We are so very proud of our daughter Marcella as you can imagine. A girl who always worked so hard throughout grade school and high school has finally graduated as one of 5 valedictorians.
Just before graduations, there was a couple last school related functions to attend. Below are photos from those as well as graduation. One was for Elks student of the month which this banquet isn't held till the end of school year for all students that was a student of the month. It was a really nice banquet. The other was scholarships and awards night. We had no idea what to expect but Marcella's name kept getting called up and she received tons of scholarships and awards. We were ecstatic of course. Finally, Marcella gave a most wonderful speech at graduation.
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Much has happened in our lives since the beginning of the year but I'm trying to catch up. This was our daughter's Farewell Speech as a senior speech team member. Many cried, even my husband. I've also included some photos. Marcella received the most points again this year and a trophy. Her name is also on two plaques that will hang at school. Marcella has been on the speech team all four years of high school. I've been so excited for this senior speech since my freshman year banquet, but I realize now it came way too quickly and it’s not nearly as easy as I’d hoped. I literally have a note on my phone with a couple ideas I’ve had in my head for this dating as far back as February 14 of this year. Firstly I’d like to talk about what it means to be in speech. To be in speech you have to be motivated determined, open-minded (for criticism purposes), and ready to allow your coaches and fellow speechies to change your life. -When you are even slightly motivated, it can become a domino effect from there and your possibilities for achievement will be seemingly endless. -Your determination to succeed for not only yourself but for your team as well is what gives you the leg up from those who only go so far as to have the minimum motivation. -Being open-minded is incredibly important in order to improve your performance; it is also very useful in your encounters just being a part of the speech team that help shape who you are as an individual. -Giving someone the power to change your life—even if it is in the slightest way possible—is super intense. Some people won’t let this occur during their speech team experience but I wholeheartedly believe without this element, I would not be where I am now. The list of memories I’m going to miss is too long and I’m sure there are some I’ll forget and some that are just too personal and special between me and others to mention publically. For those I will mention, I can’t believe I won’t be able to bond every tournament with team members talking about anything from speech boyfriends to judging the attire of girls from other schools and saying, “Oh McQuiggan would not even let her on the bus.” Or yelling “The South will rise again!” though that probably sounds horrible to just about anybody else, singing the Spice Girls while waiting for awards,, or not believing that we could achieve such great team sweeps success. Before I really lose it I’d like to give you speechies some advice I have learned while being a part of this family: 1) Confidence is key. It really can make a difference for your performance. 2) Take pictures! I regret not having enough memories captured over my 4 years on this team. 3) Meet deadlines. I’ve been guilty of failing to do so and if you can just get your work done, the stress will subside much quicker. 4) Actually practice after school. Just hanging out is fun & okay in moderation, but if you utilize your practice time, you will accomplish more than you thought you could. 5) Don’t let McQuiggan scare you. She isn’t too intimidating once you get comfortable around her. She just doesn’t like flaky people or liars. Avoid being either one of those and you’re good. Also, don’t let Marin fool you—she’s sweet the majority of the time but I’ve seen her angry and it’s scarier than McQuiggan on a bad day. 6) Don’t let the outcome of breaks or any place in finals define you. Successful speechies can fail and those and those that see less time on stage can amaze you. 7) Please don’t take your time on this team for granted. When it gets too much to handle, persevere a little bit longer. You will find no other experience like the one that comes with Speech. Treasure it. And 8) If not for yourselves, do it for me: sing the school fight song on the way home from every tournament with all the pride you can muster, no matter how exhausted you are. Now comes the hard part: thank yous and goodbyes. To my entire team: thank you for always being supportive and so much fun to be around. Whether I’ve told you individually or not – I love you each and every one of you. You have helped give me one of the best gifts by being my family, my team, and my home. I’m staying local the next two years for college, so I’d be happy to help any of you next season & hope I can come back & judge. I love you guys and have a great next season. Push yourselves & you will go far. To Wesley: Thank you for helping coach me, remaining fairly patient with me when I am hard to handle, and being so