Graduation!

This Spring has been a season of Graduations for our family!  Chloe loves to go places and asks me everyday, without fail, "Where are we going today??"  "Who is coming over?"  Sometimes, in the middle of an outing or activity she will ask, "Where are we going tomorrow?"  So when a friend from the ward asked if Chloe wanted to sign up for an ABC Parks and Rec's class with her daughter, I quickly and gladly said YES!  Chloe was very excited to go each week (every Thursday for 8 weeks) and she and her friend Natalie got to be good friends and had a great time.  Chloe knew her ABC's before, but this class really helped her learn what objects start with each letter.  It was a great class to do lots of fun, messy projects that we don't do often at home.

Here is Natalie and Chloe on their first day of ABC class back in April.  Aren't they cute?  They were so grownup and were never scared when we dropped them off to stay at class without their moms.

They got to paint each week and Chloe would come home with huge easel sized papers every time, dripping with wet paint.  She loved it and only once did she get paint on her clothes (lucky for me).

Here they are again, on their last day or class.  My camera was not on auto focus (Chloe had been playing with the camera earlier) so these pictures are blurry.  They officially graduated from ABC class and are now the Alphabet Queens of Auburn!  We miss going each week- Chloe had such a great time.

In her painting gear.  It was this last day of class, actually, that she got paint on her clothes for the first time, and it was pretty bad.  What a way to end the class!  (With lots of stain treater and 2 or 3 washes, all of the paint finally came out.  I am very anal about stains on my kids' clothes).

The first weekend in June, we went down to Pasco, WA for Ben's little brother Marcus' high school graduation.  He graduated with over 400 kids (compared to the 84 in my high school graduating class), but the graduation ceremony lasted only 1 hour and a few minutes.  It was amazing!  They had 4 people reading off names and handing out diplomas and they wasted no time.  That is my kind of graduation!

If you notice in the picture above, we have no kids with us.  Mitchell was asleep and Chloe refused to be in the picture with us (this is her new thing.  She throws a fit now about 50% of the time when we ask her to be in a picture).  Instead, we had Marcus crouch behind her.  She was thrilled.....

What did excite her that weekend was getting to play with her cousins!  She and Stella had a great time playing at the park in their swimsuits.

Mitchell missed out on another photo shoot due to another nap he was taking.  I wish he could have been in the picture with his cousins, but I can't complain about a baby who takes his naps without complaint, and takes them often!

It was a great weekend in Pasco and we were so glad to be there to celebrate with Marcus.  Congrats Marcus!  We love you and are so proud of you.  We know he'll do great at whatever he does in the future.

Our next graduation was just a few days later.  Chloe and I have been going to a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) class for the past year and a 1/2 and while I get to hang out with other moms and eat food, visit, and do crafts, Chloe gets to go to a class with other children her age and eat food, visit and do crafts.  She has the two most wonderful teachers in the world who she adores and who adore Chloe.  She graduated from this class and these teachers and will have new teachers next year.  We will miss Teacher Betty Lou and Teacher Ruth and we will miss not going to MOPS this summer, but can't wait to start up again next Fall. 

 I have been so proud of Chloe for going so willingly to these classes and being such a good girl.

She has never had a problem or been scared at these classes without me and is so kind and helpful at class each time.  She is my great girl!

 

Mitchell also graduated this Spring from solid pureed foods to solid chunky foods!  It is so cute to watch him delicately pick up a piece of food off his tray and shove it in his mouth.  Here he is holding half a banana (studying it intently first, of course).

Solid foods, say what?

Trying his hand at watermelon...

And boy can he pack his whole mouth completely full of watermelon, it is so funny.  Way to go Mitchell!  Now we hope to graduate to where Mitchell can feed himself an entire meal by himself. 

And last, but certainly not least- Ben's graduation!!  Ben FINALLY (emphasis on finally) graduated with his MBA in Financial Planning from City University last Saturday at Key Arena.  Here is his graduating class- well, some of them.  This University also offers its courses and degrees online, so some of the people that graduated were in other states and even other countries and weren't there. 

Here is Ben walking down the aisle after receiving his diploma.

It was a long ceremony (especially compared to Marcus' that we attended last week)- almost 3 hours long, but it was worth it to watch Ben walk and receive honors for all of his hard work.  

