HoCo

 

Saturday night was a culminating dance for Grace after a full week of Homecoming activities.  We headed to the title town district for pictures with her and her friends.  They had spent the week making pants, dressing alike, carrying their school work in 'anything but a backpack....and TPing around town and school.  It was a little funny to see them head into the house after the dance to take off their formal attire and dress in black clothes and face masks to head out on the town like a G-rated Clockwork Orange.  By Sunday afternoon it was back to normal and she was off to work her last shift at the pool for the season.

Little dimples..little drama

 Last weekend we spent a little time scouting out an area for Grace's senior pictures, it had been suggested by the photographer.  But ultimately we thought better of the location and suggested a few of our own and the results will be beautiful.  There was a little hic-up, Grace has a pretty packed schedule, and the original photo shoot was conflicting with a different event.  We had the shoot moved, but it didn't make it to the photographers calendar and she double booked.  It all worked out fine and especially the lighting.  Grace had a fun time, multiple wardrobe changes and still made it home in time to not eat, but meet friends on a shopping spree for pajama day and midnight toilet papering of the school in prep of homecoming weekend. One of these pictures is not from her photo shoot; alas dear reader can you spot it?  Also a fun note as a parent, sometimes you find boxes of graham crackers with only a single stale cracker left in the box; because somebody was way to full to eat another one...or way to lazy to open the trash drawer.

The Eagle has Landed!

Thirteen years of hard work and perseverance for Merrick lead to his arrival in Lacrosse on Friday as an official UWL Eagle.  We managed an almost full family dinner the night before making the drive (Ella was in Spain).  We gathered around the indoor grill at the restaurant slathering steaks with garlic butter and spices....well not Sophia; she was battling a waitress for a burger that was cooked thoroughly and preferably with a bun.  Then back home to sit around the table and talk about school, classes, and just laugh a bit before an early night.  Merrick and I hit the road early and drove the meandering route across the state to his dorm.  His roommate had moved in the day before so it was easy to build some dorm furniture and trick out his new pad.  He is more of a minimalist than either of the older girls where, and he has a real comfortable space to call home for the next school year. We made run for groceries...all comfort food and nothing remotely healthy was dropped into the cart.  He had some additional items on his 'mental list' but those were forgotten.  We hit MKE burger to fill up on some smashburgers before sending him off on his own; and I made the lonely drive back home.  Amy and I were able to call him and have a quick chat and everything seems to be going well for him and has a good size group of people to run around with until the wee hours each morning; and has only hit his head on the ceiling a few times as he adjusts to his lofted bed.  His first class this Morning will be a Chem Lab...seems like a good intro to college course work.