Bro's Grad...

I said I'd tell more about my brother's graduation, so here it goes! 

We headed for the Bizzo mid Friday afternoon (my boss let me out of our professional development a little early).  Friday evening we spent at my grandparents' house.  My aunt and uncle from AZ were there, ready to shower MVJ with a super cute outfit!  JJ was put to work grilling the steaks my Grandpa had bought special just for my brother's graduation/birthday on Saturday.  My parents and brother met us there and everyone ooohed and aaahed at MVJ's newest developments.  (The walking, the picking everything up, the increased social nature, the kissing herself in the full length mirror...)  : )  After a delicious meal, we headed home while pretty much everyone else stayed to play cards.  At my parents' house, we put MVJ to bed, started laundry, watched some TV and went to bed before my parents even got home -- those partiers!  : )  I felt really badly because my Dad stayed up practically all night finishing our laundry!  He said he couldn't sleep he was so excited about the next day's activities, but I still didn't feel right having my Dad do all of our laundry (including folding!). 

Saturday was full of excitement and activities!  MVJ was running around (a little slip sliding around) the laminate floors... with our split level house, she had many chances to practice stairs, one of her new favorite activities.  We tried to help where we could, but really my parents had everything covered.  We found out that my brother's girlfriend, SH, was awarded the prestigious honor of "Student of the Year" at the University of Mary.  Woot!  Woot!  My parents picked up a huge bouquet of balloons and MVJ began extending her vocabulary with REAL words (since the start of "Momma" and "Daddy"): whenever she saw the balloons she would say, "BALL!"  We even got to take one home with us and that is what we frequently heard in the car... 

My parents and I headed to the hooding early so we could save spots -- while my aunt, uncle and grandparents headed to the actual ceremony early so they could hold spots there.  My aunt and uncle eventually headed over to the hooding ceremony so they could take it all in --- and we had a whole photography/videography scheme going --- I took multishots, my mom took still photos and my aunt took video!  Viola!  Together we got everything taken care of! 

My grandparents were left in the Civic Center where some rude mc rudersons tried to take the spots they were saving.  One lady actually just plopped herself down, claiming, "There's no such thing as saving spots."  Thankfully at that time, my aunt and uncle were just heading in so she knew there were actual people sitting there.  Jerk.

Will brought MVJ into the building for his hooding (he was dropped off by JJ because it was SO COLD that day).  I missed his call, so he said he felt way embarrassed with all of his classmates, and all of these guests AND a screaming MVJ!  1.  She does not like crowds.  2.  She does not like new places.  3.  She does NOT like being without her Mommy and Daddy.  We got it all straightened out and MVJ wowed the crowd with her new squeak shoes!  They squeak whenever she walks.

On these shoes (in Fargo the next weekend):  Uncle A said, "I would take a knife and stab it right into that squeaker."  Cousin L (birthday girl) said to one of her 6 year old partygoers: "They get annoying.  Like right now, they are VERY annoying."

I LOVE them - especially out in public.  Maybe the confined space of a house would get annoying... maybe...  : )  Anyways!  My brother and his classmates were hooded.  It was funny, the speakerlady (head of the PT dept.) told them to do some sort of PT move, and one by one as they came up, they did this squat thing.  Like she said, "Come up here and show them you've learned something!"  It was also neat - they said their PT oath together and one of the instructors, my brother's mentor, read a PT prayer.  I thought the hooding ceremony was great because it was more intimate and the head of the department really went into the symbolism of their colors, the tam, the fact that they were the ONLY doctorates that the U of Mary graduates, etc.

Then we had the actual ceremony where we could be a little more silly and laid back.  Except that when his name was called, I forgot to clap and acknowledge him; I was too busy taking pictures of the big screen!  : )  I made up for it clapping for the next two people announced.  : )

Then we headed home to start the partay.  It was great to have friends and family members come for the special occasion.  MVJ wanted to go down for the night about 5:00.  This spelled doom for us, so we let her sleep about 45 minutes, then JJ went in to wake her up.  This spelled t-r-o-u-b-l-e.  She screamed at him (and then me, and then everyone else) for quite some time before finally calming down.

Sunday we all kind of lazed around, had my grandparents over for brunch and then headed to the mall for a little light shopping.  I was on a mission for new shoes because mine finally broke on our way to the Bizzo on Friday.  We headed out of town around 2:00ish and MVJ (and I) took very nice naps. 

Phew!  The end!