parked in the garage when it's here.  

Kids may love it, but I don't want to get 

kicked out of the neighborhood! :)

SOON THE SAPPY POSTS WILL END...

but not quite yet!

This phrase popped into my head the other day...it'a phrase I remember well, growing up in the 1970's.  I think it was one of those popular things you might see on a cross-stitch, hanging in the kitchen.  I never really understood what it meant back then, but now I realize it's true meaning.  Even so I took a little different twist on it yesterday.  It was the first day in 19 years that I have not had a child going to school - no waking up early to make sure they're up, no lunch to make.  No wave from the driveway as I pick up the newspaper and he speeds off...

the first thing I did was SLEEP IN UNTIL 8:00 A.M.!  I was thinking, I'm free!  Free from some responsibilities I've had for a L-O-N-G time.  What will I do with this freedom???

After that I did my usual routine with hot tea and some quiet time.  I got a little reminder from God of how special the day was, as I looked at one of my favorite sites, Verseoftheday.comhttp://www.verseoftheday.com.  

  My brothers and sisters, God called you to be free, but do not use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful self. Serve each other with love.  Galatians 5:13

Thoughts on Today's Verse...

Freedom is a wonderful gift when it is handled with responsibility. Not being under law is such a sweet grace, but we want to pass that sweetness on to each other through service, kindness, and care.

My Prayer...

O Great God of Deliverance, thank you for rescuing Israel from Pharaoh's grasp, David from the sword of Goliath, and Daniel from the lion's den. But O Great Deliverer, thank you most of all for the triumph of Jesus over sin at Calvary and his victory over death at the empty tomb. I long to see you face to face and thank you for my freedom. Until that day, guide me as I use this gift of liberation to serve you children and live for you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

What a great reminder!  He knows just what we need...every day!

GRADUATION - THE FINALE...

Finally, the FINALE!  All of the last events we've had - senior night at church, the last concert, the Performing Arts banquet,  senior picnic...all leading up to GRADUATION!  It finally happened.  We thoroughly enjoyed it all, and now it is time to sit back and rest blog about it...

Here's how we celebrated!

 Saturday we had a family graduation lunch and served an Italian meal. This was the dessert table.

Pinterest inspired centerpiece - no ribbons or bows - didn't want it to look girly.

Since he didn't want a fancy cake, I had to make something graduation-like and these were delicious!  Another Pinterest inspiration, how can you go wrong with brownie bites topped with  Ghiradelli chocolates?  They were really easy, too.

Banana pudding was his choice!

 We had a nice family group with us to celebrate!

Lots of cousins!

Obligatory family pic!

 It's starting!  Graduation was held at the convention center in OKC. Something new this year:  the black cowls you see some of them wearing including my son represents a second generation EMHS graduate!  (There were about 70 students with these) The maroon/grey cords indicate that the student has attended Edmond schools for 12 years.

All 519 of them! (I may be off a few)

On the Jumbo-tron

 Our daughter face timed us from Colorado and watched some of it!

I love our graduation program!  It's been the same with all of our kids.  No long-winded speakers but 3 short valedictorian speeches and 3 songs  - 2 of them included my boy!  Here are the ACT II seniors singing "Go The Distance" a cappella.  The mixed choir got to sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" one more time, too.  It was beautiful!

  

Afterwards:  childhood friends celebrating!

Senior lunch kids with me!  Love these guys!

Sunday afternoon we hosted a reception for four boys in our congregation that were special to us!  They are also long-time friends.  The weather was beautiful and we all enjoyed cookies and lemonade and visiting with lot of family members and friends.  

 Everyone keeps asking me if I'm sad since this is my last one...well, it hasn't hit me yet!  Still very excited for him and the future and looking forward to resting a little.  :)  Actually, I'm telling everyone it's time to clean.  That really is my intention!  If you'll excuse my paraphrase, "There is a time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to parent with all your energy, a time to volunteer at school, and now it is time to clean up all the mess I've neglected the last few years..."

BOOKS WORTH A LOOK...

I loved this book because it was a story of people who didn't let their cancer rule their lives.  They joke about it and live life on the edge.  An easy read, it's a love story between two teenagers suffering with different types of cancer.  Yes, it's a tear jerker!

This book attracted me because it's about a woman in transition - she's been widowed and her only daughter is in college.  She is trying to navigate her path through the uneven course of life.  One particular quote really resonated with me...

