Pomp, circumstance

Sorry it has taken me so long to post graduation photos. We spent the weekend basking in the luxury of not doing much in particular, and it felt great, especially after those last crazy couple of weeks.

Mike did indeed graduate Friday night, and here's the proof:



After the ceremony, Mike's friend Mark took a great photo of all of us together:



We went in with 6 other graduates and their families and hosted a post-graduation luau at the Fort Knox golf club. The food was catered by a Samoan family, and it was really amazing. I was especially touched that the principal and several teachers attended the party. This really is a special bunch of kids! Here are Mike and his fellow grads getting ready to cut the cake:



The graduation festivities didn't end there. After the luau, the seniors partied all night at Project Grad, a lock-in hosted at the youth center by the PTO. And then yesterday we were dressed up once again to attend a scholarship presentation from the Fort Knox Spouses and Community Club:



This week we will be hanging out at home, just enjoying having Fred home and being together. Next week we will go to Florida--first to Fort Walton Beach for a couple of nights and then to Tallahassee for Mike's freshman orientation. The time is going by too fast!

Speaking of time going by too fast, check this out:

Look who's here!

Fred arrived this morning from Afghanistan to begin 2 weeks of leave:



Don and Mary are in town for Mike's graduation, so we had a happy family reunion at the airport:



Graduation festivities have kicked off. Tonight was baccalaureate, which was very nice. Here is a picture of Mike with Ms. Turner, the school principal:



Graduation tomorrow!

Underclassmen awards night

Tonight was the awards ceremony for the 9th through 11th graders, and it was Annabelle's turn to shine. She got:

• Academic letter
• Academic certificate for all A's and B's
• German 2 certificate and medal
• Geometry certificate
• AP US History certificate
• Environmental Science certificate and medal
• Humanities certificate and medal
• Music theory certificate

Here she is receiving her medal and certificate for German 2:



And here she is with her 2 Advanced Placement teachers:



She has had such an amazing experience in their classes this year!

Senior awards night

FKHS held their annual ceremony recognizing the senior class tonight. Mike's buddy Mark was there with his mas macho camera and got some great pictures for us.

Here is Mike accepting his Air Force ROTC scholarship:



Sharing a moment with friends:



And with Annabelle and me after the ceremony:



Here is the one photo I took that turned out halfway decent. Rather Pattonesque, don't you think?



I tried to note all the times Mike's name got called, but I eventually lost track. When we got home, I had him make me a list of the various scholarships and awards:

• AFROTC Scholarship
• Torre Mallard Scholarship ($500)
• Spouses Club Scholarship
• Yearbook Medal
• AP English Medal
• Math Analysis Certificate
• Current Events Certificate
• Government Certificate
• Auto CAD Certificate
• Career Practicum Certificate
• German III Certificate
• KHSAA Academic All State First Team
• Certificate of Academic Achievement (all A's)
• President's Education Award (Obama Letter)

Probably the most memorable moment for us was when he received the Torre Mallard Scholarship. That is a school award given in memory of Captain Torre R. Mallard, a West Point graduate and former FKHS student who was killed in Iraq a couple years ago. Ms. Wahlberg choked up when she presented the award, and you could tell that she thought an awful lot of CPT Mallard. I know Mike is honored to have been selected to receive this scholarship.

What does happy look like?

Happy looks like this:



Here at FKHS students generally don't take Advanced Placement classes until their junior year. Annabelle, however, has taken 2 APs (English and US History, also called "APUSH") as a freshman. It has been scary at times, and she has worked her butt off, even pulling the occasional all-nighter, but she has done great and hung in there with the best and brightest of the junior class.

Today was the national APUSH exam, and English will be next week. She won't know her score until sometime later in the summer, but she felt really good about it when it was over. Perhaps that was the lucky socks doing their work? She had put them away a couple weeks ago to let them build up their special powers for the AP exams.

After the test, her class stopped at the food court at the mall for lunch. I filched this picture from a classmate's Facebook wall:



Now that's a whole lot of happy!

Pup-arazzi!

Buddy is front-page news down in Deland! The little local newspaper paid a visit to my parents' house last week to meet them, Buddy, and some of the other Buddy buddies. Check it out!

