YES...There is a Doctor in the house!!

I hope your dreams take you to the corners of your smiles, to the highest of your hopes, to the windows of your opportunities, and to the most special places your heart has ever known.  ~Author Unknown

We spent an amazing day in Blacksburg Virginia at Virginia Tech and the   Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM), watching our daughter graduate as a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine)!! She graduated in the top 25% of her class which earned her a place in the National Veterinary Honor Society, Phi Zeta.."recognizes high scholarship, stands for constant advancement of the veterinary profession, and promotes research in matters pertaining to the welfare and diseases of animals."

No, we're not proud...not at all!! :)  She graduated with a 3.699999!!! From Vet School!! 

She has wanted this since she was about 5 years old, and every job, volunteer or paid has been toward that goal. She has never wavered or  questioned it, even through the tough classes and rotations during her internships. She starts a new job on July 1st as a Veterinarian at a clinic in Roanoke. I cannot express to you how proud I am!

Here she is with her hood ( it is unofficial at this point, but she has to wear it to the Main VT graduation)

When she graduated from undergrad, we all noted the DVM graduates in their fancy gowns and what I called 'Pillows' on their heads, she said then that would soon be her, and she would have a 'pillow' on her head!  She even sent me a preview earlier this week with her very own pillow on her head!

Jess' "pillow"

Bob, Jess' father in law and I decided we would make enough food to keep the 10 people in our party happy and fed during the day's events, and we had a great time, he also had a cake custom made for her that we decorated with animals!!

 We had two graduation ceremonies and a reception to go to during the day....the main VT ceremony was to be at noon with a reception for the Vet School at 4:30 then the Vet School graduation, hooding ceremony at 7:00.

VT main graduation in the football stadium

Here she is taking our picture!!

Here we are in the crowd (yellow circle)!

The DVM graduates with their gloves blown up!

Jess in front of the Vet School prior to the VMRCVM reception

Jess with hubby Brad (Teacher of the year this year at Blacksburg High School!!!)

Here is Hubby, Jess and I......So proud!!! 

(L to R) Bob (Brad's Dad), Jess, Brad and Matt (Brad's Brother)

The DVM and Teacher of the Year!!

With Brad's Grandma, Elizabeth

Jess' Dad, Tim  and Ree in front of the new addition of the Vet School

Between the reception and the Vet School ceremony, Jess took us on a tour of the Vet School hospital, we got to see the new addition also!

We believe this is a dolphin, (or whale)

One of the operating rooms! Very cool!!

After the reception and the tour we headed over to the Vet School Ceremony where it all became 'Official'!

Jess just received her hood

Taking her oath

Bob, Brad and Jess looking at her certificate of DVM!!

Yes!! There is now a Doctor in the house!!!...And I'm the Mother of a Doctor!!! :D

It was a wonderful day for us all, Jess has worked her whole life for this and now gets to do what she has always wanted! She is such an exceptional person and I have no doubt she will excel and be the best Vet there ever was!! Congratulations to you Baby Girl! You have done it!! Now it's time to relax and enjoy!!

Bob and Stacey, (Brad's parents) are taking them to Nappa Valley CA for a few days to celebrate with some wine tasting. When Brad's School is out, we are taking the Doctor and Teacher of the year to a much deserved vacation to Sanibel Island for 2 weeks in June, where they can just sit back with their feet in the sand and turn off those amazing brains for a while!!

I know this is a LONG post, but I am so proud!!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Mother's Day 2013

"When you are a Mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." ~Sophia Loren

Happy Mother's Day!

 The local babies are growing like weeds! These are the babies I showed you a couple of posts ago. We call them the 'teenagers' now because they are nearly as big as their Mothers!!

It was a nice sunny weekend here and Lily enjoyed napping in the sun too! (as she does most mornings!)

Spring is definitely in full swing here! The hummingbirds are here!

I just did catch this guy...he flew as I snapped the pic!!

My gardens are blooming like crazy due to the many rainy days we've had!

Of Course you know I have to have hibiscus in honor of Florida!! They don't make it through the winter here so I plant new ones every year!!

Here is my mom enjoying lunch outside in the beautiful weather!

She lives in an assisted living facility here and made me this beautiful wreath which I have proudly displayed on my front door in honor of Mother's Day!

