@fretfulmother - no plans to shovel here. I am done. D is on spring break next week, so we will hunker down at home until we can navigate the driveway :))
@Skates76, hopefully your wife will feel better and be able to travel home allright. You could always meet them at the airport, right?
I only had to shovel twice this winter. Between tennis and the musical my S has not been home much, he also works on the weekend.
I hope it wonât be too bad, I wanted to go to church on Sunday.
Thanks @indsfolax ! My college friendâs D had her heart set on Harvard, and but ended up choosing Cal Berkley for various reasons ($$) and is really enjoying her time there! Now in her Jr year. Sounds like your D will have many wonderful schools from which to choose. Congratulations and Good Luck!! 
Yes, my boys (all three plus DH!) do help with the shoveling. But we have a driveway and cars to uncover and itâs a multi-person job that includes Mom. 
@eastgrad The only way I can enjoy this Irish revelry is with liquid products from their neighbors. I suspect the Indians are responsible for driving up the prices on those products since I donât know any other groups out there who appreciate them as much.
@fretfulmother - So are you going to keep the boy home for four more years so he can walk to school? 
@frenchtoastlover - If you are not FA eligible at Ivies, you should take the money and help your parents. Congratulations!
Best of luck on a quick recovery and success with your Dâs Olympiad team, @Skates76! Safe (and comfortable) travels to both!
Congratulations @frenchtoastlover on USC scholarship. Thatâs great.
ugh @Skates76 - hope they feel much better soon!
Wow, itâs not even 9 am here and so many new posts! Congrats to those with good news, and fingers crossed for those awaiting news.
@Skates76 , in our state, teens with beginner licenses canât drive late at night either, EXCEPT when a licensed parent is in the car with them. Maybe thatâs true of your state? I hope your wife feels much better by flight time!
Itâs the end of a long week here, but D has another one of her busy days: she is one of the leaders of a group of 7th graders as they play âAmazing Raceâ around Seattle, solving math problems at various sites. Then she and her friend will âraceâ home to our house to get ready for the spring dance, as theyâre both on ASB and helping run the thing. I guess she can sleep tomorrowâŠ
Most of our Spring Break this year, which would have been next week, was chewed up by snow days from the one monster snowstorm that dropped 30 inches of the white fluffy stuff on us.
Graduation is at the Giant Center, which is about a 12,000 seat arena that our local minor league hockey team plays in, plus concerts and stuff like that. Most of the schools in the area use it for their graduation ceremonies and it is next to Hershey Park and Chocolate World, so lots f kid go to the park after the ceremony.
Not sure about a graduation party for D16, though we may join in with a few of her friendâs families and have a shared party/cook-out.
@mommdc Mom is being a trooper, daughter is sure she is going to get sick too, but isnât yet. I guess you arenât paranoid is a virus really is after you. One of our possible plans is for me to pick them up at the airport, or even for Mom to stay another day or two and fly home separately if needed (plus if she feels better, she can have a mini-vacation, it is about a 36 hour bug from when S21 had it). Current plan for their day is to check out of the hotel, head over to campus, let Mom curl up in the very nice library and rest, while D explores campus on her own a bit. There is an NMF dinner tonight that they were already going to miss to fly home for the science competition tomorrow, so I am figuring that there should be a lot of kids similar to D16 for her to possibly meet and greet.
@Skates76 sounds like you are great in a crisis. Hereâs hoping you will not need those skills any more today or once your DD is at whichever school she chooses!
The one good thing to come out of the whole thing with DW and D16 is that it is taking her mind off of her last big merit scholarship decision which is supposed to come out any day now. One anxiety replaced with another, she is kind of getting the taste of being an adult in that way.
@sseamom Our Junior licenses can drive after hours, but only for work purposes with pre-approval as I recall. We are less than 3 months from her 18th birthday now, so that wonât be an issue much longer.
And thanks to all for their words of encouragement!!
we head out tonight on our final high school spring break vacation with D15 but it is our first family trip without all 5 of us. It feels weird.
Graduation attire: for me, D16, and H (who hates to get dressed up) and an outdoor graduation. S19 will be playing in the band for the ceremony. Thoughts?
@kandcsmom , remind me of where youâre located? Last year some friends went to an outdoor graduation held mid-day on one of the hottest days of the year. People were fainting!
Without knowing the location, Iâd say spring/summer dressy-casual dress or skirt for you and D, slacks and a polo for the boy, and either that or a dress shirt without the tie for H. Ours will be indoors and in a cool climate, so no one will be fainting here. I have been looking at dresses, as Iâve lost 30 pounds since last spring and I have nothing to wear that would work for this event. Burlington Coat Factory has some lovely dresses of all styles right now-most under $30-you could look at those for you and D.
My D wants a white dress and weâve had one on my Amazon wish list for awhile now. It will also work for her college convocation at the start of the year. White dresses are required.
Central Ohio @sseamom It is outside. I donât know if we have burlington, Iâve been looking on modcloth. D might wear last yearâs Lily Pulitzer dress.
I think most stores are having sales now-(Easter attire). I hate passing up bargains but, graduation is still 10 weeks away so, I am going to have to wait closer to the date to get a better handle on the weather.
@kandcsmom - my DH is the same way! Heâll probably wear dockers & a dress shirt (no tie). Does your son have required dress as part of the band?
(@sseamom- congrats on the weight loss- a new dress will be fun to shop for)
@mom23travelers - Hope it is still fun! Face time, Snap Chat, etc. can help make it feel like they are along for the trip, if that is possible. My S17 was on a band trip at the end of Dec, so missed our Christmas trip to my sisterâs in another state. We stayed in pretty close contact, mostly texting messages and photos back and forth, so he didnât see so far away, even though it we were on opposite sides of the country.
@kandcsmom - This is our first time, but I assume everyone dresses up a bit. Ceremony in an sports arena at the local flagship Univ, so not very personal, but it allows every student to invite as many family members as they want. S17 will be playing trombone in the band, so he wonât be sitting with us. Most of our family lives too far away to attend, but weâre having a large group party - with 3 of my Sâs good friendsâ families - the night before, so weâll have lots of friends at that event. As always say, âFriends are the family you choose!â
After the evening grad ceremony, the kids change into casual clothes, and are bused together in a very large group, to our HS, where the parents -also running to change clothes, put on an overnight lock-in Sr party. It will be an exhausting weekend, but fun! Commencement day for us is June 4th.
@sseamom my daughter is wanting a white dress too. Need to shop.
@morningside95 my D16 school does the same thing after graduation - overnight lock in.
You should change your name to âButterâ cuz youâre on a roll!!!