The Graduate

This was a big weekend for our family. Joe graduated from law school. That's right, the day finally came. It felt like it never would 3 years ago but sure enough the day came and went.

First, the kids and I decorated a sign for him on his last night of finals:
Then, Saturday was graduation day. It seems to be a bit of a tradition for the students to walk with any children they may have so that's what Joe did.

I was one proud mom/wife watching my 4 favorite people walk across that stage. I was especially proud of Joe, who almost didn't make it through this law school experience but decided to stick with it and even graduated "with distinction".
Not only that but he found an area of law he's interested in, found a firm, managed to get hired on as a clerk, and has impressed them so much that they offered him a job after he takes the bar. Hiring someone right out of law school is not something they do often. Joe is that amazing :). But seriously, it is a huge blessing for our family. (More on that later...)

It's the end of an era for our family. A hard era of our life that has made all of us stronger, but it was fun, too. Now, off to the real world ...
These are the wonderful people that came to support us: (not to mention the countless others who have supported us all along but who couldn't make the trip--we love you, too)

The 3 J's:
Joe, Justin and Justin

The number of children between us jumped from 3 to 7 yet somehow we all made it! :)

I love this guy:

On to the next big challenge: the Bar....

Nathaniel

This is my handsome, destructive, sweet little trouble-making boy. I love him to pieces but he sure is a boy. He is a very curious boy who likes to do whatever his big sisters are doing. He can spot even an inch of space between a chair and the dining table and then exploits that inch of space to climb from the chair onto the table and color all over everything/dump out the crayons/dump out the vase of Mother's Day flowers (today)/etc. Heaven help us when he learns how to pull out the pushed-in chairs.

The other day I found him like this in the kitchen....

Those are oats.
(There went the bag you gave us, Justin & Whit!)
At least he got his fiber for the day.

That is the thing about him--he seems to have a taste for weird stuff. When we're outside, he'll stick handfuls of dirt and sand and in his mouth. I used to rush over and clean out his mouth and then I started thinking that maybe he just needs to learn how unpleasant it is to eat those things. So, recently at the park when he put some sand in his mouth I just left it to see what he'd do. He came over to see me, I think to show me what he'd done, and then he walked around and played like he could care less about the sand. He is so strange. He still likes to try and eat chalk and crayons, too. I promise I feed him!

Nate also loves shoes. He LOVES to try on other people's shoes and he is actually quite adept at putting them on the right feet and walking around in them. He probably gets them on the right feet more often than Natalie!

Here he is in a pair of Lizzie's shoes:

Nate had a fever recently and it was so sad. All he did was lay on the couch all day:
Although I hated seeing him sick, I loved snuggling with him all day. And, I was glad when the fever broke and he was back to his normal, active self.

This boy still doesn't say too much although he does have some new words: "thanks", "ee-sis" (Jesus), "ick" (look), "apple", "doo-doo" (noodles), to name a few. He still calls both of his sisters "Na-Na". That is also his word for banana. It can get a little confusing. He LOVES bananas, broccoli, cucumbers, milk, watching TV, reading his favorite books, and his beloved "mi-mi" (his blanket). He says "yeah" and "nope" for yes and no.

And, he is especially adorable when he sleeps....

Mother's Day

I love this picture

I have the best mom. No really, she is. She is loving, patient, hard-working, thoughtful and faithful. In the course of a simple 30 minute phone conversation, she somehow manages to makes me feel like I am amazing. That is the strength of her love for her children. She loves her grandchildren no less (maybe more? :). She is my hero. Thank you, Mom. I love you!