 Mom and I spent the weekend together, I cooked her some of her favorites!

Seared Scallops, Sauted Shrimp and roasted asparagus for lunch and Steaks on the grill for Dinner!!!

 Remember this pic? Pam from I love Shelling took this of us the day we closed on our house in Florida.  I framed it for Mom and added coquinas as butterflies since my Mom LOVES butterflies!! How many do you find?

I hope all you Mothers out there had a pretty spring day to celebrate!!

Next weekend our Baby Girl graduates from Virginia Tech Vet School!!!! I am so excited and so very proud of her! Bet you know what the next post will be!!!!

Dr. Jessica Kraft, DVM......it has such a great sound to it ...doesn't it?!!!!!

Hope you all had a great day!!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Working on our Dreams...continued

The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it.  ~Charles DeLint

Well it is officially official!! We closed on the townhouse in Ft. Myers on Tuesday April 30!!! We arrived on Monday and stayed in a Hotel nearby, with all the stuff in the car to be able to move in after closing and stay in our new home the rest of the week!! When we got to the motel on Monday, we saw this guy on the lights! I read it as a sign....a good sign.  

When we got up the next morning, he had a partner! How cool is that?! It's only the second time in my life I have seen a bald eagle in real life!!

The sunrise was beautiful, and it just looked like Florida!! I was beginning to get excited!

After closing on the house, we went right over and began 'moving in'.  As I said in the original post, it was well furnished, and just needed the personal items, sheets, dishes, towels utensils etc. Hubby began unloading the car while I went room by room to take 'before' pictures.  My goal was to move in and cook a nice dinner for us in our new home, this would be sort of a celebration while making sure we had all we needed!  It wouldn't be tonight however because we had made a date on Sanibel island for dinner with our real estate agent, Clark and his wife Pam from one of my favorite blogs... I love shelling!

Pam and Clark came to the restaurant with a housewarming gift that Pam had made just for us!! We were SO honored!! The shells are called worm shells, and are Pam's favorite, and what an amazing job she did...don't you agree? She posted instructions on how to make it on her blog here, we were honored to be 'featured'! The picture inside was taken last November when we 'ran into her' while shelling on Sanibel!

We had a GREAT time with Clark and Pam and began to feel more and more at home all the time! Our home is 15 minutes from Sanibel....can you believe it??

Here is the frame proudly displayed on our new shelves in a place of honor with my Dad's airplane from Sanibel that we bought him a few years ago.

The view out our back window is amazing and I kept running outside snapping pics!

A Snowy Egret

A Hawk, I believe!

A Florida Lizard (Anole) showing his colors!

Bird of paradise flowers are growing at our back door!!

This tropical looking jumble is growing in a tree trunk at eye level at our neighbors, I thought it was interesting!

I finally got a chance to do a little shopping on Thursday night and had been dying to shop at Bealls, they don't have that store in VA and I knew from the website that it would have cool 'beachy' stuff! They even have an outlet near our house! I couldn't resist picking up a few things! :)  I love this store!

Appropriate sign don't you think?...and it's in the colors I want to decorate in..."I love shelling" blue!

These go really nicely with my new Shell dishes!

I looked at this guy several times, at several different stores....finally I had to have him!! He and I have plans!!

This set of pics will look nice together if I do it right!!

I found this on the clearance shelf....frame and all!! He looks nice and is already hanging in our hallway!

The light was already lined up....another sign! :)

The time seemed to fly by, and Saturday arrived quickly, but we got a lot accomplished...decorating is going to take some time as I get more familiar with it all, and do some shopping around....but we have plenty of time! The goal was to have it ready for us whenever we come down! Beds are made, kitchen stocked...and yes I cooked our celebration dinner....and breakfast! ..and it was very nice!

We met several people and took Lily with us for a walk through the neighborhood and we already feel right at home! We just know this is right.....

Friday we went to dinner at Gramma Dots on Sanibel and ran into our neighbors from right here in VA! They went to Sanibel for the day from Orlando, what a small world! We had a great visit with them (over the best key lime pie on the island) and took pictures! Will post when I get a copy! Hubby and I shelled for and hour and half or so after that, no great prizes found, but tides weren't good this trip....maybe next time!

...to be continued :)

::Hugs::

Cheri

Florida Homeowners!! :)