He did it - he is officially a high school graduate!

Ok blogger peeps, these are bad pictures.  I blame the lighting, the heat, the distance, the fact that I have a new phone and I'm not quite sure how to take pictures with it yet......well probably you should mostly blame me not knowing how to use the new phone, but whatevs.  Last night Matthew graduated.  Oh man, I can't believe it.  I am so incredibly proud of him I can hardly stand it.  I can't believe he is leaving in 2 weeks.  Ok, here come the tears.  Anyway, here are some (not so great) shots of the evening.

 Matthew is standing right behind the flag pole.  I know you can't see him....but he really is there.  He's next in line, promise.

 See...there's his head.  Sort-of.  Again, trust me.  I promise he's there.

 Getting handed his diploma

 Hugging the lady handing him his diploma

 Hugging the principle.  Wow Matthew is big.

 Him looking up at us yelling at him

 Congratulations, graduates!

 This was at 9:30pm last night.  It was actually dark outside but I figured out that my phone / camera / whatever-the-crazy-smart-thing-I-own is has a flash so it looks like it is noon but really it isn't.  Creepy.

 This is the closest these two would get to each other.  So as you will see below, Mike 'helped' them out a bit.  Much to their horrified-ness.

HAPPY GRADUATION MATTHEW - WE LOVE YOU!!!

Kylie's Preschool Program 2013

Tonight was Kylie's preschool program.  Today was her last day of school and she has been very excited for this program.  She got to sing her favorite song 'Slippery Fish' and dress up.  She had 5 dresses laid out last night and had them all accessorized while trying to figure out what to wear.  I think she made a pretty good choice....this dress is just beautiful.

 The Titan Tots program, which is at West Salem High School, is AMAZING.  I honestly can't say enough about the head teacher and all of the other high school teachers.  They are amazing, loving, caring, nurturing, and just love spending time with the kids.  The program tonight was incredible.  So blessed to be a part of this program.

 This board was the 'When I Grow Up I Want To Be....' board.  Apparently she wants to be a mermaid.  Perhaps this came about after meeting Ariel at Disneyland.  Mike was just thrilled that she didn't say she wanted to be a police officer.

No More Front Tooth

Zachary lost his front tooth tonight....finally.  It has been dangling for about 2 weeks.  It was really creeping me out because it was always crooked....yuck!  He has been terrified of it coming out.  But, tonight he wiggled and wiggled and it came out!  Then started the crying....you'd think he lost a limb.  You can see here his eyes are wet from his tears but he did give me a big smile and called big brother Matthew and Grandma to tell them all about it, so then he seemed ok.

Kindergarten Graduates

Look at these handsome boys!  These boys are ready for FIRST GRADE!

Last Lunch

Last night I made the last lunch I will ever make for Matthew to take to high school.  I cried.  I really did.  I sometimes moaned about making his school lunches but I also cherished those times and knew that I was doing something to help him through his days.  Well, now he doesn't need my lunches anymore.  I know that once he leaves, I would give anything to make his lunches for school once again.

Awesome 3000, our first time

Today was the boys' first race in the Awesome 3000, a race here in Salem for kids.  They had over 3,500 kids run it this year.  It is very organized, but obviously a bit chaotic with all the people.  I put the boys' each in a pair of Matthew' bright red socks so that we could tell them apart from all of the other runners.  They ran HARD.  Tyler worked his way from towards the back of the pack at the start and finished about 5th.  We were so proud.  He's such a hard worker.  His time was 8:35 for a 1.5k race.  Zachary completed in the first quarter of the group, and his time was 9:44 for the 1.5k.  He was running hard so that's what counts.  This is their buddy and neighbor Lucas.  He and Zach ran the race together.

 Disney Radio was there to support the kids.  Tyler loves Perry from Phineas & Ferb.  See his metal around his neck?  He's so proud of it.

 Front page of the (really big) paper.  Hahaha.

Matthew's Senior Prom

Sigh........ all of these lasts for Matthew before he moves out in 2 months.  Yes people, TWO MONTHS.  Tonight was his senior prom.  He took a lovely young lady named Sydney who has been one of our babysitters and also one of Kylie's preschool teachers.  I'm so excited for him to be able to enjoy one of these final events of his senior year.