Graduation Party

The Richardson's love a reason to get together. What better reason than to celebrate Tim's graduation and to see everyone before we pack up and move to Pennsylvania. That's just what we did. John and Reva offered to use their home as the party spot. We are so glad we had the space of their house to accommodate all our guests. I made a green and white banner to commemorate the event.





I've wanted a reason to make some tissue paper balls. So I added these to the decor.



The cake was done by professionals. It was delicious. Bake 'n Cake says it best: "Butter makes it better!"



We made pulled pork sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies, and of course, Skittles and Starbursts. The candy was a hit with the kids. Especially with Xavier. I think he ate at least 3 packages on his own. After seeing him with candy every time he'd run past me I told him he couldn't have any more. Thinking that was enough to stop him from his candy craze the day went on as normal........
......Until we had a bit of a scare. At one point all the boys were playing various sports outside. I wanted to go inside and talk with the girls so I told Tim to keep an eye on Xavier. About 5 minutes later Mary comes in the house asking if anyone had seen Xavier. I instantly went into a frantic search along with 20+ other adults. We searched every room in the house, we search the front yard, the backyard, and everywhere in between. Then I heard Reva tell a few people to head to the swamp. I didn't realize they had a swamp right across the street from their house. As soon as I heard that I immediately had thoughts of Xavier deciding to go fight dragons in the forest and falling into the swamp. My heart dropped and panic set in. I started heading for the swamp too. As I was walking down the driveway I turned my head toward our parked car. A red hat caught my eye. I opened the car door and saw Xavier sitting in the driver's seat, wearing the big red baseball helmet, and holding a pile of Starburst wrappers on his lap. As soon as his eyes caught mine he was shoveling Starbursts into his mouth as fast as he could. He thought he was in trouble for eating more candy. Under the circumstances I didn't know whether to shake him or hug him. All I could do was pull him out of the car, tell him how much he scared us, and give him a big hug. I felt instant relief and gratitude that my adventurous boy was not drowned in a swamp, but sneaking candy. I'm glad he had that red hat on too or I might not have seen him and the search would have continued. All I can say is the angels worked overtime that day to keep Xavier safe.

Friends and family drove from all over the state to share in this day! We definitely felt loved!