<p>When it comes to this thread, moms are what we are. Trust me, I’m quite sure we all have a lot of other identities in other contexts!</p>
<p>OWM, thanks for sharing the photo list. Wow! I can just picture those pics all lined up; what a collection of moments from his (and your) life! </p>
<p>College4three, once in a little day-dream fantasy moment, I imagined sb being on some televised event, and at the final moment she does a little shout-out to “all my mom’s cc friends on the 2011/2015 thread - I’m songbird!”</p>
<p>Then I went back to my laundry and dishes. :)</p>
<p>Blue, you’ll have to let me know how you like your new kindle. I’m a die-hard book lover (actually have a library in my house…a life-long dream)…so I don’t think I’d ever give up real books, but I’m always curious to know how people like (or not) the new technology.</p>
<p>Ohiomom, very nice that he got that note from the admission counselor. Reach or not, that sounds like good news coming your way.</p>
<p>
Ok, now you’ve got my attention. Seriously!</p>
<p>owm-what a wonderful recognition of your son! I’m so happy that his school is honoring him, and better yet, it’s being done by students. Those pictures sound terrific.</p>
<p>MOSB - I’ll be waiting for that shout out from songbird. 
I still have this funny vision of any number of our kids crossing paths on college campuses and making this crazy connection.</p>
<p>Checking out my kindle today. First book is one I’ve put off reading. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So far so good! We actually do have a proper library, shelves and all. I had this instead of a living room. DHs grandparents owned a successful independent bookstore. Not run of the mill stuff. I love it more then any room in the house!!</p>
<p>blueiguana-that is the first book I read on my Nook!!! great book, addictive series!</p>
<p>welcome to theman! </p>
<p>I love having books in the house. Both kids literally have hundered of books in their rooms. But, I am grateful H gave me the Kindle. The convenience of always having a book to read trumps the look and feel of a real life book. I also carry mine in my pocketbook and find myself reading a few minutes here and there. We will be a three Kindle family by the summer when I buy D her own. I also read the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo on my Kindle. And then tore through the next two, well one the third hadn’t been released in US yet. </p>
<p>Have we talked about graduation gifts? I am assuming we will be buying S a new laptop. He has a hand me down now. Any other ideas?</p>
<p>My husband got me a nook for Mother’s Day. I still prefer books. It is nice for travel, but I always find that I still need to bring a book along also. You can’t read electronic devices during take-off when I like to read to distract myself, and I’m afraid to use the Nook on the beach. I guess I’m just old-fashioned. It is nice to enlarge the font, however.</p>
<p>Graduation Gifts: Laptops make a great graduation gift. You might want to consider buying it from the school your kid chooses to attend. They usually offer good prices, and also may offer repair support. My D1 also got a TV for her dorm room. D2 wants noise-blocking headphones.</p>
<p>So glad we’re talking graduation gifts! Just started thinking about that. Keep the ideas coming. Love the noise-blocking headphones, my d definitely wants those. I remember reading pros/cons of different brands on some other thread a few months ago. Darn, I can’t remember where. Maybe I’ll do a search later. Anybody else read that?</p>
<p>Yes, there was a good thread on noise-blocking headphones on CC that I read before Christmas.</p>
<p>We are taking our d and my mom on a cruise for graduation. We were supposed to stop in Alexandria, Egypt but that has been changed to Istanbul…nice, but I wanted to go to Egypt! Wahh…oh, well, overthrowing a dictator <em>is</em> more important. </p>
<p>I love my Bose headphones but there are others just as good…many audiophiles don’t like the way music sounds in them, but I have them for their noise-canceling properties. Listening to my ipod is just a plus. </p>
<p>I toy with the idea of getting a handheld reader of one kind or another but every time I buy a new electronic device, they come out with a really great one 2 months later…so I’m waiting. I probably will buy one before that cruise so I don’t have to lug along any books. Hmmm…Mother’s Day?</p>
<p>Novelisto- If its any consolation, my parents took a Mediterranean cruise a year or so ago and LOVED Turkey, absolutely loved it. And found Egypt to be dirty and much less pleasant than Turkey. And my parents have done a good bit of traveling and not always in luxury accomodations or cruise ships so they have something to compare to.</p>
<p>No time to catch up right now but continuing to think good thoughts for all our kids.</p>
<p>Morning All,</p>
<p>Well, had to laugh at myself because that FAFSA was a breeze once the Profile was done. Did an estimated FAFSA for the 2 backup schools, and sent the Profile to one.
