The GRADUATE!!

Whew!!!!  There are 2 things that I'm having a hard time getting over...
One:  That my first born baby boy is now a graduate
Two:  That I AM ACTUALLY OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE CHILD.

You can guess which one is tougher for me!

He is done...finished...signed, sealed and delivered with a diploma, transcripts and college orientation scheduled.  Capital University at the end of August!

On May 22nd, the graduation ceremony was at the OSU arena - the Schott.  Very nice, except for the low lighting that blurred a bunch of my pictures.

You will notice that the dunce does not have his cap on in these photos...he threw it and lost it...

 He did graduate with honors though...hence the yellow thing around his neck.

Without even trying, Ella was all color coordinated with Mas. And Silas' shirt was a couple sizes too small.
He posed for a lot of pictures that night...and even smiled. 

I've gotten past most of the tears now...and I'm looking forward to having all the family in town for his graduation party and a family reunion.  We hope to have all the cousins here over the July 4th weekend.
I'm also looking forward to his school orientation at Capital this coming week and planning these next steps.

The best was the yard banner...he loved his Batman picture being on it.

We're so proud and excited about Mason's next steps.   It's hard to believe when "your baby" is growing up but so amazing (and scary) to see your parenting work put to the next test.  We love you Mas!

Preschool Graduation and All Star Soccer

Busy week for the OH Youngers!  While still recovering from the fun but tiring holiday weekend, we had to get back in the swing of things pretty quickly with Silas' graduation on Wednesday night.  It was so cute and made me cry (or course).  He was so excited and proud of his cap and diploma.

They sang a graduation song


and he got his preschool diploma.

It sounded SO crazy for his principal to say that he will be the Class of 2024 - and yet, (not) so long ago, I remember thinking that Mason's class of 2013 was forever away...and now it's just around the corner!

I love seeing my little guy still holding hands and looking little.  I know those days are numbered.

On Thursday night, Ella had her All Star soccer game (the one that got canceled with all the storms last week).  It was a great game!  Ella scored an awesome goal and her team won 4-3. She is so competitive on the field.  It's so fun to watch.

I love when she sits on the ball and watches the game.

She and her Cheetah teammates (Avery and Alice) had fun playing together one last time.  We get new teams with the Fall season :(  We will really miss the Cheetah girls that we played with the past 2 seasons!

I'm already looking forward to the next soccer season.  I hope to get E in a summer soccer camp so that she can learn some new stuff over the summer. 

Tomorrow morning, Justin and I will set out on our own competitive adventure - it's FINALLY Warrior Dash time!  Really, the only competition is between me and death.  I'll be happy with crossing the finish line in one piece so that I can sit (or lay) and enjoy my Warrior Beer!

Won't You Take me To...Funky Town

Actually it's Safety Town, but each time I say it the Funky Town song (which I've added to my Playlist below) runs through my head.

Here was the Funky Town week review:

Monday was an introduction to animals and animal safety




Tuesday was Fire Department Day - here's Ella that night in her fire hat






















Wednesday was Police Department day - Ethan and Ella posed by the police car. They also got to see the police helicopter and police dog. They loved it!





Thursday they practiced calling 911 (which Ella has known how to do, at least accidentally, since she was about 8 months old...) and took a Safety walk around the town.





And Friday was water safety day and graduation practice. Here is Daddy and Ella.















And tonight was graduation! They got up on stage and sang their songs.
Here is Ella's Lucky Limes group singing Red Light, Red Light - she 's 8th from the left - not moving a muscle



And here is her graduation walk

And an update on my REARend
all was fine - no issues - just a couple areas of diverticula and I need to increase my fiber intake (who knew, wine isn't high in fiber?!) By the way, the procedure itself is a breeze...cute doc walks in, starts the happy meds, makes chit chat and 20 minutes later you are waking up with a slight hangover, wondering what the hell just happened.
The worst part for me was not eating for over 24 hours (and the 15,000 trips to the crapper).