Pomp and Circumstance

After weeks (well, ok -- it's been months) of senioritis, Cameron can finally relax. He walked the walk, and has graduated with the Class of 2010!! We are so thrilled for him!!

We did our now-traditional photo of Mom putting on his mortarboard:
At least I didn't injure him in the process. Cameron graduates with his cousin, who is 3 weeks younger than him, but a couple inches taller:

The photo doesn't include their feet. On purpose.

Ok, since it's my blog, I'm putting forth my opinion. Can I just say that today's trend of graduates wearing shorts, flip-flops, grimy tennis shoes, etc. ..... really bothers me. I saw one girl get her diploma barefoot. I feel like it's disrespectful and cheapens the accomplishment. Todd and I discussed it a little, and I'm thinking that rather than put out rules and a commencement dress code, maybe these youths need to just learn a lesson on gratitude for how blessed and fortunate they are. I don't think they realize how bad they look. I feel that they need to see and make the change for themselves. I totally understand kids wanting to be individuals, but that should be expressed a little more conservatively at graduation time.

I am so glad Cameron dressed so nicely for this. This photo was supposed to be our graduate with Mom and Dad, but when we stood up to pose, Emma came over and stood right in front, like she was supposed to be in the picture, too!! Dad took pity on her and picked her up.

His old Scoutmaster is on the school board, and he made sure he was the one to hand Cameron his diploma cover and shake his hand. VERY cool!!

The whole family, minus our Jamaican missionary:

So afterward, we drove to the school for a couple of shots as well. Cameron is pretty excited to be done with high school:

Hey, Cameron, ........ You just graduated from high school! HOW DO YOU FEEL??

That pretty much sums it up!

Lesson Learned!

So we added a new member to the family. Isn't she cute?

She's actually almost as old as Darcie --shhhhh, she's a little sensitive about her age! Since she's somewhat "over the hill", she came cheap to us. Don't say anything in front of her, you might hurt her feelings.

We had a couple different reasons for getting a car -- running errands in the Suburban is pretty draining on the gas tank. Plus, since Alyssa starts Driver's Ed next month, we figured she'd need something to learn with that wasn't a behemoth, gas guzzling, .... well, you get the picture.

We (ok, *I*) am still learning my way around her, and all her little idiosyncrasies. Yesterday, I learned a lot in only a few minutes:

#1 - The horn on the Honda is actually louder than the horn on the Suburban. Or maybe it's just more obnoxious. I wish it was set up to beep when I hit the remote door lock on my "check for sure" second or third push of the button. No such luck.

#2 - If you lock the Honda with the remote lock, and then unlock the Honda with the key in the door, it will trigger the security horn alarm. If this happens in the middle of the day, in your own driveway, your first reaction is to try to quiet it right away.

#3 - Small toddlers (ok, it was Emma!) who are walking around the nose of the Honda when the security horn alarm goes off unexpectedly....... WILL RUN, screaming in terror.

It was one of those moments when you want to laugh at your kid, but you know it wouldn't be fair to them, but it was screaming funny all the same. Poor thing!

But I know some teenagers and adults who probably would have had the same reaction!!

Spring Fling

While Alyssa has been playing school softball for some time, Darcie's age level does not have a school softball program, and there's also no city program either, so for the next 2 years, she will only be playing travel ball.

Darcie's Sting team from last year dissolved and fell apart into a couple of different teams. Darcie was offered (and we took) a position on another team. This team is older girls that play down one year from Alyssa's age level. Every other year, they play at her level. This is the "down" year for them. But some of the girls on this team are in Alyssa's grade at school.

Darcie is the youngest girl on this new (to her) team, and I think she's felt a little quieter because of that. We think it's a real testament to her strong softball talent that this older team's coach asked for her. Last year she had been the #4 or "cleanup" batter on her team. We knew she wouldn't get that same place in the lineup for this team, but she's not at the bottom of the lineup, either. Darcie batted 6th during the first tournament, and did a good job in her at-bats. I'd be interested to see what her on-base percentage was, because she did well.

Alyssa took some of my photos for this tournament, and even though this shot is definitey through-the-fence, I love this photo of Darce -- it's classic!

The coach told us he would play Darcie in different positions, but was definitely looking for her to play catcher sometimes, since she's got experience in that position. I tell her that part of what makes a pitcher look good, is that she's got a good catcher. Darcie has the potential to really become a GREAT catcher, if she wants it.

Her bat may LOOK like Alyssa's, but this is her own Mikken "Rain" bat. Most of her hits this tournament were hard grounders that went up the middle & got her a base hit.

So we expected she'd be played in the outfield, since the established team members would probably be in the infield. And though she did play outfield, I was pleased to see her coach put her also in the infield. He wants her as a utility player, so she played third base........

..... and also first base......

And at the end of the tournament, her team took 2nd place. When presenting the trophy, I think the director gave it to the tall girl in the middle -- oh, wait, that's Darcie! She's got those tall genes, because she is the youngest girl on this team, and also the tallest!! Note to self: measure her again, because she just may have passed me up.

This coming weekend is their second tournament, which conflicts with Cameron's graduation.... but we're exploring our possibilities for doing both (since there's no way we'd miss graduation, but we still love softball!!)

It's for the Birds!

There's a life lesson somewhere in this post..... I'm trying to find it. You might think I'm majorly into birdwatching but that's not really the case.

So, at the Haven, we have two covered decks off the back of the house. In the springtime, it's pretty common for birds to pick out a place in the rafters as a likely nesting spot. Usually we get robins. This year, we had a pair of mourning doves: Momma Dove was pretty calm, and would stay right there, even as we walked around underneath her. Unfortunately for Mr. & Mrs. Dove, the big windstorm that wiped out the batting cage also took out their happy home.

