Congratulations to the PTA Class of 2011

Its been 2 long years, and its finally here. Hubby's graduation for a 2nd degree in Physical Therapist Assistant. I know it was hard for him, juggling a full time job, full load of classes, and then manage to come home and spend time with his family, while getting good grades. He even managed to get straight A's. But it was tough on us too. Having him come home late at night and not being able to spend much time with our daughter. A lot of weekends were spent apart from him, at my parents' house so that he can stay home, undistracted, while studying for exams. But its a small sacrifice we made for a better future for our daughter. And I'm so proud of him for this accomplishment.

Today was his Class Pinning Ceremony. Many of his classmates, such as himself, are already Bachelor's Degree holders. So they mostly opted out of the graduation ceremony and attend the more intimate pinning ceremony. If you've been following my previous blog entries, I decided to volunteer myself and make cupcakes for the small reception they're having after the ceremony. Its the least I could do after all that he had been through these 2 years. But I also wanted to challenge myself and see if I could handle making that much. I decided to make almost 200 Red Velvet and Bananas Foster mini cupcakes that they used to display "2011."

And from what I heard, everyone seemed to enjoy them. I even overheard a group at the table next to ours go back for seconds and thirds. And when I went back to get myself a cupcake, they were all gone. I'm glad everyone liked them.

After the reception, we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner with our families who attended the ceremony at Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que.

This was our first time at this restaurant. I've always wanted to try it after a co-worker of mine raved about their strawberry lemonade, of all things. We were having lunch at another chain restaurant one day and we both ordered strawberry lemonade. She mentioned that Lucille's had the best strawberry lemonade. I said I'd never heard of Lucille's. "You've never heard of Lucille's???" Well, there isn't one near where we live, and when I found out there's a branch near hubby's school, I vowed to someday go before he ends school. So I decided to take our family on this special day.

The theme of the restaurant is a laid back, backyard BBQ atmosphere. Complete with the plastic table covers. We started off our meal with their onion straws served with an aioli sauce.

We also had the spinach & cheese dip.

We decided to order the Backyard Family Feast that fed 4 or more people. It included chicken, baby back ribs, and 4 sides. We ordered corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, shoestring fries, and coleslaw.

It was quite a feast and with the 7 of us, we still had leftovers to take home to my parents (who couldn't make it to the ceremony because mom had to work).

To wash it all down, I ordered the, what else, strawberry lemonade. The reason I wanted to come here in the first place. It was served in a mason jar. So cool.

Our overall experience here was really positive. The food was delicious and I loved the laid back atmosphere. I'm just bummed that we may not be back here for a while because it is quite far from home. Since hubby won't be out here for school anymore, there isn't much of a reason to make it out this far. Although I have cousins that live out this way. Maybe its time for more visits to the cousin's house.

Congratulations boo. I'm so proud of you. I love you ♥