Countdown to Graduation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is it people!!!! The last week of Levi's grad school!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the time Levi comes home from work on Friday he will have completed all requirements for his masters. YAY!!! This is so huge for us. Levi has been taking classes at SMU for 5 years now and four of those were with kids. It feels like yesterday that we were discussing him going for his masters and 5 years seemed like such a long time. I mean, at that time we didn't even have kids and when we imagined where would be at graduation we hoped we would have kids but that was just crazy to think we would ever be parents. But here we are with two kiddos and Levi will officially graduate next Saturday. I am forcing him to walk at graduation. I need that closure. I need to see it completed. Because although he is the one that went to class, did the homework, and took the tests, it was still a huge burden for me as well. It meant doing a lot of the parenting alone because Daddy was holed up in the office, suffering through proofing his technical writing (we are talking sometimes 50 pages of program speak), being understanding when the trash didn't get taken or the yard didn't get mowed, and the hardest of all...watching my laid-back husband turn into a stressed out crazy man.
This last semester was the absolute worst! We literally only made it through by continuing to remind each other of the very near approaching countdown to graduation. But here we are with 12 days till graduation and 4 until grades are turned in. It is just crazy that it is here. I'm a little nervous about the changes it will or will not bring. By that I just mean that we have never functioned as a family where Levi hasn't been in school so it is just what we know, what we have grown accustomed and comfortable with. And I am also worried that nothing really will change. That life will still be insane but that we will no longer have a countdown, nothing to say, "okay, this craziness will all be over when... ."
But through it all we did it together. And I am so proud of that. I have to be the proudest wife in the whole wide world. Levi never brags about himself. In fact, he is super hard on himself. But I have no problem bragging on him. He somehow manages to continue to impress his bosses and take on more and more responsibility at work, makes practically perfect grades at SMU, spends time with his grandmother every week, finds time to play a few levels of Mario with Jack and rock Addie before bed, and still seems to adore me even though I know I have been less than adorable lately. I don't know how he does it. Even though I try to help in every way possible I still don't see how he juggles it all. He is amazing. My hero. My love. My best friend. My Levi.

My baby sister is getting married this June and today was her bridal shower. I had so much fun planning this shower but when it came down to actually following through with all my plans I was a little overwhelmed. So I have to give a small shout out to my very best friends Joanne and Ashley for working their little tails off along side me the night before. I couldn't ask for better friends! I love you girls so much! And I also need to give major credit to Laci's future mother-in-law, Lucy. She made half of the dishes and provided the cake. Laci is sooooo blessed to have such a beautiful person in her life.

For the shower I went with the theme, "Something Blue" and made everything coordinate with the Tiffany Blue color. We had a champagne brunch which is always fun when you have a bunch of women together giggling after a couple sips of their orange juice. Laci got so many amazing gifts, Kitchen Aid Standing Mixer, Cuisinart Food Processor, Copper pots and pans, Lenox China and towels, 600 thread count sheets, and more! In fact, they are all still piled up on my dining room table and I may just have to go through all of it again before bed and just drool. I think, at least hope, that Laci was pleased with her shower. Now on to the planning the lingerie shower and bachelorette party!!!!

Dear Laci,

I cannot believe my baby sister is getting married! But I have to admit that today you all of a sudden seemed grown up. You looked gorgeous today, absolutely beautiful, stunning. I love who you are...the baby, my sister, my friend. I love that I have a girlfriend that comes over first thing in the morning when neither of us have makeup on (except for whatever is leftover from the day before), when my house is a mess, when my kids are crazy and just sits and has a cup of coffee with me with no other intentions except to just be together.

Marriage is crazy, beautiful, safe, fun, annoying, silly, exciting, passionate, boring, hard, easy, amazing, fast, slow, and so so so worth the work. I am looking forward to watching you continue to shine in your new role as a wife. I love that you have this sweet old-fashioned Julia Child type picture of being of wife and being married. Don't let anyone tell you that it doesn't really look that way...it can if you want it to. You and Peter have so much ahead of you and I look forward to having dinner at your first home together, helping you pick out nursery colors for your babies (triplets according to the bows broke at the shower) and drinking coffee while your crazy kids run around and your house is a mess. I love you little sis and I am so very proud of the beautiful woman you are and wife you soon will be.