supportive. You are an awesome part of this team. I don’t know what Ben and I would have done without your help when we were partners, or what I would’ve done in oratory or info with you trying so hard to get me to not be a speech—bot. Thank you so much for the awesome motivational CD and for entertaining the entire team. I’m going to miss you so much. Ms. Marin: Where would I be without your genius work for intros and original speeches. You’ve always been able to come up with perfect intros for anybody’s piece within 20 minutes and you possess the incredible ability to condense a whole 5 sentences of mine into 1; I’m not sure how but it amazes me every time. I’ll miss you always being so sweet, except when you really need to lay it down on some people. I still remember doing my prose for you my freshman year and you told me after you teared up a bit. That made me so happy and gave me that much more motivation for the rest of the year and beyond. I love you, I’ll miss you, and I’m sure I’ll see you next season one way or another. Finally, Mrs. McQuiggan: Where do I even being? You’ve been like a second mother to me since my freshman year. You saw my first kiss (which was totally unexpected for me too), encouraged me back to the speech team with a tearful talk when I almost quit my sophomore year, and stayed after school until 8 p.m. on more than once occasion to ensure I had a completed speech. I’m going to miss all the hours I spent in your room practicing, getting your help with other school stuff, or oftentimes just talking about anything and everything. You have helped me with college applications that I would not have finished had it not been for your assistance, and your guidance these last few stressful weeks of high school has been much appreciated. Your hugs are a rarity, but they’re filled with so much love that just one can help heal for a long time – from the congratulatory one at state my junior year when I broke into finals, the one when you made me stress cry in your classroom, or the “you didn’t get as far as we wanted but it is sushi and I’m still proud of you for all that you’ve accomplished” one this season at state. Speaking of, I will never be able to express my gratitude for all of the time and effort you have put into me and my radio career. There is no way, no matter how talented I may or may not be; absolutely no way I could have ever been as successful as I was these past 4 years without your help. You have taught me that perfection isn’t always worth the stress and to believe in myself always no matter what. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you in the same building as me every day, always ready to help me out with whatever. I know I’m staying here for at least 2 more years and I’m sure I’ll be back to judge or to help coach if you need an extra body, but this is still going to feel like goodbye no matter what. So I want to make sure I tell you how grateful I am to have such an amazing woman in my life, how much I’ll miss you (an indescribable amount), and how you’ll always have a place in my heart. I love you Mrs. McQuiggan, thank you for everything. Speechies, two more things to leave you with. You should always keep in mind what our wonderful head coach has told us time and time again: Speech is not a sprint, it’s a marathon & Speech is sushi. I love you all very much, thank you. I can't believe it's 2015 as I don't know where 2014 went. Tons of things went on this past year. In January we had Snowmageddon... In February, Marcella turned 17! She also went to varsity state for speech and was the only Jr. to make it to the awards for Radio speaking! She received 6th place. She won 1st, 2nd & 3rd throughout the speech season though. She also became Rotary Club student of the month. In March Matt became Worshipful Master at the Masonic Lodge. Our daughters Ashley and Amber had a birthday! They turned the big 26! In April, I attended a huge photography workshop at Union Station in St. Louis, MO. It was awesome but wore me out for days. Marcella was accepted into the National Honor Society. Megan's cat Moe somehow managed to get on the roof of our house. Took hours to get her down. Stayed up to catch the blood moon. Tess Boyer came to our high school during the Talent Show which Marcella was MC for. We had Easter at Matt's dads and Teta Megan and Teta Ashley loved on Drayden. And there was PROM! There was a lot going on in April. Then came May. Marcella was MC again for May Carousel. She participated in Job Shadow where she went to CBS Radio / KMOX in downtown St. Louis, MO for the day. Marcella was chosen by the (teacher) head of student council to speak at the Illinois State Police press event on safe driving. Here is the link to that. She also had her school speech awards banquet where she will have a plaque with her photo and name on the wall at school for devotion to her speech time at school and team. She also had the highest earned points in speech. In June, I happily took my oldest daughter Ashley's engagement photos. :) here are a few. I also took one adorable photo of Drayden. July was awesome! I was in my first fine art exhibit in Orlando, FL. While we were down there, we went to Universal Orlando because we all love Harry Potter and then finally on our