Mikayla, Dublin, and Keene, OH MY!

For those of you on facebook with me, you have already seen pics of Mikayla and her formal banquet, date, and all that. But here's a post for the rest of ya!  And if you like to read my somewhat silly ramblings, this is for you too, of course.

When Mikayla had a semi-formal event near Christmas, I just about died from not being there to snap pictures, and meet her date, and do all the Mom things surrounding those sorts of events. So, finding out that her spring formal event would be really close to picking her up at the end of the year, I decided that I would get there a day early, by hook or by crook as the saying goes, whether I was invited or not, to do all the Mom things that I have looked forward to for low these many years. Of course, no one seemed to mind. How could they? What Mom wouldn't want to be involved, right??! Seriously! And Mikayla thought it would be fun to have Mom do her hair. BUT, I would have to make this trip alone. Terry could not afford time off work, and the other two kiddos still had school and band and stuff at home. Once the decision was made, I set out to find the prettiest hairdo I could possibly do for Mikayla. That isn't easy. Those who know us know that Mikayla's hair is not easy to do at all. It is incredible thick,stick straight, and fine. This combo makes it very difficult to style at all. So, to YouTube I went. Where else?! I found out that girls would post all sorts of tutorials for doing updos and the like on youtube! Exactly what this ADD, visual learner needs!! After unashamedly bribing Lanie Lou Lou to sit and let me practice these on her head of glorious hair, I had it narrowed down to two, possibly three choices.  Two of which I posted and the third...? Well, the third was such a hoot, and I laughed so hysterically, literally rolling on the floor laughing out loud, that poor Lanie got mad and didn't want me to post the picture of it. She was such a sweetie for the whole thing, that I honored her request ( um, command).

So, having sent these pictures to Mikayla for her approval, I felt ready. Off I went in my little VW Cabrio, a plethora of hair products packed in the trunk, buzzing down the highway getting approximately 40 miles to the gallon. I had been at Dublin Christian Academy girls dorm for around two minutes before we set to work on style number one. It went so well, that it was definitely a keeper, and as you can see, there were a few variations.

After some time spent with Mikayla helping with a friends hair, and Mom snapping ridiculous pictures, we were ready for a serious photo shoot. Well, at least, as serious a photo shoot as I can have with my little Kodak.

 Isn't she pretty??!

 Ok, I admit to another detour into the ridiculous shots. I couldn't help it. She was being so cute. Anyway, something got caught in the tulle overlay. haha.

Then, a bunch of the other girls started showing up, so we took pics of them, too. And there were suddenly other Moms there. Whew! and Yay!

 Mikayla and her roommates.

Then the guys started showing up to pick up their dates, and a surprise limo drove in. OH, and we can't forget to include the arrival of the chaperons.

Enter chaperon #1

Then, my camera was commandeered by Miss Mikayla because it was thin and fit nicely in her clutch. So, the rest of the pics are taken after Mom has been left behind in the dust of the limo. Wah, wah, wah. The banquet decor, and program was planned and put together completely by the Junior class.  I'm so proud!

 Mikayla's roommates and their dates.

 The centerpiece and table decor

Some of the fellers. Oh, and Mr. Eric.
Ok, so that night after being left behind in the dust of the limo, (wah) I had to find my hotel in Keene. I had no idea that NH had so many traffic round-a-bouts, and they confused me horribly. Terry found out just before I left home that the cigarette lighter in my car didn't work, and so I was without a GPS. That was a serious problem, because I am not very good at finding my way to places. And so, after many wrong turns, several phone calls with Terry google-ing for directions for me, and a few horns being blown in my direction, I finally found it. I felt very blond as I checked in, having never even looked at my license plate, let alone memorized the number. Finally, in my room, I fell flat out on the bed and snoozed in the cool for awhile before I braved the traffic round-a-bouts again to find supper for myself. The next day, Mikayla was booked with end of the year activities and responsibilities, so I was pleased to be able to connect again with my friend Christina, who moved to Keene a few years ago. We had lunch together at a nice pizzeria where we ate outside, and generally caught up. Saturday was graduation, packing for home, and cleaning the dorm room.  During graduation there was also a presentation of awards and scholarships. Something that I didn't realize that they did. Weren't we both surprised to hear Mikayla's name read out as one of two recipients of the Emily Tuten Scholarship. Emily Tuten was a young DCA graduate that was killed in a car accident one month after her graduation. She was the type of kid that did everything, and just enjoyed getting involved in school activities and keeping her grades high. In her memory, her parents set up a scholarship fund. The scholarship is awarded to two returning students  who demonstrate in their lives the potential to honor the Lord and the example and legacy of Emily Tuten. WOW!! I jumped up and snapped a picture of Mikayla receiving the scholarship. All too soon, we were on the road home by 1:00PM, and home by 7:00PM. All in all a wonderful trip, even with the round-a-bouts and several blond moments!

