Finishing A Chapter and Starting a New One

Justus’s 8th grade graduation night couldn’t have been more special. Along with 50 other students, he received a certificate of completion for his junior high studies when he participated in our state’s homeschool graduation ceremony which is sponsored by Arizona Families for Home Education.

There was some amazing musical talent that night on the piano as well as vocalists. Hal & Melanie Young gave the commencement address and talked to the graduates about “Stepping Up to the Plate” and how they are moving out of childhood and becoming young men and women and what this should look like.

Justus receiving his certificate of completion.

We all stood and gave him quite a cheer when his name was announced! The loudest one in the house I think. 🙂

After the ceremony, we all went back to the hotel to a suite we had rented for this night. The hotel had made a mistake and gave us a nicer room than we had paid for. Our bedroom was connected to the hospitality room and so it all worked out very nice!

(taken before the ceremony)

An elevator full arriving…

I was all about easy for this event.

Desserts… and simple ones at that.

Desserts were:

Lemon Bars by Pioneer Woman

Pirouette Cookies by Pepperidge Farm

Rice Krispie Treats

Cupcakes from a cake mix(!) with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Rainbow fruit skewers made with fresh fruit

Apple slices with Salted Caramel

The pirouette cookies had a little piece of red twizzler licorice tied around them to resemble a diploma.

The pennant flags were purchased at Hobby Lobby and we wrote on them with a silver pen the year 2016.

Rainbow fruit skewers and apple slices with salted caramel dip.

It was so special to have this great group of young people come to celebrate Justus’s achievement.

Audrey wanted to make this candy card for Justus, so Serenity helped her put it together. So fun!

It reads:

Congratulations BIG RED on your WHATCHAMACALLIT. You’ve proven you’re not a DUM DUM or an AIR HEAD. You’re a SMARTIE. Your future is up2u. We hope you study hard so you can SKOR a PAYDAY between ZERO & 100,000. Don’t let it slip between your BUTTERFINGER. Avoid thinking you are a LIFE SAVER because sometimes you’re a NERD. TAKE 5 & enjoy your summer. Get ready to work EXTRA hard & CRUNCH some numbers. You can count on us if you ever hit a SOUR PATCH. Always be the SWEET HEART you are ♥. We love you to PIECES.

If you want to make one of these the best place to go shopping, I found, was a convenience market. They carried almost everything whereas Wal-Mart had only a few of the candy bars that could be purchased individually.

Unfortunately, two of my boys weren’t able to join us. 🙁

We are the happy parents of this 8th grade graduate!

There were even some great fireworks that night… only because every time the Arizona Diamondbacks play on their home soil, fireworks are always set off after the game. But we enjoyed them from our balcony.

A downtown Phoenix view from our hotel…

And another one now starts his high school journey.