What's Been Goin' On

Well, technically I'll only be covering what's been goin' on for the older half of this family, but rest assured that you'll be hearing all about the others in our annual last day of school "interview" -- which is rapidly approaching as the school year draws to a close.  {Hallelujah}  As for us "older half," here is what's up:

ME & SCOTT (or for the grammatically inclined, SCOTT & I):

We celebrated 19 (!) years of marriage last Friday, April 30th.  It's so hard to believe we've been married so long!  Then again, we do have a senior in high school who will be graduating and heading to college this fall.  Hahaha.  We're planning on eventually taking a couple of nights away in a cute, little town nearby, so for our anniversary day itself, we were happy enough to be able to go out to eat {in person, at an ACTUAL restaurant!} and then after a super exciting trip to Target, get some shaved ice for a treat.  

(At Shogun, waiting for our hibachi style meal.)

Last year for our anniversary, I posted a picture of a favorite memory from each year of our marriage.  I didn't want to be redundant this year, so instead, I'll post a list of 19 reasons why Scott is the absolute best {even though he'll most likely be embarrassed by this post.  Hahaha.}:

1. He's the calm to my storm (ie -- he's super chill and I'm super not.  True story.)
2. He has a fantastic sense of humor
3. He's super likable
4. It's possible that he's done more dishes and laundry in our life together than I have (and FOR SURE more than all the kids combined.)
5. He's kind 
6. And thoughtful
7. And funny 
8. He's my biggest cheerleader in everything I do
9. He puts up with me getting the covers all twisted up and tangled every single night as I'm trying to get settled in for bed
10. He thinks I'm funny 
11. He listens patiently when I have too many thoughts swirling around in my brain and I just need to get them all out
12. He makes a mean omelet 
13. He texts me regularly throughout the day
14. He humors me with all of the many, MANY "great ideas" I come up with (and I come up with a LOT.  Hahahaha.)
15. He gets just as big a kick out of our crazy kids and their antics as I do
16. Even though he snores, he never gets mad at me when I shove him in the middle of the night to try and get him to stop
17. He encourages me to follow my dreams
18. He both loves me AND likes me
19. And finally, he's the best Boggle player I've ever known

(We had a date night a few weeks ago and went to the local performing arts center for a night of Broadway songs.  It was such a delightful return to "normal," that I didn't even mind having to wear a mask while there!  Hahaha.)

(Unrelated to Scott-and-I, but I've recently decided to stop fighting it and embrace my natural hair.  So, I went down an absolute YouTube rabbit hole a couple of weeks ago trying to figure out how to start this "curly hair journey," and I now have more hair products than I've ever had in my life!  Hahaha.)

ETHAN:

Right now at this very moment, Ethan is finishing up the last 2 exams of his high school career!  Last Thursday was his final day of classes and this week all he's had are AP exams.  Yesterday was Calculus and today he has Physics and AP Lit back-to-back.  I know he'll be heaving a sigh of relief once it's all over.  Meanwhile, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he's going to be graduating next week!  They're splitting the graduation ceremony into 3 sessions (for Covid reasons) and his will be the last one that day.  I'm not overly optimistic that Isaac and Alex will be able to sit through the whole thing without issues, but at least this way it should only be a third of the length of a regular graduation.  In theory.  Time will tell what it will actually look like.

(My little AP Scholar!  😍)

(Swag bag from the AP Scholar Celebration.)

(Last day of High School!)

GRACE:

And finally, Grace has some exciting news to report -- she finally got her driver's license!!!  Never mind the fact that she didn't know whether or not she was supposed to smile in the picture and the end result is that she looks like a serial killer, she got her license and that's all that matters!  Hahahaha.  I know she was really nervous about taking the skills test thanks to her car crash last fall putting a damper on her wanting to practice, but she did great and I know she's happy to finally have that behind her.  Now that she's official, she's enjoyed going for random joy rides around the neighborhood with Jane (and sometimes Alex and Isaac) and she's chomping at the bit to drive herself to school next week now that Ethan's done. {The REAL test is going to be seeing if she can wake up on time all by herself.}

(Newly minted Driver right here!)

(Grace's mugshot was so reminiscent of Alex's preschool picture from a few years ago that I had to dig it out for comparison's sake.  Hahahahahaha.  Hahahaha.)

And that's all folks!  Ethan finally let me get around to taking his senior pictures over the weekend, so I'll be showcasing those in a separate post.  I don't love that they don't look as practically professional as I like to think I'm capable of, but it's done.  We were losing daylight by the end, not to mention trying to work with various lighting situations as we moved from shade to sun, but that's what Lightroom and Photoshop are for, right??? Hahaha.  Stay tuned...