Graduation

 I finished my last class to earn my Bachelor's degree this month, and even got the celebratory flowers to prove it!  There's nothing that makes a lady feel more special than a flower delivery to her door.  Andy, Kaylee, you two are the best- seriously.

I can remember starting classes when Rosy was a couple months old, and now she's 2!  I won't miss trying to submit assignments and doing online quizzes holding her, or wrestling Rocky off of me, and keeping toes from touching the keys, some of the situations online schooling creates are pretty humorous for a parent.  But now I have a degree in Sports and Recreation Management.  I spoke with my school adviser on the phone last week and he congratulated me, and then asked what I was going to do now... I said "Have a baby and be a mama!"  SO that's the plan for now, I'll keep you posted when that changes.

So lovely.  They even had purple fox glove, my favorite (also featured in my wedding day bouquet)!

Joe- who never lets me down when it comes to presents, celebration, and spoiling me in general- surprised me with tickets to the Philharmonic symphony!  We really had such a memorable night.  Our kids are still pretty used to having us around, and not big fans when we leave so Joe and I had a game plan- if they were both asleep by 7pm, we wouldn't be late for the show which started at 8pm, and was 50min away- and Grandpa wouldn't be a miserable babysitter trying to get our kids to sleep without us!  It was a tight schedule but if the kids didn't take naps we knew we could do it.  Well Rosy of course fell asleep in the car a mile from home that afternoon.  I did my very best to keep her awake, but in the end she won.  Regardless, she obliged me that night and fell asleep at 7:05pm with an extra bottle and lots of cuddles from mama!  The roads were bad, every parking spot was taken, and I walk like a slow pregnant lady in heels on an icy parking lot.  We were the last ones in and maybe a little late...BUT, I got to wear a fancy pants sequined shirt that my sister gave to me in October.  We both thought it would be fun to have a reason to wear it, and I'm glad I found one!  Speaking of the sequined shirt- I must have been sitting under the lights just right because when the music started Baby BO woke right up and didn't stop dancing around in my belly the entire time!  The sequins were a little blinding as my belly bumped around, I really wondered if it was a distraction to anyone sitting around us, or if it was only a funny distraction to me.  The symphony played music from the Ring- which Joe mistakenly thought was music from the Lord of the Rings...it actually is an Opera that neither of us had heard of (shocking since we are both so cultured in the world of Opera).  Even if it wasn't Lord of the Rings, it was amazing, wonderful, and entertaining. The Ring as an opera is usually performed over a period of 4 nights because it is so long (a lot like this blog).  Our conductor had a great sense of humor and would give a fast forward synopsis of the story line between each musical number.  He was super funny and added a lot to the entertainment of the evening.  Joe and I both loved the first piece.  It was a funeral march for one of the main characters in the opera.  It sounds rather conceited to admit, but I would love someone to compose a funeral march for me when I die! haha. I really had that thought.  I think it would be the ultimate honor to have a marvelous piece of music composed and played at my funeral.  Weird, but true.  Some other observations that impressed Joe and I that evening was the conductor again.  I've never seen someone so animated conducting music as he was.  The music reflected his movements exactly- He literally danced up on his stand.  He reminded me of what I look like when I dance in the bathroom by myself, or sometimes in front of Joe.  No matter how ridiculous he looked, there was nothing ridiculous about it- because the honesty in his emotions added to the power of the music.  It's amazing how instruments can create emotion.  It's an impressive feat, one reason I do love music so much.  After the performance we HAD to make it an official date (it doesn't happen very often) and stop somewhere for dessert, which happened to be the grocery store bakery.  We each had our pick of a delightful treat and our restaurant booth was our new car!  Joe likes to humor me and make me believe we bought that car for me-because I graduated.  When truthfully it's because baby Bo will need a spot for his car seat in a couple months and we couldn't put it off any further.  But for the sake of the title of my post, we can say I also got a 2011 Chevy Traverse for my graduation gift!  Either way, this has been the longest post of my life, but I had to make it official and blog about being done with school.