stick a fork in him, he's done!!

Last night was the night.  The big kahuna.  Eric had been studying for weeks for his final exam which would cover the last 7 months of material.  YOU GUYS...for hours on end, Eric would sit at his desk or in the recliner --in this unbreakable zone-- headphones on, listening to lectures, reading books bigger than your head.  Sometimes, the kids and I would be in the same room as him and I would be watching tv.  Eric was in his zone.  And, the kids would be going at it!  Like WWE going at it.  Pushing, hitting, yelling.  I would look over at Eric like "handle your kids" because I'm trying to watch Friends (the episode I had seen 86 times) but, he would be in the zone.  So, I would handle it.  Most days. ;-)

So, last night, we sent Eric off to school with high hopes that he would send us a message that he passed.  We waited.  And, when my phone alarm told us it was 5 o'clock, Levi gathered us together to pray.  Every time Eric took a test, we would all pray for him, so tonight was no different.  When Levi started to pray, I took my phone out of my pocket to capture this sweet moment.   

To keep my mind busy, we started to decorate.  First up...a strawberry cake with strawberry icing.  Eric's favorite!

Second...balloons!  If, by chance, Eric didn't pass, my plan was to rip down the decorations and take them out to the trash before he got home.  Levi got one balloon blown up, but then his cheeks hurt.  I can empathize.  I loathe blowing up balloons.

So, what do you do when you don't like blowing up balloons?  You call Papa and ask him to come over and  use the air compressor for you!!  Yay for my dad!

We hung a banner that said "Congrats! We love you".

And, we also made some posters.

Levi added, "I hope you passed your test".  Sweet!!

I let the kids pick out some cards to give to Eric and I could not for the life of me get Maggie to get a card that said Congratulations!  She wanted THIS ONE with the Christmas tree.  And it says, "FaLaLa Grandson!"  Hilarious!  

A couple of hours later, I got this text: I PASSED!! SEEMS LIKE IT TOOK FOREVER BUT I AM DONE!

And the angels broke out in the Hallelujah Chorus.

Seriously, I was so excited for him!  For us!  The kids were thrilled and Levi wanted to know when he could have cake!!  Unfortunately, Eric still had a while to be at school, so I had to go on and put the kids in bed.  BUT, Levi got a surprise in his lunch today - some cake!  I hate it that I didn't get any pictures of Eric and the kids together last night, but we will get to celebrate later this week. :-)  He still has two weeks of clinicals left, but NO MORE STUDYING until his boards.  Yay!  For now, we enjoy Christmas together!  Playing, laughing, and letting Daddy break up the fights while I sit back sipping hot chocolate and watching Friends. ;-)

Good job, babe!  We are so proud of you!!