Happy Graduation!

I took a short week at work last week - leaving part of Thursday and all of Friday to drive to St. Louis to see my baby brother (we're 22 months apart) graduate from St. Louis University School of Law. We actually attended the hooding ceremony on Thursday night. He didn't make us sit through graduation ceremony that they had for the entire university (thank goodness). After we celebrated with the entire family and Sarah's family at Maggio's- a really good Italian restaurant close by.  I am so proud of him! It seems like just a few days ago I was sitting at his graduation ceremony at UofL. I can't believe it's already been three years since then!

Chris and I (and my parents, brothers and Sarah's parents) helped Sarah and Austin move a few things out of their St. Louis apartment on Friday morning. Then, we drove back to Henderson to move those last few items into their new house.  It was the first time I had actually seen their apartment in St. Louis. I guess it's a good thing that I visited when I did or else I would have missed it!

On Friday night we had the privilege of attending another brother's graduation. My little brother, Jared graduated from Henderson County High School. Being the only high school in Henderson Co., they still graduate classes of over 450, so they still hold graduation in Evansville, IN at Robert's Stadium. At least with that many people graduating, they have no choice but to keep the speeches short and run through those names! I was happy to find out that they no longer allow 30 valedictorians like they did when I graduated from HCHS. Listening to 30 different people talk (even if they were only allowed one minute a piece) was a bit ridiculous. Now there is just one salutatorian and one valedictorian, as it should be. After Jared's graduation we headed over to Jamie and Kenny's to celebrate. Jared stopped by for a few minutes, but he had bigger plans than to hang out with his family after graduation:)

On Saturday we had a big party at Dad and Leigh Ann's to celebrate all three brother's graduations. Oh yes- I forgot to mention that Jason graduated from elementary school, but he didn't get much recognition. They didn't have a ceremony - thank goodness again! Chris and I had spent the night at Dad's on Friday night, so we were warned that we would have to get up early to help get things ready for the party. Dad and LA stuck to their word, so we were tired when we finally arrived back BG Saturday night after the long party and long day preparing for the party.  Even though it was a lot of driving, sitting through graduations, working to prepare for the party, and helping Austin and Sarah move, we had a good time with family.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I missed all those great photos of my brothers in cap and gown.

a green thumb

My husband aspires to be a great gardener like his abuelito, so he's trying a hanging tomato plant this summer since we obviously can't plant a real garden while living in the apartment complex. We would try a small plant in the ground near our patio, but we haven't exactly been given permission to dig up the ground. The lawn care service would probably plow right over the plants. We'll see if we can get some juicy tomatoes from this little hanging plant.

In other news: our sweet little puppy is keeping us very busy lately. She requires way more attention than I ever expected, but she's worth every minute. We love her. She went to the vet today for her 9 week shots. The vet said that she seems to be a very happy, healthy puppy. She's growing and growing. She weighed in at 3.2 pounds. I guess the smoking hasn't stunted her growth yet. We've been trying to break her of the habit.