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Coffee Talk: Graduation Edition

Happy Sunday, friends! We’re having a graduation party for C this afternoon, and I have a lot to do, so I’ll need to keep this Coffee Talk short and sweet.

Yes, our middle child graduated from high school this week. Her ceremony was on Thursday.

Since she went to a cyber charter school, they had the ceremony at a local hotel. It was different, in that we didn’t know any of the other families or the teachers, but I’m really glad they did an in-person ceremony anyway. We were allowed to have 4 guests at the ceremony, so the other kids went too. It was nice for C that they both could be there.

For anyone just catching up, C moved from our local public school system to a cyber charter school in 8th grade. She never liked school very much, not even in preschool. In elementary school, she would cry and fight us to get on the bus, and by middle school, she was begging to do cyber school.

There are a lot of options in Pennsylvania, so I started researching them. We ultimately decided to give it a try for the 8th grade, and if it didn’t work out, she could go back and start high school with the rest of her class. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Learning at home turned out to be much better for C. She could write her own schedule and work at her own pace, and she had enough other opportunities to socialize through our church and the neighborhood. It was still challenging in it own way, but the flexibility it provided was great for her. She’s been much happier since switching over, and it was cool to watch her grow and mature through the experience.

Here are a few more of her senior pictures. We had Alison come over one night to take them for us. C made both of those dresses, by the way!

Fortunately, because she was in a remote learning environment prior to Covid, that didn’t take much away from her high school experience. Of all three kids, she was the least effected by the pandemic, so that’s a silver lining, I guess!

It’s been a long road, and while I’m grateful and relieved to have this major milestone accomplished, it’s also a bittersweet time for this mama. Two down, one to go!

My dad is in town, and we’re having some friends and family over this afternoon to celebrate. I picked up her cake yesterday, along with a bunch of snacks and drinks, and we’re planning to order pizzas later on. It should be a fun day, but a long one.

I want to get out and run before it gets hot, and then we have church, and after that we’ll start decorating. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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57 Responses

  1. What a beautiful girl and such a talented seamstress! Is she thinking of going into fashion design? 👩🏼‍🎓

  2. Congratulations to Caroline! It’s pretty obvious she is gifted, especially in the sewing department 💖. I can only imagine the struggles you (she) faced. I wish that type of opportunity would’ve been available for my oldest daughter when she was in school. Enjoy your celebration!

  3. A big Congrats to Caroline! Such excitement and pride. Enjoy your celebration party today, the weather is awesome. Great photos and I love the family shot.

  4. Congratulations to Caroline! What beautiful pictures you have! I, too, was a seamstress and took advanced classes in school, even making a lined blazer at one point, and a lot of my clothes. I hope she keeps it up! Her dresses are beautiful and well-fitted. Enjoy your day of celebration!

  5. Congratulations! So exciting!
    I have been meaning to ask – what color nail polish are you wearing? The light, kind of white one.
    Enjoy the day!

  6. Congrats to Caroline! Such an exciting time in her life! Wishing her many blessings as she begins this next chapter!

  7. Please pass my Congratulations to Caroline! And best wishes for her as she starts her next journey. What beautiful dresses, wonderful that she has picked up sewing. It’s something that will serve her well the rest of her life! Enjoy the day!

  8. Congratulations to Caroline & best wishes for continued success in college. It is rare to hear that a teenager knows how to sew and clearly she sews well. Beautiful dresses & photos of her! I took many sewing classes, including tailoring. Overall, it is the one life skill that saved me the most money. From clothing repairs & alterations, Halloween costumes, on to window treatments, reupholstery, and most recently masks. Hundreds of masks for my grandkids & family. So, “yay” Caroline. She will do well. Enjoy your party. These are the times of your lives. Beautiful family pic.

  9. CONGRATULATIONS 🎉 to Caroline! It is great that cyber school was an option that met her needs and she still achieved the same goal. I hope that she will do as well in college. And her pictures and dresses look great! I know that the party will be fun this afternoon. At 8a it’s already 73 here with 81% humidity down here in south central Georgia. As the sun starts to shine it will feel even more yucky. Enjoy the day!

  10. Congratulations to Caroline! I hope she enjoys her party and I wish her well with her future. Wow, those dresses are very nice!
    It’s wonderful that everyone could attend her graduation and that you have a family picture, those are treasures.

  11. Please pass on my congratulations to Caroline! I can’t believe she’s graduated. I started following you when you were considering cyber schools. Time sure flies! Her dresses are beautiful and her sewing skills will come n very handy for the rest of her life. I hope she enjoys her special day today.

  12. Congratulations to you all! She is beautiful and talented! Definitely a bittersweet time. My second graduates this week So proud and excited for her but also already thinking about when she leaves for school in the fall. It will be very different with only one at home. Have a great time celebrating today!

