Graduation!

Another graduate in the family. Stephanie just graduated with a BA in Criminal Justice and now Mia has graduated from Pre-Kindergarten. Seriously.

At first she wasn't into it.

But then she was all smiles and sang all the words with her class song and even danced a little.

Then they put on their caps and gowns and marched down the aisle to Pomp and Circumstance. I confess to choking up a little. At the same time the end of year party was taking place at the school next door where Jill and Jonah and their friends were having fun at a Hawaiian-themed celebration.

Here are a few special graduation photos from the past.

Jaime had a graduation ceremony from kindergarten with cap and gown and a limo ride (around the block so they could arrive in style.) This must have been about 1985.

Here is Jonah in 2005. I have a better graduation picture but I can't find it.

Here I am in 1966 in my High School graduation picture.

 I even found this picture from my dad's graduation from Crescent, OK HS in 1939. He is the 3rd one from the right on the top row. How do I know it was 1939? Because I also have this cool little graduation book from the occasion.

Inside are all the names of the graduates in case you think someone in the picture above looks familiar.

Next door, at the end of school party, there was a lot of bouncing, dancing, pizza eating and hula hooping going on. Mia got a lot of attention from the older crowd as she came in still wearing her cap and gown.

Jill and Jaime hooped a little.

Mia is learning. Here she is with TWO hoops!

Thursday and Friday

Yesterday, I worked for 3 hours at my part time job at my friend's house. After work, I picked up my granddaughters at their schools and kept them till my daughter got home from work. I made hamburgers for supper.

About 6:30, I took the two older grandkids to an after-school skating party. The school has these parties several times a year to raise funds for the PTA. The kids missed the last two parties so I wanted them to go to this one. I played with the idea of dropping them off, but in the end I stayed. I'm glad.

Even in the crowded rink, they kept finding me. They would take a bite of pizza or a get a drink and take off again. Jill found a friend and skated around and around. At first she stayed near the edge, but gradually worked her way to the center of the rink. We paid extra to get Jonah in-line skates, but he mostly stayed on the carpeted area and played different games with his friends.

They both got mountains of tickets from the games that would have meant a windfall at a casino. Jonah got a plastic hockey stick and ball with his tickets. Jill got oversized pink sunglasses. I saw many people I knew from school and enjoyed the upbeat music and flashing lights. There were families with very small children who had devices made of PVC pipes to help them balance. Some kids could do tricks with the devices - even the very little ones. I found myself with a permanent grin on my face.

I never learned to skate when I was young. It looks like so much fun. For my family to get together after a long day's work and go out to take the kids skating was unheard of. Once in a while, we could get my father to drive to the Sonic for a cheeseburger, but that wasn't very often.

About 7:30 all the lights went out and the kids had fun skating around in the dark with glow sticks and flashing colored lights. By 8:00 the party was over and we started home. Jonah went to his house and Jill stayed at mine. She tumbled into bed and went to sleep very quickly. I confess I did the same.

This morning it was "Field Day" at school and they wore shorts and brought drinks for a full day of athletic events. As Jonah shlumped out to the car with his book bag, I yelled, "Step it up! It's Field Day! Hooray!" For once, he rewarded me with a grin instead of pretending to be bored with my jokes.

After school, I gathered up the girls and we got our Friday night pizzas. One for Jaime's house and one for mine. It has been a happy day.