Sneaking Into The Midnight Garden

Zekers was slow in communicating with his buddies about their prom plans. So slow in fact that he missed the deadline to purchase tickets. The night of prom, while at the dinner table, Zeke was texting his friends. They told him that he should join them. They said they could sneak him into the venue. Zeke ran it by his father and I, expecting us to say no. I was disappointed for him that he wasn't going to attend his junior prom, so much to his surprise I quickly replied, "Sure!" And that's the story of prom. I mean, there are a lot worse things he could be doing as a 17 year old on a Friday night than sneaking into his prom.

His friend was like, "You just happened to have a suit at home?" and Zeke was like, "Yeah, I do."

Of course I didn't get much else information out of him. But he did share a few pics with me in 'The Midnight Garden' (the prom theme, which I only learned from the school social media page).

Iggy, Xavier and Logan were his partners in crime.

Here are their gangster faces.

I'm glad my boy went to his junior prom. After all, you only get one of those.

[May 12]

Secret Society

With over a million members in all 50 states, National Honor Society isn't all that secret. But it is highly prestigious, and our Zekers is now a member.

 The organization was founded in 1921 to recognize outstanding high school juniors and seniors.

 Selection is based on four criteria: academic achievement, leadership, service, and character.

Here are the inductees, taking the NHS pledge:

Zekers is shaking hands with Ms. Flores, the principal, as he receives his certificate of membership.

We embarrassed him by saying, "Pssst!" to get his attention. I mean, that's kind of our job as parents, right?

Zekers works hard both in and out of school. 

The parents celebrated the students' accomplishment with a reception afterwards.

This was Zeke's page for the slide show of each of the students.

My big boy continues to be amazing.

[May 10]

UTD--The Place To Be?

 College visit #4: The University of Texas at Dallas.

With a student population of 31,000, UTD, located in Richardson (about an hour from our house), is known for its computer science program. Although it is a fairly new university at just 53 years old, it is ranked the #3 best public university in Texas. The three founders of Texas Instruments established the Graduate Research Center of the Southwest, which became the University of Texas at Dallas in 1969. The orange in UTD's mascot is derived from the burnt orange of UT Austin and the green stems from the olive and oak branches that are featured in the University's official seal. 

Random fact: for 18 out of 20 years, the UTD chess team has participated in the Final Four Collegiate Chess Tournament. 

The Margaret McDermott Mall is a popular photo spot on campus, lined with 116 beautiful magnolia trees. The creation of the mall 23 years ago encouraged the planting of over 7,000 trees on campus. UTD has earned the prestigious recognition of 'Tree Campus Higher Education' by establishing and meeting the standard of care of all of its trees.

Those are petrified tree stumps in the background. I forget the age, but they were really, really old.

I got in my sneaky photo that is totes embarrassing.

Go Comets!💫

[April 19]

Hey Batter Batter!

Daisy tried her hand at yet another sport this spring--softball. It was her first time to play but she did not let that stop her from giving it a try.

Su-wing batter!

Coach Trotter was giving her running tips on stealing second base.

Daisy played left field.

Daisy, Audrina, Pickle and Leslie

Daisy's fan club.

the gang

The last game of the season Daisy played catcher. I told her she looked pretty sporty.

She just rounded homeplate with a score!

It's a great day to be a Cougar!

[spring] 

UIL Band Champs

 I was able to tag along the the UIL band benchmark with Zeke and the rest of the Cougar band.

They were given some pointers to work on by the judges, and a few weeks later they attended the real Band University Interscholastic League.  Each year about half a million middle, junior high and high school students participate in ten UIL music events.

The Cougar Band walked away with a superior rating for their concert performance, and an excellent rating for sight reading. You can tell they were feeling pretty proud about their accomplishments.

The percussion team: Maddi, Zeke, Diego, Areli, TJ and Braxton

The hardware they brought home:

The competition was super early. After the kids returned to school, one of the moms and I helped serve them breakfast. 

We treated them to some cute cookies.

My boy loves his band community.  

🎵And he's good at it.🎵

[April 13]