I wanted to share this with you all!

Friends,
I received a copy of an email from a dear friend of mine, Karen. She is a huge supporter of our soldiers. She shared with me a letter from a Maj.Mark Aitken, I can't begin to express this nearly as well so with out any further hesitation here is his email.
Wolverine "5" Christmas Message

Yesterday, December 20, 2006, I sat down to write a Christmas message to all who have supported the officers, non-commissioned officers, and troopers of the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment (Wolverines), but was distracted by our President’s news conference and the plethora of bad news emanating out of Iraq. It disturbed me greatly to learn that our country is losing patience with the progress or lack thereof to date. These statements motivated me to alter my Christmas message from one of hope and support, to a message requesting one thing, "Time."

The United States Army, "Your Army," has a distinguished history of overcoming insurmountable adversities eventually resulting in decisive victories. There are many heroic battles, but none more famous than when the Continental Army under General George Washington, during the Revolutionary War, reversed the tide of British victories in 1776 by crossing the frozen Delaware River on Christmas Eve to defeat the Hessian Garrison at Trenton, New Jersey. This tradition continued through the years, and was again illustrated during World War II during the Battle of Bulge when elements of the 101st Airborne refused to surrender to advancing German Forces. General McAullife’s response of "Nuts" to the German Commanders request for surrender was a stroke of genius that motivated our soldiers to stand their ground against overwhelming odds. These are only two examples of the many heroic and valorous acts performed by our Armed Forces during the Christmas season. Many of our fellow countrymen believe that this is only in our history, but I remind you that our men and women in uniform continue these fine traditions and epitomize the values of what it means to be an American!

Therefore, this Christmas I am asking for "Time." Time for us to do our jobs and bring peace and stability to the country of Iraq! We don’t need tanks, airplanes, artillery, or even more soldiers; we just need "Time!" We need "Time" to develop the Iraqi Army, improve security, and eventually show the local population how to enjoy the privileges of freedom. I know it is difficult to fathom but in the years following World War II, our country maintained large numbers of troops in both Europe and Japan in order to sustain peace and stability. It is interesting to note that even today we retain troops in both of these countries. I doubt that either Japan or Germany would have flourished and grown as democracies if we had abandoned the "Marshall Plan" and withdrawn our troops because of setbacks or casualties.

In closing, I would like to remind everyone of a conversation between General Washington and Congressman Benjamin Rush on the eve of their crossing the Delaware River. They were both concerned of the state of the militia army and their capability to execute a nighttime attack in extremely bad weather. During the course of the conversation Congressman Rush noticed General Washington holding a small crushed piece of paper in his hand. When queried regarding the contents of the paper he showed there were three words, "Victory or Death." This note, while profound during that time, affected me deeply here in Iraq. While most Americans today can not fathom or understand that kind of dedication, our troops serving in Iraq fully understand its implications. If we fail here, we may not perish, but all the good that we have accomplished over the past five years will wither and die! With that, I wish all a Merry Christmas, and pray that God grants our government and people the patience in order that we, the men and women of your Army, can emerge victorious.

MAJ Mark Aitken

1st Squadron, 89th United States Cavalry

FOB Striker, Iraq

We began something we need to finish. I agree with this man 110% and I only wish I could thank him personally for all he has done for this great country.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

I'll return soon with pictures from our Christmas! I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year!

Diva Lunch!

Today Bob and I had lunch with the Diva herself! I was able to prove that she in fact does exist in more than my imagination. I speak of the Diva often but Bob had no proof that she was real until today! I'm not sure if he thought that she was imaginary or if he thought "Diva" was the code name I'd given my boyfriend. I can assure you if I ever have a boyfriend he won't be a Diva! Besides we know my boyfriend is busy with Angelina these days! Some years ago Bob and I made a pact that the only people we could have affairs with would be, Brad Pitt and Meg Ryan. I haven't heard that Brad is secretly craving plump Latina's, yeah I know I'm being kind using plump but well I'm nice to me that way!


Our lunch time flew by and Bob agreed the Diva is all I've said she is. She's a cutie and he admitted conversation didn't lag a bit. My next trip to Richmond I hope to see her again perhaps I'll be lucky enough to meet her better half, if indeed he does exist! Just kidding Diva I know he does. Diva is half way through her first pregnancy and I have to tell ya she is just glowing!
We stopped for a picture together as we departed! The Diva and the Diva wannabe! It was great seeing you D!
I can't wait to see that bundle of joy you are carrying, I need to get my baby fix and remember any time you need me Auntie Lillie is just a call away!

