Graduation!

By late afternoon we had a houseful! First to arrive were Todd's parents, Jan and Jerry from Parma, Idaho. We had a nice visit with them before they went into Woodburn to check into their motel. Not too much later, Todd's bio-parents, the Boggs arrived with their son and his family. We had barely started an early supper of spaghetti when Brother Pat and Sister-in-law Cindy arrived from Moses Lake.

By five-thirty we were all loaded up in various vehicles following Todd into Canby. We parked in the Safeway parking lot and walked around the corner to the football stadium (except Forry who hitched a ride on a golf cart!) The grand-parents had tickets for "special seating" which allowed us to sit on folding chairs instead of the bleachers.

The actual ceremony didn't start until 7 pm, so we had lots of time for people watching. There were over four hundred Seniors graduating, so it took a while for all of them to march in -- the band played through "Pomp and Circumstance" more than once!

The Cantalinas (Canby High's elite singing group), performed two numbers during the program. Unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the stadium to see Granddaughter Havela's face (she's on the far left) -- and I swear, that woman with the grey moved her head in front of the camera everytime I tried to take a picture!

So the only picture I got of them singing, was the back of Havelita's head...

I had a pretty clear shot of her when she came up to get her diploma -- and of course, you know what happened...

But, she's got it in her hand!

The lady was leaning over talking to her friend. I wasn't quick enough...

It got pretty chilly by the time the last student came across, but considering the number of students, it actually went pretty fast. Most of the family went from the stadium to their motels, so it's actually pretty quiet around here tonight. Havela has gone to her graduation party at the Middle School, but she promised me I could get a picture of her tomorrow in her regalia.

The "Busy Book" Project

One nice thing about spending time at the grand-children's home is the opportunity to get in on their projects and schoolwork. When we were last in Mount Vernon, I got to help with costume "fix-its" during Granddaughter Claire's play, Witches.

Granddaughter Kyra, who is a freshman at Canby High, has been working on a project for her Human Development class in which she had to make something to entertain a child. She choose to make one of the quiet books you often see with toddlers in church --

She put together several pages, like this one with zippers. There was one with snaps, another with buttons, one with Velcro, another with a crackly packet and one with something to lace.

This one is my favorite page. I just love the little pocket --

That has its own hankie stuffed in it (and sewn in so it doesn't get lost) --

Ky was going to lace the book together with yarn, but after some discussion and brainstorming, she decided to use shoelaces instead. After school, she and I drove into Canby to the Fred Meyer store where she found a florescent green pair.

While we were there, we also bought some art pencils and heavy paper. Ky is going to draw a picture of Auntie Violet for me to use to make new business cards. Tomorrow I'll need to take some pictures of the rig for her to work with.