  13. Congratulations to Caroline! Enjoy your party. We just had my daughters grad party yesterday. It was great but definitely wiped me out. I’ll be spending my day floating in the pool to recuperate. 😎

  14. Congrats Caroline! Hope you guys have a great day. My youngest graduates at the end of the month and because we are in Canada he has a drive through grad. At least we will get to celebrate his birthday in July as things should be opened up by then.

  15. What an impressive young lady !
    Her dresses are beautiful too . Everyone has their own style of learning , glad you found hers and she’s thriving .. how beautiful ❤️

  16. Congratulations to Caroline! I love hearing about kids/families who forge their own path. Lovely photos also!

  17. Congratulations to Caroline, and to you and Paul as well! I think she was just about to begin her charter school when I started following your blog, so I feel like I’ve watched her grow up. Can’t wait to see the great things this talented young woman will do with her future!

  18. Congratulations to Caroline! Clearly she has many talents and sewing is one of them. Enjoy the graduation party.

  19. I know Caroline is quite a baker and she made those two dresses! Wow she is really talented. This child will find her way in her own quiet style. Congrats to her and you and Paul!

  20. Congrats to Caroline! I hope she enjoys today’s celebration and relishes in her accomplishments. Cheers to her!

  21. Wow!!! She made those dresses? They are so cute and well done. She looks great in her graduation pictures and your family one is great too. Cute dress you choose. Please tell her how impressed I am on her sewing. Is she planning to go into something for designing etc in college? I’ve told you before that I admire how you’ve allowed your children to learn best in the way they need too. I often think back and think if back in my day there would have been the option Caroline did for schooling it would have been good for me too. I was a homebody and got anxiety each year going to school. Can’t really pin point why, but didn’t like school and lived for weekends, snow days, vacations etc….. sad but true. Caroline should be proud for graduating her way as many do now. I believe college is changing this direction too. Look forward to hearing how she likes college. Enjoy your celebrating party with friends and family. You seem to have entertaining down to a science.

  22. Congratulations to Caroline! As you said: two down, one to go. It is a bittersweet time. The days are long but the years go fast. Have fun this afternoon and evening celebrating her grad with family and friends. Thanks for sharing pics of her grad and her dresses. She sure is talented!

  23. Congratulations to Caroline! I think I found your blog about the time she was starting cyber school. And now she’s graduating. How time flies! Her dresses are beautiful. What talent! Enjoy the day celebrating!

  24. Congratulations to Caroline! School choice is definitely a good thing and it’s here to stay (especially since so much has changed due to the pandemic). Not every kid learns best in the traditional classroom with all its distractions and peer pressure. Good for her! 🌸 I’m so impressed with her sewing skills (it’s a goal of mine to make a skirt or dress this summer…I try to learn something new every year and that’s on my list!) What kind of sewing machine does she use? Enjoy your day celebrating your girl!

  25. Congratulations Caroline! Your dresses look fabulous and you look great in them.
    Best of luck for your College years!

  26. Happy Graduation!!!
    She has much to be proud of …I
    Remember when you made the decision!
    I hope she will pursue fashion …lol
    She certainly has a talent for sewing!!
    All of the pictures are beautiful.

  27. Congratulations to Caroline! So proud of her accomplishment and for knowing herself and her path. That’s huge at any age but especially in one so young. Hew dresses are beautiful!

  28. Congratulations to Caroline 🙌🏻🙌🏻! Sounds like perfect timing to be able to have her graduation. What a talented seamstress. We are having a small dinner out this week( outdoor dining only right now and it’s still going to be in the 90’s) to celebrate our sons university graduation! Time sure does fly.. by the way thank you for including us Canadian followers in your blog yesterday on the upcoming dates for the Nordstrom sale. Is there any way you get credit for our purchases? Enjoy your day💕

  29. So happy for Caroline, and I so admire her drive to be true to herself and blaze her own path to graduation. Knowing herself so well will carry her far. Hope y’all are having a great party!

  30. Congratulations to Caroline🎈May all of her dreams come true ! I love both of her dresses.

  31. Congrats to Caroline & to you as well. I’m so glad you could have a graduation event & a party. Those milestones truly need to be acknowledged.

    Hope the day has been wonderful.

  32. Congratulations!! I found my children’s High School graduations to be a plethora of emotions….🤩 what a talented girl to make those dresses, they are both very pretty 😍

  33. Congratulations to your daughter, Caroline. The dresses she made are beautiful. I wish I had that talent. I can not even hem a pair of pants, LOL. I keep a tailor in a job, I guess.
    Enjoy your family celebration.

  34. Congrats to your and your girl. I’m thrilled to see how she has thrived in the cyber school. I remember the transition and I’m so glad it has suited her so well. Her dresses are great – what talent.

  35. Congratulations to Caroline. And also to you. She sure is talented, those dresses are great.

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