Our graduate

There's a lot to cover in this post, so I'll just dive in.  First, the stitching.  Here's And They Sinned up to current progress.

I love the lion!

And I forgot to do my TUSAL report last week.   Here it is, in front of my Emma Bridgewater souvenir Jubilee tin.

I also received a lovely present from Mindi of Joie de Vivre.   She gifted me with her Jenny Bean Spring Sampler chart, which she recently finished (you can see her finish on her blog header).  And she also sent me one of her handmade needleminders!!!

Isn't the needleminder wonderful?!  I love it!  Thank you soooo much, Mindi!  You're a sweetheart!

Now to family stuff.  The boy child had his last week of high school celebrations.  He had his prom on Thursday.  Here are a couple of pictures -- it was a big group of kids!

And the guys.

(Keep in mind, this was on a 97 degree day.  Poor guys!)

Saturday was the boy child's high school graduation.  And yes, he performed with his bass guitar and sang with the chorus even at the graduation ceremony.

(His mother is sad that the boy child didn't get his gold cords (the ones the other kids are wearing).  He should have had those gold cords too since he was in the National Honor Society.  But they didn't give them to him, and I didn't realize he should have had them and didn't complain and demand them.  Sigh.)

Here are more pics, one of the boy child with his dad, and one of the boy child with the principal.  (The principal made us very happy by managing to speak about the terrible results of how kids learn due to the No Child Left Behind law.  Such a terrible law!!  The boy child's class was the first to be affected every year of the class's career.)

(Pretend the boy child is wearing those NHS gold cords.  lol!)  The boy child tossed his cap at the end of graduation so he lost that (he held onto the tassle though).

There were many other pictures taken, but I won't bore you with endless pics.  

Mia had to participate too, of course.  Here she is, cuddled up in the boy child's graduation gown.

The girl child is still up in the air about apartments.  We are hoping she will get a certain one, but still haven't heard yet.  In the meantime, the girl child is off on her celebratory cruise with friends for the week.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week.  I hope TS Debby isn't too brutal to those in her path either.

For tennis fans -- yay!!!!  WIMBLEDON!!!!!!!  The best slam of the year IMO.  :D  Enjoy!

Blog? What's a blog?

The title of this post is just to show about how I'm feeling right now -- rather discombobulated.  lol!  It's been busy busy busy around here!  I have been stitching here and there though, so I will show what I've been working on first.  Remember this piece?

It's And They Sinned, of course.  Here's the part I've been working on recently.

I'm so happy to be getting to the fun parts of this one!

So there's been a lot of activity around here with the kids.  The girl child is apartment hunting, the 21st century way, online.  So far, no luck.  Bummer.

The boy child -- well, we headed off to Boston this past weekend.  Stayed with my sister and her family -- they live close by Boston, which is a real boon for us.  Friday was the placement tests at the boy child's future music college, which is in the heart of Boston.  A very exciting day, full of tests and auditions for the boy child, and talks for the parents for the father type and I.  Here is the father type waiting with me for the boy child.

Saturday was a busy day.  We headed into Boston with my sister and her family for dim sum (yum!!!), and even managed to do a bit of grocery shopping at the Chinese grocery (I'd been neglecting that at home).  Then it was off to do some apartment hunting for the boy child.  We lucked out and found a really nice apartment for him very close to what one would call the college's campus (the college has buildings scattered throughout one area of Boston).  The boy child loves it, and he's very excited about starting out at his music college in the fall.  Here is the door to his apartment building.

So exciting!  And very scary for his mom.  lol!

Sunday was Father's Day, of course.  (Happy Father's Day, daddy and father type!)  We drove home, but did manage a nice stop at a Cracker Barrel on the way home for lunch.  The boys played a couple of games of checkers while we waited for a table.

And then we were home after a long drive.  Yay!  We were very happy to have things even more settled for the boy child's start at college.  Furniture shopping and stocking the apartment will be in the future.  Ugh.

Mia was resigned to being alone with the girl child at home this past weekend.  Mia has a thing against the girl child, sadly.  But it sounds like they basically avoided each other most of the time, so that's good.  Here is Mia before we left.  Such a life of luxury.

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!  (If you're wondering what that is on Mia's back, it's a Reese's miniature pb cup wrapper -- the boy child put it there, of course.  lol!)

ps.  Happy 70th birthday to Sir Paul McCartney!

Ann's face and last concerts

Well, I knew my laziness would cause problems.  I was going to take a pic of Ann with her face last week, but I had to cut the face out and I was in a rush, so I didn't do it.  So I'm showing her now -- here she is in all her glory.

It's really bugging me -- I thought I used the correct count fabric for this, but Ann's head looks ridiculously big.  Hmmmmmm.  Well, I guess I might have to size her head down or something.  Oh well.

