...and it begins...

We woke up at 5AM... got showered up and dressed... I went to Starbucks to get our morning "inspiration" and Jeff hit Home Depot for a few last minute supplies... we were at the school by 7AM to prepare for about 30 volunteers to arrive at 8AM to start Grad Nite setup, 2008! This is my 1st year as Grad Nite Chair and I am feeling just a bit of pressure to make sure this year is FAB for our oh-so-deserving grads! That is truly what this is all about... a group of people coming together to make sure that the 12 years of education our kids have just finished culminates with the BEST PARTY of their high school career!

Today, we had a group of football players volunteer because their coach told them to help us move the heavy sets for 2 hours... they stayed and worked their tails off for over 8 hours because they said they were having fun! We had two 8th graders... students from the local middle school, come to help with Grad Nite even though they don't even yet attend the high school. We had parents come to help whose kids graduated YEARS ago, but they are so dedicated to Grad Nite that they continue to pour sweat equity into the event for the current grads. We had 3 generations of a family come together to work on a booth that will be the centerpiece of this year's event... (thank goodness their kids are freshman because this family ROCKS and I hope to have them around for the next few years!)

For those of you that are interested, here are the first few pictures of this year's event... Chris and his teammates holding sets while they are installed... the start of our DJ area... the amazing Sanchez/Howe/Durbin family! More coming tomorrow... working on this event is so rewarding that I ALMOST forgot that I haven't scrapped in a month...