Where to start?

So much has happened in our lives since my last post I don't even know where to start! Most importantly, Jacque graduated. We are so proud of her...she was in the top 5% of her class and received quite a few scholarships to help pay for her college. She is so very excited about moving on to this next phase in her life. I can't wait to see what it has in store for her too! Graduation was at Reliant Stadium this year instead of the Toyota Center. I so wish they would start having the ceremony at the high school stadium. They are so far away from us at these large venues. Lucky for me though, there was a school district employee who grabbed some shots for me while on the floor. {Thank you Craig!} Here is our baby girl waiting her turn to walk across stage. These kids in the top 10% received lots of scholarships!

Being congratulated by Superintendent Dr. Mark Henry:

and receiving that hard earned high school diploma from school board President Jeff Miller!

I am so grateful to have these close up photos. Even though I had a zoom lens I could never have captured these expressions like Craig did!

I love it when the ceremony is over and all of the grads throw their hats in the air...talk about make a girl cry! It is bittersweet my friends...bittersweet! Proud of all of these kiddos and I wish a bright future for every single one of them!

Baby girl walking out with the top brass :-)

When we got outside of the stadium a storm was rolling in so we only had time for a couple of pics. Darn! Jacque and her big sister:

and all four of my babies all grown up! Kinda makes a girl sad, you know? Little man will be the lone DiStefano in high school this year. I'm sure he will be just fine...not so sure about momma...

Nana, PawPaw and Aunt Pam were all in town to help us celebrate so we headed out to Jac's restaurant of choice for dinner. Here we all are except Jacque's beau (who was the photographer for this shot) and Jacque's sweet little daddy...where did you go daddy?

Jacque and her Aunt Pam. They are planning a big trip together for college graduation!

We celebrated with a party too! Jacque wanted a slip and slide and pinanta. We had a lot of fun and wonderful food shared with friends and family who make our life complete! I do love how her party invitations turned out.

I love the quote she chose for the back. She adores the Harry Potter book series and it is just so appropriate.

It is rare that I step in front of the camera and I am so glad that I remembered to do this. All of us in one photo...WOW!

And last, but not least, a very proud Grandma!

Once all of this was behind us it was time to head out to our favorite vacation spot for two weeks.

It was time for a little relaxing...and relax we did!

I was wrong...

she wasn't Cinderella...she was Aphrodite...I hope that her prom was as amazing for her as she was beautiful in her dress...

Our little girl graduates from high school with honors tomorrow and I just can't believe how grown up she is.  She is beautiful on the inside and out and I know that the world has great things in store for her.  She will be attending the University of St. Thomas in the fall and is already registered for classes and has spoken to her advisor about studying abroad...something she really wants to do.  How fun would studying in London be?!  The other night we were laying on her bed talking and she told me that she was destined for great things and I told her that I knew that.  And I do...

Jacque's best friend since preschool called her down to her house for some photos before leaving for prom and I am so glad that we went and took pictures with Emerie.  Emerie wants to be an art teacher, Jacque a high school English teacher and I just thought their dresses represented their personalities so perfectly.  I love these two girls!

I look forward to seeing you blossom, sweet, baby girl as you start this next chapter in your life and I know that you will do great things...no doubt about that.

Thought I would share Jacque's senior year book ad...some of the many faces of our girl!

Congratulations to our brown eyed girl!  Now go out and set the world on fire!

XOXO

Momma

Someone Over Here...

is gearing up for a Cinderella night.

and I'm wondering...

how long it will be before these shoes...

take a hike!

Gonna be fun...stay tuned!

One for the road...

After a day filled with picking strawberries and being a compulsive shopper in the fruit stand we stopped off at a bluebonnet field for a couple pics...love this one!

Just a playin' and a pickin'!

WOW! They let my little man play ball! How about that? Pitch too! You see, Leighton WAS the starting first baseman for the junior varsity team but he wanted to play catcher. That is the position he has always played, but, because he also plays football he isn't involved with the baseball team all year. When baseball season rolled around he started asking the coach if he could play catcher. Coach said no...Leighton kept at it. I told him, "Leigh, your coach is going to play you in the position that he thinks best helps your team. Baseball is a team sport and you just need to play the position your coach wants you to play." Logical right? Team spirit and all of that. Listen to your coach, etc. But, Leigh is the baby and he, well...he likes getting his way. So, one day the JV coach took this issue to the head coach. What did the head coach say? "You really want to play catcher Leighton?" Leighton answered yes...coach says, "You know there are two other catchers right?" Leighton: "yes sir..." Coach: "give him some gear then..." So you know where that left him...riding the pine. And then...then...in their infinite wisdom...the coaching staff decided to make him a pitcher. Go figure! I think he has done a great job going out and having a good attitude and having enough confidence to get the job done and Friday he got his first win.

We are proud of you Little Man but hope that you might have learned something from this experience. And hopefully if you are ever in a position to be a coach you will remember what your Momma told you and not your baseball coach! :-)

Remember this guy?

 
That was his game face.  This is Leighton's...so close to his brother's style, lol!

So, today I said I was going to stay home and clean house...but, I thought it might be more fun to go pick strawberries!

