Its official, Casey is a graduate!!!
On Saturday, Casey graduated from high school! He was so happy and we were all so proud of him. He's really looking forward to going to college next year. He'll be attending the local UC (which is only 40 mins from our home and about 10 mins from my office) but he's going to live in the dorms. Casey is super excited about taking this next step in life. I think he's also pretty excited that he's going to have more independence from us. Can't say I blame him. I remember having the same thoughts at his age LET ME OUT OF HERE!!! He's considering becoming an attorney like mom, we'll see. He'd probably be great at it. He can be very convincing and quite tenacious. He'd probably get the best of his tired old mom! LOL!

Here are a few pix of my graduate. Check out that smile!!!






Casey and Grandma Christie

Happy Mother's Day (one day late!):
I hate having my picture taken. Please understand, its not that I don't like to get my picture taken. I really, really, really HATE to have my picture taken. I can't stand it. I am the photographer in my house so it makes it super easy to avoid being caught in any snapshots. I take a terrible pixture... besides my general dislike of my appearance, I'm always making a weird face or my eyes will be shut or some other completely ridiculous thing. My mom wasn't into pix either. As a result, except for our wedding album, there are probably about a dozen pictures of me as an adult in existence and only 2 studio pictures. One was a glamour shot thing I did with my mom about 15 years ago --its not bad but, you know, it was "glamoury" so it doesn't really look like me. The other is a Christmas pic of me with B and C when they were about 5 and 3 yrs old. Its an almost profile shot of me looking down at a book with my hair covering the side of my face. Honestly, if I didn't know it was me, I probably wouldn't be able to identify myself from it. I kind of like that pic!

I don't really mind the lack of photos much since I don't have to be faced with them while flipping through my scrapbooks. Its fine with me really. But, here's the thing, the pix aren't just for me and I know that.

I love looking at old pictures of relatives and friends, sadly, some now gone. It brings back memories of pleasant days past. None of them are/were perfect looking people and, if I were to inspect the photos carefully, it would provide proof that my loved ones were flawed. Sometimes their hair wasn't laying quite right, they had bulges, or they were caught with a crooked smile. But when I look at them, that's not what I notice. I just see an image of a person I care for and it brings a smile to my face.

I realize that someday, when I'm long gone and maybe even before that, Georgie, Casey and Brett (and possibly even their kids) may appreciate having a few photos of me. If for no other reason than to prove I actually existed LOL! It was with these thoughts in mind that I intentionally handed the camera to Bobby while we were in China and said "ok, take my picture too." And then this past weekend, G and I did some professional photos for Mom's Day. I dreaded it for several days in advance. I even thought about skipping our mommy and me photo and just doing G's monthly May pic. But, in the end, I decided I'd do it for G and B and C and I guess me too.

They came out OK. I mean, its still me but G looks great!!!

And here are G's montly pix for our May theme: "April showers bring May flowers" --dress was from Target, try to ignore the dirty bottoms of her sandals. These are the proofs, hence the watermark. We had these printed in a "retro" effect, kind of a black and white and the sandals don't look too bad as a result. Isn't she lovely??

Tenacious G!
When she's interested, G has a fantastic attention span. I've written before that she'll get engaged in her books and sit down and "read" them one after another for 10-15 mins at a time. She prefers if Bobby or I play with her but sometimes she'll go over into her toy area (a corner of the family room) and and play around with her Discovery Toys Sunshine Market for 15-20 mins or even longer.

Also, something I think is unusual for her age, she tends to avoid frustration when she's trying to accomplish something and will stick with it until she figures it out. For example, this morning she grabbed one of the cats' collars off the side table (I took them off as they were getting a little tight) and she started looking at the clip to hold it together. Its only about 1/4"-1/2" but she wanted to clip it together. She worked and worked on it and finally managed to snap it!! Her fine motor is fantastic!! She was so proud of herself so she had a little clap in celebration. Then she handed it to me to take apart and she did it again and again. Sometimes it would take her over 5 mins to snap it together. It seems like most kids her age (or even older) would become overwhelmed and frustrated and toss it down or cry. Not G, she just kept at it. Tenacious G!! Hopefully this is a trait that will remain with her as she gets older! If so, it will make life lots easier.

Here are pix of G focused on the task at hand as well as the little collar --OK, yeah, I know its kind of gross, its been on the cat for like 7 mos ;-)

BTW: aren't her little hands the cutest ever, or what!!??