Pomp & Circumstance

With the completion of my degree program coming up in September 2013, I was approved to attend the Capella University Commencement Ceremony on August 10th because I am in good academic standing (GPA of 4.0) and I'm currently in the last half of my final Capstone course.  The Commencement took place at the Minneapolis Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis and most activities during the weekend took place within the Minneapolis Hilton, a very beautiful hotel just a short distance from the convention center.

On Friday - August 9, my family and I took part on Friday in the Capella University Meet & Greet, the Military Reception, and the President's Dinner.

Hubby & I dressed to the nines
for the President's Dinner

Capella Junior University @ President's Dinner
Jacob (3rd from right in green shirt/vest) and
Chloe (5th from right in center in teal dress)

University President Scott Kinney handing out
Capella Junior University Diplomas to the kids
on stage 

Capella University President's Dinner
in the Hilton Minneapolis Ballroom

 




















The commencement ceremony took place on Saturday morning and you can watch the commencement ceremony by visiting:  http://www.media-server.com/m/p/xg7kfads

Here are just a few of the photo highlights of the ceremony and a couple pictures of me from that day.

Color Guard - Cretin-Derham Hall
Jr. ROTC Color Guard

Bagpipes - Bagpipe Associates

Capella University Faculty

 

Capella University President - Scott Kinney

Commencement Speaker
Vernice "FlyGirl" Armour

Walking the Stage and Receiving My
Degree from the University President.

Proud Graduate!

Look Ma...I did it!!

Explosion of Streamers at Conclusion of Ceremony!

Capella University Graduates in Attendance at Commencement

Santa's Real, Mom!!

Jacob wrote to Santa this year and only asked for one thing....a Nerf Gun.  You can imagine my surprise upon seeing the letter he wrote to Santa and there was only one thing on it...something that would shoot darts through the house or at his sister!  Yippee!! [Can you hear my sarcasm??]  So, as reluctant as I was about this Christmas list item, I had to get him a Nerf Gun for Christmas so that he wouldn't be disappointed and be left wondering if there really was a Santa Claus or if there was a Santa Claus, why he didn't get what he asked for.

What I wasn't counting on was something that came in the mail about 2 weeks later after we had dropped off his letter to Santa in the mailbox.  Jacob wrote up his short list on bright red paper, wrote his name and address and then addressed the envelope to:

     

     Santa Claus

     The North Pole

Completely unexpected and absolutely wonderful, Jacob received an envelope hand written to him with a "North Pole Postage" post mark and the following letter.  Do you believe in the magic of Christmas?  You should...because something may come along and surprise you when you least expect it!

The very first thing Jacob said when he opened up the envelope and read the letter was, "Santa's real, Mom!!  He wrote me a letter! Chloe!!  Look Santa wrote back to me!!  I got a letter from Santa!!"  He had on one of the biggest smiles possible and was so giddy for the rest of the day!

So, I'm sending out a huge THANK YOU to the person at the post office who took a little extra time to send Jacob a letter and help him believe in the magic of Santa again this year!

Santa's Guided Wagon Tour

This year, as the kids are getting older and experiencing the holidays with ever skeptical eyes, I felt it was time to kick the magic of the season into gear!  I did a little research and heard from someone about a wagon tour through a wildlife park that is hosted by Santa.  How cool does that sound?  As Jacob is now 7 and Chloe is 11, I thought that not only would they get to do something fun with animals but they get to do it with Santa!  I had never even heard of this before and it was something that as a kid I probably would have loved to do as well.  So, with a quick online search, I found exactly what I was looking for.

Shalom Wildlife is a federally licensed zoo that has whitetail deer, elk, bison, wolves, reindeer, dall sheep, foxes, and more.  During the holiday season, "Santa's Guided Wagon Tour" goes through the sanctuary for an hour and stops at different animal enclosures, where there is a huge red stocking with some type of "surprise" for everyone on the tour.  The best part about this is that it is Santa driving the tractor that pulls the wagon and he shares a story at each enclosure stop and then gives out the surprise that goes along with it.  The stories he tells are funny and educational!  For example, we stopped at the pig enclosure and he talked about how smart and clean pigs are and then handed out small little plastic piggy banks with a little bit of advice about saving money. Both the kids and I had a great time on the tour and we will definitely be going back again!  Perhaps next year, we'll even have snow when we do the tour!

For more information on the tour, visit Shalom Wildlife Special Programs or get in touch with them at:
     Shalom Wildlife
     1901 Shalom Drive
     West Bend, WI 53090
     shalomwildlife@att.net
     262-338-1310

Jacob

Chloe

The kids are excited and ready to go!  Nothing but smiles as they wait for Santa to come to the wagon!

Wagon all decked out for Christmas!

Male Wolf

Female Wolf

 The wolves were anxious because they knew Santa was going to feed them!

Jacob's loving the ride!

The porcupine "devours" books!

Sleeping Porcupine

Look closely on top of the wooden box in the back of the enclosure...

Santa talks about importance of reading.

Santa shares stories and knowledge!

Fox Mates

No snow but these foxes are curled up together to stay warm out in the cold.

Deer

Hungry goats eating needles off tree.

Nom, nom, nom!!

These little guys shared an enclosure with a mountain goat and were across the street from the chickens and roosters!  The roosters were LOUD!!

School Pictures 2012-2013

The kiddo's sat down and took their school pictures for the 2012-2013 year in early September and we have gotten them back.  It always amazes me the difference from year to year and how much they have grown and changed since their baby pictures.  Here are the pictures for Chloe's 5th grade year and Jacob's 2nd grade year:

Jacob - 7 years old

Chloe - 11 yrs old

Senior Moment

Yes...I've recently had another birthday but the title of this post does not have to do with my age! I have officially completed 138 credits of my bachelor's degree program at Capella University, which makes me a COLLEGE SENIOR!!  Wooo-hooo!  Once you cross 136 credits, you can tell everyone you know that you are a senior and although some people may not be all that excited about this seemingly insignificant milestone, it is HUGE for me!  I have been working on my degree program for 3 years and 8 months and as the time is ticking down to completion, I am within my final year and have just 363 days until the last day of my last class of my program.  I have just 7 courses to complete over the next 4 semesters, which make up the final 42 credits of my degree. I am going to be taking 2 courses per semester until my final course and in that final semester I will have just my capstone course to complete, which looks like this:

• FALL 2012
• PHI2100 - Introduction to Logic
• BUS4095 - Motivating Project Teams

• WINTER 2013
• BUS4094 - Managing Project Risk
• PSYC3500 - Learning and Cognition

• SPRING 2013
• BUS4801 - Ethics and Enterprise
• BUS4802 - Change Management

• SUMMER 2013
• BUS4993 Business Capstone Project

I am starting to thinking about how things are going to be different by next year and all the changes that will happen during that time.  When those 363 days are over:

1. I will have a Bachelor's Degree in Business with a specialization in Project Management. 
2. I will have spent 1,677 days working towards my degree and completed 31 courses. 
3. I will be the first person in my immediate family to have a college degree.
4. I will be looking forward to my commencement ceremony in March or July 2014.
5. I will have completed all of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) courses in the Professional Organizer Curriculum (Yep, I'm doing that at the same time I'm working on my college degree!)
6. My oldest child, Chloe, will be in the first few days of 6th grade at the middle school and my youngest child, Jacob, will be navigating 3rd grade in the elementary school for the first time without his older sister.
7. I will hopefully be in the beginning stages of my own professional organizing business.
8. ...and many more things that I cannot even begin to imagine!

Where do you see yourself in a year and what things will have changed for you?