ETA: The head was on paper, and I had to cut it out.  It's just printed on the paper, no stitching or anything.  I am supposed to glue it onto the fabric with fabric glue, but I am planning on letting my framer do that.  Just have to make sure not to lose the head in the meantime.  lol!  I'm thinking maybe I can copy it and shrink it in the copying process???

No rest for the weary around here.  We got back from the girl child's graduation Tuesday night.  Missed the boy child's senior award ceremony.  His drama club teacher texted him to tell him he'd won the National School Orchestra Award.  Here's the blurb about it from the program which we received with his award:

This award is given to the outstanding senior in the high school School Orchestra in recognition of individual excellence and contributions to the high school orchestra.

We are proud, of course.

Then Wednesday night the boy child had his school chorus concert - yes, he joined the chorus at school as well.  Here he is in action with the chorus.  (They had a very small guys section this year!)

He also played bass for one of the songs.

Thursday night was the boy child's school orchestra/jazz ensemble concert.  It was bittersweet since it was his last one.  He was praised by everyone for being a fantastic bass player -- it was good to hear he is considered a great player.  Here are some pics from the evening.

Getting ready for jazz.

With the orchestra.

And here are a couple of videos if you're interested in hearing the jazz ensemble.  The boy child did a great job!  Sadly, it's a bit hard to hear him -- I guess video cameras don't record bass very well.

It's crazy times here.  I still can't believe there is only one more school day after today for the boy child.  His senior prom is in a week and a half and he graduates a couple of days after.  

Apartment hunting for both kids is going on apace.  The girl child will start her job in July and will need an apartment.  The boy child needs an apartment at his college since dorm space is limited and he didn't make the cut.  I, of course, am freaking out.  My children are growing up and I'm not ready.  Luckily, they are.  

Thanks as always for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Yes, we are proud

I'm late posting this week, but I have a good reason.  I'll tell you about it after I show you my finish.

Ann Pennsylvania Peacock by Little by Little

35 ct fabric (not sure what it is)

fibers called for

Yes, it's finished.  I have to put the face on, which is printed on paper.  Haven't done that yet.  I love this sampler.

Ok, if all you wanted to see was stitching, you can skip the many many pictures ahead.  :D

So why am I posting on a Wednesday instead of on Monday?  Well, the girl child's graduation was on Tuesday, with festivities happening Monday as well.  (Sorry, Diamond Jubilee.  Missed seeing most of the Queen's celebrations, sadly.)  So I am going to post tons of pictures with as little text as possible.  

You now get to find out how bad I am at editing myself.  I hope Blogger cooperates with all these pictures.  lol!

Monday was Class Day, with a famous speaker involved.  See if you can recognize him.  (Yes, it rained for a big part of the event, so even though the event was outside, we wimped out and opted for the indoor simulcast.  I know, what wimps.)

I'll give you a hint on who this is.  Steve Carrell.  :D  What a great speaker!  And we found out afterwards by googling that he graduated college the year after me!!

Eating lunch after the Class Day event.  My father and stepmother came out for graduation too.  (It had stopped raining by then.  See all the orange rain ponchos they handed out to the brave ones who sat outside?)

Graduation Day in front of Nassau Hall.

Another famous face.  Aretha Franklin got an honorary Doctorate of Music.

Love these pics of the kids after the ceremony.  They're waiting to march out Fitz Randolph Gate (a very symbolic moment, representing their leaving Princeton as graduates), and a graduate has started a beach ball going over the kids' heads.

Pics of the graduate with family and friends.

The girl child with her boyfriend.

Two graduates with their brothers.

The diploma and certificate.  (The certificate is to acknowledge a minor.)

Shades of Rafa?  (A tennis reference, it's French Open time.)

The girl child sad to leave her eating club.

And yes, we are very proud of our girl.

Mia was very lonely without us around.  Her routine was interrupted, and she wasn't pleased.  But here she is before we left for graduation with her boy.  Yes, that's the boy child's bed.  They tend to sleep together.

A boy, his bass guitar, and his cat.  Plus various items that are kept on his bed.  Ahem.

Sorry for the long blog post.  The boy child's graduation comes in a few weeks!!  The girl child is driving home today with the last of her stuff from college.  Time to find a couple of apartments, one for each child.  Yikes!

Thanks for all your wishes for my recovery from the surgery.  I'm almost back to normal, survived the graduation and all the packing I did of the girl child's things.  Although I am tired.  lol!  The test results were all good, so all I have to do is heal up.  Yay!

Thanks for stopping by and saying hi.  I hope everyone has a great week!

(Graduate class of *62, class of '81, class of '83, and now class of '12.  Yay!)