My Little Brother, High School Graduate

This quite possibly will be my longest, most picture-filled post to date.  I just couldn't narrow down what I wanted to include from our very exciting evening attending the graduation of my brother!  And I am so stinkin proud of him I wanted to document the whole evening as best I could.  I was surprised at how emotional I felt about the whole thing.  Driving over to my parents' house during the afternoon, a fairly newish song came on the radio (pretty sure it's called We Are Young....no idea who sings it or what all the words are) and the chorus made me think of the fact that, as his last night of high school, Dillon was still young for tonight, but tomorrow was going to be a grown up entering his first job this summer and college in the fall...that his whole future is ahead of him....and it made me get a little teary-eyed!!  So cheesy, right?!  Before we left for the ceremony (had to be there at 6, the thing didn't even start until 7:30) I just had to snap a shot of the sign that has been out in the front yard at my parents' house.  When I first saw it a few weeks ago, I admit, it made me so proud and even a little sad that the big day was approaching so quickly.  I know Dill probably won't tape this up to the wall in his dorm room, but he better always save this thing!! :-)  

We didn't have a hard time finding a parking spot at the school but the stands were already packed when we got there.  We had a good hour to kill once we finally settled in on a spot....quite high in the bleachers.  Dillon was a little vague on where exactly he was sitting (near the middle I believe is what he said, haha) so we got as close as we could to the 'middle' of the set up of graduate seats.  I had packed a cooler of snacks and drinks for Sophia, plus some other snacks, and a bag of toys to keep our girl amused through the sure to be long ceremony.  She got right to work on the snacks and amusements, haha.  It was pretty hot at first too.  Not a lot of cloud coverage to help us out.  But after the sun finally started to set, it was much more comfortable.   

Finally, the graduates processed in.  They walked in in a complicated pattern and I was instantly worried we would never find my brother (especially with his vague reference to his seat).  We knew what he was wearing but I think if you were looking for a girl you had a much easier time...you could at least look for a defining shoe or hair style.  Dillon didn't have sunglasses with him and about half the guys were wearing dark pants and the other half were wearing khaki (like he was).  But, miraculously, Jay was able to spot him. And, even better, Dillon was seated right next to a teacher or aide or something who was wearing a black gown.  So we totally were able to pick him out whenever we wanted to see him.  :-) 

Here is is!!!  This picture is all the way zoomed in and then I cropped it in Picasa.  But there he is!  Doesn't he look so handsome in his cap and gown?!  I was so excited to be able to see him.  It would've been sucky to sit through the whole thing and not know exactly where he was. 

Another good zoomed in pic.  It looks like he is looking right at us and smiling for the camera.  I'm pretty sure he didn't know where we were though.  We were probably like needles in a haystack from his perspective, haha. 

Now can you pick him out??!!  I didn't post nearly as many pictures as I took of the back of his head and any time he turned or stood or whatever.  I just couldn't seem to stop taking pics once I located him.  :-) 

All the graduates.  All 800 and something of them.  Yikes.  We were definitely in for a long ceremony. 

While we waited for my brother to walk and receive his diploma, I amused myself by taking a picture of his name in the program.  Dillon James Mercer.  My little brother!!!  The program was several pages long and, being an "M", he was pretty much right in the middle.  So we had a bit of waiting to do.  Michael tried to calculate that if each name was read in 3-4 seconds that they could get through all 800 or so in about half an hour.  He ended up being a bit off though (as in, it was longer than that) because I think it was longer for some of the names, maybe more like 5 seconds or so. 

Here is Dillon's row, finally up in line to receive their diplomas.  At this point I was following along in the program with every single name that was read.  The guy that was reading at that time happened to be reading really really fast so the names were going by at lightning speed....Dillon's name was fast approaching.  And I started to get so nervous...or excited...or both!!  I just felt like, oh, my gosh, here he comes, he is about to really graduate and get his diploma!!!

There he is, getting his diploma!  When they read his name our group yelled for him (he later said he could hear us a little bit, I wasn't sure if he would be able to) and I just felt so happy and proud of him.  I felt a little shaky and also was trying to not cry (so these next few pictures aren't the best quality, haha).  But it was a very proud moment.  I sure do love that guy!! 

And there he is, an official diploma-receiving graduate of Brookwood High School, Class of 2012!! 

