Phase I Graduation

December 19, 2014 was a HUGE day!  Trent completed phase I of the IPAP program.  He worked so very hard, but didn't sacrifice his family or church responsibilities while in the PA program.  He completed anywhere from 24-26 credit hours every 4 months.  Every Monday and every Friday (and sometimes on Wednesdays) they had tests.  These were big tests, if you got a 75% or below you failed that test. Some classes only had two tests that made up your whole grade, most were around 4.  You had to maintain and 80% average to stay in the program.  Unfortunately, every semester they lost a few people.

Trent was home most every night for dinner.  He'd help get kids to bed and then he'd study for a few hours.  On Saturdays he went to the schoolhouse for most of the day and Sundays he went to study after church for a few hours.  He worked really hard, but was still able to have some fun with us while he was working hard to pass his classes.  Not all of the classes were easy.  He got his first 76% on a test his senior semester and might have freaked our just a little bit. He failed only one test, the OSCE (hands on exam).  He came out with the correct answers but didn't do it in the order that they wanted, leaving out a few steps all together.  That stressed him out quite a bit.  That test was one of the very last ones, he had to retake it (the only test they let you retake once) the day the movers showed up to pack us all up.  I had no doubt in my mind that he would retake it and pass it just fine, and he did.

Trent's dad and step mom came in for his graduation.  It was so good to have them there!!  They got in late Wednesday night and were such a help with the kids while we finished up at our house getting it cleaned and checking out of housing.  We stayed at a hotel with them after we checked out of housing till we left.

class leader, and good friend, Chris--he's the short one :)

Lucky for us they moved the graduation time from 8 am to 10:30 am, a much better time. I asked the older kids if they wanted to go to daddies graduation or go to school for the last time before we moved.  They both thought that going to school sounded way more fun than sitting through daddies gradation.  I kinda agreed with them. :)

I tried to get lots of pictures, but I had a screaming baby at my feet the whole time.  It was his nap time and he was feeling it!

After his gradation papa and grandma took the two little boys back to the hotel to let Andrew take a nap while Trent and I finished up things on post.

For dinner that night (our last night in San Antonio--sniff sniff) we went and checked out a local favorite--Big Lou's Pizza.  It did not disappoint!  It was so so good.  They had the biggest pizza sizes I have ever seen!  They had the standard sizes, but then it got extreme--37" 42" and if you really wanted a big pizza, 64", however, you have to call ahead a couple of hours for that one.  We saw one come out, it took 4 people to carry it out.  It was SO big!  We just got the 37" pizza.  It takes an hour for it to cook, which we didn't know before hand, and the little kids got a little antsy.  Carter and papa found a way to entertain themselves:

Playing finger football :)

And then our pizza came out

Carter was just a little shocked at it's size.

It took a little figuring out how to eat it, but it sure was yummy!!  We had 6 slices leftover.  I couldn't let it go to waste, it was too go to throw away.  So we took it back to the hotel and gave it to the front desk people, they were super excited.  

If you ever find yourself in San Antonio and love pizza go check out Big Lou's. Be prepared to wait an hour for you pizza to cook, and go at off busy times, it get's pretty busy on the weekends.  So worth it!!