graduation day!

We made the haul up to Missouri Friday to watch Brooke graduate from the nursing program at Missouri Western.

The plan was to leave Wichita at 3 (mason's nap time) in hopes that he would sleep a majority of the way. Emily was coming home from school in Oklahoma and ended up arriving a little late. We didn't hit the road till closer to 4pm. Mason did fall asleep rather quickly....

but that only lasted 30 minutes.

after about 45 minutes of playing fine in his carseat we stopped about an hour out to feed Mason in hopes that he would go back to sleep till we got there. We had dinner plans with Brooke and Nate so we needed him to hopefully not be cranky. By this time it was getting dark and Mason absolutely HATES being in the car when it is dark, thus being said he whined for 40 minutes before finally drifting to sleep

I wasn't sure how he was going to sleep in the hotel room. We had 2 full sized beds, my thought was to bring some of the blankets he uses around the house and put him in one bed to himself. Luckily he slept great, all night infact, 9:30-6:30.

Graduation day was the real test. Brooke had pinning at 8:30 and graduation at 11. This left little time for a morning nap. We got ready, ate breakfast and heading to the pinning. Normally Mas naps around 8:30-9 so i was slightly worried we might have a mealtdown. 

I am happy to say we didn't! He did fall asleep during the speaker but once they announced the first name and everyone started clapping he was woken up. He sat with Austin, so I could take pictures, and he thought playing with daddy's beard was quite entertaining.

getting pinned

Brooke and Nate

Mason with Auntie Brooke

After the pinning we took Mason to Brooke's dorm to get a quick nap before the ceremony. He was able to sleep 30 minutes before we had to head to the next event. About 10 minutes into graduation he was over it, luckily Austin took him to a little waiting area they had with chairs and a tv. Austin said there were quite a few dads out there with little babies =)

we were on the balcony so pictures were a chanllange

Mason was exhausted at this time and I don't blame him, he hadn't really got a nap and most of the time he is on a 3-4 nap a day schedule! We headed to lunch and this was where he melted down. Poor baby was just over all the running around. Needless to say after multiple attempts to stop his screaming in the restaurant (everyone tried-grandma, me, austin, and even grandpa) I took him to the car so he would fall asleep.

The ride home was much better, he slept the first 2 hours and played the last hour.

We were so proud to see Brooke graduate with honors. She has worked so hard, between soccer, school, and clinicals she has pushed herself. She received a job at Children's Mercy in Kansas City just days before graduating. We are sad she will not be moving home but excited she has the opportunity to work in the field she was hoping to, pediatric oncology.

the whole family

Congratulations Brooke!