A-Men!

This was Katie's last week of high school. Ever. Her final exam was on Thursday, so she officially checked out and received her graduation gown. While she is done, I am still mired ankle deep with the photos for the memorabilia boards for the seniors all night graduation party. I had a "Picture Party" on Monday night, which means I bribed four other moms with wine and margaritas to come and help my co-chair and me post 500 pictures and newspaper clippings on 8 large sheets of foam core board. As the boards are really expensive to purchase ($222 for them, which I had to buy because last year's clean up crew threw them away!), I found removable glue dots to affix the photos to the boards. The kids are allowed to remove any photos they want around 3 in the morning, so the trick is to make them easy enough to remove without damaging the boards or photos. The year before last the mom carefully stapled across the corners of the photos. The photos came off easy for the kids, but then she sat and removed each staple afterwards. That sounded like waaay too much work to me.

So, drinks in one hand, glue dots in the other we proceeded to relive the lives of the students one photograph at a time. Childhood memories, sporting events, clubs and activities right up through the recent prom filled the boards. A couple of hours and our task was compete. Or so it seemed. The next morning I came down to find my dining room floor papered with pictures. Thinking that perhaps some dots were applied incorrectly (maybe due to the libations?), I added additional glue dots and then ran a soft cloth over all the photos to more firmly adhere the dots. Each morning this week, I peered into the dining room to the same, littered scene. By now I feel as though I am in "Groundhog Day". I always have hated that movie.

Because we were having Katie's graduation party for her friends on Saturday, I gathered up all the fallen faces and gingerly dragged all the boards into the laundry room for the day. I will have to deal with them later today. I'm at the point where if I don't see another picture again it will be too soon.

However, the party yesterday turned out great. The reason that we held it so early, since graduation is technically taking place this upcoming Friday, is because of A-men, the acapella singing group at the high school. A couple of months ago my friend invited Jim and me to the Class of 2010 auction. Up for auction was a private concert by A-men. We thought that would be a fun addition to Katie's party or, just in case SHE didn't think it would be a fun addition, we could have them sing at the garden party SWT will have in the fall to celebrate the completion of their new building. Anyway, Katie loved the thought of having them at her party, and since several members of the group are seniors as well, this weekend worked to get them all before their own family commitments kick in.

Thankfully the weather cooperated and we were able to set things up in the garden. A-men is such a fun group both to watch as well as listen to, and they did not disappoint. They changed words in the song, such as "don't do it baby.." which became "don't do it Katie" and just generally had a really good time. The only mishap was when our dog tried to jump off a chair, got his leg stuck in a slat and proceed to yelp, quite off-tune. It is all recorded for posterity on my camcorder. The concert was followed by food and games. One thing I have always loved about the group of kids that Katie hangs around with is the fact that they are very content to sit around and talk, or play board games. Quite a few of them were having a blast playing Apples to Apples, which is a pretty funny game which allows for many participants. This was followed by Rock Band on the Wii. If it would not have totally ticked off my daughter, I could have recorded some great blackmail material. (Let me just say, I will never look at "Sweet Home, Alabama" in the same light again.)

So one party is down, the graduation and family party are next weekend. And in between are the blasted boards. I can't wait until it's over. A-men!