Down to the Last Few Days

Looking back on the last several weeks since Lanie's birthday, it seems that much has happened. Mikayla came home for Easter weekend, and we had a wonderful time together. She entered right in to the musical portions of our services. It's always a blessing to see my kids using their talents in church! Nathanael played a trumpet piece, Mikayla played a beautiful offeratory, and she played her flute with our little orchestra. Nate will soon join them. I just HAVE to remember to order him a trumpet hymn book. I'm not very good at transposing, although he seems to be able to do it, just not as he is playing.  Mikayla headed back to school to finish up fourth quarter.

Mother's Day found us celebrating with Mom. We took her to The Oriental Jade in Bangor for their buffet. The kids made me the cutest cards with stickers and their own sweet sentiments hand written inside. Alana said, upon handing me hers, "Mama, I tried to use my very best penmanship for you." Yes, this Mom is picky about penmanship and doesn't feel that it should be an outdated subject just because we are all using computers so much. So she felt that this effort was a gift for me in and of itself. :)
Last week, we were able to finish up chemo treatments for Mom!  We were so pleased to finally get those over with. Now she will undergo a ct scan and meet with doctors to determine where to go from here. We are praising the Lord that there have been very little bad side affects with the chemo. There have been some, but not the horror stories that you sometimes hear. Blood platelet levels need to come up, and healing has begun!
We are scrambling this week to finish up with homeschooling. Nate got a little behind in some of his subjects, but should still be done next week. Lanie has finished all but Math and English, and she will be done next week. I have always been so happy to end a school year. This year found us really struggling with 8th grade. The idea that you have to study a little when every other year has been so easy, is not an idea that my son has taken kindly to. To him, if it doesn't come easy, why bother. Well, his mom doesn't agree, so we have worked hard to have him embrace a better attitude towards study and working hard on projects. He gets A's when he applies himself. And it bugs me that with just a tiny bit (less than an  hour) of study time, he can pull an A over a Science unit or History chapter. I would have had to study for days! And so, we will continue with this attitude adjustment next year. Hopefully, we will see some more mature attitudes take hold. Lanie has caught up to grade level in everything but math now. Taking a year(last year) to just work on weak areas was something that she really needed. I worked with her on reading, taking her all the way back to the beginning, finding that she is dyslexic. Sounds bad, but that was the best thing to find out, because then I knew what to do to help her in that area. She still hates to write, but is doing much better. Her reading is at grade level now, and all other subjects have come up to grade level as well. Her reading inability is what was holding her back. This summer I plan to work on math more aggressively. I am quite confused at her 'math mind', and right now we are working on long division. I can't figure out how a kid can do a long division problem with no mistakes, but finds it impossible to multiply. I have found a memory helper game that I need to order that I think will help. She CAN memorize, Praise be! But it doesn't make sense to me. So any suggestions on how to help her would be much appreciated.
Wednesday and Thursday, I cleaned out the school room completely, throwing away loads of stuff, packing away papers and finished curriculum, and putting aside "still good" stuff that I could maybe sell on ebay. I bought two new bookcases that we needed in there desperately. haha. I took out next years books that I have already and put them on the shelves. Just need to order consumables and Nathanael's online High School. His program comes with the books unless I can find some used. I also moved the kid's desks around to create a private nook for each of them. I'll probably add little things to their areas little by little, but the bulk of the work in there is done. It will be good to NOT have that job waiting for me at the end of summer.