why we stay

Tonight we had all of the seniors over for "backwards breakfast." We did it last year with Kevin's Algebra 2 class. Most of those students are now in his Consumer Math class, but we extended the invitation to invite all of the seniors, as there are only a few who are not in that class.

I made two 9"x13" casseroles, one being Creme Brulee French Toast (from a friend in college) and the other an egg casserole that I just made up with what I had on hand. (Kacie, you would be so proud! I have made enough of these casseroles that I figured I knew how to make it work. And it did!) I also made 7 pounds of hash browns, 4 pounds of fruit salad, 2 pounds of bacon, and several dozen muffins. And there are only 3 muffins left out of all of that. I thought I had enough food, but apparently there is no such thing as "enough" with high school students. (And I don't mean that as a negative thing at all, just laughing that I thought there would be leftovers. Ha! But I'm glad they ate it all up. Just wish now that I would have made more!)

We had such a nice time hanging out after they all ate, too. I thought they would be anxious to leave after eating, and maybe they didn't want to appear rude by eating and running. But they stayed for awhile, and we had a great time chatting and watching Seth and Kate entertain us.


It was another reminder to me of why we are staying. We love these kids. This senior class will be hard to say goodbye to because they are the first class we have seen all the way through high school. They were just freshmen when we moved here, and now they are graduating. Kevin and I commented tonight just how wonderful this class is and how much we enjoy hanging out with them.

And if you need proof to know just how great they are, here you go:

I went into the kitchen tonight after they all left to clean up, and THEY HAD ALREADY DONE IT ALL! My kitchen was completely clean! Seriously, that is not normal for high schoolers, is it? They can come over whenever they want! :)

Another blessing of tonight was being able to do what I like to do. I said before that I love being home and put my family first so often and feel guilty about that. But we do have people over, and that is something I enjoy doing. It was great to have these students over for food and hanging out. I cooked all day in my home with my kids around and got to share it with others. Win, win. :)

I did take some more pictures, but they just didn't turn out because of our camera. Maybe this summer we can get a new camera, along with the gazillion other things we have to get. Anyway, I thought the sword fighting picture with Seth and Janie was cute!