The U our kiddo plans to attend, got a Profile and 2009 taxes back in Oct. I called the FinAid office and they told me to send an amended Profile to them when the taxes are done and send the taxes etc to IDOC. The FAFSA can be sent when we have good tax numbers. </p>
<p>Sent the FAFSA to the back upschools, also sent the Profile to the backupmschool. </p>
<p>I had been anxious about errors and stuff, however since we have something in kiddo’s first choice school’s system, evidently we are not so under the timeclock now. I will feel better when the errors are fixed…trying to not worry.</p>
<p>As they say “worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn’t take you anywhere!”</p>
<p>Has anyone had their hs guidance office not send mid year grades to your student app–because they decided on their own that since your kid was going to go elsewhere, that it wasn’t necessary to complete the app?!
Well, we have asked the hs office to please send that transcript and complete the file! </p>
<p>Are your kids tired? I may have kiddo get a B shot…</p>
<p>Happy to be reading good news here.</p>
<p>As far as grad gifts, I have an antique woodblock print of a specific scene from kiddo’s U that we’ll frame. Will be nice on an office wall one day. Will be looking at new phone, lap top, etc…those kinds of options…yet wanted there to be at least one keepsake thats not a gold pen, kwim.</p>
<p>Will you be doing grad parties either w family or your teens classmates?
I have not done announcements either…did you do those?</p>
<p>Graduation gift…
Blurjr will need a laptop, type dictated by e’school program. Will most def buy from the school that will have on-site support, repair, and free loaners. This is much better then asking kiddo to package and mail the darn thing off if something goes wrong. I hate to think of this as his gift as the school demands it. We’ll see. My thought right now is a smartphone. His current phone is a dinosaur. Yes, it is a luxury (with a dataplan to pay for), but there are a lot of features that would really help him. Either of his top two choices have really good apps for students.
So, the jury is out.</p>
<p>^
While on campus, we learned the kids really use smart phones.
The profs send messages re classes,
Study groups coordinate,
the kids look at things/notices for mtgs, change of locale etc.
So the tools really do get used.</p>
<p>Kiddo is hoping the new iphone ends up w our carrier. the present phone is as u said, a dinosauer…</p>
<p>S currently has a smart phone now but our contract is up in June so he is due for a new phone anyway. OTOH, I have a dumb phone and want a smart phone. I am tired of not having access to email when I am out and about. 11yo D will be traveling to middle school, maybe on public transportation and she will also need a phone, maybe not a top of the line smart phone but she will need something. </p>
<p>I know S will need a new laptop to replace the dinosaur he is currently using. I hate to give him something he needs as a graduation gift, but I don’t think he thinks of that and will be thrilled to get it. Especially, if my IT husband allows S to have some say in the model. I will have to keep my eyes out for a momento type gift also. </p>
<p>Graduation is on the 3rd Sunday in May. We have booked a room to have the party right after graduation. I know it means that a lot of S’s friends will not make it because they will want to go out to dinner with family. We figure we will book the room til 10 or 11pm so his friends can come by after dinner with their family if they choose. We have two others graduating in our extended family in June so we were trying to get S’s party in before June. Other than invitations to the party we will not be sending out announcements.</p>
<p>A smart phone is very helpful in college. As Fog said, a lot of course and EC information is sent via email, and the phone gives the best access. According to my older daughter, some campuses are Blackberry campuses, and some are Iphone campuses. </p>
<p>We are not sending out annoucements. We will probably have an open house over Memorial Day weekend for friends and family. I overheard my daughter and her best friends discussing a joint grad party for their friends also. When my older daughter graduated, I was worried that the kids would get sick of all the parties, but her friends seemed to really enjoy them.</p>
<p>Grad gifts - we’ve been thinking about those too! And yes, she needs a new laptop and we are also thinking of getting her a smart phone. Not an absolute necessity in my mind, but she will use it a lot. But, well before graduation is the 18th birthday (next month) - and I am still scrambling to come up with ideas for that one! Last year, there was a thread about having 18 different gifts (some small, one big gift) - I really liked that idea, but am having a hard time coming up with 18 different things. S is going to help - but we need to get started on this soon!</p>
<p>I think I’ve posted this before - but grad party is probably going to be at our memorial day bbq - usually has all the same people that we would invite for the grad party (except some of her friends). We’ll probably have a smaller party for just her friends later - maybe even do a combined one with another friend.</p>
<p>Novilisto - We did a Med cruise last year and it stopped in Istanbul - LOVED IT!! It turned out to be one our favorite ports…PM me if you want details…</p>
<p>We are doing a grad trip to Italy as a family. Also will likely get S a new Iphone (his has a crack). His laptop is pretty new, so no need to replace yet. At a loss as to what to do about a graduation party…</p>
<p>I’m going to wait until we know which college she will attend before thinking about a new laptop or phone. She’s very happy with what she has, but has already wondered aloud if “the other kids” will be PC- or Apple-based (She’s currently a “PC” ). As for the party, her friends have traditionally held an end-of-school-year beach party with current and previous graduates who are home from college. So, I think I’ll just take her out to a special foodie-lover’s restaurant.</p>