The Last Day

We're members of a homeschool co-op, and 

Friday was our last day for the semester.  

On the last day,

the kids are always happy, but kind of sad ... 

and the moms are always sad, but kind of happy.

:o)  

When we started homeschooling more than 15 years ago, 

the most common question people asked was,

"What about socialization?"  

Attending a co-op made answering that question a lot easier,

and it's brought us 10 years of great classes 

and memories and friends

for our whole family.

So Friday was another last day.  

We had a performance expo during lunch, mostly for the little guys.

It's one of my favorite parts of the semester.

It's a chance to put on your best dress and take your place on stage.  

My favorites are invariably the four year olds.

I always secretly hope there is one who cannot suppress their inner star.

They rarely disappoint :o)

Gymnastics ... tumbling and cartwheels and the big finish ... just adorable.

The speedstacking class impressed us with their rapid-fire speedstacking.

The recorder class rocked it ... they're always so sweet and sincere.  

Service award certificates were given to several deserving students. 

The Yearbook Staff had a photobooth.

In Texas History, the students gave laid back and fun reports
on how their families first came to the great state of Texas.

While I graded the last homework papers, my Institute in Excellence for Writing co-teacher
finished up a great year of writing class 

with our enthusiastic and gifted and delightful 3rd through 5th graders.

And we closed the books on another semester of the Cashflow class, where I heard things like,

"I only need $10,000 to get out of the Rat Race!" and "Where are 1 million dollar bills?" all semester long.

In addition to the many practical applications they learned from playing the game, 

the two lessons I hope the kids from Cashflow class take with them are: 

"Always pay your bills on time" - so they'll never have to worry about their credit scores, 

and "Be awesome now!" based on }this{ awesome blog post by Jon Acuff.  

One of my students did a semester wrap up for me on the whiteboard ... 

On the way home, my kids were happy, but a little bit sad.

I was sad, but a little bit happy.

It was a good last day.

Abbie & Ben in Wonderland

If I told you Abbie asked me "when's the next prom?" the day after prom,

would it be good indication that it was a successful evening?

We wondered:  would the dress we ordered on the internet arrive in time?

It did.

We didn't even need the dress from Plan B.  

We wondered:  would the dress we ordered on the internet fit and look as lovely as we hoped?

It did.

We picked up some bling at Sam Moon ... oh, Sam Moon.  

You can make a shopper out of the worst notashopper.

I picked up  Ben's tuxedo for him, 

but there wasn't going to be time for him to go back to the store if we needed an alteration.  

We wondered:  would Ben's tuxedo fit properly?

It did.

He looked so handsome.

Boys have it so much easier than girls.

Order tuxedo.  Pick up tuxedo.  Return tuxedo.

Lucky guys.

We wondered:  would Abbie and Ben take themselves too seriously in all their finery?

They did not. 

They definitely did not.  

The Texas Christian Homeschool Prom ... 

let's just say this event is OVER. THE. TOP. in all the best possible ways.

And fun ... there seemed to be lots of fun going on.

Outside the ballroom there were several sets in keeping with the theme, which highlighted great literature

favorites like The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, Swiss Family Robinson, Frankenstein, and Peter Pan.

Each set had its cast of characters.  They had appropriate costumes, naturally, and they stayed in character the entire evening.  Ben's favorite was one of the pirates, and Abbie's was Alice in Wonderland, 

with an honorable mention going to Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. 

We wondered:  could homeschoolers really boogie down?

They could.

The pictures taken by a number of roaming photographers were uploaded 

to the Texas Christian Homeschool Prom website before prom was even over.  

There were more than 4500 photos from the dance floor only!

Parents are strictly not allowed in the ballroom until the very end, unless they're chaperoning, in which case you wear a costume so as not to distract from and to properly join in on the fun.

We wondered:  would the dance lessons pay off?

They did.

We wondered:  could the entire evening go off perfectly when Ben accompanied Abbie to her first prom?

It could.

We need not have wondered.

image credits:  Ben, SweetEm, and the fabulous photography crew at the prom

What's your name?

photo by Tony Wayman ... image source }here{

The man called me 'Blessed One' when he said hello.

That's not something you hear every day. 

It took me aback

Blessed One.

It gave me pause.

I think he'd given some thought to encouraging other people with the names you call them by.

It was a gift, that.  The gift of snapping out of myself for a split second to see ...

oh yes - blessings, everywhere.  

My one and singular, not like anyone else's life:  blessed.  

It's been a crazy crazy week.  

I need lots of reminders to slow down and look around at this blessed life of mine.  

Even standing knee deep in the crazy, I can call myself Blessed One.  

Do you need a little lift in spirits?  Try it.  Call yourself Blessed One.  

My bet is you'll hear the ring of truth in it, same as me.  

Pretty Maids All in a Row

LtDan and I had a half hour to kill last Saturday, so we stopped in at a Calloway's Nursery.  

