Father and Daughters

In yet another attempt to win the "Most Banquets Attended in One Year" Award, Abigail and Jeff went to the Father-Daughter Banquet at Wedgwood last weekend.  Jeff went to his first Father-Daughter Banquet in 1996 when Katherine was four years old. I believe this makes his 13th, and final, appearance. (That's a lot of dry chicken dinners.)  With our youngest child in 6th grade, he has come to the end of a long line of Wedgwood father-daughter dinner memories. (It's not like there aren't PLENTY of banquets in our future. Say, tonight -- for the GPA softball team.)

I was thrilled when Abigail wanted to wear a dress.

If you know Abigail, you know this is shocking, to say the least.

I thought she was beautiful.

I LOVE this picture of sisters. Precious!

Rebecca was a waiter for the evening and managed

to come home with a pocketful of tips,

and, wishing she could keep the bowtie and vest!

GPA High School Awards

Katherine has almost completed her Junior year of high school. Wow. What a year this has been! She's gotten her license, played two new sports, made some lifelong friends and continued to bless our family with her quirky, joyful personality.  

The GPA Academic Banquet was held Wednesday night at Dallas Baptist University.  Katherine received all the ribbons she's won during the year for art, as well as a couple other awards we didn't know about: High Honor Roll (woohoo! - 97 average) and Model Student in Art. I don't think anyone was shocked about the Art Award after she accepted about 8 ribbons for various art contests.  She also received a ribbon for 6th place in Literary Criticism. 

Art awards being handed out

Jessica and Katherine - 1st place awards for district competition

Art teacher - Miss Suzy -- She's the best!

Katherine with Caleb and Emily

Travis - Katherine's Chemistry tutor and Forensic Science buddy

Flying Field Trip

Abigail's class took a fun field trip to Arlington Municipal Airport. If you've ever seen a plane flying low over I-20, that's where they're landing.  We watched planes landing and taking off and learned about different types of planes, as well as helicopters. Did you know jet fuel is $4.00 a gallon? One of the small planes takes about 2,000 gallons. Now I know why it costs so much to charter a plane! (Not that I've ever tried.)

The tour guide was like a drill sergeant. 

He had the kids lined up and saluting before they could blink.

This turquoise helicopter was so cool.

Three cuties at the park afterwards

Annie Get Your Gun

For the Grace Prep American History Night, the sixth grade students researched and dressed up as a famous figure during the years of the Industrial Revolution. Abigail chose Annie Oakley. We, well I, had a great time putting together the costume with bits and pieces from McCart Thrift and Goodwill.  

Annie didn't consider herself a cowgirl, only a sharpshooter

A little target practice before the festivities

Annie with Josephine Cochran, inventor of the dishwasher

I hope old Jo is in heaven, because I've got a lot to thank her for.

During the evening, the students were part of a wax museum. They would stand in a frozen position until someone dropped money in their collection can. Then they spoke a two minute dialogue about their famous figure's life. It was very entertaining and I learned quite a lot of information.Great job, Abigail! 

Birthday Girl Photos

A wonderful, low-key birthday: presents, dinner at Red Lobster, a walk around Barnes & Noble, and home for cake.

Happy 14th Birthday, Rebecca

My beautiful Rebecca -- 14 years old today! How you have grown and changed in the last year. I love your sense of order and adherence to rules. (I admire your really neat room. You are obsessive-compulsive and proud of it!) Your servant's heart shines, along with your compassion for people in need. You are a gift from God and we are thankful that He loaned you to us.  Happy Birthday, my wonderful daughter.

Here's a little walk down memory lane and some favorite pics of Rebecca.

Releasing Bogey and "Oh, Look! A Big Snake"

We made the tough decision that Bogey Fairway Turtle needed to live somewhere more comfortable than a bowl in our house. He needed to be free!  So, Abigail and I put him in a cup and proceeded to the nearest "perfect place," a little stream by a park on Trail Lake Drive.

Here's a picture of Bogey's new home -- idyllic for a turtle, right?

I'm instructing Abigail to "just walk down those big rocks to the water's edge" and set Bogey down at the edge of the stream. As she steps down on the first rock, she says, "Oh, look! A big snake!" 

"There's no snake down there. It's probably a piece of rope or something," I reply. (Clearly not realizing that snakes are now coming out of hibernation due to the warmer weather. Idiot!)  

"No, he's pretty big and he's alive. I'm going to get a closer picture of him," she responded. 

I walked around to try and get a better look, when "WHOA! Back up, Abigail! Get away from that thing! It looks like a water moccasin," said me, starting to hyperventilate. 

Here's where I should explain that I despise snakes, and Abigail, who could not possibly be related to me by birth, is fascinated by them. "Does he have a pointy head?" I quiver. Quick! Remember the rule of poisonous snakes. Don't the poisonous ones have pointy heads? (I know...pointy is not the right word choice here, but I was in slight freaked out mode.

She leans closer to get a better look, laughing at me, shaking from four feet away. "Yea, it looks like it might be (rolling eyes) pointy."

You can see the 'pointy' head between the rocks in the top left of this picture. Ugh!

And, just in case you weren't sure, here's a closer view.

(as he slithers over the rocks....shudder)

I suggested we go a little ways down the stream to release Bogey Turtle -- somewhere with less rocks hiding fang-dripping poisonous creatures.  I didn't want to send him off to immediate death by snake.  

Here he is, swimming away to freedom.

Here are some of Bogey's friendly new neighbors.

We hope Bogey has a nice, long happy life. And, please don't respond to this by saying that the snake pictured above is a perfectly harmless, common, everyday "something or other." They are all deadly to me!

GPA Jr./Sr. Prom - 2009

Katherine, going to the prom...how can it be? First she wants to drive, and now this! It's a big step for a parent to take, I'm telling you.  Here are a few pictures of the evening. I thought Katherine was beautiful. We went all out -- hair, nails, limo. So much for her college fund. 

I love this one of the four amigos:

Erinn, Katherine, Erica, Jessica

The event was held at Mira Vista Country Club. I volunteered to go early 

and help decorate. Hey, that's probably my only 

chance of seeing the inside of that place. 

The theme the seniors had chosen was "Puttin' on the Ritz." 

The banquet/dance part of the evening ended at 11:00 p.m.. Then, they enjoyed an after party at Alley Cats in Arlington, which lasted until 4:00 a.m. Jeff and I flipped a coin to see who would go get her at 4:00 in the morning. We both agreed that no way were we doing that, so we sent her home with Erinn to sleep the day away. And she did.

Annual Easter Egg Dyeing

Our traditional egg dyeing day was on Saturday afternoon. (Does the word "dyeing" look strange to you? Because it does to me. I do know it's not "dying", so I'm going with it.) I hope the girls will want to keep doing this for a few more years. We all enjoy the activity, and everyone seems to create new masterpieces year after year.  

Tools of the Trade

Gotta have the Paas Easter Kit

(What kind of name is Paas anyway?)

Four dozen perfectly boiled eggs, minus one

that Abigail and I had to quality check for doneness.

Another essential of Easter -- Peeps!

A few of my masterpieces 

Ah, the messy creativity -- I love it!

Thanks to Abigail for the use of her wonderful photographs.