Maycember Continues...

A week ago Sunday was nuts-- we had church and ward council, and then I had a few minutes to eat something and grab a short nap, and then we headed to Kendra's band concert.  They were having an awards ceremony after the concert and had asked people to bring food but that sounded too mentally taxing, so I'd signed up to get there early and help with set up instead.  So we ran around putting table cloths on the cafeteria tables and then moving them around because the people in charge kept changing their minds about how many people would be showing up.  Then, the concert!

There's Kendra with her French horn

And oh wait-- she's got a flute, too?  This girl is nuts!

For the awards ceremony, Kendra got her cord and joined Tri-M (which is apparently like NHS for music nerds?  I hadn't ever heard of it before) so here they all are getting sworn in, and the next picture is Kendra with her buddy Harper!

And then as soon as the awards ceremony was done, we zipped over to the stake center in Waynesboro for seminary graduation!  Each of the seniors were asked to spend a minute sharing a scripture that had had an impact on them, so Bentley shared 2 Nephi 2:25-- Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy.  A nice short scripture with a huge impact, so I approved of that choice!  Bishops had to go up and help present their students with their certificate of completion, so when Bentley tried to shake Craig's hand, Craig just grabbed him into a big bear hug.  It was my favorite thing ever.  I was just bummed that I didn't take a picture of it. 

{Sidenote: when I was much younger, my family attended our friend Luke Hogan's Eagle Court of Honor.  As part of the ceremony his mom, Janine, pinned his eagle badge on his uniform and then he had to kiss her on the cheek.  Before it began, Janine passed out cameras to all five of us Bentley girls to make sure we caught the moment on film.  At the time I just thought Janine was eccentric.  Now that I have a prickly son who barely tolerates a side hug from me, I understand.  I get you, Janine!}

Topher, Bentley, and Kendra

I can't believe he's done with seminary!!!

The following Monday we took Adam to dinner to thank him for the senior portraits.  We usually go to Citizen Burger Bar (because, yes, this is a regular thing for us, thanks to all the amazing pictures he's taken of our family!), but one of Craig's teachers has a band that was playing at The Whiskey Jar, so we decided to head there and see if we could catch them.  So we got to enjoy live music on a beautiful evening out!  (The only downside was that it was too loud to talk at all.  Although that seems to be a problem at most restaurants these days, live music or no...)

Anyway, the funniest part of the evening was just when Adam showed up and he and Craig were wearing practically the same outfit.  I tried to capture it for posterity, but the white balance must have been off on my phone, because it doesn't look the same at all in the picture.  But trust me-- their shirts were almost the exact same shade of green!!!

And then the next day was... {sniff}...  Bentley's last day of public education ever!!!

His jerk AP chemistry teacher decided to give a final on the last class of the day, so poor Bentley kind of went out with a whimper, but as you can see, he was awfully happy to be done!

Thursday was Kendra's year-end choir concert!  

They were told to wear spring colors, so Kendra chose her Hawaii dress from Grandma and Grandpa-- she looked so pretty!

Camille's class had an awards ceremony and she won the "Kind Hearted" award, which was very sweet!  (And it was nice that both Craig and I were able to make it!)

Friday morning Kendra got to go with the Rawlins, Blacks, and Megan (Huff) to high tea at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.  I wish I could have gone, too, but I had to take Bentley for a consultation on his wisdom teeth, and didn't think I should miss that.  It looked like they had a great time, though!

I had a considerably less fun time with Bentley.  I decided we would take his car, rather than blowing through gas driving across town in the van.  Craig had mentioned that he thought the AC in the Honda wasn't working very well, but when we were driving home, it completely stopped.  As in, it was blowing hot air on us.  And it was already a hot day!  That was bad enough, but THEN there was an accident involving a fuel tank right at our exit, so we were stuck in our black car, not moving, in the heat, for quite a while before I figured out that we were never going to get there.  So I finally got out of that line and drove all over the place in the wackiest way ever to get home.  We made it.  But we were dying from the heat.

But there was no time to rest because I was expecting all the Young Women and leaders in just a few minutes because...  the YWs were having a slumber party at my house!  

I would like to explain-- it was originally supposed to be a camp-out, but then the location we were planning on (a farm owned by members in our ward who are always very generous about letting us use their land for camping and for Pioneer Day activities and such) didn't have bathrooms!!!  😖 And then the forecast called for thunder showers and we decided two strikes and camping was out!  My basement was roughing it enough!  (And, actually, a bunch of the girls decided to sleep outside on the trampoline, so that's outdoors, at least!)

l-r: Lilyann, Ember (hidden), Violet, McKinley, Kendra, Ella, Liberty

(Same group, but from Megan's camera)

Teagan, Sabrina, Marianne, Ember

So that was a lot of fun, but not much sleeping!  Which was fine, except Kendra, Ella, and I were working for Adam that afternoon, so running around all evening on so little sleep was probably not the best planning on my part.  Oh, well, we survived.  (And it was another Jewish wedding, so I got to watch everyone dancing the hora again!  Also, the food was delicious!). Apparently I didn't take any pictures of the wedding, but trust me, it was lovely!

And after church on Sunday, there was a baptism!  We were supposed to have had a munch and mingle, but this was probably even better-- still good food, but I didn't have to bring anything!  And my kids got to feel the Spirit and hang out with their friends!

Although he assures me they're just sharing music on their phones, it looks like Topher and Bentley are comparing their hair, which will come in to play later on...  I'm sticking to my version here!

And now looking not at all like they just got busted

On Tuesday, the Young Men were meeting at the Snow's farm to work on building trebuchets (which, as Craig explained to me at length, are NOT the same thing as catapults).  

And then, once they had had enough of that...

Topher, as a graduation gift to Bentley...

Let him buzz off his hair!!!

Bentley had absolutely no idea what he was doing...  I can't believe Topher trusted him to do this!

Craig was Facetiming with Kendra the whole time, so all the Young Women (who were at the church) were watching the show!

By the time they were done, Topher looked like a completely different kid!

Bentley, Topher, and Eli

It was a wild evening!  And Megan is still talking to me! 😅  (Actually, she was quite relieved since Topher's hair had been getting so long!)  And Angela, who actually knows how to cut hair, trimmed it up and fixed all the mistakes the next day.

All that, and we're still not even close to being done with May...