After the rest of the class got diplomas, they turned their rings and moved their tassels and tossed their caps...and it was finally over!  From start to finish I think it was only about a couple of hours...not bad for all those kids graduating.  I had figured we'd be there till midnight for sure, haha.  Then we just had to make our way down through the throngs of people to find our guy...not an easy feat!!  We finally spotted him, got his attention and were able to slowly move down to the field to be with him. 

Sophia was SO excited to see her uncle.  During the ceremony she pretty much thought every single person that was cheered for, or every single time we clapped, was for her Uncle Dillon.  She sure does love him!  Once we finally got to him, she stuck to him like glue.  :-) 

Uncle Dillon with Cooper.  Coop was super excited to see his uncle too.  Both kids were really well behaved during the ceremony.  And they both seemed to understand that it was a big night for their uncle.  It just makes me happy to see how much they love him, and how much he loves them back. 

 Me with the new graduate!

 Sara and Dillon

 Michael and Dillon

 Great picture of my Dad and Dill

See what I mean about Sophia being stuck to Dillon like glue?  If we took one step, she had to make sure she was holding his hand.  Maybe since she really wasn't able to pick him out of the crowd of kids, but knew he was down there the whole time, she didn't want to let him out of her sight, hahaha. 

 Siblings.  I think I want to print this one and keep it in my room.  :-)

 Mom and Dad and Dillon....I think this turned out good!

Dillon and Aunt Robin

The boys (even though Coop didn't look!!) 

After we battled traffic and got home, we had some presents for Dillon.  It was a little too late to go anywhere for dinner to celebrate, and we are having a party for him on Sunday, but we definitely wanted to give him the gifts we bought him to show him how proud of him we are. 

Sophia was trying to share her balloon with him.  But I think she ran off with it right after I snapped this shot, haha. 

Opening the present from Jay, Sara, and Cooper.  Cooper had to help, of course.  :-)

 A microwave for his dorm room!!  Plus a cool bacon tray that you can use to cook bacon in a microwave and the game Zelda for his Wii.  My guess is that bacon tray is going to get a LOT of use!!

Sophia helping him open our card and gift.  I was a little worried she was going to tell him what the gift was before he got it open.  She 'helped' me wrap it and repeated over and over what it was.  Then got interested in the polka dots on the wrapping paper, so I was hoping she would forget about the actual gift...and she kept quiet!

 A 19 inch HDTV for his dorm room!  I like it a lot better than the one we have in our bedroom (hint, hint, Michael!!  Just kidding....sort of), I think it will be perfect for him to take to college.  And I think he liked it a lot!

Then the kids decided to tear up the wrapping paper and throw it around and run through it and scream and laugh and go crazy.  It might have been waaayyy after both of their bedtimes!! 

 But they had fun and were so cute!

Aunt Sara/Ow Ow decided that Sophia needed braids in her hair.  And that little stinker stood there like a statue and didn't move an inch the whole time.  Which NEVER happens when I do her hair. 

It turned out cute though! 

Last night was so much fun and so great and I am SO proud of my little brother...he's a high school graduate!!!  I just keep saying it because I can't believe it, even though I was there and saw the whole thing.  Next week Dillon will start summer work at the credit union, where Michael now works and where I worked for many years and even Sara worked for many summers.  I teared up a lot yesterday at his graduation, but no real crying....I am almost sure that when he leaves for college in just a few short months I will cry like a little baby!! I'll miss that guy!  But I am so proud of him and excited for his future and all the good things that are in store for him.  As cheesy as it sounds, he really is about to embark on the most exciting time of his life!!  

SO Proud

Today, actually as this blog post is published, my little brother is graduating from high school.  My youngest sibling, Dillon James Mercer, is a part of the graduating class of 2012 from Brookwood High School.  And I could not be prouder of him!

