Absolute May-hem !!

Being a teacher in May is terrible already.  Having a senior graduating, well that just puts things over the top!!   But... we (I) survived!   Here's how everything went down.....

In Early May, we hired a photographer to do a Senior photo shoot!  (We had been trying to get it done since the fall so we could use for graduation announcements, but we could not hook up with the mom of a former baseball teammate who does photography on the side 'til almost the end of his senior year!  

(She had a Senior too!)

Mercer chose the spot. He wanted it to be shot at a bridge that is about a 15 - 20 minute hike from the park entrance located at Kennesaw Mountain. We used to go hiking there (when the kids were younger and would still join us)!

He agreed to doing the photo shoot, but I don't think he felt that comfortable. She had him walk towards her - which was a good idea to help him relax.   

I like these "walking" shots the best. 

He picked out the hat and shirt when we were in Teas last summer.  

We had to get some boots along the way.

He likes the cowboy hat photo and "cartooned" himself in this pose.

He used some sort of "Simpsons" app?

He had 3 "outfit" changes.  These are the under-clothes (black tee and black jeans are in all of the photos above)... these were unplanned, but probably my favorite!

They are the "walking" photos again!  :)

She did this impromptu as an unplanned stop in a field we hiked past getting to the bridge.

And - a little more relaxed - should we photoshop the bird poop off of the bench?  haha!

He and Isabella had a photo shoot when they were little, but trying to get the two of them together these days is hard.  And - this was "his" day!  

That's a wrap!

Starting in early May and going all the way through to the end of the month, there were graduation parties to attend.

As a teacher, I get several requests to go to different events and generally decline. 

But - as a parent of a senior - there were "extra" invitations extended because many of these kids we've gotten to know over the years with activities through Mercer.  But, I didn't think that anyone wanted me (as a teacher) to go!  

I think that Mercer went to all of the parties he was invited to on his own. (And for those we were invited to together - he just went solo.)  We were glad to see him socializing and getting out!!  

One of the parents - of a baseball teammate - sent a photo of some of the teammates at this party above (one of the graduates finished my architecture program)  

A lot of these parties are big -- and are held for multiple kids because they have similar friend groups and are fairly elaborate (makes sense to share a venue / caterer / etc).  

We went a different route than what a lot of "May-retta" families did. We had a reunion from Mercer's old baseball teammates from little league as his "friends" party. Many of these boys played together from 4 - 14.

Most of the boys that were the core group of teammates graduated this May. Some were slightly younger and will be graduating next year.

I coordinated the party with another mom of senior(s) - she has twin boys!

Most of the boys who attended are in this "life-timers" photo -- something where the kids who started in T-ball and went all the way through 12u are awarded with a plaque.  (#12 - Blake - is the teammate that passed away during Covid and this is why they wore his number.) 

Blake's mom came to the party. He would be graduating in the class of 2027 - next year. I can imagine it's hard for her to come to stuff like this but we didn't want to "not" invite her.  While almost all of the boys were together, we had them sign something that will be given to her next May.  :(  

The other mom who co-hosted has twins graduating. She was super-involved in the league serving on the Board throughout their time at East Marietta and her husband had coached for most of those years. 

She had ALL of the connections and knew the history of all of the boys and the families that were at the party. I was keeping up with a little girl and didn't remember a lot of the people like Todd did - who also coached most of Mercer's time there. 

It was a lot of work, but we worked well together and are glad we did it!  It meant a lot to many of the families there. I know it meant a lot to Mercer.

We've kept in touch with about half of these kids / families, but it was good to see them all together.  (We were missing 1 Junior and 1 Senior - but it was a great turnout overall)

Players (includes Juniors and Seniors)

Coaches and players (includes Juniors and Seniors)

We asked the Seniors to bring their gowns (stole the idea from the MHS senior photo shoot!) 

We did go as a family to the graduation party of one of the baseball kids that we were really close to - a Senior who couldn't make it to the little league seniors get-together above.

The twins were at the little-league event, but the TALL guy in the middle was not!  Crazy - he shot up and Mercer has stayed the same height.

Here are some photos of Daniel & Daniella with our kids -- back in the day.

These two girls used to fight like sisters.... they were so close.

It was good to see them together again after not seeing them for several years.

Mercer (begrudgingly) and I had a caricature made.  

Izzy played with blocks and made amazing "Jenga" structures.

This is definitely one party that we're glad we went to!

We had a "formal" graduation party for Mercer -- inviting neighbors / former co-workers (our friends) + Mercer's buddy KJ was the only kid invited. The party was the weekend after graduation - at the end of May. 