Happy birthday to Fred!

Today is Fred's birthday, but we're holding off the celebration for another couple of weeks. He is already in the process of sending stuff home as the end of the deployment starts to come into sight, so it didn't make much sense for me to send still MORE stuff in that direction.

I posted this song on his Facebook wall today, but I'll share it here as well:



I became aware of it for the first time when we were on vacation in Jamaica last year, and I always think of Fred when I hear it.

Other notable happenings of the day:

The kids had their first rehearsal for Bye Bye, Birdie and enjoyed themselves. I'm glad they get to share this experience this summer before Mike goes off to college.

While they were rehearsing, I went shopping. I absolutely SCORED on workout wear at TJMaxx--4 bottoms, 3 tops. I guess this means I have to keep going to the gym . . .

I also went to the fabric store, where I fell in love with the most amazing fabric. It's kind of a very short terry-cloth or velour knit, but it's as stable as a woven because it has an eyelet design sewn into it:



It was on sale for $3 a yard, so five yards of it followed me home, but I don't know what it wants to be. Any ideas? I see it as a skirt or sundress, but it's pretty heavy--those 5 yards weigh 5 pounds!

Vogue patterns were on sale for $4, so I grabbed this one:



Can you believe that the retail price for that pattern is $27.50? That's insane!

I also bought 2 Butterick patterns the other day:



and



So now I have 3 patterns with no fabric and 5 pounds/yards of fabric with no pattern.

Guten Appetit!

I am friends with Mike and Annabelle's German teacher, so she invited me to go along on the German 2 and 3 classes' recent field trip to a local German restaurant. I can't say nein to German food, so I pedaled extra hard in spin class that morning and then climbed on the big yellow bus bound for the Schnitzel Barn. I had never been before, but it was pretty good for German food in the middle of America, and I would happily go again.

Fiesta Day 2010

Today was the high school's annual "Fiesta Day," where the kids get dismissed from class in the morning for a talent show followed by several hours of fun and games throughout and around the school. Last year the weather was terrible and we had to have everything inside, but this year got lucky with beautiful (if a tad chilly) weather. I worked the cake walk, and by "worked" I mean "stood around chatting with my friends and eating junk food."

Mike and his best friend Mark both won trophies at the talent show:



Mike's performance:



Mark's performance:



Annabelle and Mike's beloved AP US History teacher twirled knives while the judges tabulated their votes:



Long-time readers of this blog may remember 3 years ago when Mike won a trophy at the FKHS talent show with his madd circus skillz:

Double stage mother

The cast list is out for this summer's production of Bye Bye, Birdie, and it looks like I'll be a stage mother times two. Annabelle has been telling Mike for 2 years now that he is really missing out by not getting involved in the local youth theater program, and she finally wore him down. They both went to auditions Friday night and both got invited to callbacks on Sunday. Annabelle is going to be "Gloria Rasputin," a comedic, tap-dancing role, and Mike is going to be "Conrad Birdie," the Elvis-figure the show revolves around. This should be a fantastic summer!

Less than one month to go!

I can't believe that in less than a month, Mike will be graduating from high school. I went today to pick up the tickets for graduation, and he needs to be getting his announcements in the mail in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, there is still a lot of paperwork to be done for his Air Force ROTC scholarship as well as finishing up other scholarship applications. He is already signed up for freshman orientation on June 1 to June 3. We chose that early time slot because Fred will be here on R&R, so he can go with us and finally see FSU for himself.

There's a new blogger on the couch

Now that Buddy the dog has a roof over his head and good food to eat, he's moving on up Mazlow's hierarchy of needs and starting a blog. He'll be self-actualized before we know it! You can check it out here.

Mike reports that prom was a blast, as was the after-party at the bowling alley. We're having yet another rainy, dreary day today though, and it looks like it'll be Wednesday before it gets pretty (and warm) again.

It's raining on prom night

No, really, it is! In fact, here's the song to accompany tonight's post:



Here's tonight's weather forecast: "Damaging winds, large hail, and possibly a tornado with some storms." Now if that doesn't make you want to dress up in formal wear and head out for a night on the town, I just don't know what would.