I remember the very first time I held him after he was born.  At that time I surely wasn't thinking ahead to when he would be graduating from high school.  I hadn't even reached that milestone yet, nor had my sister.  I didn't think about him being a high school graduate when I graduated from college or my sister graduated from college...he still had a ways to go even then.  But now, here it is.  High school seems so much tougher than it was when I was there, and yet Dillon has always been in the advanced classes.  He is one smart guy.  Maybe hasn't always applied himself as much as he should but again, here we are at graduation and he is a part of it.  Not only that, he applied to several colleges and got in to every single one.  Out of those colleges, he has chosen to attend Columbus State when fall semester starts up in August.  Now I could really just cry, my little brother is going to go away to college!!  And I really am so proud of him. 
I am sure he is so excited to get out on his own, just like I was once I graduated from high school.  Time to get out of the parents' house, haha.  But I still don't want him to leave us, or Sophia, who worships the ground he walks on.  I guess he was just a little bit older than she is now when I went off and left him for college.  :-(  The good thing is that there are so many more ways to keep in touch, and since Sophia pretty much already knows how to make a Facetime call on my iphone, Uncle Dillon can expect a lot of that when he goes to college!!
Eighteen years goes by so fast.  I am going to blink and Cooper and Sophia will be graduating (so not ready for that!!).  I didn't think this day would get here so quickly, but when this post hits I will probably be sitting in the stands of Brookwood High School, waiting for the principal to call my brother's name and to see him walk across the stage to get his diploma....I could cry just thinking about it!!  In fact, I am probably crying as I sit at the graduation ceremony, haha. (There will definitely be an post on the ceremony, complete with pictures of the big night and the graduate!) 
Anyway, I just wanted to quickly write something to say that Dillon, I love you very much and I can't believe that you are already grown up and are graduating.  I am very very proud of you for hitting this important milestone, so proud that you are planning on attending college in the fall, and just proud in general to have you as my brother.  Michael and Sophia and I are so happy to be celebrating this big event with you and will always be here for you if you need anything as you head off to college for a new, exciting future!!
Congratulations on graduating, Dillon James Mercer, Class of 2012!!!!

Great Weekend

This last weekend was awesome because we got to travel to Birmingham to celebrate my brother-in-law....he graduated from law school!!  We are so proud of Jay for all the hard work he has put in these last few years and it really paid off because he graduated Magna Cum Laude...which I think means the top 5% of his class.  What a smart guy, right?!  I am also super proud of my sister for supporting her man through the process, even though it meant a lot of sacrifice on their parts to get through the three years of school.  It was kinda tough when we had Sophia while Michael still had one semester left of his graduate program, along with full time work, but it was only a few months.  Sara, Jay and Cooper have done so well over these years and I know they are so happy and relieved that the school days are over.  We are proud of them and love them so much!
Friday night was the actual graduation.  It was pretty hot outside, so thankfully the ceremony was inside.  We had prepped Sophia a little bit the night before to cheer for her Uncle Jay....only to find out that at law school graduation you don't cheer until the very end!!  Needless to say, she shouted out Uncle Jay about a hundred times during the ceremony and was totally beside herself when she saw him and he actually waved to her.  You would think he was famous or something, haha.  I was happy that overall she was very good during the whole thing, even though we kept her mostly quiet by stuffing her with snacks throughout the ceremony.  :-) 
Afterwards, we went to eat pizza at a cute little restaurant with our family and Jay's family.  It was a lot of fun family time (mostly long because the took forever to bring out the food!) and we were tired by the end of the night.  I'd say graduation day was perfect!  Here are my pictures from Friday....

Saturday was a fun relaxing day at the pool (after some sleeping in!).  The weather was really nice, but the pool water was so cold!  Michael swam with Sophia and Cooper and they had a blast together.  Then there was some bubble blowing and lunch time before heading up for showers and naps.  That evening Michael and Dillon and I went with Jay and Sara to a fun graduation party for some classmates of Jay's.  The house and the food was amazing!  We had a really fun time and it was nice to get dressed up and go out and hang out among adults, which is not something Michael and I get to do that often (the kids were back with Gramma and Grampa!).  After the party we headed back to Sara and Jay's house and played games....we had looked around for a bar or club that Dillon could get into (in AL you have to be 19, not just 18, to get into pretty much everywhere) but came up with nothing.  We had a really fun time though just playing games and we didn't even have to be quiet because the kids were back at the hotel room with the grandparents!  Another fun day in the books...here are the pictures I took from Saturday....

Sunday we had to head home but first we went to a cute little place for lunch and it was nice out so we ate at a table outside.  I always love family time and this weekend was so special because we were celebrating such a big milestone for my brother-in-law.  Now that the summer is here we are excited to get to spend a lot of time with Sara and Jay and Cooper...well, at least Sara and Cooper for the first part of the summer, Jay still has to do some studying for his bar exam!! 
Tomorrow night is another huge family night....my little brother is graduating from high school!!  It will be a busy and exciting day (so I might not get to post about it until Thursday or Friday) and I think it is even going to be a bit emotional for me...I just can't believe the day is already here.  Seems like just yesterday that he was born.  Lots of graduations around our family these days!  So exciting for my brother-in-law and for my brother to move on to the next exciting phases in their lives...and so happy to be a part of celebrating with them!  :-)