It was the last party of the season (at least for us).  I had a custom tri-fold board made and loaded it up with photos (the row at the bottom were all of his "1st days of school"  I'll have to zoom in on those and add them here later!  There were baseball photos (of course) plus some of our other favorites.

We had stationary out and asked folks to write him a letter of advice or encouragement.

And we had custom cookies made too as the "take-away" item for the guests (in addition to dinner as a thank you for being a part of his village through the years!)

Love how they turned out -- and will use them again if we need cookies!

Mercer always asks to go to this restaurant when we have something to celebrate. The owners always dote on him / us. They have known our kids since they were babies so it seemed natural to have it there.

Neighbors talked to neighbors.

Architecture people talked to architecture people.

And this is an old friend who is an architecture person, but came to so many soup nights, got to know neighbors!  (and she was not "asking" for a hug from Mercer... she took it.  haha!)

Former CDH folks.

In addition to the parties, there were all sorts of Senior Celebration events leading up to graduation.  One event was at our church:

Seniors from high school and college were brought to the front of the church and prayed over. 

They also got a picture to hang up at home or in their dorm room that reminds them that they are loved and always a part of the church family.  (with an inscription from Paster Joe on the back)

Another event for the seniors were held at the various Marietta City elementary schools.... Seniors are encouraged to go back to their elementary schools as tradition.  Each school has different activities that they do to honor the seniors who came back one final time...

For those who went to Westside Elementary, there was a "pinning ceremony" and a slide show (although our school-related photos didn't make it into the show??)

I showed Mercer what I submitted so he didn't think I forgot!!  Hopefully he didn't feel left out??!!

I enjoyed looking through the yearbooks that they had stationed at the back of the room.

They got to "walk the halls" that were lined with cheering K-4th grade kids. (Isabella went to 2 elementary schools, so she will have the opportunity to go to both schools to do this.)

The 5th graders were waiting in the cafeteria to cheer on the Seniors are they walked in.  There was a Q&A + words of advice from the 12th graders to the 5th graders.

M is always standing in the back!  :)

And they took a photo out in front of the school's sign.

Later that same week, the graduation rehearsals began.... multiple days of practicing lining up and walking.  One of the days, he texts us:  "they just gave me this."  (which means that his GPA squeaked up just above 3.5 !! 

Attending all practice sessions are "required" to go in order to get the allotted number of graduation tickets.  They take this photo at the last rehearsal -- it's tradition.

And... the BIG DAY finally arrived !!

We got everything laid out.  The tassel is on his cap. 

The medal is for honors / academics.

One of the cords is for going to West Side (he kept it since 5th grade)! and the pin is for going to West Side.

One of the cords is for finishing a 3 year career pathway and passing his End of Pathway (Adobe) Exam.

The other cord - who knows??  He said one of the counselors gave it to him, but he didn't know why.  

Mercer left before we did.  (Normally, I would have to go early too and work at the event -- sitting on the field or walking around the stands, but I asked to just be a "parent" at this event instead. I had the opportunity to hand Mercer his diploma, but I wanted to sit in the stands with my family.  I didn't want Todd to experience this without family (obviously Isabella was there, but - we raised him... I thought we should experience the graduation together.)

We didn't have any family in town, so we invited a couple of neighbors who are like family and who are MHS alumni (from a long, long time ago!) :)  One of them came (Suzanne) - and we sat with another neighbor who also had a son graduating.  

It was raining beforehand, but cleared up just moments before the processional started!

We got a wave from him!  

I don't know the teacher is in the above photo, but she's tired.  Grades were due before graduation.  

(had to cut her out in an enlarged photo of the wave)  haha!

There were speeches before they called names of the graduates.

He crossed the stage.

 

Headed back to his seat to wait for the rest of his classmates to return before....

... they turn their tassels and toss their caps into the air!

Mercer holding his "gift card bear" that we got him (instead of flowers!) 

Charles - my former student / AIAS president stopped by for a photo with Mercer.  

And he actually posed for photos with us too!  (It's a miracle!)  

A mom who's been through this before told me that the graduates would be hungry & to feed Mercer before he had to leave.   I picked up take-out before he had to go early (no time to cook) and picked up a cake for afterwards.  

He literally ate a 1/4 of it!  haha!

We are definitely proud of him. He finished strong his last couple of years & we are excited for what is next for him!

I re-watched the recording of the live-stream and snapped some screen shots of Mercer crossing the stage.

The names aren't exactly synched up with the kid on the stage at the time.  His name was announced during the student progressing ahead of him...

And when he's on the screen, the person's name for who's behind him shows up under his picture.  


Oh well.

The following are photos from the "professionals" that were posted a week or so later to add to the ones that we took above.

One of my favorite photos of the evening (from a drone!)