Christmas has come early for me

Though it is not customary for me to receive a present early DH thought I'd waited long enough since the death of my last digital camera. I had to agree with him! I made my decision after hours of research. I decided on this.
I love this camera! I will get the chance to break it in a bit tomorrow. The Diva herself is traveling out to my neck of the woods to meet for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's! I'll have pictures of the blogger meeting to post tomorrow. I should be back to a more regular blogging schedule now that I have a camera to inspire some posts. I'm sure you are all excited.

Proud to support....

My family is proud to be supporting our military by adopting a soldier. We just received the name and address of a soldier in Iraq. I can't and won't divulge any information here I just wanted to say I'm so happy to be apart of this. I've just sent our first letter of introduction. I'm not sure that I will receive any information from him in time for the holidays so I'm searching for some tasty items to send as well as generic items I think he could use. I'd offer to bake some items myself except I can't bake and I don't think he needs to be a guinea pig in addition to the horrors of his day. I was forwarded a couple of wonderful blogs written from the perspective of Marines. The most recent posts describe Thanksgiving from the perspective of soldiers so far from home. I thought you might like to visit them. first there is http://www.sandgram.blogspot.com/ and also http://www.onemarinesview.com/one_marines_view/

Digital Cameras

I've narrowed my search down to 2. 2 very different cameras and I was hoping anyone that had experience with either could chime in here for some advice.
1. Olympus sp500... this is not the compact model I'm used to but it has a 10X optical zoom, I think zoom is very important.
2. Canon SP600 or 630... very compact but I'm hearing some negatives on the sturdiness of the battery door and USB port
Also if you have any other suggestions please tell me those as well. I'm trying to stay in the $400 or less price range. Feel free to email me or leave your responses in the comments.
Till next time!

another interesting blog

OK ,I found this new site via an advertisement on One red paperclip, Joe apology it has much the same premise as Post Secret, only here you post your apology anonymously. I think its a great way to get the ball rolling. It's cathartic! Some have posted that its a lame excuse for an apology... and maybe on some level that is correct. I think however, that it can be the first step to voicing your apology and or secret. Maybe its like confessions at the Catholic church only much easier. I know as a child growing up in the Catholic church I was not able to confess my true sins. I knew the father knew me and I didn't want him to know the awful truth about my sinful ways. So I made much more menial things up to confess.
I've long sense left the Catholic church partly because of confessions and the strictness of the religion though honestly I'm not a true practicing Baptist either. I don't attend church but I don't feel that keeps me from being a Christian. I try to do unto others as I'd have them do unto me. Even though they don't usually do the same. I can tell you some stories but I won't bore you with the details. Anyway, I had not intended to go into religion I just wanted to give you a great site to check out.
Till next time!

As we were watching the Animal Planet

The other night we learned that flamingo get their pink color from the food they eat. So we got to talking about Jackie turning green cause of all the pickles she's been eating. Bob and Brandon started mentioning different things they like to eat and the colors they would turn if that was all they ate. Next thing I know Brandon says... "It's a good thing I didn't turn to chocolate, because then I'd have to eat myself!" We burst out into laughter in unison.

Thank God for this great country, the USA, that we live in.