Mike and his friends weren't going to let a little monsoon dampen (ha ha ha!) their plans though. They started off with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in Louisville. Annabelle and I went up at 4 to reserve a table for 20 two hours later and had dinner while we waited. The kids started showing up in their fancy clothes at around 5:30, and I managed to snap one picture of Mike and his date Ashley before handing him the pager and heading for home:



Since I got home, I've been trolling around on Facebook looking for photos that friends have posted, and I found a few to borrow.

Here are Mike and his friends Ben and Mark looking sharp:



All the guys:



All the girls:



And Ashley and Mike in front of the fireplace:



I got a call a little while ago that they are on their way back to Fort Knox from Louisville. The prom runs from 8 until midnight, and then the post has thrown together an after-prom bash at the bowling alley that shook keep them busy until 3.

First day of summer

True, it's only in the mid-60s outside, but I had my last class for the semester last night, which makes today the first official day of summer for me! I'm using my new-found freedom to take care of a bunch of little tasks around the house that I've been neglecting lately (like feeding the kids, for example).

Annabelle and I have been watching Hoarders: Buried Alive lately. I'm finding it very inspiring for cleaning the house. I'm also getting into pre-move mode, where I want to go through everything and unload a ton of unnecessary junk. After 5 years in one place, we have a lot of that!

Tonight Mike is taking pictures at a track meet for the yearbook. Annabelle and I are going to have a "girls' night" with some friends down the street. I have made a Joghurtsahnetorte for the occasion. I feel like a domestic goddess.

I took a 2-month break from Pilates when it became too much to balance the commute to Louisville with homework and all the traveling we've been doing. I started back yesterday though, and it feels wonderful to be back. I'm going to try to make it up there twice a week through the summer. I'm also doing a spinning (as in biking) class twice a week here on post, and now that the weather is warming up, I'm putting a fair number of miles on the dog.

I will try to use some of my new leisure time to take better care of my blog!

"Does this bed make my butt look big?"

Um, Buddy, that's a CAT bed!

Who's your Buddy? Who's your pal?

For the past 6 weeks or so, my parents have been involved in high drama involving a dog named Buddy. Apparently Buddy used to live with a homeless man somewhere in the woods near their neighborhood. The homeless man died a year or so ago, and Buddy has been on his own ever since, except for a rather eclectic group of supporters who have been slipping him food and trying to catch him. Animal Control took up the case about the same time Mom and Dad got involved and issued an edict that he should not be fed, which drove Buddy's buddies underground. The time since then has been filled with high intrigue, involving lots of phone calls between sources and lots of quiet slipping into and out of a sinkhole. Abandoning him simply wasn't an option.

Mom got him to the point a couple weeks ago where he would take food from her hand:



Aside from that though, nobody has been able to get close to him until the other night when he sat down by my father and let Dad give him a hug! The next morning he was back to his usual touch-me-not stance, but then they wound up getting him into the fenced-in backyard of one of the supporters. They leashed him, took him to the vet, and took him home, where he promptly took up residence on their couch:



I love a dog story with a happy ending!

House warming gift to myself

I just bought this for the house in Kansas:



You would be amazed how hard it was to find such a thing. Tip of the hat to my friend Barbara for coming up with the perfect search term.

Annabelle says if I get the life-size cutout of Dorothy and Toto, she's never bringing friends home.

Random Leavenworth photos

It sounds like Mike did Greece and Italy right. He didn't bring home a single euro, and he didn't get one minute more sleep than he actually needed while he was there. The trip was amazing, and I can't wait to see his pictures and share some of them here. He's off at the gym right now though, working off some of that Italian food, so I'll content myself with putting up the few random Fort Leavenworth photos that I have left from last week. Annabelle and I walked around the historical neighborhood on our last evening there.

This is another shot of the action that is behind the houses on Grant Avenue (pool, tennis courts, etc.). I love the idea of having all that LITERALLY in my backyard:



Annabelle was charmed by how they ran the sidewalk around this big ol' tree:



Quaint gazebo:



Adorable little chapel:



Finally, here are the pics that the housing office sent just to give us a feel for what the historical housing looks like. I can't stop looking at these homes:

How 'bout a cup of happy?

