Three out of five

of my children have graduated high school.

It was hot on graduation day. I pitied Paul for having to wear dress pants, a tie, and a heavy graduation robe. But he survived without much complaint.

It's quite a sight to see all these young people marching into the stadium wearing the uniform of graduation.

During the speech given by the Superintendent of the school district, three industrial-type trucks drove by and honked long and loud. The audience, somewhat grateful for the interruption to the speechifying, clapped and laughed.

A little later, during a student speech, a car drove by and made some noise designed to interrupt the proceedings. As he passed by, we watched as a cop car drove out of his assigned position at the entrance of the school with his lights flashing. Again the audience laughed as we watched the noisemaker get pulled over. The student speaker had no idea what was so funny.

Lesson learned: don't make noise with your vehicle while a student is speaking at graduation.

No, I swear I did not cry when I heard Paul's name called and he received his diploma

After the ceremony, we hunted around for Paul in the huge mass of people milling around on the field. He was hard to find.

The family, minus our missionary

Just for kicks, I found the family picture from Katie's graduation to see how much Matt has grown

Matt has been busy these last four years adding several feet of stature and a moustache (although it's not visible in the picture). Look at that height difference. Matt was 9 at Katie's graduation, but he looks 6. Now he's 13 and looks it. Hayley looks much different too, but her change is mostly attitude. She's not the shy Cheeky she was when she was 11. She is much more confident, sarcastic, and arty. Paul has grown up too. Katie looks a little older, but not by much. And OJ is now EJ, and not pictured.  And I swear I have not shrunk, but it looks like it, doesn't it?