no more middle school, a type-A lets loose, and little brother goes off to camp

friday was the last day of school for our 2 big boys. luke wasn't going to be doing much at school other than the 8th grade graduation and the bucs auction but that was enough to get him there. blake had another final or two. i was in the kitchen when he came down the stairs after getting dressed but i heard him say to greg, " before you say anything..."...seems he and some of his friends had decided to wear swim trunks and "shirts that don't match" on the last day of school. if you know blake, you know it's a big deal for him to do something kind of "out there" and especially to wear clothes that don't match. i thought that was kind of fun! max was up to tell them goodbye and to get ready to leave for camp. blake and luke were all over him telling him they were going to miss him. he ate it up. once they were off to school, it was off to church camp with max. just a weekend camp still for him at this point but he absolutely loves it and will take any time he can get there. kim and johnna were taking them again this year. once all the business was taken care of, and the kids and all their stuff got packed into the van, off they went. greg and i then had a little time to kill so off to starbucks we went. next stop was the middle school for luke's 8th grade graduation. the kids line up and cross the stage one at a time and receive a folder with their certificates and awards. luke got several things in his folder but his favorite was one that his science teacher mrs. vanhorn had made for him. it's the one he's most proud of....the "it's in my locker" award. she said to me "it really is always in my locker.."..at least he's consistent. it was a brief ceremony - the students are divided up into teams and each team had their own ceremony time. there's not enough room for everyone in the same place anymore because of the construction of the new school. i considered this a perk in this instance. another little perk for luke is that he's able to call mrs. booth 'carla' again. she's one of our church family and this year has been his math teacher. he's had a hard time keeping straight what to call her where.

luke has been looking forward to this bucs auction since he figured out exactly how large a stash of pirate bucs he's accumulated. pirate bucs are an incentive award for the students for behavior/attendance/grades/various other things. he ended up with a substantial amount. the bucs auction is what they have at the end of the year for the kids to spend their pirate bucs. i'm not sure what all they have for them to bid on, but our boys usually end up with tons of pirate bucs and still come home with dinky things like slip-n-slides or nascar beach towels or necklaces (don't ask) or ball caps. this year luke had a plan. as a matter of fact, he sort of slipped into an alternate reality because it wasn't even "IF", it was "this is how it's gonna happen". fortunately (for us all) God allowed it to unfold exactly as luke had envisioned. it was going to be ugly if it hadn't. luke was going to get a big-ticket item and it was going to be a musical instrument. it was going to be from rt. 60 music. he was going to go to rt. 60 immediately after school to trade that thing in. they were going to give him big bucks for his trade-in and he was going to buy the 5 string bass he's been eyeing/caressing/dreaming of for the past several months. maybe it showed a tremendous lack of faith on our parts, but greg and i stressed out a little all day hoping hoping hoping that he wouldn't come home with another beach towel he bought for 17,000 pirate bucs. toward time for school to be out he called and asked greg to come get him because he'd gotten something at the auction that he couldn't carry home on the bus. this was a very good sign. guess what? he got a banjo. guess what else? it was from rt. 60 music. he went immediately after school (well, after blake got home and gave luke the money he's been hiding for him so he wouldn't spend it) to rt. 60. they gave him big bucks for his trade-in. he bought the 5 string bass. this is one happy boy. gotta love it when a plan comes together.