I passed, he passed.

So. It was an exciting weekend for us. I finished two more classes for my Master's degree (both A's!) and John completed IFS. He had his check flight Saturday then had his solo on Sunday. Solo = fly completely alone!! Can you believe it? He did great! And is one step closer to finishing flight school. Next is API which John should start in October. API (Aviation Pre-flight Indoctrination) is lots more studying. It consists of lost of classroom learning (meteorology, aerodynamics, aircraft engine and systems, navigation, flight rules, etc.). Once all that is learned, he will have swimming tests (still in API). As summed up on the website, "The syllabus consists of 177.5 hours of academic and survival instruction condensed into 31 days of training, challenging students both physically and mentally." Should be a fun six weeks! In the meantime, he will "belt up" aka become a brown belt and be home a lot :-). Next for me is another interview. Start your prayer engines! It's tomorrow (Wednesday) and in God's hands.

Of course, we've still been eatin' like royalty. I really am in love with cooking. Lately: stuffed bell peppers {sausage, rice, cheese, black beans, corn, onions, etc.}, chicken lasagna {this is John's FAVORITE meal I make. First made it for his birthday before we were married. It's time consuming, but worth every second. Maybe I'll dedicate a blog post to it one day}, crock pot tacos with homemade salsa and queso

stuffed bell peppers {with cheese on top}

chicken lasagna {i love that he buys me flowers}

and tonight ... we are picking up fresh seafood from the fish market and grilling! I'm hungry just thinking about dinner! I still have not taken the plunge into desserts. They scare me. I am not too great about measuring, and well, you can't bake without precision. Any easy dessert recipes out there?

Belleau has been keeping us busy as usual. She is now attending school (have I mentioned this yet?). She is quite the smarty. Or maybe she just does anything for some cheese. Either way, she impresses us weekly (even her teachers have been in disbelief). A current activity of hers is to use her back legs to wedge herself under the couch. She loved playing under there when she wasn't so big. And now, she can only fit if she pushes against the wall with her legs. This has been happening almost daily. She goes over to the corner, pushes, pushes, finally gets under, then cries and barks and cries some more because she can't get back out. Today I left her under there for 15 minutes.

Hoping it helped her learn. Then I had to go to the rescue and LIFT the couch up so she could get out. She's something else. We'd be bored without her.