operation catch up... last part of MAY 2010--graduation

So, Aaron decided to graduate.
After 4 long years of hard work, late late nights, a billion laundry loads of scubs, a lot of tears (from me, not him---i'm the emotional one, remember), tests, willing and not-so-wililing patients--------he graduated.

And he's officially an official.

Let's review that glorious time.

Roll the tape.

p.s. this is in backwards order---making the climax at the beginning and the other stuff at the end. just in case my future self wanted to know.

Aaron's family flew into town to help be a part of the cheering squad. Go, Aaron, go! We LOVED having them come down and hang out for the long weekend. It is so great to be around people who love you and your little family.

aaron with his proud parents.


love this squeeze.

I think the phrase going through Aaron's head right now is, "Boo-yah!"
Love this.

Now the pictures with our "family" down here in Texas. Boo that they have now both MOVED on to greener (literally) pastures. We miss our best friends!! Did you remember that we all lived a stone's throw away from each other, and we didn't even plan it? Remember how magical that time was? Remember how we hung out almost every single day? Wow.
SO sad that they left! WE MISS YOU GUYS!

let's find some more footage of some great photos with our pals.

big cal meets tiny gavin. hA! look at the size difference!


taken when we first moved here. Nightly walks were the norm. And, yes, where there were once open fields, houses now stand. Crazy. We look so young!


And, then the last shot we took all together before everyone moved. It's a little blurry b/c we took it on a car... but look at how we've MULTIPLIED!! hA! Too fun.


sigh.
ahhh, good times. good times. anyway, all our dental friends are missed.
we had a good fun time, didn't we?

Okay, let's get back to the main event.

Graduation continued with more best friends...

gotta get a wife shot in. we helped facilitate this day happening.

remember how jill and I went to high school together? too great.

this shot is before aaron busted out the gang sign...


right after the gang sign. Tim's reaction is the best. It's an "S" if you didn't know.
Standing for the subdivision we lived in. Nice, A-dawg. Nice.


love rex and jen.




Tillie's bird's eye view.


CELEBRATION on the River Walk after the graduation ceremony: Paesano's style. Remember how delicious this restaurant is? Oh my. I think everyone loved the dish they got. It was so great.





We wanted to get some family shots with all of us.


Remember how Aaron (the dad) thinks it is okay to let Tillie play like this, and then Melissa (you know, the mom) DOESN'T?! It's amazing she didn't fall in.






Aaron's graduation gift from his family. We loved the wrapping. How do you wrap a new set of golf clubs?! AWESOME. Aaron was in heaven.


Adam trying out the push lawn mower. Look how lightning fast he was!



matchy matchy.



***SEA WORLD! No matter how many times we go, we still LOVE Sea World. It's great.***

I wanted to try a mini pony tail on this little munchkin. So cute.


Matilda doing what she does best... RUNNING!


more running...


Playing with Uncle Adam in the crow's nest (is that what they call it? hA! I have no idea. I might have just made that up).

more running...


cooling down with grandma


watching the family go up the Journey to Atlantis. Where's Waldo? I mean Where's Adam and Aaron?




wood profiles. I thought I was so clever getting this shot.


calvin. crazy as ever. and, yes, he's THAT big!


hanging out waiting for the log ride.




on the log ride. right after this illegal shot was taken, a voice on the loud speaker reminded us about "no photography!" oops! Rebels R Us.


they are so nice to each other (as adam yanks off melody's arm...)


had to get a group shot in front of shamu.




***Graduation Dinner Dance. The night before the big Graduation ceremony, there was a Dinner/Dance situation. It was a semi-formal event, so that was cool trying to figure out what to wear (not!). Oh well, it was fun to dress up and go out on the town without the kids.

Aaron's shirt needed cuff links and we didn't remember that little tidbit until we were walking out the door. OOPS! So, luckily I have a billion RANDOM craft supplies and found these puppies. What are they? Buttons from my mom's button stash. Thanks, mom. Anyway, these worked in a pinch. Never mind that they fell out half way through the night.***



close up shot.


our table (notice the sleeves pulled up on Aaron. see, the "cuff links" had fallen out by now. He doesn't seem to mind).


After a while a few of us girls convinced our table that it was COOL to go and dance. We figured, hey, most of the partiers are drunk anyhow---we don't need to feel dumb!
Here a few of the boys... deciding if they were REALLY gonna dance with us.


Yes! We got them up! I love how we all have our hands up. hA! We were SO cool!


Confession. I loved high school/jr. high dances. I mean, loved them. Why? Because me and my friends could dance like there was no tomorrow. Do you remember girls? Yes.
So, of course, this night brought me back to the good ol' days. We danced, danced, danced. Luckily, they played songs with fun beats all night.

darling jen taking pictures with her fancy pants camera. I'm sure she got a lot of crazy shots!


Is this picture great or what?! I can't believe these boys were so hesitant in the beginning! Feeling warmed up now. Too funny!


And, Aaron, "Mr. I-don't-dance" even was busting a move. He told me that he was only doing it for me---but I think this next picture says otherwise.

hA!



Good times in the month of May. Congrats on becoming a doctor, Mr. I-don't-dance.