May Recap

Wow, time sure has a way of getting past me.  May and June 2013 were jam packed with stuff going on.

James went to his prom on Friday the 3rd and then he went to Mount Carmel's prom on Saturday the 4th.  He looked more than handsome in his tux.  We used one of the pictures I had taken for his graduation announcements.

May meant several award ceremonies for the kids.  Hallie had athletic awards which she received a letter in cross country which she had participated in the fall and then she received an O for her track participation.  Both boys received academic achievements awards from ERFAE for being on High Honors all 3 of the first semesters.  This marked James' 7th year receiving the award and Nathaniel has achieved the same goal each of his first 4 years that he was up for the award.  Hallie had too many B's to receive an academic award but hopefully that will change with the 2013-2014 school year.  Another awards night was the annual music awards.  James and Nathaniel both received pins for their participation in marching band.  We also had James' senior awards night.  As this was our first experience with a senior, we didn't know what to expect.  We started off with dinner and James and his fellow honors seniors receiving a medal and honor cords to be worn during graduation.  Then we went to the high school auditorium for the rest of the awards night (not all students receiving awards received honor cords and medals so it was separated).  James received a certificate for his first year tuition waiver through Olney Central College.  All students in the upper 30% of their class received this waiver, very generous!  He also received cash awards from the Olney Chamber of Commerce and Petroleum Club.  We are very grateful for these awards.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Mother's Day.  We went to church services and then to Effingham Cracker Barrel.  It was a beautiful Spring day and God blessed us with just the right amount of cotton-ball clouds in a bright blue sky.

May ended track season.  James ran his final high school race by competing in a 2 day sectional event.  The meet was postponed after a few events so they had to go back the following Monday to complete the event. Olney did very well this track season and both boys were proud to be on the team.  Nathaniel suffered from sore feet at the beginning of his season so he didn't get to participate in as many meets as we would have liked.  Hallie also ran track this season and I think she will be a great runner if she chooses to keep it up.

On May 15th we attended Baccalaureate services.  They were very motivational and James' friend, Seth, gave a wonderful speech/sermon warning his fellow graduates not to fall into the ways of the world but instead to stay on the right path and to stay away from alcohol/drugs as they enter the world on their own.

The kids and I went to Marion on Saturday the 19th to visit with family.  Dakota, our niece, had graduated high school on Thursday night and Coleton, her brother and our nephew, was to graduate 8th grade on the 21st.  Our brother in law's sister and her fiance, along with his father and step-mom, were in town to visit and to attend Dakota's graduation.  It was the first time I had saw Kristina and Weldon since May 2004 when Carolyn and Ray got married.  It was wonderful to see them and for the 6 kids to get together and spend time together.  That does not happen often enough.

High School Graduation was held on Sunday May 19th.  Generally it is held the week before on Mother's Day but they had used too many snow days and had to wait a week to graduate.  I was fine with that as it was a highly emotional day for me, not sure how I would have done with it being on Mother's Day.

Monday May 20th marked the last day of Hallie's 6th grade year and Nathaniel's freshman year.  Again, how does it happen that I now have a high school graduate (college freshman!), a high school sophomore and a 7th grader?