Today in an email alert from the Home School legal Defense I received the following:
From the HSLDA E-lert Service...======================================================================Urgent! Calls Needed to the German Embassy Next Week(Updated with Contact Info for the German Embassy)Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:The German government is persecuting homeschoolers like never before. Armin Eckermann, president of Schulunterricht zu Hause (School Instruction at Home--SIH), the homeschool legal defense association of Germany, states that there are over 40 homeschool families in court in Germany!The families are being heavily fined; the parents are being jailed; the children are being threatened with being seized and placed in the custody of the state; and families are being forced to flee to Austria and other surrounding countries.Here are a few current and frightening situations:1) The Rudolph family: They are diligently homeschooling their six children in Hamburg. The father, Andre, was jailed for a week for refusing to send his children to public school. Like many of the homeschool families in Germany, they are evangelicals. What is even more surprising about Andre Rudolph being put in jail for homeschooling is that he has a degree in teaching! He and his wife have been fined 840 euros ($1,090) for homeschooling. After Andre's jail time the authorities tried a new weapon and began to forcibly take the children to public school each day. Their plan was take custody of these six children and make them wards of the state. One day, however, the authorities came to take the children to school, but no one answered the door. The Rudolphs fled to another country in order to homeschool their children according to God's ways.2) The Plett family: If you recall, last year we asked you to pray and contact the embassy about the seven Baptist homeschool families of Paderborn. One of the families, the Pletts, have continued to homeschool their 12 children. Last week, a female plainclothes police officer rang at the Platt's house. When the mother opened the door, other police officers who were hiding in the bushes forced their way in. The mother was able to inform her husband by cell phone before the police took her to jail. The husband then fled to Austria with the children. She was given a 10-day prison sentence and is facing heavy fines and more jail time.Of the seven Paderborn homeschool families from last year, two have fled to Austria and five have enrolled in a Christian school in Heidelburg. They all still have pending cases against them.3) Three homeschool families from Saxony have been taken to court and convicted. One was fined 3,000 euros, one 6,000 euros, and another 10,000 euros.4) The Bauer family: This family in Hesse are American missionaries for the last 15 years. They were prosecuted about five years ago and have exhausted their appeals and have sought review by the Human Rights European Court that covers all of Europe.There are now eight cases pending before the European Court, most of which the SIH organization has brought, along with Ronald Richert, a renown Constitutional law attorney who has handled some of the SIH members' cases. The problem with the European Court, is that it all cases are discretionary: there is no right of appeal. If the Court decides not to rule on them, the case will not be heard. Another problem is the Court has no particular deadline of when they have to decide to take the case or not, so some of these cases have been sitting for three to four years, with no resolution in sight.5) The Herrmann family: This family from Baden-Wurttemberg was facing prosecution for homeschooling their twins who have many medical problems. They have been forced into hiding and are seeking asylum in the United States and other countries. The Maisch family, also from Baden-Wurtemberg, has been convicted of homeschooling. For the past three weeks they have faced increasing fines.Schulunterricht zu Hause (SIH), the legal association that HSLDA helped establish, is being worn out with defending all these families in court. They have approximately 150 members in their association that are all homeschool families, many of whom are underground, and almost 40 in court.Appeals have been exhausted time and time again, and money is running out. The German homeschool families are pleading for your help.Will you take a moment and contact the German Embassy?ACTION REQUESTED1. Please contact the German Embassy and give them this message:"German governments need to make homeschooling legal. Over 40 families are being prosecuted in Germany merely for teaching their children at home. These families have been given huge fines, some parents have been jailed, some have been forced to flee to other countries, and they are all being threatened to take their children into state custody. This is deplorable and unacceptable for any free nation to persecute Christian families who are providing an excellent education for their children. We ask you to stop prosecuting these families like the Maisches, the Pletts, the Bauers, the Rudolphs, and the many others. Homeschooling needs to be legalized in Germany."This message can be put in your own words, along with a story or information about the success of your own homeschool.The German Embassy can be contacted at:Wolfgang IschingerAmbassadorGerman Embassy4645 Reservoir Road NWWashington, DC, 20007-1998(202) 298-4000The embassy can be e-mailed from its website: http://www.globescope.biz/germany/reg/index.cfm 2. If you want to support homeschoolers in other countries--and causes such as Schulunterricht zu Hause in Germany--you can make a donation to the Home School Foundation's international fund. For more information visit http://www.homeschoolfoundation.org/ .3. Please pray fervently for these poor families facing incredible pressure and fear.We cannot give up. Our brothers and sisters in Germany need us and have their back against the wall.BACKGROUNDHomeschooling in Germany has been illegal in Germany for a long time. In fact, according to some newspaper accounts it has been illegal since Hitler banned it in 1938. Five years ago we helped establish Schulunterricht zu Hause as a way for Germans to receive some legal defense. However, even though the determined lawyers defending the families have worked for free and many attempts have been made to battle to make it legal, homeschooling is still outlawed.We have had tremendous success in many countries in the past to influence their parliaments to legalize homeschooling and even release people from jail. When Americans and homeschoolers in other countries have contacted the German Embassy, officials there have communicated the thousands of calls back to their national government and it makes a difference, even in policy considerations.We have been successful in help legalizing homeschooling in South Africa and Romania and in stopping bad legislation that would destroy homeschool freedoms in Ireland, Australia, Czech Republic, and other countries.Thank you and God bless you for your willingness to make a difference. Sincerely, Christopher J. KlickaHSLDA Senior Counsel
I'm thankful that here in the US of A we have the right to homeschool our children with little interference from the government. I know there are many cases where the government tries to cross the line beyond their legal rights, we aren't a perfect government nor a perfect society. We do however have the HSLDA to stand behind us and help us fight the good fight. I'd like to ask you to contact the German embassy and ask them to protect the God given right of every parent that wishes to home school their children, that they may do so without persecution from the government. Please join me in doing the right thing.