"You're good at catastrophes.  It's just normal life you screw up.  I think that's true for a lot of us.  It's easy to navigate when your destination is clearly visible, no matter what obstacles lie in your way.  a smilple matter of optic flow, the experts tell us, and the same neural circuitry that gets a beetle to a blade of grass will suffice.  You do what you have to do, walk through the brush or around the swamp, get through the chemo, bury the dead, deliver the child to the far side of senior year.  Do what you have to do because nothing else is important.  Normal life doesn't have a clear view of the end of the road.  You don't get to see what's up ahead, or how to get there, and obstacles loom much larger than they really are or disguise themselves as worthwhile destinations of their own..."

This book by Jane Pauley is a collection of stories of different baby boomers who have chosen to do something new for the second half of their lives.  A lot of these people were featured on a Today show segment.  She emphasizes that life after fifty is no longer a sedentary time but one that this generation looks at from a new perspective unlike any other.  I thought this book might have some hints for me as I enter the second half of my life. :) It didn't, but I enjoyed the stories.

I LOVED this one.  The author is the oldest child in her family, and struggles emotionally as she tries to "fix" her always-capable mother dealing with dementia.  She also includes some of her mother's recipes and lots of memories from childhood and adulthood.  Not a happy ending but I appreciated her reflections and it helped me realize there will never is such a thing as balance in life.

MY HEART IN THIS BANQUET...

Well, one of the big things that has been consuming my life lately is over!  Successfully finished!  I took on the task of decorating for the Performing Arts banquet.  It is one of the highlights of the year for the senior students, the teachers and parents.  I've been to plenty of them through the years, and of course, I wanted this one to shine and be really special in some way...only I didn't know what theme or how exactly I would do that.  Anyway, I have loved the chalkboard crafts I've seen and decided we would go with classic colors:  black & white with accents of red.  So chalkboards would fit right in.  We came up with this theme:

After all my efforts, I didn't even get a great shot of the table centerpieces, but they were a grouping of several things:  contrasting fabric, square mirrors, candle with hurricane globes, rose in a bud vase, a black and white frame with the theme written inside, and of course, a small chalk board!  (Most of my time was gathering supplies or painting stuff with chalkboard paint or making tassels) On each chalkboard we had written different quotes that would have meaning for this school year.  We had quotes from the shows we did:  Peter Pan, Footloose, and also things the performing arts teachers constantly say...

My friend Patty made my dream come true!  She did the writing on almost all the signs, and I helped a little with borders.  Isn't she amazing?  I borrowed some big chalkboards from our church and we decorated them up, hoping the kids would use them for pictures.  We also put some fabric on the wall for a photo backdrop along with lots of props.  

My friend decorated the arch with deco-mesh and we made the sign.

The other side of the centerpiece had these frames  - 

they were from another year's banquet and the colors worked, so I used them.

My son with some friends by one of the chalkboards

Lots of awards given that night and here was a special one - my son ended up Choir King!  The king and queen are voted on by the students, so that means a lot.  Oddly enough, the queen had on a green dress so they made quite a pair!

 Lots of picture-taking afterwards!  

But the drama teacher claims she "doesn't do pictures..."

These two friends have been in PACE with me the whole time and they're not finished yet!

I received some beautiful roses for my volunteer work over the years!  

Totally unexpected - this night is for the teachers and seniors!

Finally, the banquet committee - I made them try out my photo corner!  

So now I am officially done with the chalkboard craze...

FLOWERY WEEKEND...

I hardly ever receive flowers, but this weekend I got a double dose!  These roses were a gift at the PACE banquet on Friday night.  PACE (Performing Arts Council of Edmond) is the group I volunteer with at school.  I have been a part of it for 10 years and been doing Production meals for 7 or 8, I think.  So they were sending me off with flowers!

This other beautiful arrangement is from my kids for Mother's Day!  My son got it from the "cool" florist in Midtown, his new favorite place.  I really should've taken pictures from other sides because it has some exotic looking stuff in it!

Mother's Day is one of the those weird days for me, kinda like your birthday.  You hope they do something but then you try not to get your hopes up...and honestly, not every Mother's Day has been really that great.  I remember a few years ago just telling them if they would just acknowledge  me with a hug that's all I really wanted.  That was back when they had very little income...So maybe I've gotten the message over to them (or maybe their Dad has) because I got both acknowledgements and gifts!  My daughter texted and called me.  I received beautiful flowers and my baby painted a burlap canvas for me!  His sweet girlfriend is artistic and so she taught him how to do it.  He put my favorite verse on it from Psalm 29.  I think I love home-made gifts more than flowers...

 Finally, we lunched with my mother and sister's family and even though the men chose to serve us barbecue, I didn't complain too much...it was a great weekend and I hope I can make them feel as special as they made me feel today!