last day there, we took a small road trip to Cocoa Beach, FL. to see the Atlantic. Loved every min. of it. I felt like a little kid. :) Here is the image that was on display and some of the highlights from our trip. Like a week after our trip, we headed to Mckendree University as Marcella was nominated for the Youth Salute Award. A photographer in Belleville, IL takes all the kids photos and they go up for a short while at our local mall. We bought this one of course, it is her senior year! :) August came around and it was time for Marcella to become a Senior! And wouldn't you know...this years theme was Harry Potter! :D She entered high school as 2nd VP of student council. This is the 4th year of her doing announcements at school and 2nd year doing the pledge every morning. So she is on student council, speech team, Renaissance, National Honor Society, Spirit Club, Varsity Club and Social Studies Club. As you can see she is very busy. lol September came and my daughter Megan turned 25! She started planning on moving out. Made me sad. You will see more of that down below. I caught the hot air balloon race this year. They actually flew over into Illinois which hasn't happened in many years. Marcella was in a play in our towns local theater. She played the wife Elaine Harper in Arsenic and Old Lace. She did an awesome job! We are suppose to get a dvd of it at some point. I can't wait! Now for October. We found out that Marcella was voted to be on the Homecoming Court which meant dress shopping! Busy month for school stuff for sure. All Homecoming week was crazy busy. Court, Dance, Powder Puff game which she played in and the Seniors won! BTW, Marcella isn't even 5 foot. HA! Daily dress up themes and the parade. SHEW! Also, Drayden turned one year old! Here are a few shots of Drayden I took for his one year birthday! Also in Oct. Me and Matt celebrated 20 years of marriage! whoohoo! Can't believe it's been that long. Time goes by really fast. The very beginning of November was very sad for me. I'm starting to feel the empty nest syndrome. Even though Marcella is still here it won't be for much longer as she will go away to college. My Megan moved to Chicago to live with her boyfriend who is now a Chicago firefighter. She did come home for a visit on Thanksgiving and then New Years Eve. I cried like a baby. I also had to say goodbye to Willow. :( I don't dare post the photo of me crying that Matt took. Just before Thanksgiving, I went to stay a week with my sister because of her surgery. Took care of her, the dogs and house and make sure her hubby ate. Thanksgiving... December, the last of 2014. I took photos, I baked and we bought a new Christmas tree. A skinny one so it would fit! Here is the last bit of images for Dec. Happy New Year! Let's see what 2015 brings!
Marcella will play the part of Elaine Harper in the play Arsenic and Old Lace, September 26th through the 28th at Alfresco Art Center. Tickets are available online or at the door. I will be going and taking photos of the cast on stage soon during their rehearsals.
Alfresco Productions Link It's Marcella's senior year and she made homecoming court! She found her perfect dress for this. Here it is without the 4 ring hoop. Will post other photos after Homecoming.
Marcella will attend her 3rd speech meet of the season this Saturday! She's all Varsity this year. She has won JV State 2 years in a row for Radio and she also placed well in her other categories the last 2 years. She breaks Varsity all the time so this is good! This year she adds Oratory along with Radio. Her Oratory speech is based on positive thinking. I have yet to hear her do this one. I plan on taking video of her doing both so she can see what she looks like and sounds like. We are really hoping she makes it to compete at the Varsity state meet this year. She came so very close last year, I think missing it by just one place. So far she's placed 4th and 2nd on Radio. And broke varsity for Oratory but didn't place her first time at it. This weekend she will be at Belleville East School. Wish I could be a fly on the wall.
Debating on sending her to Virginia next summer to attend the Washington Journalism and Media Conference as she was nominated as a National Youth Correspondent, representing Illinois and Granite City High School. She is to meet with prominent journalists, leaders in the media, CEO's of the nation's top media companies, national media figures, and distinguished scholars. Also attend an inspiring private talk with TODAY show host Hoda Kotb. :) Pretty cool right? I've always wanted to go see that part of the country so I'm wanting Matt and I to take a road trip at this time so she could attend this. It lasts for 6 days. Will let you know what happens with that. On October 10, 2013, Amber gave birth to a baby boy named Drayden Matthew. Which makes Matt and I grandparents for the first time! After the four girls...a boy is going to be quite a change. :) Here are some of the images I have taken since he was born. I'm crossing my fingers that I will be able to blog once a week at least with what is going on with the family and recipes to share and whatever else I can think of to write about. :) Hope you enjoy and visit often!
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