Graduation Day

I don't typically do a huge photo dump on my blog, but I just have so many pictures with my family that I just love from my brother's graduation two weeks ago! Forgive me for the photo overload!

Jason graduated with a class of about 500 students, so it was a pretty long ceremony. The ceremony was at the VCU Siegel Center in Richmond. In addition to watching each student walk across the stage and have their name called, we listened to many speakers, so the whole thing was about two and a half hours. Thank goodness M stayed entertained with toys and her Ergo carrier! 

I love graduation pictures with caps in the air!

Anyone else have a baby who loves to eat and play with buckles and zippers? She LOVES them these days.

After the ceremony, J and I were able to meet up real quick with his dad who was one of the attendants at graduation shaking hands and congratulating the graduates. That was kind of neat for my brother to know one of these people personally! It was also nice for us to catch up with him for a little while after the ceremony. M had been snoozing in the Ergo and woke up not long before this, so she wasn't really feeling the picture taking. Tough life being a baby!

We headed back to my parents' home after I nursed her in the car, which B-T-DUBS...that is no easy task in a non-nursing friendly dress. I was quite the sight in our back seat. 

Anyhow! After she finished eating, we headed back to the 'burbs where we celebrated with barbecue and lots of family!

This is M with my cousin who came down for the day. She works at a Buy Buy Baby in Northern, VA and loves babies. Wish she lived closer and could be our sitter!

J, M, and me with my little sis and her boyfriend. They came from NYC for the weekend.

Jason and our grandparents

M's face makes me chuckle here!

Love this one of my nana and mom with M and me!

I told you it was a lot of pictures!

It was a fun day with family, but also tiring! We were all exhausted by 5pm. And that night M woke up ready to party at 1am. She was ready for more fun! Poor girl struggled a bit being away from home and in a new place. And on top of that she had 2 teeth resting right below her gums the whole time we were away. Thankfully, they broke through when we got home!

Menu Monday

Another Monday is here, so it's time to share some meals? What have you been cooking? 

Link up at the bottom!

Linguine with Sautéed Scallops and Peas

This was good, but lacking. I think it needed more of a sauce? It's a skinnytaste recipe, so I'm guessing she cut back on oil and butter for the sake of keeping the calories low, but it was missing something. Either way, the scallops were wonderful!

Chicken and Summer Vegetable Tostadas

I loved these! The turned out a little messy because my chicken and veggie mixture was pretty watery, but they were still tasty!

Italian Chicken over Pasta

I found this one on Pinterest. It was okay, but nothing special. Baked chicken is just so blah to me. I think if I made it again, I might grill my chicken and then broil it with the cheese on top? The combination of ingredients was great, but the chicken was so plain.

Pan Bagnat with TJ's French Fries and Roasted Asparagus

I apologize for this picture. I was so excited about dinner I took a few big bites before snapping my photo! This was J's dinner for Father's Day. When we visited Nice 2 years ago, Pan Bagnat was one of our favorite parts of our visit. I've made it one other time, but it's a lot of prep. J has requested a couple of times since then, so I thought I'd make it for him for Father's Day. It was a big hit. Not quite as good as the real thing on the French Rivierra, but still good!

Okay....your turn to share! Link up!

Embrace the Camera: Week 8 with Dad

I have so many pictures from my brother's graduation that I want to post, but for today, I'll share this pic of M and her dad since it's embrace the camera day!

Thanks to my sister's boyfriend for sharing this picture with us!

J wore her from the car into the graduation, and then they walked the halls together during graduation when it was nap time so she could snooze. This baby (and her parents) love baby wearing at times like this! Also, strangers think it's WAY cute when dads wear their babies. I rarely get comments, but every other person who passed J made a comment about how sweet they looked. I can't really blame them, they are adorable!

Read more about Embracing the Camera here!

working from home....

Today marks a new chapter for our little family. As of this morning, my husband will now be working from home five days a week, with the small exception of a little traveling here and there. He took a new job where he's going to be working remotely, and while we're all really excited about this, we're also trying to figure out how to make this work best for all three of us.

He will have an office that can be shut off from the rest of the house which I think will be helpful, but I'm wondering what other "boundaries" or "rules" would be helpful to put in place. Do any of you have a spouse who works from home while you are at home with your kids? I love that he'll be here to have lunch with us and to see M for more hours of the day, but I am weary of us (M & me) getting in his way.

Also, our home office is sort of a wreck right now. I've been perusing pinterest to gather ideas on how to make it a better space for us.

Source: Uploaded by user via bluerose79 on Pinterest

Source: mostazaseed.blogspot.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

Have I also mentioned he wants a standing desk?  I *hate* the way it looks, but can understand why he wants one. Anyone have experience with a decent looking standing desk that won't break the bank?

Source: stagetecture.com via Ronique on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Daiana on Pinterest

I'd love to hear thoughts and ideas from other families who are in this situation!

graduate

Last week we traveled up to Richmond to watch my baby brother graduate. 

My brother is eleven years younger than me, and seeing him graduate is sort of a strange feeling. In my mind, I feel like I just graduated from high school. 

It's weird thinking about how much has changed in just eleven years. 

When I graduated in 2002, we used AIM and AOL. 

I had a Nokia cell phone. It didn't text.

I listened to CD's in the CD player I had installed in my car.

My brother and his graduating class all communicate via text, facebook, and twitter.

He got an iPhone for graduation.

Music is all digital now. 

So strange to see how much has changed. But as I watched him and his 500 other classmates get their diplomas last Thursday, I saw many similarities between my class and theirs.

I saw a group of students who were excited for their future.

I saw eighteen year olds who were sad to leave the people they had grown up with.

I saw students who had big plans for their future.

I saw a bunch of girls who cared much more about their appearance than the boys.

I saw a lot of parents beaming with pride when their child's name was called.

Some things don't change.

Congratulations, Jason! I'm so proud of you and excited to see where the future takes you.