Oh yea...and I got a master's degree

This post is meant to clear up confusion associated with my most recent graduation and degree. To practice school psychology, you need an educational specialist degree. To get this, you also get a master's degree. The master's degree without the Ed.S. degree will not get you very far. At the University of Delaware, it is a three year program. The first two years include coursework and practicum experiences. The third year is an internship. After the first year, you receive your master's degree, and then you keep going to school for two more years until you get your Ed.S. and actually become a school psychologist. The M.A. is more of a pat on the back for completing the first year. So yea, I guess it's kind of cool to get to put two letters after my name, and yea, it was fun to celebrate, but no I'm not done with school yet. 

Happy my hubs could actually stay for the entire ceremony this time....

The lovely ladies of the class of 2014

 Jumping for joy

Celebration picnic-Big thanks to all the mothers (and fathers?) who helped plan it! 

 

                                    Big lips courtesy of Lindsey's mom                                              Silly boys courtesy of.....?

It was a day of parties-after the party with my cohort, our wonderful friend from church insisted on having a joint party for Josh and I because my graduation was also on Josh's birthday. She has a new frozen yogurt shop that just opened up called Yolicious (and it's delicious!)

http://yoliciousfrozenyogurt.com/

http://www.facebook.com/YoliciousFrozenYogurt

so I agreed only in the hopes that it would be good for her business!  

And that was that! 3 degrees down, 1 more to go! I'm tied with Joshy now. Ha!

Epic Road Trip

Josh and I are currently in Mississippi for the summer, but before we came here, we took 3 weeks off to see family, friends, and see our beloved mountains out west again. We loaded up our Prius and it magically became the PUV-Prius Utility Vehicle. I honestly don't know why everyone doesn't own a Prius. We fit camping gear (2 sleeping bags, 4 man tent, 2 sleeping pads, tarp, 2 pillows), tennis rackets, a football, 2 large suitcases, 2 backpacks, a box of soil, 2 people, a 70 lb dog (and all that he needs), and a bike in/on this little car!

  

                                                                         Buster!

 

My FIL proudly showed us his garden.

 

The main event of the day was a whiffle ball game--there were only a few heated discussions on rules and technique. 

It was a short visit, but always fun to be there and see loved ones again!

Puppy Progress

Ok, so I couldn't wait to post some more pictures. Our sweet puppy has really grown up a lot in the 8.5 months we've had him so far (he's 1.5 years old now). He has come a long way, conquered a lot of his fears, and endeared himself to us forever. He is a wonderful companion, loves to be close to us, and will do anything to cuddle. Here are some pics of his time with us so far!

                                                          Frankie's first haircut! Our fluffernutter. 

Franklin went camping for the first time with us in November. He was terrified of the tent then. He is terrified of the tent now. It's a work in progress. 

He loves grass and will do a crazy dance when he gets a clump he thinks he's not supposed to have. 

 He'd rather be playing outside all day and gives great puppy dog eyes when he doesn't get to. 

He discovered stink bugs. He likes to squish them until the stink comes out and can spend hours playing with one. 

He pretty much lets us do whatever we want to him. 

 He went into a pool for the first time ever in May. As you can see, he's still pretty timid and hasn't quite mastered the art of finding the stairs to get out. It only took a few pushes and shoves to make him get in.  

Yea, so, I'm pretty much obsessed. 

I'm Baaaack! For the summer at least.

That's right, school's out for the summer, which means I have control over my life again! I have lots to catch up on, so I'm going to take it one post at a time.

 So after the marathon, we celebrated Christmas.

Longwood Gardens

We went on some hikes.

Above two: Rock State Park, MD

Kilgore Falls, MD 

Stroud Water Research Center

And we hung out with some friends. 

Delaware City

Yolicious

In the midst of all of this, we also did some schoolwork. I successfully completed my first practicum experience as a school psychology student! I worked 2 days a week in an elementary school and loved it. It was reassuring to realize that I enjoy the field I chose :) 

Stay posted for updates about....Franklin! Graduation! Ohio! Utah! and Colorado! 

Hopefully it will be as exciting as it sounds.