Sorry I haven't checked in here since returning home. The past couple days have been a little rough. Annabelle had all 4 wisdom teeth removed Thursday morning and also had some work done to encourage a reluctant eye tooth to come on in. Life here is revolving around EZ Mac, applesauce, and Percoset (all for her).

The rest of our visit to Kansas was wonderful. Tuesday morning we had a tour of the high school, and it looks like they have a lot to offer in terms of classes and activities. Matters of fashion seem to be governed by plain old common sense, and Annabelle is excited about wearing jeans to school and even (gasp!) not tucking in her shirt. When we arrived at the school for our tour, we suspected that this might be a positive sign:



Other random happy things:

While we were in Kansas, we located our new Thai restaurant as well as our new coffee shop. Barista's Daily Grind is just outside the main gate to the post, in an adorable little building that looks like an elf house (drive-thru only):



Annabelle and I decided that the latte (sweetened with 4 packs of sugar) is absolutely perfect, especially since each cup is topped with a dollop of whipped cream and a chocolate-covered espresso bean:



There is fabulous shopping within a half-hour of post in 2 different directions. On Monday afternoon, we hopped across the river to Zona Rosa in Missouri. Then on our way home Tuesday afternoon, we stopped by The Legends in Kasas City for lunch. I got a kick out of this rather large turtle statue at The Legends:



And one more happy--Mike just updated his Facebook status to say: "Mike Taylor just landed in Chicago! I can sleep when I'm dead!" I think that means he had a good time?

New house, old house

Annabelle and I took a tour of a couple of empty houses on post this morning to get an idea of what our choices will be like come this summer. Basically, the big choice is new vs. old. New is . . . well, new of course. But they are also smaller--about 2100 square feet as opposed to 3,000 and up in the older homes. On the other hand, they come equipped with fenced-in backyards (I'm lookin' at YOU, Ginger!). The old homes are amazing--each one has its little quirks and differences, which adds to the charm. Of course, some of them also--don't laugh--have ghosts. Stop laughing!

Here is the new housing we toured:



And here is one of the historical homes:



Feel free to post thoughts or opinions!

Big car, little car

Speaking of cute little things, Annabelle and I found the most amazing coffee shop today. I'll have to get a picture of it later to show you.

Driving through St. Louis, Louis

Greetings from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas! We had an uneventful drive over yesterday. Google Maps tried to send us around St. Louis, but I figured driving through on a Sunday afternoon couldn't be too bad. I was right. As we approached the arch, Annabelle snapped a picture:

Spring break 2010--at the airport

As I type this, Mike is somewhere in the air between Chicago and Munich. In another 14 hours or so, he'll be in Greece. He is going with a small group of friends from school (yeah, all girls):



He texted me from Chicago to say that he was the only one of his group to get upgraded to Economy Plus for the international flight, thus netting himself an extra 5 inches of legroom. If you check out this picture of him standing behind his fellow travelers (the girls plus 2 moms plus the tour leader), you can see why he is the one in most dire need of extra legroom:



Just before the gang went through security, Ashley, Anna, and Mike modeled their spiffy new backpacks that the tour company provided:



I don't know how much I'll be hearing from him this week, but I'll keep you posted.

How to change the sheets

If you want to attract every animal in my house, try putting fresh sheets on the bed. They all come running, eager to "help":

Still here

Sorry I've been so quiet lately. I'm into the last 4 weeks of the semester, when everything seems to come crashing down, so mostly I'm focusing on schoolwork. In fact, yesterday I canceled my weekly Pilates class until the semester is over and skipped out on a coffee I had planned on going to. That freed up some extra time for taking care of stuff on the never-ending to-do list.

The kids' spring break starts this weekend. Mike leaves tomorrow with several of his classmates for a tour of Athens and Rome (and I don't mean the ones in Georgia). I'm jealous, as I adore Rome and have never been to Greece (aside from the 4 hours I spent on Patros between ferry trips back in college). I hope he has fun!

