done. sort of.

so last month, we had the privilege of attending phil's residency graduation.  the day we'd been waiting three years for.  no wait, make that nine years, since we've been aiming toward this day since the day phil started medical school.  it felt like it would never get here.  it felt like a loooong time coming.  and then suddenly, the day was upon us.

though this day wasn't quite as exciting and milestone-ish as we had been anticipating.  mostly because the extra year of fellowship training was unexpectedly tacked on just when we thought the end was near.  but we put aside those thoughts and celebrated anyway, because phil worked extremely hard for a very long time to get to this point, and i was so proud of him for it.

we were also very glad to have my brother's family and my dad join us in the celebration.  phil had decided not to invite his mom because he didn't want her to have to fly down for it (she really dislikes traveling) and because, as he explained, she'd probably be happiest for him when he's actually done and working a stable job.

the residency program is very small with only 4 to 5 residents per year.  so here are this year's graduates.

because the program is so small, it tends to be a tight-knit group what with spending so much time together and all.  phil became pretty close friends with anu and was especially happy when it turned out that they'd be in the same fellowship program for this year.

a picture of the outgoing chief with the incoming chief.  like a passing of the baton, if you will.

the graduate with his three monkeys.

my two girlies in their new matching dresses special for the occasion.

and this.  well, i simply have no words for this.

she decided she'd had enough of the picture-taking fuss and high-tailed it back to her peeps.

daddy's "small computer" (what mikey calls the iphone) keeps 'em still and quiet and sometimes you just need that.

finally the sip-champagne-and-mingle-outside hour was done (much to my relief!) and it was time to come inside for the ceremony followed by lunch.  each of the graduates had a reserved table for their guests.  we chose the one closest to the doors.  i'll tell you why in a minute.

phil checking his program to see if his name was really there.

and it really was.

mikey and jeremiah having a moment.

phil and johnny also having a moment.

the ceremony included a somewhat long-winded speaker but thankfully, all the kiddos did great.  for most of the time.  this little one though, decided to throw out a "WOO HOO!" right when it got particularly quiet.  just to see what would happen.  i wanted to sink through the floor.

but aside from that, the kiddos were good about being quiet and staying somewhat still.

for the most part.  but little kids can take being still and quiet for only so long before it all starts going downhill.  which is why i selected the table closest to the doors.  so that i could shoo them outside with grandpa when they couldn't be still and quiet any longer.

but they came back just in time to see daddy get a big present.  (it was a frame for his diploma.  er, certificate of completion?)  unfortunately, the frame was empty since he still had to go back to work for ten more days before he was actually finished.  why they do that, i'll never know.

and we were pleasantly surprised when phil also got the "junior blade award".  it's akin to being voted 'resident of the year' by the attendings.

here's phil getting ready to dance a happy jig.  just kidding, he was merely headed back to our table.  but it kinda looks like he was about to bust a dance move just then, no?

all kidding aside, a pretty cool honor for my hubs.

ok, so this guy is a pediatric dentist who did a year of anesthesia training with the residents.  he was well-liked by all because he was both hard-working and pretty generous.  so he decided to bring his own gifts to give the graduates.  lauren decided she wanted to go up and get a closer look.

and decided she liked the laugh she got from the audience so there she stayed.  til daddy had to scoop her up and bring her back.

oh, and in case you were wondering what the gift from the dentist was?

like i said, the dentist guy was well-liked and pretty generous.  but this pretty much floored us.  and this totally made mikey's day cuz now he gets to play on  (in his words) "a BIG small computer"!

as we were leaving, mikey said, "WOW, daddy got so many presents today!"  he definitely did and so well-deserved was this day of celebration and good cheer after a residency so well done.

so proud and happy for you, honey!  you did it!!!

9.

today marks our ninth wedding anniversary.

wow.

really?  has it really been nine years since i donned my then size 0 wedding dress and stood next to phil as he vainly tried to wipe his face with a decidedly non-absorbent SILK handkerchief (he was in a TUX on a hot JULY day in a church with NO air-conditioning) while dan led us through our vows of better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and in health.  til death do us part.

it was, even with all its flaws, the happiest day of my life.  then.

i've since been very blessed with many other happy days in my life with phil.

but i'm not gonna lie.  it's also been a tough road, with many unexpected turns, many low valleys, many times we've taken each other for granted, many times it's felt lonely, many unfinished talks, many times we've just simply had to gut through the hard times in order to see the good times return, many times when it's felt like our commitment was the only thing holding us together.

that perhaps has been the greatest thing i've learned and it's only taken me nine years to learn it.  that our highs and lows come in waves, so that hard times need only be ridden out and learned from before the better times rolled back around.  thankfully, no one phase lasts forever.  further is the realization i'm married to an imperfect person.  the bigger shocker still is that i am also a very imperfect person. so we two imperfect people have not had a perfect marriage.  but we serve a God who never fails and who has always been faithful to carry us through the highs and lows of life.  and who so lovingly teaches and encourages us to grow in Christlikeness as we relate to one another.  still working on that.