Thank you!

Thanks to World of bloggers for linking me to their site. Now my friends those of you with experience on Blogger and or HTML expertise, I need help with the side bar links. I've never been able to follow Bloggers instructions to add links to the side bar and I need someone that can help me out with this ASAP! In turn I will add all my favorite bloggers as well as the one that successfully helps me to add links to the side bar... I don't know how helpful that will be to your traffic but it is all I can offer in return for you help. HELP!

16 candles!

Princess for the day! Actually if you ask her she is princess everyday! Today of course we all had to agree she was a pretty, pretty, princess!
Every year that passes is another miracle! This daughter of mine was not expected to live past her 6th birthday! A full decade later and she is going strong! I knew the doctors had no idea the strong will of this young lady.

It took both Shaun and I to light those 16 candles! Seems we couldn't get a single lighter to cooperate and I feared the cake would melt before we got them all lit but thankfully we
finally did.








Nickie hit the makeup jackpot and can you tell just how happy this made her? She also has a bunch of new jewlery and clothes to impress her new boyfriend, Brian. 

Frankie and Aldo!

Indroducing our newest family members, Frankie and Aldo. Frankie is the smaller tri-colored goat and Aldo is the older more mischeivous tan and white goat.




 
 
 
  

Silly Us

 

Last month Bob's parents celebrated their 50th anniversary. I don't know how it escaped me to blog about it. I was looking through some pictures on my computer today and found the one above that was taken of Bob and I at the party. Are we cute or what? OK, don't answer that if your answer is something other than a resounding yes!

It's hard to believe that anyone can make it a half a century. They are an inspiration! I hope Bob and I can make it to 50 years and be happy and healthy and still in love. 

;



50 years? I can't believe it has been 50 years! 

The Original gang 

Here they are the original gang! From left to right, JoAnn, Patty, Frank, Bob, Linda and Scott. Frank and Patty created these monsters that in turn created a gazillion others. I've lost count on how many grandchildren and great-grandchildren they have. Fortunately my monsters haven't yet added to the gang as of yet. God willing I won't be a grandmother too soon. I'm not ready for that yet.

Good and bad news!

First the good news! My friend Mollie has Nigerian dwarf goats and they began giving birth earlier this month. Brandon and I went over to her house on Wed. to see the babies and I can't tell you how adorable those babies are. Brandon along with Mollie's girls Becky, Laura, and Katie fed the babies bottles of goats milk and of course all I heard that day was PUHLEASE mom can we have a baby goat? I promise I will feed it and love it and play with it and ... Well you have the idea. We drove home and the idea was to tell Bob of our adventure and well honestly hope that we'd be making the drive back to Mollie's again soon to pick up a baby goat.

Bob was not really excited cause he knew it would make work for him to build a pen and housing. Brandon didn't give up though and by Friday Bob was on board with the idea. Saturday we picked up the needed supplies and off to Mollie's we went to pick up not one but 2 baby goats.

The bad news is by 3 am this (Sunday) morning I came down with a stomach bug and well was not feeling up to caring for the new babies at all today. So I had to have Brandon do most of the work today of feeding and watching after them, while I napped and moaned and made the mandatory RUN to the bathroom. He is a champ I tell you! He also managed to check on me and ask if I needed anything.

The other bad news is the fact that my digital camera decided to go kaput on me. I found it wasn't worth replacing it and I can't afford a new one right now.
So unless I pick up a throw away 35 mm camera and have the film developed in this century I won't be able to show any pics of the babies at least not until Jackie returns from her trip to visit friends in Richmond. I'm having digital camera withdrawals even as we speak.

