The Horned Frog Graduate aka the CURVE buster!

This weekend we made a looooong drive to Fort Worth to watch my cousin, Jake, graduate from TCU.  We had a great time seeing friends and family, so it was totally worth it.  Do I want to do it again?  NO WAY!  (at least not this weekend!)

We are so proud of Jake.  He graduated Summa Cum Laude.  For those of you who didn't know... (I had to look this up- which means I was most definitely none of these!!!)
Graduation with honors is granted to undergraduate students who achieve high grade point averages. Excellence is recognized at three levels: Cum laude (3.50-3.64), magna cum laude (3.65-3.79), and summa cum laude (3.80-4.00).

Funny story...  I was being completely sarcastic with Jake's sister, my cousin, Kate.  She is going to Baylor, obviously no dummy, but not REAL concerned about graduating with honors!!!
We were sitting next to each other at the graduation ceremony and she was flipping through the program (which probably cost more than the dress I was wearing.)  She asked why Jake had "summa cum laude" underneath his name.  I explained to her that it was a fancy word to mean that he was super smart.  I then showed her that others had magna cum laude and cum laude.  Sarcastically, I said, "basically, cum laude are the dummies of the 'laude' group."  Kate quickly responded, "well, then that's definitely what I'll have under my name when I graduate!"  I couldn't keep from laughing...  but then again, we're always laughing "with" Kate!

All jokes about the horned frog aside, we were so honored to watch Jake receive his honors and his diploma from TCU.  What a huge accomplishment!

Uncle Mack, Aunt Barb, Jake & Kate

Jake & Brinley before the ceremony

Kate & Miss Brin

Aunt Lela getting to see the kids for the first time.

(This is my grandmother's 90 year old sister!)

Nana, Cayden, Aunt Lela, Bob, Kathy & Brinley

Cayden's favorite thing to do during the ceremony!

Papa getting a break with Brinley

Pap, Nana & Brinley

The Culli family with the horned frog graduate!

McCollum-Hill-Culli family (plus Aunt Barb's brother, Don)

Congratulations Jake!  We are so proud of your accomplishments, and we were so honored to watch you go across the stage.  We are excited to see where life takes you next...  after you get back from the Holy Land, that is!  Thank you for letting us be a part of this special day.  We love you more than words can express.  Thank you for loving us the way you do.

love,

Matt, Christy, Cayden & Brinley