Here we are, one happy family that Ben is graduated..... wait- someone is missing.  Oh yes, that's right- Chloe refused to be in the picture again.  Mitchell may grow up, look back at the family photo album and think he was an only child......

Mitchell is sure proud of his Daddy......

Ben receiving his MBA holding his little MBA (Mitchell Benjamin Andros).  No more MBA's for us for awhile (degrees or babies.....)

Ben's parents came down for the weekend to watch him walk and we were so glad to have them for the weekend!  They supported/encouraged him through his associates, bachelors and first master's degree and we did not expect that they would travel all the way down for this one, but they did.  They are wonderful and we always love having them come down.  They were also a lifesaver that day, as they helped wrestle and entertain the kids throughout the entire ceremony.  (Thanks Nana and Papa- you're the best!)

We decided to force Chloe to get in a family picture with newly graduated Dad, just so we had proof that she was there for the memory book.  She was NOT happy, but the rest of us enjoyed it.  (Mitchell, calm and collected as ever, is staring at her wondering why 3 is such a hard age for his sister).

Marcus also came down to support Ben.  Ben and Marcus are great friends and there is no one that thinks more of his brother then Ben does of Marcus.

Silly boys.....

Chloe finally cooperated and got a picture with Dad without a tantrum....  Mitchell's expression conveys how we all felt- HOORAY and FINALLY, Chloe!

Here is Ben with his partner in crime, Daniel.  It was these two that decided 2 years ago that it would be "fun" to go back to school.  They had spent so much time already studying finances, money, investing and retirement material that they thought they might as well get a degree to show for all their time and knowledge.  Now, 2 years later, with hundreds of hours of homework, hundreds of hours of procrastination, doing homework during family vacations and on holidays, asking for extensions, late nights, hours of studying together, competing and comparing grades and two frazzled and crazy wives later, I think these two men are rethinking how much "fun" it was to go back to school.  But they had a great time going back together and I think I speak for Ben when I say that this degree wouldn't have been near as much fun for him, or maybe even achievable without Daniel. (They kept each other going when it got hard and were constantly on the phone with each other or at one another's houses when they needed help, advice, or when completing a final project).  Congrats to both of them! And I will never leave the two of them alone again, talking about finances or school.... that's what got us in this mess in the first place! :)

Not only did Ben graduate last weekend, it was also his mom's birthday and Father's Day for Ben and his Dad, so we got a Blizzard Ice Cream cake from Dairy Queen to celebrate all 3 big events.  We got to spend Father's Day and his mom's birthday with them last year as well and we were so glad to spend it with them again.  We love you both!

These smiles also tell how yummy the cake was..... it was Chocolate Xtreme and it was fabulous!

Here is Ben with the kids on Father's Day and miraculously, Chloe did not throw a fit about being in the pictures!  It was the best Father's Day present ever! 

Ben truly is the best father ever.  He has so much patience and love for our kids, especially when they need it the most.  He is always willing to chase Chloe around and take her to the park, even when he's had a long, hard day at work.  He understands her (and all her energy and personality) better than anyone does and brings out the best in her.  He can always make Mitchell smile (Mitch hangs on his every word) and was happy to pass on his thumb sucking habit to our little man.  (We just pray that Mitch doesn't suck his thumb as long as Ben did.....)

There has been many a day when Ben comes home from work and "saves" us!  Our bad days aren't quite so bad anymore when Daddy gets home from work.  He is so perceptive of when we've had a hard day and no matter how bad or hard his day has been, he jumps right in and takes the kids, cleans up and has even taken them both out of the house to give me a break.  We love him for the wonderful Dad that he is and all that he does for us!

The whole gang before church!

Our season of graduations has been fun, but unfortunately, it wasn't the end of school for Ben just yet.  His graduation and the end of class were not one in the same.  Classes ended this weekend and he has been working (the office) and doing homework/final projects nonstop all last week and this weekend.  He has just a few loose ends to tie up in the next few days and then, FINALLY he will be done (forever.  And yes, that is a threat).  One of us has been in school ever since we have been married, which is almost 5 years.  And for a year, we were BOTH in school (crazy, long year).  

We are so proud of you, Ben, and all your hard work.  We love you lots and will love even MORE when you are all done.  :)