...Graduation Day...

...our house full of people was up early to get ready for the big event...and Scout had to be at the arena an hour before us...

...but the arena folk are well versed in the graduation arena...and parking (and leaving for that matter) was a breeze...

...and the county's graduations were scheduled one after the other all day long in about 3 hour blocks...so I guess it has to work like clockwork or there'd be a big pile-up...

...we found a block of seats...actually Scout's uncle volunteered to get there early and 'reserve' a block of seats for all of us...

...and the procession began...with the band (minus their seniors) playing Pomp and Circumstance over and over as the Seniors filed in...

...and took their seats...(arrow pointing to Scout)

...and because of our last name and the fact that they're seated alphabetically Scout was the very first Senior to walk across stage...shaking hands...

...and receive his diploma...

...the obligatory hat toss at the end...

...it was a lovely ceremony...

~Wishing you a lovely start to your week!

...Graduation Party Prep...

...first of all go check out Snap That...where my friend Penny blogs...she just donated her hair!...

...and second of all (HA!)...

...we got up bright and early to decorate for Scout's Graduation Party...

...the first thing I did was to gather up a table-full of old photos of Scout...so sweet looking through those...

...banners were hung...

...I had lots of help as we had all of the Grandparents, and lots of Aunts, Uncles and friends in town for the big day!...

...twirly-hangy things were also hung...

...another banner was strung together...the really weird thing was that it didn't come with any string...I had to come back to the house to get yarn...not a big deal...but weird...what would you do with the numbers without string...

...Scout enjoyed looking through the old photos too...

...tables were littered with 'scatter'...

...the 2016 banner is stable now...

...in the kitchen everything was ready...

...cake boxes were opened...

...guests arrived...

...my plate...

...the party IS HERE!

~Have a lovely day!

...The Last Day...

...It's official...

...Scout has completed High School...

...Next up...Graduation...

~Have a lovely day!

...Prom 2016...

...flowers were pinned on lapels...

...and slipped onto wrists...

...sweet little beaded shawls were shrugged onto bare shoulders...(pattern soon...I promise...)

...doors were opened...

...and away they went...

~Have a lovely day!

....Prom Prep...

...so...it's finally Prom time...

...Scout picked up his tux...

...washed the car...

...picked up the flowers...

...and started getting dressed...shhhh...he doesn't know I took this photo...

...and now he's ready to go...

...prom pictures yet to come...

~Have a lovely weekend...

...Graduation approaches...

...the invitations have arrived...and will soon be sent out...

...and the cap and gown are pressed and ready...

...the actual event is still almost two months away...but the Cap and Gown photos are today...

...so many plans for this milestone event...and beyond...

~Have a lovely day!

...Class Ring...

...Scout is back at school after the holidays...and at Scout's school the Class Rings are in...

...oh I remember the day we got our Class Rings...everyone going around showing their ring to all their friends...

...this is my Class Ring...I chose a pretty 'dinner ring' setting with a Ruby for my Birthstone...

...and this is the Man's...which I mostly wore...wrapped with yarn so it would stay on my finger...I guess that served as proof to everyone that we were 'going together'...but sometimes I wore it on a chain around my neck...the funny kind of beaded chain that used to hold the bathtub stopper...like this one if you don't know what I'm talking about...and I suppose that was because the ring was too heavy for a regular jewelry type chain...

...it was fun to drag the rings out and try them on (mine still fits...but the Man's does not)...and we had not had our rings out for YEARS...seriously...after High School how many of us continued to wear our Class Rings?...and when we graduated from University we didn't even bother to buy one...because we knew we'd probably never wear it...

...and of course that did not stop us from buying a Class Ring for Scout...it is a right of passage of sorts...

...Scout's June Birthstone is Alexandrite...Wikipedia has this to say about this colour changing stone...

The alexandrite variety displays a color change (alexandrite effect) dependent upon the nature of ambient lighting. Alexandrite effect is the phenomenon of an observed color change from greenish to reddish with a change in source illumination. Alexandrite results from small scale replacement of aluminium by chromium ions in the crystal structure, which causes intense absorption of light over a narrow range of wavelengths in the yellow region (580 nm) of the visible light spectrum. Because human vision is more sensitive to light in the green spectrum and the red spectrum, alexandrite appears greenish in daylight where a full spectrum of visible light is present and reddish in incandescent light which emits less green and blue spectrum.[6] This color change is independent of any change of hue with viewing direction through the crystal that would arise from pleochroism.

