Three days of June Parties: First, Graduating Noel and Asher

     Noel and Asher happened to graduate at the same time this spring.  Asher has done online classes over the summers the past couple years, giving him enough credits to finish the requirements of the local high school at the same time as Noel.  Neither wanted to walk in the traditional high school ceremony, so we had our own short program during their grad party. 

    Our Branch President (the local leader of our church) gave some really good thoughts about how often, things don't follow the path you expect. He said  is worth it do do the hard things that come up.   He gave some good stories about his first trip abroad for his charity work to eradicate poverty, and how he ended up in an Indonesian prison, and escaped by taking the guards out to dinner! 

    We had a really awesome graduation party, with our really awesome friends from our homeschool communty all in attendance.  They are a good support group for transistion times and celebrations. It was tough to let go of my two oldest kids at the same time, after practicing "attachment parenting" for over 18 years. 

   Noel has turned into a very caring and confident person, looking at ways to expand her art talents.

Asher has become an organized achiever, who picks good friends and is not afraid to tackle challenges.

Their  party was a great success.  A couple of wonderful ladies from church helped organize it as their gift to the kids.

   The boys helped set the party up in back of the church early in the day.

 Noel and Asher each had a table displaying items representing their various interests (tennis trophies and artwork).

 The boys survived blowing up dozens of balloons to add color.

 The cake pops were a request both kids had.  Noel's were punk tye-dies, and Asher's looked like tennis balls.  Very cool and very delicious.

Lots of good food kept the crowds and the younger crew very happy.

 Thanks to these ladies (Megan, and Brittany) who worked for hours, along with Missy (not pictured).  They worked late into several nights to make this party the wonderful event it was.

 There was the Asher-fan club table, with homeschool buddies from Stoughton and Madison.

 There were several homeschool parent tables, where Noel and the the older girls mixed and mingled.

 There was the church-people table... full of people that have worked with both kids in their youth program over the years.

 And there was the the Twister-on-the-Lawn crew.  These were the younger siblings of all the teens, having a pary of their own sort.  They were laughing it up and having the time of their lives.

 Sylvia loved spinning and calling out the moves.  I thought Brittany was brilliant for spray painting the dots onto the lawn!

 There were several cans of spray paint the guests could use to sign a message or add graffitti to a canvas for Noel.  The kids young and old had a good time with this idea.

 There was also a s'more roasting pit, and volleyball net set up, although most of the kids just hung out and talked.  It was fun to have so many of our friends turn out, as well as my parents.  It is also good to know the kids have a very large and strong support network of friends and family to fall back on as they launch into their adult lives.