All The Things

 May is a busy time of the year with school events, and having a senior adds to the craziness. But we got it all done with only a few conflicts! One Friday we had a quiet before the storm and got in a family game night with lots of laughter.

Chuey always likes to be in the middle of the game.

We kicked off May with Abe's 50th birthday.

We missed Nathan's graduation from Auburn, but we're proud of his accomplishment!

Zekers earned his National Honor Society Stole to wear at graduation, signifying membership in this elite academic club. 

NHS was founded in 1921 and is based on the four pillars of scholarship, service, leadership, and character.

A big tree fell over in the backyard, adding extra work for us (meaning mostly Abe) as we got it cut down into small pieces to carry to the curb and repaired the fence.

We bought and planted Geoftree to fill the gap. Zeke thought we should use the weird spelling, and I like adding GeofTREE to end instead of GeofREY. But I don't prefer that spelling, so I call it /gee-off-tree/.

This is how excited the kids were about our new tree.

Zeke and I attended the Alice Carlson Applied Learning Center senior clap out. 

All of the senior alumni return to their elementary as the little kids clap them down the hallway. Then they  all meet up in the library to catch up.

This was Cindy's class. Zeke is the only one in green.

Zeke and Izzy are the only two former classmates who attend Hills.

There was also a senior clap out for all of the feeder elementary schools. All of the Hills kids went to the middle school and all of the 4 elementary schools.

Since Zeke attended Waverly Park for kinder and 1st, he was part of the group photo for that school.

They posted some pics on their site and our friend who attended with us all those years ago saw it and sent it to me.

The assistant band teacher is also the middle school band teacher. So when we arrived, Zeke's band teachers were there playing a cadence, making it quite festive.

Ms. Hinds and Ms.Whiddon had the middle school band students create signs for each of the senior band kids.

Mata (Zeke's theatre teacher) posted this:

His band teacher handed Zeke his envelope of accomplishments on Senior Award Day. She told him how heavy it was, so he pretended that it was heavy to carry. When the principal shook his hand she commented on how humble he was. 😂 

I am proud of how hard this boy works. He received awards for earning his associate degree, Superintendent Scholar, International Thespian Society, OnRamps Honor (college classes offered through UT), blood drive, and Ann Brannon awards for Outstanding Achievement in Band and Academic Excellence in OnRamps Biology.

We enjoyed Eli's spring band concert.

We enjoyed Zeke's spring band concert, as well.

Zeke, Dom and A'Leena performed their winter guard piece at the concert.

Ms. Hinds honored the seniors with a sweet collage on a canvas.

Ms. Hinds also acknowledged another senior mother and myself for helping the band the past couple years. That was a sweet surprise!

Ms. Hinds and Ms. Whiddon were the first two teachers that Zeke met at band camp before school even started. They have been some of our favorites! Ms. Lagunas was the winter guard leader this year.

The whole family attended the band banquet, which was at Rollerland West.

Zeke was presented the Patrick S. Gilmore Band Award. Gilmore was a bandmaster during the Civil War, and he performed at inaugurations, festivals, centennial celebrations and the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. This award is presented to band members all across the nation and it honors outstanding high school band students and their achievements and commitment to the band.

I am thankful that Ms. Hinds and Ms. Whiddon see Zeke for what a great person that he is. I am also grateful that Ms. Hinds helped Zeke find his place at Hills. We were on our way to Kansas that first summer back to the US and I received a phone call from the high school. It was the band teacher informing us of band camp two weeks prior to school starting. After explaining that Zeke decided to take theatre class during that hour and he was going to drop band, she encouraged him to go to band camp any way; that way he would at least know a few familiar faces in the halls the first week of school. Once camp started he quickly remembered how much he enjoyed band and the rest is history. He found his people.

AdvisoCon is a big day at Eli's school. All of the students get to choose an advisory class each year. They learn specific things about that topic and go on field trips related to it. At the end of the year they present to the parents and other students.

Eli's advisory this year was textile arts. They learned to crochet and embroidery, among other things. Apparently crochet involves a lot of math skills.

Lijee made me an axolotl. Pretty impressive!

That's a lot of the things that kept us running through May. I am proud at how much effort my kids put into their school activities and academics. They continue to amaze me.

[May]