And it actually happened a second time, too. To Mother Nature's credit, however, Mr. & Mrs. Dove are not talented nest-builders. They used mostly sticks and stiff material, and not very much of it. The second nest attempt didn't get very far before the wind took it out as well. We think they're nesting elsewhere in the shrubbery now, since we still hear them a lot. They're like the artistic or brainy people that have no clue about how to wire an outlet or change the oil in their car.

Well, apparently the Haven must have had a aviary "FOR RENT" sign up, and we also got robin tenants -- on the other deck. They picked a most inconvenient location -- the sprinkler control box. Todd removed two nest attempts there.

Undeterred, they started in the rafters. Todd removed another nest attempt there. He can be just as determined as the birds are. Mr. and Mrs. Robin are apparently most desperate for a home, though. Perhaps, as Jodi suggested on the Springs' Surprises post, Mrs. Robin simply could not wait any longer!! I know some preggo ladies who would totally identify with that, and would like to get on with things right now as well!!

This next photo shows how much the robins accomplished in ONLY a 24-hour period. Seriously. They continued after this for another 8 hours or so:

The downside for the human Haven residents, is this is located right over our stairs and furthermore, over the barbeques, and the Robins are MOST untidy tenants. Can you see all the crap that fell down, just in the construction process?

I never would have noticed this at all, if I hadn't be working on the computer during construction, and it was all happening right outside my window. What struck me as really funny, was how Mr. & Mrs. Dove were hanging around for the construction demonstration! Were they trying to get tips? Is this the avian version of HGTV?

They didn't seem to bother or hinder Mr. & Mrs. Robin at all -- they just hung around!

The Robins, who obviously subscribe to the Speedy Construction methods, didn't bring just one straw at a time, they brought whole mouthfuls. We recognized snow-in-summer foliage (light green in the photo) and walnut tree blossoms (the black stuff) amongst it all. On one trip, Mr./Mrs Robin could barely attain enough lift to bring the material, and flopped over backwards in midair in the process:

And all the while, Mrs. Dove is hanging out for the show:

Then, the doves would get really close for a GOOD VIEW:

Here's a rather fluffy-looking Robin, with a big old gob of building supplies:

Placing it on the nest......
And here come the Joneses, I mean the Doves....... checking it all out! Isn't it just like those nosy neighbors to hang around and watch while you're working on a home improvement project!! This is NOT their nest!!

Later, I stopped back by, and, wondering if Mrs. Robin was really all that desperate, I got the best shot I could manage.... checking for eggs. Mr. & Mrs. Robin were very skittish, and if they saw any movement in the window or near the doorway, they would fly away. Most of my photos came with the zoom lens, through the open door, and I was standing at least 6 feet inside the door. Any closer, and the Robins would be GONE.

Nope, no eggs. But, I have to admit, when the Master of the Haven returned home last night, he accidently on purpose removed the hard-won nest again. Whatever happened to birds nesting in trees and bushes??? What happened to "In the Leafy Treetops, the Birds sing Good Morning"?

(Not completely crushed in their efforts, the Robins are actually considering rebuilding on the same spot. However, the rigorous construction schedule is NOT there! Perhaps they're a little daunted now by all their hard work going to waste.)

It reminds me of those people who build a dream getaway home on the beach, then cry because their home got washed away in a hurricane -- you know, the home on a flood plain that they couldn't get hurricane insurance for -- weeping and wailing because they lost everything, and then decide to rebuild again on that same property, because they like the view so well. DUMB!!!

Maybe today's rain is casting a shadow on things, since we have almost no progress. Or maybe the Robins are simply putting their heads under their wings and have given up.

In Her Momma's Footsteps

Emma has a shoe fetish.

My shoes, in particular. Her favorites are my red patent ballet flats:

She's so funny as she scuffles carefully around, making sure that she doesn't lose them behind her!
If she's anything like her mother and sisters, she'll have really big feet, share shoes with the other women in the house, and have a large collection herself. For now, the shoes are still under control.........

Spring's Suprises

Every spring, we set up our batting cage in the back yard. It's really handy to have it right here at the Haven, and the girls get a lot of good swings in for softball practice.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a pretty big windstorm come through our valley. Trees down, power outages....... oh, and a batting cage that did not survive. The kids were a bit surprised to come home to this sight:

Of course, it was no surprise to me, since I was the one playing Captain Ahab, holding onto the lines, while on the cell phone with Todd, shouting, "What do you want me to do?" and his response: "Let it go!"

So I did. The whole cage turned onto its side, and then onto its top. Many of the poles were bent and need to be replaced. After we had mowed once, we finally got the net gathered up, and Todd sent Cameron out once more to mow the missed spot. It happened to be starting to rain again, hence the hood:

These next few shots are more recent, since I've been spending time out in the yard in good weather, which is a bit dodgy this spring -- we've had a lot of rain. So yesterday, on my way out, I stopped by the grapes..... and found the tiniest grapes in the entire world, just coming out:

Also in the back yard, are the spirea bushes, which have come out with blooms in force, with some fading peonies in front. So do you say, "Pee-OH-nee"? or do you say, "PEE-oh-nee"? Just wondering.
And lastly, while weeding the raspberries, look at the little surprise I found lying at the base of one of the supports!
I'm thinking it might be a quail, since I've seen a group of them out there in the nearby forsythia bushes. I don't know, do quail lay their eggs on the ground? We'll see if this little one survives.

Tetris, Anyone?

This is an example of something Cameron made in his Manufacturing class this year. (Todd says it used to be called, "I.C.A." -- Industrial Creative Arts.)
Cameron used a mirror tile, and with various colors, he recreated a Tetris game screen. He also made the wood frame for it as well.

My kids are so talented!