Baby Photos

 First day of School... ever

Group Photos

More shots from Dorito's Graduation!

Friends and Family

Many friends and relatives joined us this weekend to celebrate with Dorito. How special that all four grandparents could come to his recital or the open house! And many cousins! It is a wonderful feeling to share your happiness with those who are closest to you. Despite the windy/rainy weather, we had plenty of good food and fun conversations.
Here's the violin cake we served (Winger was my proud baking assistant).

Dorito received two memorable engineering gifts -- a dial caliper from a Ford Motor engineer and an antique drafting set from his Leonard grandparents. Treasures for many years!
There was also a pair of purple headphones, purple bath towels, and a purple KSU portfolio to help him enjoy the next few years!
Dorito made the rounds by talking to everyone all afternoon. It felt nice to see him laugh over lunch with several friends from Scouting (the most important times from high school). And he has become better friends with some of the homeschool seniors whom he hardly knew before this year. The "in crowd" might have left him out, but he rather enjoyed some of the others (who were also left out), and he was truly blessed by those friendships!

The programs from last night's violin recital were on the display table all day. And people wrote well wishes in the matching booklet. Like Mr Brown said (he was our emcee at the recital) music is a special gift of the heart. I've been truly lucky this weekend (after 16 years of homeschooling) to see the contented look on the faces of my children (who played beautifully together).

Graduation for Dorito

With a rose, diploma, hugs, and then
"K - S - U" on stage --
Dorito was graduated from homeschool!

Senior Violin Recital

What a lovely concert! (with a K-State bow tie) Dorito performed five songs from Suzuki Books 4-7, showing his span of music lessons in his high school years. Not many teens continue with music through high school, so we were especially proud of his efforts. Everyone enjoyed the four violin concertos plus the "Ave Maria." (That latter piece was a tear jerker.)

Then for the grand finale, he performed with his teacher (Nick Jarrett) and his twin brothers with a Vivaldi "Concerto for Four Violins." All three movements! Magnificent!!

Meggar was the accompanist for all the songs! She rushed home from college and did an amazing job. Dorito had very little rehearsal time with his sister, but she made every piece flow smoothly.

The setting was an historic 1880s church downtown, and the staff at First Christian were so accomodating and helpful to us. We hosted nearly 70 people for the reception afterwards. Catering done by Lesa's Company. I mean that Lesa and her family were company at my house and I put them to work prepping the food! We hired the cupcakes from a homeschool girl in five flavors: red velvet, lemon, coconut, key lime, and purple chocolate swirl for the future K-State student.

Awards Night at Vo-Tech

We were so proud of Dorito's recognition at the Hillyard Vocational-Technical School award ceremony. First he was honored for volunteering as an Ambassador (medal and shirt) during both years. Then he received a "Passport" award for high GPA and attendance. Next, he was named the Outstanding Student of the Year for the Electronics /Robotics course!! We were surprised that his teacher singled him out for this plaque from amongst 20 students in the morning and afternoon sessions.  The criterion were skills, attitude, and leadership. (He is happy that his picture will hang in the front trophy case all next year.)

Last of all, Dorito was awarded the "Ride for Ryan" Consolver Scholarship of $1,000. This was the second largest award he was eligible to apply for and a huge honor!

Finals Week

Dorito is studying hard with three college finals this week. His schedule is crammed along with the extra violin rehearsals and a graduation practice on the stage.