Thursday, May 29, 2008

Graduation

Poor Lee. Both of his girls graduated this year. Ashley graduated from Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School this past Friday. Jaimee graduated from Bradley Central Middle School on Tuesday. He said he was OK after Ashley's graduation (I couldn't go), but on our way home from Jaimee's he got a little teary-eyed about his little girls.

Lee was responsible for taking pictures of Ashley's graduation. Photography is definitely NOT one of his talents. Here are a few pictures:


OK, so he didn't take the last picture, and my camera is on the complicated side, so we'll cut him a little slack. There were over 400 graduates in Ashley's class. It was a long ceremony. That's Lee's dad, Herschel, with them in the last picture.

I took pictures at Jaimee's graduation. Well, I started to anyway. Then the batteries died. I felt like such an idiot for not having charged them during the day Tuesday. You can bet I won't make that mistake again. So, I missed the all important getting-the-diploma-shaking-the-principal's-hand shot, but we got some batteries on the way back to their house so I got some decent after-grad shots.




I made Ashley put on her graduation gown when we got back after Jaimee's ceremony so I could take some pictures of them together. This is what hit Lee right in the gut I think.


It's hard to believe we'll be doing all of this next year for Marli and Tyler. Time goes by too fast!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Field Trip downtown

Wednesday was the 7th grade field trip downtown. We spent a couple of hours exploring Navy Pier on our own then met up with the rest of the group for an boat tour down the Chicago River. Tyler's class went the day before and he warned Marli that the tour was exceedingly boring. I think they enjoyed it though. I know I certainly did. It was really cool to see the buildings from that perspective and to learn about their history at the same time. The only bad part of the tour was the hispanic couple sitting next to us who could not keep their hands or lips off each other. I took over 150 pictures! As soon as the boat docked, we got right on the buses for the ride home. We got back to the school about 10 minutes after school let out. It was funny how worried they all were about that. We got off the buses at school and the kids all jumped on their buses which were all full of kids waiting for us to get back. My very strange child decided to take the bus home instead of riding with me.

Here is a sampling of the pictures I took. Marli took a bunch of her own too, but I could only put 30 pictures in a slide show. ;)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Ashley's Senior Pictures

Ashley and her mom asked me to take some pictures of Ashley for her graduation announcements. We went out to Perry Farm today and took a ton of pictures. The weather didn't cooperate with us. It was chilly, windy and the sun hid behind the clouds all day long.

Here are a few of her favorites:






If you click on this little picture, Peachy1202/Ashley you can see all of the pictures we took on my photobucket account. The guest password for the album is "smiley".

Monday, May 19, 2008

Visiting with Gavin

Gavin brought his dad and grandma over to visit at my mom's yesterday so he could meet his very excited cousins! The kids fell in love with him in an instant. Gavin was very patient being handed around and held by so many strange pairs of arms. He just yawned and looked around like all this adoration was all in a day's work for him. He is such a good baby. And all of the kids had a wonderful time getting to know him and hold him and kiss him.

Jaimee's Last Concert

Jaimee has decided not to continue with music in high school next year, so this was her last concert ever! They did a great job. She received her awards during the concert for performing in the solo and symphony contests during the year (that picture didn't turn out at all!). We're all very proud of her!



Friday, May 2, 2008

Gavin James

We finally got to meet Gavin today! He was born May 1 at 12:30 am by cesarean section. He was 7 lb. 13 oz and 20 1/2 inches. He is the cutest baby ever! Jimmy and Amanda did good! He is going to have so many people to love and take care of him. It was a constant parade of people in their room from the minute they checked in Wednesday morning. They should be home late tomorrow or Sunday.




Kristi and I went to visit this morning for a couple of hours. It was so relaxing to hold a new baby. I could have done it all day long. He is just happy and calm and peaceful, until it's time to change the diaper.

I know Jim and Amanda will be great parents; you can already see how dedicated and caring they are. I'm so proud of Jim! And can't wait to cuddle little Gavin again!

Last Weekend

It was a busy weekend for Lee's kids. Jaimee and Nate both had activities and we got to participate. Nate's cub Scout pack was in a parade on Saturday and then they went on a camp out. On Sunday, they had a fishing derby and the dad's were invited to come help.




After Nate's parade, we hurried over to watch Jaimee perform with her band at a contest. They did 3 songs and sounded wonderful! Jaimee is the first chair in the flute section. She changed out of her uniform before we could get any pictures of her, but she has another concert in a couple of weeks so we will make her take pictures then.


This weekend is Jaimee's 8th grade dance and Ashley's Senior Prom. More pictures to come (I hope).