GRADUATION DID HAPPEN!!!

I haven't blogged about high school graduation. It DID happen May 15. I don't really know why I didn't jump on the band wagon and blog about this before now?? It was such a HUGE day for our family and one that I have dreaded since he was born! My feelings never changed over the years. I do realize it is the circle of life and this is what we raise these kids to do. But it also closes a chapter in our life....our life will never be what it was. But it also begins a new chapter and that is how I am trying to look at this. We are so incredibly proud of Michael. He was valedictorian. He has received a full ride to U of A. He did receive the Fellowship scholarship at U of A . ($12,500 per year) He also got the Governor's scholarship ($10,000 year). HUGE financial burden lifted off his parents! :)

May 15th was a very busy day for us. It started out with graduation practice, then we came home and planted a Bradford pear tree in honor of his day. Then onto friends for a backyard luncheon for our group of friends in honor of our kids. Then we came home and both sets of grandparents were here waiting on us, along with his aunts and uncle. Our special friends who are like family also joined us. Our family isn't big, but there sure is a lot of love and the boys both know they are loved very much. He opened presents. He got ALOT of cash and he is soooo thankful for all of his cash! (He put it all into his savings account.) Then onto graduation..it was about two hours long. I thought that Michael did an awesome job with his speech! It was so HOT in the gym. I really wish we could do something about that! Since Roger is school board member, he got to give Michael his diploma! That was so neat and so special. Three of the school board members had sons graduating and got to give their son their diploma. WOW! After graduation Michael and his girlfriend went with another couple on a limo ride! Talk about a night...it was....

BIG QUESTION? Did I cry? Because I've dreaded this day for 18 years. NO, I actually did not. I was a big girl! Teary eyed a couple of times, but no bawling like a baby. GO ME! :)

This is a very exciting time in all our lives!! And we are ready to begin this journey.

Proud mama!

Roger's side of the family.

My family.

Opening presents.

The cake did bring tears to my eyes when I picked it up! Can you believe his KidKo graduation had a red cap/gown also?

Giving his speech.

Roger giving him is diploma.

Big hug after graduation.

Summer Sunday

We cleaned this today....

So we could play here this afternoon....
We LOVE hanging out on the lake on Sunday afternoon's! It's who we are and what we do.

We are so fortunate to live in an area like this with such a beautiful lake. LOVE LOVE LOVE Sunday summer.

What a game..

We played the other Flippin baseball team tonight. AND man, what a game! We won..4-5! They have beat us both times when we scrimmaged them. Jacob pitched two innings tonight. They came together as a team and played well. They all went to the batting cages at Mtn. Home before the game....think that helped some. Nothing like Saturday night baseball...love the summers. My mom came up to watch him play. He loves it when he has fans! Big brother was missing in action tonight! :(

Baseball..

We won our game last night. The coaches (his dad & friend) changed things up a little. J was catcher last night. He usually plays 1st base or pitches. Makes him no difference where he plays. I love taking pictures of him being catcher...don't know why...just do...the following are a few shots that I took.
* WE went to the movie tonight to see the new Disney Pixar movie "UP". It was good. We met some friends there with their girls and J took some friends. BUT you wanna know what the best part was? Michael went with us!!! He was NOT embarrased to be seen with his mamma and daddy! His girlfriend had to work tonight, so he decided to go with. He couldn't have made his mamma happier. I love that kid! NOW, he wouldn't get in the group picture that I took of the kids! :(


Getting ready. Not happy because I have the camera in his face. (But he sure can't wait to see the pictures when we get home) :)

Michael has been at all of his games so far. He was COLD...can you believe its the end of May and we are having to sit covered up in blankets! Big brother...THANKS for supporting little brother! It means more to him than you will EVER know! YOU are going to be so missed next year!

It's That Time...

