Graduation

Welcome to another catch-up post from May.  

We officially have three graduates in our family this year.

Our youngest grandchild graduated from kindergarten. He lives in the same town we do and I believe this is the first year they held a kindergarten graduation.  

Later that week we attended our #4 grandson's graduation from 5th grade. Graduating from 5th grade in his country consolidated school means he moves to the other side of the building. 

And that Sunday we traveled to the Big City for our oldest grandson's high school graduation. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with all kinds of awards. We are very proud of him. He is also very tall. He and his best friend are having a joint reception in July.  

We received three out of state announcements and party invitations from great nephews and nieces in Texas, Montana, and Florida. We sent well wishes and checks but were very disappointed to miss the parties.  

We will be attending a neighbor's high school graduation party next Saturday and I am hoping for a sandwich! Graduation season usually means I don't have to cook on Saturday. My favorite graduation parties are hog roasts but I think we lucked out this year. 

Mother's Day

 Yes, I know I will get points taken off my grade for submitting late assignments.  

Meanwhile.  I determined a few years back that if I wanted things in the world to be the way I wanted them to be, I would need to do it myself.  I had an idea for celebrating myself for Mother's Day and moved ahead. I invited both my daughters and both my daughter in-laws, both my granddaughters and step granddaughters, as well as their mother  and mother in-laws to tea. Only my youngest daughter and granddaughter had room in their busy schedules. I made the reservations. 

The facility shared this photo of the scones baked that morning. 

Not only was the reservation for a special Mother's Day Tea, but there were ADD ONS.  Of course I signed up for the optional Flower Bar and optional Mimosa Bar! 

We dressed up and arrived on time. We had a champagne bucket on the table and a glass of sparkling grape juice for my granddaughter. 

This was also posted by the facility. 

The menu was scrumptious (as usual).  My daughter and I each chose our favorite pot of tea and my granddaughter had a whole tea pot of hot chocolate.

These are my actual sandwiches, clockwise from bottom, Chicken Salad Croissant, Pumpkin Bread, Shredded Carrot Bruschetta (which was a baked sandwich with a cheese sauce), Carmelized Onion Jam with Apple on White, Turkey and Cranberry Cream Cheese on White, Egg Salad on Wheat and Bacon, White Cheddar and Roasted Tomato on Wheat.  Each one was as good as the next. 

Our table was very full!!! 

They do offer a smaller "Princess" plate for children but my granddaughter prefers the tiered tray for adults. 

The middle tiers were slightly different. Mine showcases the Blondie (My girls had a chocolate peanutbutter brownie), a Fruit Cookie, Chocolate Mousse, and a scone. 

And the top tier featured Homemade Canoli, Strawberry Shortcake and Almond Layer Cake which was something I am still dreaming about. 

Now let's talk about the Mimosa Bar. 

We had decided that a bottle for $25 was a better bargain than two glasses for $20. Neither of us is a drinker, but this was a special occasion! There was lots of fresh fruit and mixers. 

We tried champagne with orange juice, cranberry juice and pink lemonade. My daughter's favorite was pink lemonade and my favorite was cranberry juice. We did not try the syrups. 

My daughter as maitre 'd. 

Posing my champagne glass. 

Sparkling Grape Juice. 

The Cranberry Mimosa. 

As you can tell I was enthralled with the Champagne Bar.  I was documenting for future parties and celebrations.  Then I went to my cardiologist appointment a few weeks ago and found that my newest forever prescriptions require zero alcohol and this was my final hurrah. We are slowing down my heart rate and blood pressure to ease the strain on my heart and alcohol will reduce it further to dangerous levels. 

Now on to the Flower Bar. This was my first flower bar, too, and I was very impressed. 

We had lots of flowers to chose from. 

Of course I purchased the Flower Bar for everyone. 

We all chose our own flowers. 

The ribbons were to tie your bouquet together.

 

The bouquets actually lasted over two weeks. 

Happy Mother's Day!  

(and don't worry - Mr Merry drove us to the tea and my daughter's husband picked us up afterwards). 

The First Concert

 

Just a little update on the free concert in the park in our small town last night.  I packed some fruit and cheese, a cooler with drinks, our lawn chairs and a small table and we got caught in traffic.  

The band is a dad with three daughters, one son and the son's friend who dad met at their high school production of Grease ths spring.  They are sensational. 

We aren't the only people who think so.  This is seating on the terraced hill in front  of the stage. We are in those trees WAY back there behind the stage.  (in the shade). From our seat, we can't even see the audience. 

We don't mind that we can't see because the sound is great.   We aren't sure how many attended but last year's appearance drew 500 people and there were many more this year!  What a lovely evening.  

Thanks for putting up with the whine

1 bag Aldi frozen ravoli, 1 pint of homemade freezer salsa that I need to use up, 1 small can tomato sauce, 1/2 pound Aldi Mild Italian Sausage. Spray pan bake covered per ravoli directions.
Sprinkle cheese and bake until melted. 

Thank you all for putting up with my whiney posts and all the sympathy. I promise to start being more optimistic! 

I am committed to wearing the new glasses for 7 days to see if I can "train my eyes".  The eye office are trained professionals and maybe they are right.  Otherwise I will go back to the readers I bought on Amazon midway between my reading prescriptions that are bifocal with a clear top.  I wasn't doing too bad with those and that may be the answer.  

My daughter is finished in her classroom and today I slept in until 10:30 am and feel much better.  Tonight our commuity begins free concerts in the park and the band opening the season is the sisters from last year who sing acustic soft rock. The temperatures are in the 70's and it should be fabulous! 

Tomorrow I am back in the church office and Friday my middle school grandson has invited me to take him to the amusement park if he doesn't have to work.  He was gathering golf balls out of the creek by his house (his dad's house and my house are both near a golf course), washing them and selling them along the course. The owner stopped by one of the holes and bought some, interviewed him and hired him to wash and gas up the golf carts, fill divets, pick up trash and empty trash cans.  Not only is he getting paid by the hour, he has a free golf pass for the season! Not bad for a twelve year old. 

The weather has been nice enough to walk in my neighborhood this week although I think I will be back at the gym when we hit the 80's. 

I'm sorry for not visiting as much, it is hard to read my screen right now, but I am comitted to these glasses for a week.  I will be back.

Hope everyone is enjoying the pre-summer.