Graduation Fun

Yesterday was a day I'll never forget: my youngest sister graduated high school.

Our family is not your typical, run-of-the-mill family. It's pretty unique. There are four girls (three of which are full sisters - Sarah, me, and Holly, all 2 years apart - and one step-sister - Abby, who is 2 weeks younger and a grade behind Holly - who we see as another full sister) and our parents, my mom Brenda and step-dad James. If you include my mom, there are five girls. So we always have a surplus of things like makeup, hair products, tampons, cleansers, scrubs, nail polish, etc. If you ever need a bobby pin, chances are you will find one, no matter what room you're in, as they seem to turn up everywhere. We all share clothes and shoes, too. It's really fun! The only tough part is when we all are super emotional or hormonal...then we wish for brothers.

Here's a little bit about Abs. When we first met her, she was about 4 or 5. Holly was the same age, and I was two years older than them and Sarah two years older than me. Sarah and Holly and I loved our dolls and especially loved playing with Barbies. We met Abby, and were surprised to find out she had no dolls or Barbies that she really played with. Nope, Abby played with dinosaurs and sea creatures. She loved stuffed animals too, especially her Beanie Baby platypus, Platy. [One of my favorite Abby stories is when she was like 2 she had a giraffe that she cleverly named "Yellow Bright Orange"...so cute!]. Abs always the creative one and came up with the best games. She often acted as peace maker between the sisters. 

And now she's graduating high school, having participated in a number of extra-curricular activities (especially drama and various choruses) while keeping good grades and also having a plethora of things to balance on top of all of that - friends, boyfriend, two families (her mom, stepdad, and half sister live in the next town), and a job. She and two of her closest friends chose to sing together and separately for various places such as nursing homes for their senior project (lucky for us, they made a cd of their songs!). Next year she's attending Fairfield University in Connecticut. 

Here are some pictures from her graduation:

Me with the grad!!!

The fam bam: Me, Sarah, Abby, Holly, my mom, James

love my mom!

Right before Abby left to take pictures with her mom and family, James was like "Group shot! Everybody in" so my mom, me, Sarah, James, Abby, Holly, and our friend/honorary sister squished in.

After Ab left to take pics with her mom, we got a couple more pics!

love them :D

After graduation and the following reception, there was time for everyone to go home, which allowed the seniors to be able to change into normal clothes and meet back at the school where they'd soon embark on "project grad", their grad night. Before they leave for grad night each year, they load on buses and are paraded down Main Street escorted by police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks, all driving slowly and baring their sirens and flashing their lights. We live on Main Street so we get to watch as the parade goes down and cheer and wave. We had a bunch of people over, including the family of another graduate, Brianna Thurston. We all waved signs and yelled our loudest and some people even had trumpets or other instruments they played. During the whole parade, the seniors lean out the bus windows to wave at everyone they pass. It's a loud, insane time and it's really fun! Such a small town thing and I love it!

Here's Flynnie and I holding our signs right before the parade

Sarah, Chynna and I holding our signs.

All in all, yesterday was an amazing day. I'm sad all our graduations are over. We had one in '07, '09, '10, and '11. But soon we start with the college ones! We are planning to have college graduations in '12, '13, '14, and '15. In case you didn't notice, from 09 through 15, we have a graduation every year. Crazy! But I love it!