Savannah's Graduation!!!!

Friday night was awesome!!!

We had beautiful weather & an absolutely perfect graduation service for Savannah.

I didn't cry.

I am so darn proud of her that the night was just full of smiles

big 

huge

smiles!!

I moved to this community after Gregg passed away

knowing it was known for it's fantastic schools.

Parkview High has been an exceptional school

& provided Savannah with an excellent education.

She will leave here completely prepared for life at University of Georgia.

I'm going to do this here,

so please forgive the obnoxious mom moment

but

i think the numbers are correct...i'll check with her when she comes home.

She graduated with honors

ranked 30th in her class of almost 600.

top 5%.

she is was in Beta Club

& Mu Alpha Theta

and an Honors Graduate.

She was invited into the Honors Program at UGA.

i am beyond proud of you sweet girl!

our sweet Bailey gave a fantastic speech!!!

 

the kids swaying back & forth during the alma mater

 

sweet emi , always smiling!

( her ringtone on my phone is happy girl by martina mcbride. she lives up to that!)

my brother & sister in law

who we love dearly.

hard to believe she's old enough to graduate huh buddy?

don't you remember coming & helping me feel secure

when i was a single mom in this home

during tornado watches?

she was only 4!

& now....

love you & thank you for all your support of my girls all these years!

 

i don't want to embarrass Trevor

but i might as well share this now....

i have encouraged each of my girls to hold off on the boyfriend thing

at least until jr/sr year.

i didn't need to push that one with savannah

as she's a pretty tough sell.

she started dating Trevor a year ago

& i'm convinced he's the greatest guy in that school.

the night he picked her up for their first prom

& i saw how respectful and sweet he was to her....

& how he looked at her

i knew she held out for a great guy!

we love you Trevor & know you'll do great things at UGA

even if it's not UT!

sweet moment with savannah & her daddy.

how he loves her so....

 sweet friends sharing the love for a great watch!

my prayer for each of my girls

is that they go through high school

with two awesome friends

like Trevor & Bailey.

If i could have chosen two perfect special friends for her,

i would have chosen you two!

i love you both!

Congratulations Savannah!!!!

Oh the Places You'll Go

 graduation is tonight.

at the risk of sounding completely cliche, i can't believe it's here.

often times i look at her & wonder how she can be 18 years old

when i often feel 18 years old myself.

last night while savannah was out with friends,

i placed a card on her pillow for her to find when she returned home.

one of those annoying cards that plays music,

but it's the Dr. Seuss Oh the Places You'll Go card.

she is a voracious reader

& always loved Seuss,

so it seemed perfect.

as i read what each of her sisters wrote, it filled my heart.

things like "i want to be just like you when i grow up"

"i'm so proud to be your sister"

"i'll miss you"

& "i love you"

i climbed into bed and told dan i needed to have my game face on tonight.

i work all three days of the holiday weekend

& simply can not be emotional while trying to function in my job.

might hold off on reading that card again until tuesday!

"So be sure when you step,

Step with care and great tact.

And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed?

 Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed)

Kid, you'll move mountains."

Dr. Seuss

 

 

 

 

 

yesterday i had a little end of the school year gift waiting for each of the girls.

with savannah heading off to college i wanted to start a little tradtion~

giving the girls each a piece of jewelry before they go

that i also have a matching piece to match.

nothing expensive or fancy just something that we both like.

when i saw the Dream Big leather cuff on jeanne's site

i knew i had found the perfect piece for savannah.

 

she's a super smart girl, independent and confident.

yesterday as she opened her presents i reminded her

that no matter what she chooses in this life

i know she'll be successful

&

while i'm super sad that she's leaving our little nest

i am filled with joy that she's wrapped up this chapter in her life

so very well

&

i can't wait to see what the Lord has for her future!!

 

 

"You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!"

Dr. Seuss 

 

(print by piedpiperphoto available here )

savannah's graduation party

i think for me,

some of the most memorable moments as a parent 

are those when i was able to witness my friends and family 

bless and love on one my girls.

this past sunday ( as i may have mentioned once or a hundred times)

we celebrated savannah's graduation along with sweet bailey, at our home.

i think we had between 250 & 300 people

come & do just that.

priceless memories tucked into my heart.

i can't imagine a wedding....this was so special 

& it was only a couple hours of an open house.

while we ended up with a completely overcast , unseasonably cool day, 

we missed out on our usual hot & muggy heat and we had no rain. i'll take it!

the girls wanted their colors to be red, pink, orange and yellow.

i ordered candies from (i think it was) candy warehouse

for our candy bar.

we made strawberry mint water, inspired by The Paris Market.

bailey's "gran" brought freshly picked blueberries for the lemonade

and watermelons from florida.

we served subs and chips.

we also had a kona ice truck that served up snow cones for everyone!

i apologize in advance. 

while there's only one highschool graduation party,

there's a few hundred images from a super fun day

that we'll never forget!

 

 

 

 i have the sweetest sister in law in the world.

she helped serve food & keep drinks filled

so i could visit.

thank you cindy lou!!

& to one of my besties, jill,

thank you for all your hard work!! 

i'm so glad that the anthropolgie apron you gifted me was debuted at the party!

the only time i saw you 

you were tirelessly scrubbing the porch floor.

i opted against capturing that moment on film!

 one of my dearest lifelong friends showed up

& brought smk and i both to tears.

we've loved you all these years sweet shannie

 

& thank heavens for precious friends 

who brought a treat for the mom of the grad!

love you pauls!

to everyone that came,

thank you

for taking time out of a busy weekend

to come & encourage savannah & bailey,

for your words of blessings,

for  your gifts

& most importantly

for your friendship

xo