High School Graduation Party {Class of 2021}

At the end of August, just before our three oldest headed off to college, we hosted a graduation and 18th birthday party for our daughter.  She's our third to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Kolbe Academy. Three down...  "Only" six more to go! We ended up having right around 150 family and friends show up to join us to celebrate with a back yard barbecue and games.  Even my parents, sister and newest little niece were able to make the drive up from Oregon! It was such a fun evening!

.: Graduation Cap Cupcakes :. 

I made a more girly version of the Graduation Cap Cupcakes we made for her brothers! 

.: Graduation Candy Buffet :. 

I also reused the signs Graduation Candy Buffet Signs from the boys' party, but included more pink here too to coordinate with the party colors. I shared them as a free printable a couple years ago if anyone would like to use them as well. 

.: Graduation & Birthday Cakes :. 

.: More Decorations :. 

For decorations I printed out her annual End of Year Interviews from over the years and pinned them to some string lights. It was so cute to see all the little girls giggling over them!

.: More Pictures from the Party :. 

 

  

 

 

We pulled out some of the same games from our previous party including Kan Jam, Spikeball, Cornhole and Ping Pong. I meant to bring out BattleChip but completely forgot!

May God bless and protect our newest college student! 

Last Week of High School for our Two Graduates

 .: Inland Empire League District Golf Tournament :. 

May 6, 2019: Our whole family (and some friends!) went out to watch the boys golf in their final High School Varsity Golf Tournament. 

I'm SO proud of these two sons of ours. It wasn't easy moving to a new state halfway through their senior year. They had always played on the varsity golf team and even went to state last year... They had been really looking forward to going back to the Oregon State Championship this year. Moving to Idaho, joining a new team, and switching from a 1A/2A/3A school to a 5A school was a big challenge for them. They never had to worry about qualifying for tournaments on their old golf team. Here their new golf team had 35 boys on the team and only the top 5 get to participate in the varsity tournaments. It was a sad morning one day during the season when just one of them left to go to a tournament and the other stayed home since he hadn't qualified. 

 

They both worked really hard to continue improving and I was so happy that they both made the top five for the final tournaments and including the District Tournament/State Qualifier! Their team played well and came in third place in the district, but they needed to be in the top two to go on to state. They were disappointed but happy that they had improved since last year and that their current team score was better than all the teams back home in Oregon. High School golf has officially come to an end! 

Here is a photo of all three of our high school golfers, with their coach (who actually played against my youngest brother in college!), following the district tournament. The girls team also came in third place! 

.: Kolbe Academy :. 

May 9, 2019: This is it... They are officially done! I just finished grading and sending off the final samples and reports to Kolbe Academy for our two high school seniors! 🎉😭

#highschoolgraduates #catholichomeschool #kolbeacademyhomeschool #magnacumlaude

.: Carmel :.  

May 11, 2019: Beautiful Saturday Morning Mass at Carmel (James and John served together yesterday morning too. Perfect end to their final week of high school!) ❤️

.: College Decision Day :. 

Photos from Experience Christendom Summer Program 2018

May 1st was National College Decision Day. After months of discerning and applying to various colleges, not to mention working on financial aid and scholarships, the decision was finally made and we called up the Admissions Director on April 30th to put down a second deposit. 

Both boys will be attending Christendom College in the fall!

My due date is Monday, August 19th and Move-in Day is across the country on Friday, August 23rd. 

Please keep them (and me 😭) in your prayers! 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life with Like Mother, Like Daughter. ~

{pretty}

We had so much fun celebrating my {pretty} little sister's college graduation last weekend!  

From her Facebook post: 

What a journey.

It all began with a half scholarship to University of Dallas in Texas starting out as a biology major in pursuit of physical therapy. 

After a year of liberal arts classes, amazing friendships, working at the coffee bar, I was lucky enough to study abroad in Rome for a semester. During this time I was able to SOMEHOW by the grace of God manage a 3.8 GPA AND travel to 5 additional Countries! Upon returning from Rome, I decided that University of Dallas was too far from home and didn't have the exact college program I wanted. 

I transferred to Oregon State University and changed my major to Exercise Sport Science. I am more than grateful that I took the risk of living with my best friend. Together we took some of the most challenging and amazing classes including Chemistry and Anatomy ;) 

I was able to pay the majority of my schooling thanks to babysitting and waitressing at amazing places like Flat Tail and the Corvallis Country club. Thanks to also working at Coffee Culture I was able to stay caffeinated and energetic in my classes after I FINALLY changed my major to Public Health- Health Promotion/Health Behavior. 

After 5 years of travel, education, friendships, and the NEWMAN CATHOLIC CENTER (my foundation in Corvallis), I finally got my Bachelor's of Science =)

Excited to see what God has in store for me next. 

-Deo Gratias.

{happy}

The kids were very happy to be playing a game of kickball at Grandpa & Grandma's with so many of their aunts and uncles! 

{funny}

My amazing parents with 8 of their 12 children. I love my {big, crazy & definitely funny} family!

{real}

Homeschooling definitely has it's perks, along with occasional complications... Last week the boys received their Varsity Letters for golf. This afternoon we picked up their Varsity Letters for ice hockey. Now they will have to decide which high school's letterman jacket they'd prefer, because they are way too expensive to buy two of each! #homeschoolproblems 

#twolettermanjackets #varsityasfreshmen