It's summer time! We spent Memorial weekend trying to camp. We only ended up camping one night due to the rain. My boys LOVE to camp. NOT my favorite thing to do, but I do it because they enjoy it so. We always try to camp Memorial weekend and it always seems to rain. Is that the younger brother moving in on the girlfriend?

Yep that's my 18 year old riding a bicycle.

Makin smores

I just LOVE LOVE LOVE summer! Yesterday was our last day of school! I've been a little under the weather this week, but I am still excited that I can just lay around and do whatever I want whenever I want. Summer is a very busy time for us as well. It's BASEBALL season. We have already played two games plus we have one tonight. We have won one and lost one. This is what I am talking about...that I can do whatever I want whenever I want. On baseball days, Jacob likes to go to the batting cages at Mtn. Home. So, I usually take him to bat. He LOVES to go. So this is what we did today. Of course, it takes a lot longer to drive to Mtn. Home and back home than what time he spends batting. We love our BASEBALL. (We love all our sports)

Prom

The Jr/Sr prom was held Saturday night in the cafeteria. It was very nice. The theme was "A night under the stars". There were probably 150 students there..it was catered by the 178 Club. It was very very nice. All the kids looked so nice. What a fun night to get all dressed up!
Below are pictures are of my boy and his girlfriend. Don't they make a "pretty" couple?


Some fun glasses that I actually bought to wear on graduation day and take pictures. But couldn't resist having him model them.

Pretty couple.

Last soccer game EVER...

Well tonight was Michael's last high school soccer game! We had our last game tonight against Eureka Springs. We lost 3-1. It was a sad night for me. This will be the last time he will play high school soccer. Michael has played soccer since he was 4 years old. WE didn't know a thing about soccer when he first started playing. But started learning very quickly. Roger has coached soccer for alot of years now, started the soccer program here, and is a certified referee, so we've come a long way in 14 years. It is the first LOVE in our house. You better like soccer if you are gonna hang around us. Michael did play basketball (until 10th grade) and baseball (until 8th grade), but his heart has always been with soccer. We have traveled many many miles with this sport and with this boy. We are so going to miss seeing him play. This is a chapter this will close in our lives forever. We are so proud of him! He has given 110% on the field, been so dedicated, and has shown so much leadership and sportsmanship on the field. I hate that we lost this game...but I'm glad that the weather held out and we got to play our last game.
Son, congratulations on a job well done....... you've made this BOBCAT mama proud!!

Contacts

Well when you walk in your sons' room and find him laying in his bed watching TV wearing his mothers glasses, you know it's time to visit the eye doctor! We have suspected the last several months that Jacob couldn't see far away. When we would be driving, we would ask him to read signs, etc to us and he couldn't see them. He doesn't stand a chance, because all three of us wear contacts/glasses. Soooooo...today we went to the eye doctor. He DID need glasses/contacts. He is near sighted. We are trying the contact route. He has to go back in a week for a follow up to make sure the contacts will work for him. He can't put them in and he can't take them out! We worked on him trying to take them out on his own tonight...Michael and I both tried to show him how. It will just take some getting use to. We put Michael's contacts in for him for years. But he could always take them out. Jacob will get the hang of it. Kinda felt like a heel on the way home from the eye doctor...he was reading EVERYTHING to me on the side of the road and in front of us! It was like a whole new world for him!!!! He is all fixed up now....now he just has to learn to put them in and take them out!

Wearing his mom's glasses while he watches TV.

Reading the chart. (Yep, I pulled the camera out)

Michael trying to show him how to take the contacts out! He never got the hang of it tonight...I took them out.

Never too old!

Never too old to hunt Easter eggs! We had our Easter egg hunt on Saturday before Easter Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and it was going to be rainy and yucky on Sunday. My boys LOVE to hunt eggs. They are very competitive in the hunt. We hide some plastic eggs with some pretty nice "goods" in them (ie. subway cards, wal mart cards, itune cards, money) so that's why its a mad rush to see who can find what. I LOVE IT! They LOVE it! After all the eggs are found, they like to take a bat and throw the eggs up and hit them. Eggs splatter everywhere...they love that too.....Michael is 18 and Jacob is 12....love that my boys give me so much joy!

