A Busy Month for Bradley

The past few weeks have been full of award ceremonies, dinners, and events for Bradley to acknowledge his academic achievements. I figured I would group the events together in one post!

For his senior class night, the school provided a dinner just for the seniors, then we met with him after for an awards ceremony. He was chosen for an Engineering Scholarship from the local library!

With the beautiful weather we got out on a day off of school with the boys for a picnic lunch by our favorite waterfall.

The county invited us to a special awards dinner for the top 10 students of each school district in Orleans county. They took some nice photos of the group, and we had a delicious dinner. We got to chat with his principal who was seated with us at our table. After dinner they announced each student and their accomplishments, and gave each one a certificate and a medal.

 

The grand finale was last Friday the 26th, which also happened to be his 17th birthday!! I made him a special dinner and a chocolate cake before we headed off to his high school for graduation.

Look at this handsome young man. His tassel, cords, and medal are signifying his Top 10, high GPA, National Honor Society, and GCC graduate. He also got a certificate from the NY state Senate congratulating him on his simultaneous graduation of high school and community college. Wow!

His high school diploma is a Regents Honor diploma with Mastery of Mathematics. So proud of this boy!

His birthday/graduation present is coming up in a couple more weeks! We also did a short weekend backpacking trip recently which will be my next post.

My College Graduate

My 16 year old is officially the proud new owner of an Associate degree!! A whole month before he finishes high school (a year early mind you) he walked the stage for his diploma from Genesee Community College and was acknowledged for Honors and dual enrollment.

We are beyond proud of him! 

In true proud parent fashion, I planned a big party for him afterwards. We had friends and family drive in from all over including out of state to celebrate with him. I am very thankful for the kindness and generosity everyone showed just by showing up to support him!

I made things of good foods, all approved by Brad himself. Strawberry filled cupcakes, fruit and chocolate board, cheese ball, charcuterie tray, veggie tray, ham cheese sliders, BBQ Smokies, deviled eggs, and punch.

This is a bowl that Brad handmade in art class a couple of years ago!

This is Brad's great Uncle Gary and Aunt Jocelyn who drove from Connecticut just to see him!

His one remaining high school class is winding down and finishes in about 3 weeks. Then high school graduation is June 26 on his 17th birthday! This summer will fly by and then my little bird leaves the nest.

Catching up and Christmas

These last couple of months have been filled with school activities and prepping for the holiday season! Bradley is in many clubs at school for his senior year, and at their "Senior Tea" he had an art display with a few of his projects. He received a certificate noting his accomplishment!

For one of his classes he had to turn in an essay, so of course he brought out his typewriter for some vintage style.

We all enjoyed a breakfast with Santa at a small place in a nearby town. You're never too old for Christmas cheer!

The house has been very festive with the traditional village on the mantel and our tree in the window.

With the Student Council Brad assisted with a blood drive, then donated blood as well for the first time!

Jacob received perfect attendance for the first semester!

The boys enjoyed their annual trip to the school's holiday craft night. They didn't make any crafts this year haha, however they did enjoy hot cocoa and decorating cookies that they promptly ate.

Brad let the little kids throw rings at his antlers. He's still a little kid at heart.

As we were leaving we caught the gingerbread man coming in!

Jacob also got 3rd place in his Geography Bowl competition.

For Christmas Eve after dinner we packed up and headed out to a charming light display in a neighboring town. Unfortunately we had no snow on the ground for Christmas! But the lights were very nice.

Christmas morning with my boys was fun! First they got to open their stockings to see all of their treats.

Next we had homemade buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy for breakfast.

After breakfast we headed into the living room to organize the gifts then tear into them!

Even Cuddles got some gifts! He got a new food dish, some treats, and a couple of sweaters to keep warm on the chilly nights.

Now we're just relaxing while the kids are home on break before getting back into normal life next week.

As far as Brad's college update....unfortunately he was waitlisted for MIT and won't find out the final decision until March. He still has a pending application with RIT and expects to get into their Honors Program there--we will find out in late Jan. He has also decided to put in a last minute application for Stanford that is due next week. They also have a very competitive process and low acceptance rate, but we know whatever is meant to be will happen for him!