Slay the Yankees

Here are the series of pictures after Chaz's shot

Summer at Spec: Pure Heaven

MaryAlice and the girls spent a few days at Spec with Mom; Brooks joined them for a couple of days, Kath for one overnighter, and Jim and I and Taylor were there for about 36 hours. The weather was perfect. Unfortunately, Kath and Brooks had left by the time we got there, so no pictures of Brooksie...but maybe next time!

Thought I would share some of my favorites that I took when we were there this past weekend.

Graduation 2008

Can you believe this little baby boy.......

Graduated from high school a few weeks ago?

And is now a handsome, mature young man. The Graduation was held indoors at EHS in the gym, because of the threat of rain. Too bad, as the outdoor ceremony when Lyndsay graduated (on the soccer field) was beautiful.

But it was thrilling and exciting all the same.

Here come the seniors!

There's Joe! Hi Joe....woooo hoooo.....

Amazingly enough, the first ranking (GPA) 5 kids in Joe's class WERE ALL BOYS. This was amazing to me, because girls have far, far, outranked the boys for years. When Lyndsay graduated in 2005, the very first boy was #15th in the class. Three of the five you see below are great friends of Joe's that we have known for years....I was bursting with pride for them.

Kevin, (far left), Andrew (far right) and Lucas (second from right)...

There's Mr. Rinaldi, the principal, in the foreground announcing names as Joe waits to line up to receive his diploma.

Go Joe!

Let the celebration with silly string, whoops, hollering and balloons begin!!!!

So, so so nice to have Lyndsay and Dan home for the graduation!

Party Time!
Let the Party BEGIN! This past weekend (July 13th) we had Joe's graduation celebration in the backyard...It was a beautiful day, and about 75 people joined us in congratulating Joe on all of his accomplishments...

Taylor and 2 friends, Mel and Molly decorated the tent...

Even though it didn't rain, it was nice to have the tent for shade...and it looked so pretty...

I made a giant banner using my scrapbooking supplies! lol

I also had a slide show running in the house of the graduation ceremony...

Go purple and gold...yay, Ellington Knights!!!

(that was for all the Tolland Eagle people reading this! lol)

I had a huge album out with pictures of Joe from infancy until graduation for everyone to admire; lots of people there did not know Joe as a little boy. That's Joe's girlfriend, Amy to his left, chuckling at the pictures of Joe as a little boy...the cutest boy ever!

Lots of the Mills' came...15 in all to wish Joe congrats!

From our family, Kath and Brooksie came, and of course, Dabi...

We had volleyball and badmitton going to whet peoples appetites!

Jim and his brother Bob and his brother in law Bert manned the 2 grills...and they did an awesome job!

There was LOTS of food....everyone helped....and we are still enjoying the leftovers.

Cut the cake Joe....right down the middle of your face..ouch!!!

A good time was had by all....and I want to say how proud I am (we are) of our son. Since this is a family blog, it is OK to brag right? Joe has worked very hard these last 4 years of high school, not only in grades and commitment (he was absent less than 7 times total in ALL 4 YEARS OF HIGH SCHOOL!), but in hard work-he held a job for the last two years working more than 20 hrs per week, and continued to excel in school. He got into every college he applied to (5) including some very competitive ones, and spent many many hours working in Drama at EHS in the sound booth for all the plays put on over the last 3 years. So many hours, in fact, that Joe was inducted last month into the local EHS chapter of the International Thespian Society, of which only 8 students from all 4 grades were inducted this year. You need a minimum of 200 hours to be even considered. And to finish up all this, Joe has made friends that are wonderful kids, ones that Jim and I would be proud to call our son and daughters. Joe has always made mature decisions, and we just want to say we love you Joe!