Graduation

Somewhere on someone's blog I read that in the summer you have lots to write about and no time to write. Winter you have lots of time and nothing to write about. That is certainly true with me. Between the 16th birthday and graduation I have not had a moment to spare and more stuff just keeps getting piled on. So here are pictures of the oldest's graduation. We are very proud of her. The party was good with lots of good food and the gift was a huge success.

For those who don't know, we are a blended family. The man and his daughter (the oldest) and me and mine. Mine being the youngest. The man was a widower when I met him trying to raise two kids on his own. (His son is grown and gone now). So the gift to our oldest was this.  Her mother had a ring with three diamonds that had been handed down from great grandma, to grandma, to mother. The man had been saving it to give to her when she "grew up". He also still had his and mom's wedding bands that were made of white and yellow gold. So I suggested we have a pendant and two earring's made from the wedding bands of her parents using both colors of gold in the design and the diamonds from her mother's ring. She is the 4th generation to get the diamonds and her parents wedding bands were melted and made into the settings to hold them. In this way we were able to make sure her mother had a part in her graduation. The jeweler did a great job and she was touched and happy to have such a memorable  and sentimental gift.

The party was a success but oh so much work for me. She had requested a carrot cake from Costco because
they make the best but apparently they don't make them anymore. Go figure. So I made one from my mom's recipe which is one of the best I have ever tasted. We started the meal with an anti-pasto platter, and shrimp cocktail followed with a lasagna Bolognese, a vegetarian lasagna with pesto and sun dried tomato, and a baked ravioli. We also had watermelon, fresh pineapple, and strawberries and Olive oil and Rosemary bread with a Cesar salad to round out the meal. The vegetarian Lasagna went over big. Lots of request for the recipe which I had to then back track and remember what I did. So everyone had fun and her friends from her old school made it for the party and spent the night. We were all so tired the next day all we did was lay around the living room watching old movies and sleeping through most of them. Fun but I will be glad to get back to normal.