...so...without further ado...this is Scout's Class Ring...one side is engraved with his old high school in WV...and a neat marching band emblem...and the other side has the year and his current high school...I thought it was neat that he included both schools in his design...

...do you have (or still have) your High School Class Ring?...do you still wear it?

~Have a lovely day!

...acceptance...

...Scout got his first acceptance letter today...

...looking forward to more to come...

~Have a lovely day!

...and another college visit...

...so...we went for another college (university) visit...UNCW...

...so we gathered on a gorgeous day...on the beautiful campus...

...with a bunch of other prospective students and their parents...

...to learn all about UNCW's history...

...and course offerings...

...and toured all of the buildings...

...this is our 4th university tour...and I'm not sure that the decision will come down to how well the school did presenting themselves on the tour...I mean they're fun and all...to a point...but just based on the tours...they are all pretty perfect...so in the end Scout will have to decide where he wants to be for those (short) 4 years...

...and...we actually have a couple more tours planned for the near future...

...did you do a bunch of tours...or did you just know?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Cinco de Mayo...Vegan Mexican Wedding Cookies...

Scout's Spanish IV class was celebrating Cinco de Mayo (Not to be confused with Mexican Independence Day, which occurs on September 16)...and he needed to take a Mexican themed treat for 10 points extra credit...and the instructions from la professora were that chips and drinks would earn considerably less than 10 points...haha...

...so Scout and I set out to make some Mexican Wedding Cookies...and a quick online search gave us hundreds of recipes to choose from...but we went with the simple one below...subbing only Earth Balance for the butter...

...I had no idea they were so simple to make...

...we formed our little cookie balls...

...but ran out of room...so we placed the last few in a muffin tin...

...the recipe said to bake until they started to turn a light golden brown...but we hardly noticed any coloration on the tops of the cookies...but the bottoms were a nice golden brown...so we thought they were probably done...

...then while they were still warm...we rolled them around in some powdered sugar to coat...

...I couldn't resist trying one...just one...before I packed them up for him to take to school...

...I couldn't believe how good they are...so light and crispy...nutty and sweet...

I simply veganized the recipe here by subbing Earth Balance for the butter...easy peasie...

VEGAN MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES - adapted from food.com

INGREDIENTS

SERVINGS 36
YIELD 3 dozen

1 cup Earth Balance, softened
1⁄2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1⁄4 cups sifted flour
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
3⁄4 cup chopped walnuts
powdered sugar (for rolling baked cookies in)

DIRECTIONS

Cream together butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy; stir in vanilla.
Whisk together flour and salt; add gradually to butter mixture; stir in chopped nuts.
Chill dough if it seems too soft.
Form dough into 1 1/4" balls and place onto parchment-lined or ungreased baking sheets.
Bake at 400° for 10-12 minutes or just until the cookies start to turn light golden-brown; remove from oven and allow to cool slightly; while cookies are still warm (but NOT hot) remove them from baking sheets and roll, a few at a time, in powdered sugar until evenly coated; cool cookies completely on wire racks.
Cookies may (optionally) be rolled in powdered sugar a second time once cooled to room temperature.

NOTE: Forming dough into 1" balls will increase yield to 48 cookies.

~Have a lovely day!

...Chemistry Shirt...

...another school project...

...they had to choose an element...Scout chose ununpentium...a temporary name mean 1-1-5...

...and then they had to answer about 25 questions about the element...

...all on a T-shirt...interesting...

...this 'element' only exists for a fraction of a second when scientists fire some isotopes from a cyclotron...so...is that a 'real' element???

...and then they wear their shirts to school...

...I thought Scout did a good job with his shirt...it's neatly done and well laid out at least...

...did you ever decorate a shirt for a class project?...I did not...

~Have a lovely day!

...First Day of 11th Grade...

...it's that time of year again...

...and Scout was out the door before I could get a proper picture...

...and this is the first year that he has driven himself to school...

Previous First Day posts:

2007 - apparently I didn't post him going out the door photo...I have one of course...

2008 5th Grade

2009 6th Grade

2010 7th Grade

2011 8th Grade - in North Dakota...

2012 9th Grade - High School

2013 - 10th Grade

~Have a lovely day!