End of Year Craziness!

This time of year is always wild. Everything has to have a grand finale at the end of the school year and it keeps us hoppin'.


First there was Amelia's recital. We can't take flash pictures in the show - so I have nothing of that! And when I help out in the dressing rooms I can't remember to take good pics because it looks like this...

and this is only a fraction of the girls and stuff!


Someone else got this of Amelia during dress rehearsal...

And this one of a little backstage prayer before the opening number...

I did manage to get a few of Amelia backstage with friends...

and after the show with all her BFF supporters.

Doing this blog has made me realize the things I neglect when taking pictures - for instance I always get the kids and friends and never the grown ups and family. Next time I'll be sure to get Gangee, SuSu, and my friend Cindy who always shows up!

I don't know if it will work or if y'all can view it - but here is a video clip of two numbers from the recital. The first is a ballet dance - it's not one of their best - they don't do it all year long - it was just a number for the recital. If you have a hard time telling which one is Amelia - she is always dancing by herself. The second number was her favorite for the year. It was a contemporary lyrical and she loves that style. She is in the black dress. That one starts out kinda dark but it gets better. She is the feature dancer and sometimes goes in the opposite direction from the others - so the video guy loses her when she's off doing her own thing on the other side of the stage!

The family took a little break to take in a Lady Antebellum concert. They sold out two shows here in Augusta because the two guys in the group were born and raised here (or "reared" as Buddie would have said!) 

I know I have told everybody this 80 times already but I repeat it a lot because it makes me feel like I know somebody - the dark haired guy's grandparents live across the street from us! 

The road crew surprised them with a tribute from their high school band - it was cute!

We complain a lot about Len's job and all the travel but there is one perk - he works with the civic center folks a lot and we get great seats!

Next we had Ben's Show Choir Performance. They did a medley from the broadway show Hairspray, and they did a great job! The director was thrilled that she had so many guys this year with the guts to get out there and sing. That's his buddy Nick beside him and his other pal Rashad that got cut off to the left.

Ben even had a solo.

When it came time for the dancing parts he was always conveniently next to his squeeze!

Then of course there are awards days. You can't get good pictures of those unless you are one of those moms that follows them down the aisle and makes a fool of herself - and my kids will have no part of that. So here are the sad little pictures from their awards day - at least there is evidence that they got recognized!

Very excited Girls State representatives!

Ben and his cute little friends... next time I take a picture of them they'll all be high schoolers! Snif snif!

Over memorial day weekend Amelia had a work weekend for the Jr. Miss Pageant at Columbia College. She had a great time and liked all the girls. It gave me a little knot in my gut to see this picture of her in front of a dorm with a suitcase.

This was her roommate for the weekend. They got along fabulously! She was from Greenwood and wants to go to Clemson - future roomies?!

The whole gang!

While this was going on Len and I were at the beach with Ben for baseball, and as usual,  I got caught up in runs, hits and errors and forgot to take pictures. But have no fear! Ben was fortunate enough to be one of the small group of eighth graders that got asked to play high school summer ball with the junior varisty team. He'll be doing that all through the month of June so I'll be sure to post pictures of his first games in the high school arena!

Big Goin's On

One reason the name of this blog, "Carter House of Chaos", is so appropriate is that more often than not, all big events seem to fall on the same day at the same time. This past weekend it was Prom and Social. Amelia was one of the prom committee chairs which meant the whole family was on the prom committee! Hahaha. We had 17 ft Eiffel towers along with trellises and Parisian lamposts in our garage all week. Not to mention a whole bunch of high school juniors! Social is the etiquette/party manners/ballroom dance thing that, as corny as it may seem to the rest of the world, is the THING TO DO for 7th - 9th graders in Augusta and surrounding towns. So Ben had that going on in the midst of all the prom activity. This is why I look and feel 57 instead of 47.


There is a park by the river in North Augusta where everybody goes to take pictures before such events - so at least both kids were headed to the same place beforehand. Trouble is - between the million kids for prom and the million more for social - the lovely river background was sorta corrupted by tons of camera-totin' moms and dads. And of course we were running late - but we made it and it was still fun!


Ben with his buddy Nick Butler. Ben and Nick have been hard-core BFFs for as long as I can remember. His mom and dad are our good friends and both families consider the other boy to be like another son of their own. They used to be the only family Ben would leave us to go anywhere with. Nick is quite a trip. He is one of the few of Ben's friends that Amelia actually enjoys hanging out with! He is part stand up comedian, part politician (like his dad who we are sure is about to become our next mayor)!

Ben and his Social partner Katie. Katie and Nick are first cousins, their grandparent's yard backs up to ours, and Katie's mom is one of Amelia's favorite teachers at the high school. I'm glad North Augusta is still small-town enough that everyone feels kinda connected! 

I gave up years ago trying to take a photo that captures what it's like to see 2,000 teenagers on the floor of a civic center doing the waltz, foxtrot and shag in tuxedos and ballgowns. It's fun to watch but hard to get a picture of, especially since all the parents are up in the arena seats. Here are a couple attempts to get Ben dancing and having himself a good time!