A WINNER!

Michael competed in the State FBLA competition in Little Rock. His competition was "Personal Finance". Drum roll please....he placed 1st! This qualifies him to go to Nationals! This is the 3rd year in a row that he has qualified to go to Nationals. This year nationals are in Anaheim, CA in June. He is very excited about going and of course...we are very proud of him.
He completed his last duties today as a District FBLA officer...it was very bittersweet. He had to give a farewell speech. Of course, me, Rog, and my mom were there. We are his biggest fans! He has been given so many opportunities with FBLA and has truly enjoyed every minute as a state and district officer. (Yep, Michael is wearing a tux--officers have to wear one at this ceremony)

Guess it's time to talk about it...

Michael's announcement's came in last Monday, and I JUST opened them today! The box has been sitting on the table staring at me! So I finally brought myself to look at them today. This May 15th day is NOT going to go away! It is fast approaching. Here is a look at the announcements....yes, just typical announcements....but extra special to me, since it has his name in it.

Been BUSY....

The Leonard family has been very active over the last week! We have played soccer, pee wee basketball and Michael and I have been to Dallas, Texas.

Michael had a soccer game on Monday, we won. Jacob had a basketball game Thursday night at Bruno Pyatt and won. A game Friday night at Bakersfield and lost. Michael had a soccer game Friday night at Eureka Springs and won. Roger and I went to the soccer game at Eureka. My mom came up and went with Jacob to his basketball game on Friday night. I don't know what we would do without her. It has been a very difficult year for Roger and I to divide ourselves to try and be at each child's activities. We both tend to follow Michael this year since this is his senior year. So mom comes and goes with Jacob to his activites, which has been a blessing...he really likes someone there to watch him! Then Saturday Jacob was back in Bakersfield with two more basketball games. We lost the first one in overtime, and won the second one. Michael was in Searcy at State Quiz bowl. They lost. It was a long day!

On Wednesday, Michael and I left for Dallas, TX along with 8 other students, 3 other mother's, and the G/T teacher and her husband. We came home Friday. Had to get Michael and another student home for soccer, and another home for baseball! We went to Dallas to attend a NBA Maverick's and Miami Heat basketball game. We went to the King Tut Museum exhibit, and to JFK Museum. Both were very intersting.

***WARNING TON OF PICTURES!***


Michael playing soccer against Batesville. We won 6-5.


Jacob shooting free throws at the basketball game. Look at it "swish" the net.


We ate at a restaurant called "GATORS" before the basketball game. They had a bus that took us to the basketball game. The driver was Jamaican. You got to sign your name on the bus. Writing was all over the seats, ceiling, etc..anywhere you could find to sign.




This is the colorful bus that took us to the game. Had some great music playing.



Michael signing his name.

A shot inside "American Airlines Center". We were in the NOSE BLEED section! Couldn't get any higher.

Tip off of the game. Mavericks won 98-96. Good game. All of us enjoyed it.

The cheerleaders barely dressed!

We saw Lou Gossett, JR at the mall. He was there doing a promo for his new movie coming out.

On Thursday night we ate at a place called "Dicks Last Resort". We had a blast there. Everyone got a bib. Michael modeling his. This place is a chain and is known for its snotty waiters, making fun of the customers. Live band. They make hats and write things on the hat. I won't post anyone's writing on the hats!! Some were pretty bad, but the kids ate it up. The food....well I've had better, but the atmosphere was awesome!

NO pictures posted of King Tut or JFK, because they would not allow any picture taking or video recording.

Kids also rode a tram and city bus. They had to learn to read the maps, to figure out if we had to get on the "red" line or "blue" line.

We had a wonderful time in Texas. The G/T teacher has made some wonderful memories for these kids. We had 8 seniors and 1 junior that went.