TJs Graduation

This is a little bit of a delayed post, however, better late than never I suppose. Words cannot describe how it felt to watch TJ walk across that stage and accept his certificate of completion for the Fire Academy. He and the five other men who graduated with him worked their butts off and made it through the program when so many others failed. It was so amazing to be able to share that experience with him & our friends and family. I wish I had gotten better quality pictures but here are just a few. 

TJ's cousin Justin, his sweet wife Mandy & their future baby boy (still in her tummy and not pictured haha) came to support TJ. They have been so loving and encouraging of him this year while he has been in school. I hope we can show them the same as they become parents to their second child!

My cousin Louann & her baby boy "little" Justin. I wish his eyes had been open but keeping a one year olds attention for a picture was not happening. 

TJ walking across the stage!

So thankful that TJs MawMaw was able to make it to the ceremony and celebrate with him. 

Rileys face when she saw her daddy walk across the stage...so sweet. I am sorry to have to watermark the pictures of Riley, however, someone keeps stealing them for their own personal use. 

So proud of him and all he is doing! 

Riley is 8 Months!!

I cannot believe how fast the time is flying. Our little girl is EIGHT months old! 

In the past month she has gotten so curious and is starting to get into everything. She is beginning to try and crawl  and is finally sleeping through the night. We usually get her down between 9pm and 10pm and she has been sleeping till around 4:30am which is definitely a success in my book since TJ and I get up for fasted cardio at that time. I give her a bottle and she goes right back to sleep till I wake her up at 7am to get ready for work. She has such a cute little personality. We are really enjoying watching her interact with everyone around her.  She still does not want much to do with "people food" I have found a few more things she likes but peanut butter is still the only thing she will eat on a consistent basis (however we do not feed it to her much). She is drinking out of a sippy cup now, she loves to watch animals, and she LOVES jewelry. She finally got her first tooth to break through the skin and is finally saying DADA on a consistent basis. She turned 8 months on Cinco De Mayo and it is kind of an inside joke in my family that even though we are not Hispanic we celebrate Cinco De Mayo because it is my dads birthday. I dressed Riley in what we call her "Mexican Fiesta Dress" that my aunt and uncle brought back from one of their vacations to Mexico. It really ended up looking so cute.

Family & Friend Night at The Fire Academy

I have talked a little bit about TJ being in school to be a fireman. Well, the semester is almost over and tonight was family and friend night. The students were allowed to invite their loved ones to see them in action! Unfortunately, my family was unable to make it due to my brother's baseball playoff game but there was an amazing turnout and the guys really seemed to enjoy showing off their skills and having all of us there.

TJ's class originally started with over twenty students and these are the six men who have made it through and will be graduating! TJ has really had such a wonderful experience with these guys. He comes home telling me stories and cracking up laughing. It sounds bad to say but I am thankful that the class ended up so small because I feel like these guys really got to experience brotherhood and they developed real friendships which doesn't always happen in larger groups.

Here are some misc. pics of the evening.

 TJ is leading controlling the hose with his friend and classmate Tompkins backing him up.

 I wish I had gotten a quality picture of when TJ went up onto the latter to extinguish the fire but Riley was getting sleepy so I didn't have enough hands but it was definitely an awesome thing to watch.

 The last fire they tackled was the largest and I snapped this picture as soon as the blaze got going. Though this is not TJ in the picture it made for an awesome picture and we will be giving the man in the picture a copy.

 Tonight was such an amazing experience. I got to get to know the other students and their family and friends. I was able to meet a lot of the local firefighters who came in to assist the class since they were so small in number and didn't have enough men to do it alone. It helped me gain a greater respect for the bond that the firemen share. It really was like on giant family. So amazing.

 

One of the fireman's wives was gracious enough to snap a picture of the three of us. I have had that "mommy syndrome" lately where all of the pictures are of everyone but me because I am always behind the camera. I am so thankful that we were able to get one AND that Riley is actually looking at the camera! I swear I have no idea how TJ still looks so amazing after fighting fires since one o'clock this afternoon (this photo was taken around 8:30pm) but he does. I am so proud of his hard work and dedication to the program. He has absolutely just excelled and it truly blows me away what an amazing husband, father, and provider he has become.