Sorry ...

For the lack of postings of late.... I have been having difficulty getting my pictures to upload once again. I suppose I should just post and not worry about it but for some reason I get frustrated and don't post at all.

I had a rough week last week. After all the love and care I gave to my baby chicks when it was time to take them out to the coop they were able to enjoy a few days in the coop till 2 of the largest black snakes made their way in and killed half of the babies and traumatized the other half. Bob was shocked to find 2 5 1/2 snakes in the coop and ran back to the house to get his .22 and kill them nasty snakes. I think we've fixed every possible entry point now and I've ordered some more babies.

The neat thing is this time around I found some chickens that originate from my parents homeland, Cuba. So I ordered 3 of those to go with the replacement of my other chicks. I hope we don't lose any more babies cause I'm really not liking this circle of life that everyone keeps reminding me of. To heck with the circle of life.

The week of Brandon's birthday!

Monday we had a small cake and celebrated with just the 5 of us at home.

Wow I got what I asked for! 


On Tues. he had his homeschool friends over for a celebration.

Then on Saturday we had a family celebration with Grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We've never celebrated a birthday so completely! Nor do I plan to do it this way ever again! I had to clean up what seemed like a gazillion times.


Happy birthday Brandon 





Brandon turned 8 on July 17th and we celebrated for most of the week.

Birthday bash with the homeschool gang! 

Vote for MM!

OK, I can't say enough good about MM and his writing style. So it is now up to us to vote for him over at this blog for blogger of the month. Even though I think he should be nominated for blogger of the year, no decade or maybe century! I guess I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. Anyway, do your duty! Vote!

We found a couple of interesting items that popped up on their own out back. Several of these beautiful white flowers popped up in the lawn.

We also found this bright red mushroom back behind the newly constructed hen house. Makes me wonder if the Smurfs haven't started a new colony in my back yard. Either that or we have one of those varieties of mushrooms that I've heard speak of. No worries, I won't be smoking or eating this variety! However I will take bids if you wish to try it! OK, not really but I sure was tempted! Damn the devil to hell!

Life on the "farm"

We've been busy here on the "farm"! Cloud, our bunny moved into his townhouse. He is very happy moving out of the one room apartment he had before. Now he has a roomie place with 2 floors.

I'm not sure what he will think of the new neighbors when they move in but I hear they will be a house full. I haven't had the heart to break it to him yet cause he's used to living a nice quiet life. I'm sure he will have 911 on his speed dial complaining about the noisy neighbors but it is something he will have to learn to live with.
Here are just a few of his new neighbors. I ordered 8 guinea fowl and received the 8 along with packing peanuts as they are so lovingly called, 13 baby roosters sent to keep the gunea babies warm. Anyone want a rooster chick?


Here is a better view from left to right of a baby guinea and a baby rooster. In a week we will have 16 baby chicks of different types and one rooster. I wish we could keep all the roosters but that is way too many roosters for our small flock. So if you live in or around Farmville, let me know if you want a free rooster chick! Ya hear!

#1 son turns 22 today!

 
 I can't believe 22 years have past since the birth of my first born. This is one for the record books indeed since I'm barely over 22 myself. Well that's my story and if you are wise you will agree with me on this one!
 Shaun came out to visit us yesterday and we had a small celebration in his honor. I'm not sure how he has spent this day but I wish him the happiest of birthday's and that the rest of this year and the years to come be filled with love, happiness and riches.

Jackie, Nickie and Brandon were so happy to see their big brother and share in the celebration with him.
 
After a long day of fishing he passed out for a short while on our sofa while the rest of the gang watched TV.

I love you Shaun and want you to know just how proud I am of you. Being on the Dean's list is quite an accomplishment and I know juggling work and full time school is one of the hardest things to do! Keep up the good work! 

Sad news from Magazine mansion...

I've mentioned in a few posts the wonderful blog of MM and how much I enjoy reading his blog. His family is having a crisis. They lost their beloved family member Blaze. MM has posted about this the latest saga of his life in cliffhanger fashion which is his style. This time however it is out of necessity that he does so. Go back to the post, "In which I am 0 for 2" to learn of the details.