Annabelle and I are driving out to Kansas on Sunday to check out Fort Leavenworth. I figure we'll spend Monday looking around on post and Tuesday checking out the high school. Then we'll drive back here on Wednesday. On Thursday, Annabelle is having her wisdom teeth out and having a procedure (called an "exposure") done that will allow her orthodontist to encourage her reluctant eye tooth to grow in already. Not quite as fun as a trip to Rome and Greece, but she is really looking forward to having all her teeth for her sophomore picture next year.

Rave review

The show was great! I was so proud of Annabelle--she really brought the funny tonight. I wasn't the only one who thought so either. She got a lot of laughs and applause from the audience at large. Here are a few pictures I took at the meet-n-greet after the play:

"We're All in this Together"

Annabelle's time has been consumed this week by the production of High School Musical that her musical theater class is putting on: a 4.5-hour dress rehearsal on Tuesday night and then 5 school shows spread over 3 days. Tonight is the one public performance, and I'm excited about seeing it. Annabelle plays student-pianist "Kelsi," composer of the musical that is the focus of the show.

I went to dress rehearsal and came away impressed as always at what a group of motivated kids (and a VERY motivated teacher) can do. Here are a few pics I snapped Tuesday night:







I also took a brief video clip. They were working out some issues with the microphones, but you can get an idea of the scale of the production:

Go, Noles!

Tonight was the night that FSU released admissions decisions for next fall. Mike is in! I think this is going to be the one. It has been a hard decision for him, because he has seen so many really amazing schools, each with something great to offer. There's a feeling at FSU though that makes it stand out. On both of our visits, things have just clicked. People have gone out of their way to be nice and helpful.



Speaking of Mike and school, this is a good time to share his senior picture, which we got just a couple weeks ago:



I can't believe he's really getting ready to leave for college!

Springing forward

OK, so maybe "springing" isn't an accurate description of what I'm doing. I sure could use the hour I lost this weekend, but I'm so happy to be back in Daylight Savings Time.

I'm getting ready for the final push of the semester with my classes. This is going to mean 2 fairly heavy-duty group projects plus keeping up with the regular readings and such. I registered this morning for fall. I'm just going to take one class (Metadata), as I figure I'll be busy enough just trying to get us settled into our new home in Kansas.

Oh, speaking of school! I got invited to join the honor society Phi Kappa Phi. My dad is also a member, which I guess means he and I are going to be brothers. I'm still trying to figure out if this makes me my own grandpa or not.

Spring fever

I hesitate to say anything, lest I should jinx it, but I think winter might be on its way out. I know we've still got some chilly days ahead of us, but tonight Annabelle and I walked the dog at around 6:30--it was still light out, and I wore sandals. Just a few weeks ago, it would have been pitch black at that hour, and I'd have likely been wearing snow boots.

The warmer weather definitely improves my mood and gives me more energy. I even made it to spinning class twice this week!

Spring fever might also explain why I have found myself so bored and frustrated with my hair the past few days. It just felt old and tired, and I wanted something NEW! So I took myself up to Louisville this afternoon and came home with a wash-and-wear 'do that's several inches shorter and feels several pounds lighter:



I'm ready for spring!

Another swim season gone

We had our swim banquet tonight. Swim season has really been a driving force in our family life for the past 4 years--seems we're always in the middle of the season or gearing up for the next one.

Here's this year's team posing for one last group shot underneath our spiffy new banner:



And Mike acting silly with his spirit scarf:



Mike's still not certain where he'll go to school next year, but one thing he does know--he wants to make a weekend trip back to Kentucky next February to cheer the Eagles on at Regionals!

I have some cool swim photos that the photographer from the post newspaper shared with us, and I'll try to get those uploaded tomorrow.

College pictures

Mike and I spent last week traveling 2049 miles to check out 3 colleges. We got back last night, and I have been settling back into everyday life since then. I need to get back into blogging, but it just seems overwhelming when there's such a backlog of details to report. So I'm just going to jump back in by posting the pictures I took on our tours.

Monday was Auburn:



Tuesday was FSU:



And Wednesday was UCF:



We had a great trip, but I sure missed Annabelle. She and I have been making up for lost time. This afternoon we went shopping and then attended a performance of the University of Louisville symphony orchestra featuring Annabelle's bassoon teacher on the piano, playing a Rachmaninoff concerto. Now we're watching the Oscars. Check out Annabelle's predictions on her blog!