Surprise!

Annabelle was among a handful of juniors chosen to help out with the senior awards ceremony last Friday. What neither she nor her friends knew though was that they would, in fact, also be receiving awards that evening. It was tricky to keep it from her, and I'm sure she thought Fred and I were the ultimate in helicopter parents, subjecting ourselves to a 3+ hour ceremony just for the chance to watch her pass out a few programs.

Her award was the Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award in recognition of her "commitment to understanding and addressing difficult social issues." It was sponsored by the University of Rochester, and in addition to receiving a nice certificate and medallion, she will also get her application fee waived when she applies to Rochester AND, if she's accepted, get to compete for the $7,500 annual scholarship of the same name. It's kind of funny because University of Rochester actually IS pretty high up on her list of potential schools, and it's almost like the universe keeps trying to remind her of that.

Here she is walking across the stage to receive her award from her guidance counselor:



Have I said lately how much I love my new camera? That is the ONLY picture I took that night, without flash, and hardly looking at the display at all, just kind of hoping that it would turn out halfway decent.

In fact--this has nothing to do with awards night--but we rescued a baby bird last week, and this too is a quicky shot that I took on a wing (ha ha!) and a prayer:



Canon PowerShot S100 for the win!