Graduation

Here is the official picture of me walking across the stage. My mom said that it was great I had worn a long dress, because they could tell it was me. We did all tend to look alike. 

If you will notice, I am not wearing my glasses. In true "Heather" form, I had handed my purse to AJ to keep for the ceremony without even thinking about chaining out of my sunglasses into my regular glasses.  That meant that my choices for the actual ceremony were to look like a dork in sun glasses or not to be able to see anything. I chose blindness. 

After the actual ceremony, we took some pictures in the back yard while setting up for the party. 

Here are the boys before the graduation. So handsome! (I might be biased, though.) 

After the ceremony we had a little party in the back yard. I didn't get too many pictures of the actual party, (this may have been due to the amazing sangria my friend Jackie brought), but I did get some pre-party pictures. I loved how the back yard turned out for the party. The only thing that was a bummer, was that there was a breeze, and we couldn't keep the candles lit.

We had my favorite restaurant deliver food. We had about 10 people who were unable to come at the last minute due to illness or childcare issues. Because of that, we had way too much food. On the plus side, it is all really good food, so we are ok with leftovers.

My parents were a tremendous help with the party. They watched kids, helped set up, manned the door and anything else that was needed. It was great to have them around for the extra help, but I was so glad they could be here to celebrate with us. The kids loved having them around too of course.

Here are the flowers that were on each table. We had two large vases inside, and then I just took some drinking glasses and made smaller complimentary arrangements for the tables.

Goofy Charlie loved my graduation cap. We have several pictures of him wearing it.  We bought the wooden ice chest at Home Goods, and I have to say, I love it. It is very light weight when it is not filled, it holds quite a bit of ice, has a bottle opener attached and I love that it is raised up.

These are our friends Jackie and Rui. Rui owns the soccer club that Shawn and AJ are a part of.  Jackie brought the most delicious sangria.

The woman in the black dress, Kelly,  was my mentor teacher for my student teaching. She is an amazing teacher and I feel so grateful that I got to learn from her. I also got a really good friend out of the deal.  Lauren (sitting across from her) graduated from the iTeach program a year before me. She worked in the room next to Kelly's. She has become another great friend. And I really liked having someone at the party who understood the program I just completed.

The weird thing for the night was. . Bugs love me, and this praying mantis was no exception. He sat there swaying in the wind for a several minutes. Then, as a parting gesture, he tried to fly into my mouth.

I couldn't have done any of this without Shawn. Not only was he supportive throughout the whole program, he totally understood my need to celebrate.  It was a fun (but exhausting) weekend.

I am glad the program is over, I am glad I did it and really glad that my only homework for  awhile will be grading papers and lesson plans.