I have never met him in person but I surely feel I know him through his blog as I'm sure all of his regular readers will attest. I certainly am sending all the good vibes, mojo and prayers for him and his family that they may bring Blaze back home to them unharmed.


UPDATE: I'm happy to report Blaze is home! MM, I'm so happy to have read you were able to locate Blaze and I know you need some time to recoop. You most certainly have to be the bravest person I know!

What do you get......

When you mix an 18 year old that is bored with a willing 7 year old victim?









 

 








Why you get a fauxhawk of course! You've been warned!

Next blog!

I spent an hour or so a couple of nights ago hitting the next blog button and I found a few that I really liked:

The Ironic Catholic I like the humor and this man's spin on the Catholic religion. Though I'm not a Catholic now I grew up as one and I thoroughly enjoyed this site.


Fat girl camp This woman has been on a voyage of discovery and I find her insights interesting. I will visit this one regularly.

4th Ave. Blues This blog requires some background reading into the cast of characters, whom are all very interesting. Here is an opportunity to read about a life style that most of us ignore. There are homeless people, those with mental illnesses, drug addictions etc. It certainly makes you think.


The book Bitches This site may be a bit risque for some of you but let me tell you I laughed my butt off (OK maybe I didn't laugh my butt off, cause as I caught my reflection in the mirror this morning I see its still there) I like their sense of humor and the post "A very naughty secret garden" I must applaud their choice of subject in the photographs. Is he Hot or what? Kudos, ladies!

This speaks volumes!

If only all the entertainers thought like Sarah Mclachlan! I didn't know a video could be made with such quality for only $15.00. You Go Sarah!

Beautiful sunset!

Sunset from my deck! 


This picture doesn't even remotely capture the beauty I saw from my deck last night but I did want to share it anyway! Isn't it wonderful how seeing God's beautiful sunset can melt away all the problems of the day!

Happy Father's Day!

I'm feeling a little melancholy today as I celebrate father's day with my children and my husband. I'm filled to the brim with love and proud that I married a man that is so good to me and to our children. I love the creativity that the children have shown and their desire even now as 2 are young adults to pay homage to the man they call dad. This is the first year that all 4 kids were not able to be here on Father's day together as Jackie is still in Richmond and Shaun will be out of town on father's day so he celebrated the day one day early. Nickie and Brandon made cards and hugged and loved on their dad today. While Jackie will be celebrating the day on Wed. So Bob really is lucky to have 3 father's days this year.

However, while I have so many things to be thankful for I'm missing my father very much. In October it will be nine years since his death and on days like today and his birthday and Christmas I really feel his absence. I think of all that I miss out on now that he is gone, all that my children miss. Brandon misses the most since he never met his Abuelo. I know how much my dad would have loved to have known his youngest grandchild.

I never had the luxury of knowing any of my grandparents as they all lived in Cuba. I never knew I was truly missing out on anything till I had my children and saw for myself what it is supposed to be like. Each generation has something to learn from and teach to the other generation. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to be a part of that as a child. I never had grandparents to spoil me then send me home to my parents. Perhaps that is a good thing as anyone that knows me will tell you I was a spoiled child sans grandparents! I suppose that could be for any number of reasons... 1. My parents felt they had to make up for lack of grandparents to spoil me.... 2. They just wanted to do and give me all they could... 3. Making up for lack of siblings...and I'm sure I could go on here but I won't.

My point is simply this, I miss my dad very much on this father's day. I want to believe that dad has been watching over me and knows that I haven't forgotten him and how much I wish he were here today so I could give him a huge hug and kiss and give him a card with the words that I can't seem to come up with to express how much I love and appreciate him.

To all the father's have a happy father's day and count your blessings! To all the kids don't forget your dad today, I know sometimes its hard to tell him how you feel but trust me you want to let him know how much you love and need him now before it is too late. I'm not sure my dad knew how much I loved him and for this I'm very sorry.

Graduation day at last!

Congratulations to my beautiful daughter Jackie! It's been a tough year for her, but she made it through! Brandon was so proud that he had to purchase a rose for Jackie's big day.

Abuelita (that's grandma in Spanish), Tia (that's aunt in Spanish), Grandma and Brandon all together for a photo just after the graduation ceremony.
After the ceremony we headed to Kabuto's Japanese Steak house for a delicious meal and some fine entertainment.