This is Nick and Ben again with another friend, Jacob. I love this picture. They look like such little men.

Then there was prom!

Before Ben headed off to Social we got a shot of him with Amelia and Clay. 

There were so many people out there calling each other to come take a picture that I didn't know if I was coming or going - but I managed to get a cute one or two of Amelia and Clay by themselves. I think this is my favorite.

 Shelby and Kelly - two of Amelia's best friends.

Kelly is like Nick - an extended part of the family. A few weeks ago she brought over baby pictures and put them on our fridge. She said she was the only member of the family that wasn't already represented there!

Here are Clay, Amelia and Kelly with her prom date Russell. We all loved Russell until a week or so ago - when his ultra high SAT and ACT scores resulted in a personal invitation (IN HIS JUNIOR YEAR!) to attend Clemson. No application necessary! Now we hate him. Hahaha! There's Gangee and my friend Beth chatting it up in the background.

Amelia with more of her friends.

One of Kelly and Amelia's favorite pastimes is tormenting Jake. Jake is my friend Cindy's son. They have grown up together and back when Amelia took Social, he was her partner, so you've probably seen him in photos before! Bless his heart.

This was Amelia's dinner group - Kelly and Russell again along with another best bud of hers, Amy, and her date Conner. I tried to get them to go somewhere more elegant and exciting than Carrabba's - but they said FOOD was more important to them than FANCY, so I just shut up and let them do their thing! 

Well, it was chaotic and I'll never find that magic number of hours that we need to start getting ready ahead of time that actually gets us there without having a coronary- but it was still a good night! They both had a great time, so I guess that's all that matters!

Here goes....

After a year or two of coveting Elizabeth's blog and how it keeps us all feeling so connected to her - even across the pond - I have decided to take the plunge and try it myself. I have hesitated for quite a while because A) my kids are teenagers and don't have the Awwwwww factor of babies and toddlers, B) while I love living in North Augusta, we have no castles, cathedrals, quaint pubs or carnival parades to share, and C) since I don't even have a facebook, and am not really sure I know how to use the camera Len gave me 3 or 4 years ago - I have been afraid my little blog would pale by comparison! But, a lot seems to be happening around the Carter house with Ben starting high school and Amelia embarking on her senior year - so I decided if ever we were interesting enough to blog about - it's now! Elizabeth is going to have to coach me as I go because I have no idea what I'm doing, but maybe I'll get the hang of it!

I'll start with Easter. The only thing missing from this picture and all the generations of Sunday morning Easter pictures that have come before it is the big plastic wrapped Easter Basket full o' goodies from Dodd's Dime Store! Ben's favorite thing about this picture is that Amelia, for once, was wearing flats, so everyone can really see how much taller he has gotten than her.

It's prom time. Amelia and Clay had his prom weekend before last. I think she was a little nervous that her first ever prom was at someone else's high school with a bunch of people she didn't know - but she ended up having a great time. Since this was his deal and I didn't want to be a royal pain, there were limited pictures. Hers is coming up this weekend, and I can be as big a pain as I choose, so there will be MANY more photos!

Not to be outdone, Ben had his eighth grade dance the very next night.

Here is Mr. Handsome with his little girlfriend Jessalyn. Since he still depends on us to drive him to dinner and dances and parents are still chaperoning events at this stage - I have lots more pictures of his festivities!

This is Rashad - Ben's "brother from another mother" haha. They play baseball together and are the best of friends. Rashad's mother Carolyn and I often joke that they are so much alike, they basically are the same kid in a different wrapper! They consider themselves quite the dancers!

Little Sappy Side Note!

All of us mom's who chaperoned that night were very impressed by the fact that, despite all the talk of bullying these days, there was no separation or segregation with the kids at this dance. Black, white, skinny, chubby, jocks and little geeky kids, brainiacs and drop-outs-waiting-to-happen, they all got out there and danced together and had a great time. Not the slightest sign of conflict. It was really sweet to see.

Little Sappy Side Note #2 - 

The little girl in the light pink dress with the black bow is Ben's friend Hannah Bonham. She has had a tough time to say the least. Hannah has a heart condition, and at the beginning of this school year it was determined that she needed surgery. During the pre-op process, it was discovered that she had another  separate condition that effects her brain. While on the doctor's table having a procedure to determine if this condition would prohibit the heart surgery, she suffered a stroke and was left partially paralyzed on her left side. As you can tell, after a very long year she is on the mend. This past fall they were all wearing "Pray for Hannah" t-shirts and bracelets and visiting her in a rehab center, and now here she is at the dance with them. I always tear up around Hannah. I'm not sure if it's because she is still the smiliest little girl you'll ever find - or if it's how the rest of them love and look out for her. Too sweet.

By now everyone knows that Amelia won Aiken County Jr. Miss, or what they now call "Distinguished Young Woman of Aiken County". She was thrilled of course but I think she was just as impressed with all the friends that came to the event. Here's a picture with a handful of them.