This is at Froberg's Farm in Alvin, Texas.  I had been hearing about it a lot lately on the Michael Berry show and it just sounded like so much fun.  Lots of berries to pick + a fruit stand with frest fruits and veggies and not to mention a smoke house!  How could you go wrong?  It helped to have a willing pickin' buddy!

Beautiful berries and oh, so yummy!!  It was so hard to leave all those unpicked berries behind, LOL!

Yum!

And of course there were a lot of strawberry photo ops too!

We done good girl!

All the proof you need to know that it is possible to be a compulsive shopper at the strawberry patch!  Guess what everyone is getting in their stocking this year for Christmas?  You got it...strawberry jam it is!

Turns out I was right about the pickin' being more fun than the cleanin'!  It was a great day!

Life is good!

Black & White Wednesday...My Brown Eyed Girl

Trying to get your own children to allow you to take photos of them is about as difficult as it gets. I have been bugging Jacque about getting started on her senior pics because time slips by so quickly and I have lots of ideas swirling around in my head for her! I finally got her to agree to head over to a location I had picked out that is fairly close to home so at least it is a start. I think this one is my favorite from that group...I just love it!

August agreed to be my "reflector boy" and it was his idea to have Jacque get down in this stairwell and oh, my goodness what a wonderful idea it was!  And this is pure natural light...August assisted in this photo by jumping down with her so he could help her get out, lol!  Sometimes he is a great brother after all!  He prides himself on being my best assistant and he just might be right!  :-)

And I can't just show you this pic in black and white without showing off the color version too.  Jacque has the absolute most gorgeous brown eyes I have ever seen.  She used to complain about the color of her eyes but to me they are just so special.  Not only are they a beautiful shade of brown but they just sparkle and I don't know, I think they could have been the inspiration for that song written so long ago, well...okay, not that part about behind the stadium...haha!  She gets those beautiful eyes from her daddy you know...

I love everything about this picture of you my little brown eyed girl and I think it is so representative of where you are in your life...looking outward and moving onward...to a wonderfully bright future!

We also managed to find a lovely field of bluebonnets and we didn't have to drive far!  How cool is this?  And in town too!  Yippee!

We will be going back to this location because then I found this!   I hope the owner doesn't mow all those glorious weeds before we get back there!

More pics of sweet baby girl are posted on my photography blog if you want to check them out!

If you want to join in on the fun hope on over to The Long Road to China and grab her button and start posting!



Until next time!

In the midst of my slacking...

Jacque Dee turned 18!  or Jacque Khan as she calls herself!  I can't believe our little baby girl is all grown up!  Jacque wanted to have a Harry Potter birthday and as usual she planned everything and I just had to help her make it happen.  She made the invitations herself and they were so cute!

And I loved the way her cake turned out:

These chocolate covered pretzels were magic wands that she gave to her friends as party favors. They were supposed to have Pop Rocks on the end but all I could find was Nerds. :-( Still cute though!

There were little dishes of lemon drops from Dumbledore's office...

A few gift bags filled with goodies for the game winners...

Jacque planned a feast just like the students of Hogwarts have on their annual return to school each year.  I made Shepherd's Pie for her guests and she asked everyone to bring their favorite dish.  There was lots and lots of food!  She also asked her guests to dress as their favorite character.  Not all of her friends are Harry Potter fans but a little innovative thinking can render a great costume.  Her friend Jenice came as Hedwig...see what a few feathers and a vivid imagination can get you?  How cute is that?!

Hedwig actually did make an appearance at the party!

And Harry Potter too!

Not everyone had a costume but we had ordered these scar tatoos from The Noble Collection so we could have instant Harry Potters!  This is Jacque's friend Emerie.  They have been friends since pre school and are graduating together this year...both with very bright futures I might add!

Jacque channeled Bellatrix LeStrange...one of her favorite characters from the books...

I guess Bellatrix is a little on the grumpy side, ha!

A few of her friends are as enthusiastic about Harry Potter as she is...this is Jose, her FWW (Friend With Wand!)  Jacque has Snape's wand, Jose has Voldemort's!

A few word games to break the ice...

Jose is fluent in Harry Potter spells...

Johnathan too!

Jenice...not so much, lol!

I think we have a winner!

Lots of fun stuff from her friends...Burberry...always a favorite!

This was the sweetest gift from Johnathan...a Harry Potter snow globe...she loved it!

A Spanish Dictionary for Dummies....YAY!  maybe she will learn more than snow cone stand Spanish!

One of those things your kids ask for because they think it is cool and you say no but then end up tucking them in their birthday gifts or stockings!  Great for people who wear retainers!

Mommy and Daddy gave their baby girl boots!

cuz she looks so good in boots!  See!

Happy birthday sweet Jacque Dee!

My wish for you is that all of your dreams come true!

Remember way back when I said I had some wonderful news to share about Jacque?  Well, she has applied to a few colleges (and been accepted)!  :-)  She made her decision just last week to attend the University of St. Thomas here in Houston.  Of course it helped in the decision making process that she got a very generous academic scholarship offer from them.  But she wanted to stay in Houston and I can't think of a better place for her to be.  We went to open house this weekend and the average class size is 17 and I just really think it is the perfect fit for her.  We are very proud of you Jacque and know that you have lots to look forward to!  Love you sweetheart!

Until next time!