Graduation

It has been busy few weeks around here. We've celebrated graduation, a birthday, and a trip to New York. We are excited for all of these fun changes, but it makes this mom a little bit crazy. It's hard to believe 3 out of our 4 children have graduated from high school, and by this time next year two will have graduated college. My life flashes before my eyes on a regular basis these days.

We were excited to hear that Aunt Bev would be coming out for graduation. She came to help me after Cody was born, so having her here was a wonderful way to celebrate Cody's big day.

We were able to take her around town and show her some fun Athens landmarks.

I love Bev. She has been such a positive influence in my life. She is just one of those wonderful people that knows exactly how to help and knows exactly what you need, even when you yourself aren't sure. She will always hold a very special place in my heart. Thank you for coming to spend time with us Bev! See you next year!! (and sorry we got you sick).

Andy and his family also came for the weekend. It was fun to have a full house for graduation. I warned everyone ahead of time I wanted to get to the graduation ceremony early, so we could find good seats for taking pictures. We did find a really good spot, and it filled up around us very quickly.

The kids did really well, and Kaitlyn spent her time taking selfies with whomever was willing.

As the graduation procession began, I thought that this day was the beginning to a very busy, life-changing summer for all of us(mostly me, because I'm a mom who hates change, especially when it involves saying good-bye).

Cody spotted us quickly and smiled(or not) to let us know he loves us so.

I thought I might get a normal smile, at least one.

I should have known better. Cody is the child that hates taking pictures the most, so I gave up. It wasn't going to happen. In fact these are the only three times he looked at us the entire graduation ceremony. The rest of the pictures are just side view shots. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. I still love you Cody!

Thankfully, Andy was able to get a few good pictures with his phone during the graduation.

After the ceremony we(I) wanted to get a few pictures, but it took us awhile to find Cody and everyone was tired and hot, so pictures were not high on anyone's priority list(except mine). I managed to get a few. Janelle had to take baby Josh to the car. He made it through the graduation really good, but he was tired. Oh, and ryan didn't feel good. Does this picture show you how thrilled everyone was for pictures(Andy)????

Let's try it again peeps...

The one and only family photo of the day.

And here's what baby was doing while we were taking a few pictures.

We all survived and headed over to our favorite restaurant for dinner. Ryan really didn't feel good and threw up on the way home. Poor guy. It was the beginning of a yucky flu bug that took it's toll on all of us, except Kaitlyn.

Cody picked out his favorite cake for graduation. There is a cake lady in town that we love. The cakes are delicious and very reasonably priced. Cody picked raspberry swirl.

It was a wonderful weekend spent with family. We are so proud of our Cody and all that he has accomplished these 4 years in high school. I'm now going to enjoy every last minute of the last summer I will have to spend time with my wittle Cody boy!