Oh my goodNESS there is no better place to go on a Saturday morning in spring.

Flowers and blooms were bursting out everywhere 

and I wanted to take every single one home with me.  

The smell in the covered greenhouse was absolutely out of this world. 

I've always tried to grow flowers from seed, because for some reason I must do it the hard way.

But I think maybe this year I'll just put in flowers that are already blooming.

I better hurry up though.

I most certainly do not have a green thumb, I just wish that I did,

and this time of year gets me every single time and I simply must plant flowers.

Spring inspires such hope, even I can convince myself this might be the year 

I keep things growing in spite of the relentless Texas sun.

The first year I planted Zinnias, I had the happiest garden all summer long 

and they became my favorite flowers.

I want a yard FULL of them.

Glorious, glorious, glorious, everywhere you look.

I wanted to pour myself a big cup of coffee and camp out on the porch.  

So what about you?  

Are you planting anything this year? 

How does your garden grow?

Preparing for a Party of 1000 ...

Not me ... I'm not preparing for a party of 1000.  

This daunting task is performed annually by the Texas Christian Homeschool Prom,

a non-profit organization headed by an energetic Board of Directors 

and fueled by volunteer efforts of homeschool parents all over Texas.

I've talked about our own family's participation and preparation for this event
 }here{ and also }here{

Saturday was our day to contribute on a Parent Workday.

Because who can pull off a huge party like this without lots of help?

We learned what it takes on a very small scale last summer.

It takes vision, lots of coordination, organization, boatloads of grace 

and a million other things I'm certain I cannot begin to comprehend or appreciate.

But let me tell you about the very small glimpses I've seen of this amazing operation,

 because it is truly that:  amazing.

The outcome?  Oh, certainly, it's amazing.

But I'm truly amazed at the working of the entity that creates the event.

Truly.  Amazed.

The parents of each student who participates are required to contribute 4 work hours 

toward prom preparation, setup, hosting/chaperoning, or teardown.

Workdays are efficiently organized, and parents sign up for various tasks, 

including painting, set construction, sewing, or "just tell me what to do".

This year's prom theme is The Journey, and promises to highlight the literary works of authors such as 

J.R.R. Tolkien, J.M. Barrie, Orson Scott Card, Lewis Carroll, 

Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Robert Lewis Stevenson and several others.

The sets are amazing.

LtDan and I completed our workday requirement Saturday.
We arrived and were directed to the backyard to find the paint crew.
They gave us the general idea, and let us take up the task and pretty much do it as we saw fit.

We had the privilege to work on the set of the Swiss Family Robinson home.
If you need someone to help you paint walls so they look as though they were made
from weathered ship planks, call me.

While we were helping on the Swiss Family Robinson set, there were people painting huge backdrops, 

cutting wood and building sets and props, putting together set components out of pipe (or so it appeared)
-and that's just the activity I saw going on outside.
There was a whole crew of parents working inside the house as well.

When we came home, there were lovely prom invitations that had come in the mail for Abbie and Ben.

Every detail is covered to give the kids a fantastical experience, 

from dance lessons to specific but gracious details on dress code and conduct

 and everything you could wish for in between.

It was fun to work on a very small piece of something SO BIG, 

and to know that so many great kids will have a wonderful evening of magical fun.

Now that we have a dress Plan A and Plan B, 

we can enjoy the countdown :o)

I'm not affiliated with the Texas Christian Homeschool Prom organization,

I just think it's a wonderful thing!

You can visit their website }here{

Prom Shopping, Part II

We established }here{ that I'm no girly girl shopper.

I'm pretty much no kind of shopper.

I see something I like, and then I question myself.

Am I supposed to wear this color?  It might be too fancy.  Maybe it's not fancy enough?

It's not really my style.  What is my style??

My poor sweet girl, shopping is one skill set she is not going to get from her mother.

When we went shopping and didn't find anything and ordered Abbie's prom dress online instead,

 I was thinking prom was April 20.

But no - I was wrong.

It's April 12.

I want to believe the dress we ordered will arrive on time ... I believe it will arrive on time ...

But what if it doesn't arrive on time?
With prom 8 days earlier than I was thinking,
that puts our delivery window into an uncomfortably long margin of error. 

 There was that one reviewer that said she got her dress in 5 days, 

and that other girl who said shipping was super fast.  

All around really positive reviews.  

But what if the dress doesn't arrive on time??

We need a Backup Plan.

Unfortunately, it involves more shopping.

We're going in.

First, we stopped for Chinese food at Abbie's favorite restaurant.

 Even the fortune cookies couldn't offer any clarity.

The first store we went to had not much of anything ... nothing exciting at all.

But then, 30 minutes until closing, we found options.

So exciting!!

She chose a lovely dress, which we'll return if the internet dress arrives in time.

They're both really pretty ... I'm not sure what to hope now.

Either way, we're good on the dress.

Next on the agenda ... 

Shoe shopping.

I don't think the wheelies are going to cut it.