Another Teenager!

This month has been INCREDIBLY busy. Like, absolutely insanely busy.

But, we were very happy to be able to take an evening and celebrate this sweet girl! We can hardly believe that she is a teenager!

She chose a Greek restaurant to enjoy for dinner as a family.

I took her to soccer practice, and then we drove over to the mall, and Ben, Audra, and Claire met us there after Claire finished soccer.

The YW decorated our house for Camille!

Apparently we are in the "shoes" era. Both Claire and Camille are obsessed with shoes, so Camille got some Nike sneakers to enjoy.

Here's Camille at 13:

-This last year has been pretty rough for her. She had some real and scary struggles that we had to work through, but she has worked hard and is making incredible progress and reaching some pretty important goals, and we are super proud of her

-She is excelling in middle school! She is a bit of a perfectionist, sometimes to a fault, but she works really hard and it shows

-She does stretches every night- she really wants to be able to do the splits

-Her favorite color is green

-Her favorite subject is art- she makes some absolutely beautiful artwork

-She loves to cook, and does a great job with her Family and Consumer Science class. She wants to do ProStart (the culinary program at the high school) when she's in high school

-She started out loving being on the competitive soccer team, but her confidence was thwarted being with bigger players. It was hard to watch. But, it has opened her up to other opportunities like Winterguard (which was absolutely wonderful for her), and now she wants to try dance which is awesome

-She keeps her bedroom perfectly clean and organized, but that does not translate into keeping her table spot clean or putting her shoes and messes around the house away

-She dropped band, much to my dismay

-She LOVES reading Marriott Madness every night

-Sometimes at night she can't sleep and comes and knocks on our door every 3 minutes to see if we are asleep. She somehow is scared until we are asleep and then she can fall asleep. I don't understand it, it makes no sense to me

-She likes making money, though opportunities for baby-sitting are sparse. She is mowing a lawn for money, and that's been good for her

-She is finally almost 5 ft tall- but not quite yet

-She loves the show "Even Stevens"

-She is great at giving mom eyerolls

Senior Awards Night

 We went to the senior award night thinking Audra would get an award for NHS and maybe one other thing, but it turns out...she totally cleaned house! Her name kept getting called over and over and over again. We all know that she is awesome, but it turns out- everyone at TRHS knows she is awesome, too.

I'll try to remember all of her awards:

-NHS

-ASLHS

-Bilingual Pin (for ASL)

-Tri-M Officer

-Rotary Scholarship Nominee (she didn't win the scholarship, though, dang it!)

-Service Letter

-Band for 4 years

-And, as a total surprise to us, Valedictorian! Granted, there are about 70 Valedictorians- it's for every student who earned a weighted 4.0 or higher. She got a B in biology her freshman year, so we didn't think she'd get it, but because she has taken so many AP classes, that more than made up for it.

She also played in the band for the prelude music

With Nicholas

One of her best friend's, Jayson

Piano Recital

 It was Audra's last piano recital, and one more recital for Camille. They both played beautifully.

I somehow ended up randomly throwing up during it. Thankfully, I was able to hear them, but had to suddenly leave and race to the restroom in-between songs.

I ended up with a pretty bad stomach flu and throwing up every 30 minutes on the dot until 1 AM. So, I missed Mother's Day at church (where I was supposed to teach a short RS lesson in conjunction with our Mother's Day RS Brunch), and I was pretty crummy.

But, the recital was beautiful and our girls are amazing pianists! Audra says that piano brings her a lot of joy, so I really hope that she continues it at college.

Audra got a special honor for graduating this year

Last Day of K-12 Education

 

Band/Orchestra Banquet

 Claire got the "Worst Practicer" as nominated by her peers (which she was quite proud of), and Audra got the Macy's Parade Award, "Played Loud That One Time" (again, by her peers), Band letter, and a couple other awards that I can't remember.

It was a lovely evening, but another reminder that this school year is ending way too quickly and soon Audra's high school career will be over.

Claire is also stopping orchestra, so this will likely be our last band banquet. I only cried a little bit at the banquet.a

Principal's Award

 Ca

Camille was one of only 4 -7th graders to earn the Principal's Award- meaning all A's all year! We knew she was getting an award, but didn't know it was such a prestigious one. She has worked really hard to get where she is at- she never, ever settles. She always does her best in everything she does. Sometimes we have to remind her that she doesn't need to be perfect all the time, but she naturally wants to always put forth her best effort. She is pretty awesome, and this award is well deserved! Go, Camille!

Seminary Clap Out

 Audra had a seminary clap-out. Camille, Ben, and I showed up at the end of their class and then help make a tunnel and clapped her out for her final day of seminary!!! So many "lasts."