nine years.  we very literally grew up into adulthood together in our marriage.  and thankfully, the Lord allowed us to grow together instead of apart on this path we've traveled on.  he's still my best friend.  i'm still his confidante.  we're still happiest when we're together.

and that is certainly something to celebrate and be thankful for.

us.

and it wouldn't be the complete us without them.  :)

ps- these pics were from phil's graduation day.  more from that day coming soon.

happy 4th.

happy fourth of july from our family to yours!  :)

preschool graduation.

we've had a whirlwind of events in the last month and my head is still spinning from it all.  i've got a lot to catch up on and haven't even begun to process the bigger stuff yet.  hopefully blogging about it will help get it all settled in my mind.  but for now, we're gonna rewind and do things in order even though i'm tempted to skip ahead and get to the more recent events first.

so early last month, mikey and allie had their end-of-the-year celebrations at school.  meaning they were all three home with me for the majority of the time i was running around packing like a madwoman and now they're all three home with me while i run around UNpacking like a madwoman- NOT recommended, btw.  anyhow, allie's was a see-ya-later-alligator party since technically she would've been back there in the fall if we hadn't moved away.  mikey's was a 'graduation' celebration since he was in a pre-k class and his classmates were all headed off to different schools for kindergarten in the fall.

thankfully, phil arranged to get that day off, so we could both go to see mikey and allie with their respective classes.  i was so relieved since each kid would have at least one of us there to see them.  but it worked out even better since allie's party started fifteen minutes before mikey's did, so we happily got to see both.

we started off at allie's party.

where she immediately started cracking up as soon as she spotted me.  "mommy, what are you doing sitting on the floor?!"

our cute lil' alligator girl waving hello to her baby sister.

it took a little while to get all the cute lil' alligators assembled and ready to sing their special song.

"alligators go chomp, chomp, chomp!"  (yes, thankfully phil got this on video!)

 alligators taking their bow.

we couldn't have asked for a better teacher for allie's very first school experience.  miss krista was so sweet and warm and caring- she always made it a point to greet not only allie each school morning, but also greeted lauren and mikey by name too when we all came to drop allie off.  miss krista would often say how much she enjoyed allie's drawings or share something sweet allie said when i went to pick her up.  allie just loved her teacher and her yellow sunflowers class.  we all did.

a last goodbye hug. 

miss elise was the teaching assistant in allie's class and allie just loved her too.  miss elise always took time to listen to what all allie had to say and went a long way in making my middle child feel special.

but before i could get too emotional about allie's last day, we all had to dash over to mikey's celebration.  we even managed to get there early enough to get seats right in front.

there was even a program of events for mikey's graduation!

mikey's friend c. was the emcee and had the audience cracking up when he replaced "please rise" with "everybody, get up."

this picture kills me.

hey look, it's my little graduate!

getting his diploma.

examining his certificate.

he also thought it was funny that i was sitting on the ground when everyone else was sitting in chairs.  but he's used to me being in odd places by now.

mikey and his best friend thomas with their teacher, miss tanya.  miss tanya wasn't quite like allie's teacher, yet she was still very kind and patient in her own way.  mikey loved his teachers just as they were but didn't really need them to be so nurturing and mothery.  what he really needed was a great group of friends to play with and have big adventures in their little playground and that's exactly what he got this year.

and with miss krista, the teaching assistant in his class, who gave the blue butterfly class just the right amount of warm cheerfulness each day.

i was feeling a bit emotional at mikey's preschool graduation and can't even begin to imagine what i'll feel like at his high school or college graduation.  gulp.

after the short ceremony, it was time for lunch!  once again, mikey's very good buddy sam saved him a seat at his table for lunch.

thomas and mikey found each other after lunch for a few last goodbye hugs as they told each other, "i'm gonna miss you a lot."  and then i started to feel really emotional.  when phil asked me why, i had to stop and think about it before realizing that it was because 1) mikey had just had a better year of school than i think i've ever had and 2) this was really a goodbye for these two since we were moving away and i didn't think mikey really understood that yet.

these two slipped away behind some stacked chairs where they could look down on the playground where they spent so many hours playing star wars-transformer-stealth gun games (the boys used long shovels as guns and thought they were being sneaky thinking their teachers didn't know what they were about when they actually really did know) together.  great friends are so hard to come by as i well know and while i was SO thankful that mikey had such a great best friend this year, i was also sad knowing that it was coming to an end.

i grew up moving around a lot as a kid (went to five different elementary schools) and really, really wanted our kids to be settled in one place and in one school as they grew up.  i know our kids are still quite young and will still have that opportunity, but for some reason, our current move and having to say goodbye to yet another set of friends (both my own and seeing my kids say their goodbyes) has hit me a little harder this time around.

uprooting and re-settling every couple of years isn't so easy and it seems to get harder each time we do it.  the good news is that the light at the end of the tunnel has been spotted and hopefully we will get to settle down in a year or two.  i just hope there will be a great set of friends to be made for all of us once we finally do get there.