Misra Family Hebdomadal: Dr. Amit Misra's Costume Party

Ladies and Gentlemen! It is with great pleasure that we announce the graduating class of 2015! With his Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Washington, Amit Misra is finally wearing purple (because "real dawgs wear purple") and he finally gets the floppy hat! Yes sir - as Marinda likes to remind everyone, only Ph.D.'s get the floppy hat!

On Friday Amit and Marinda piled the kids in the car and headed over to UW with Amit's parents and brother (who had flown in that morning and was leaving that night) for what would be the last step in their grad school experience. After six years, having Amit go up to the front of that room to have his official doctoral hood placed on him was the final event in what has been one of the longest, hardest, and most rewarding stages of their lives.

They began graduate school when they were engaged, with Amit and Marinda video chatting across the country every night for hours, killing any attempt Amit might have had for a social life and giving him lots of time to study. It turned into a blessing when Amit passed the qualifying exam just after his first year when most students pass it after their second. Then they were married and Amit swept his new bride off to the lavish lifestyle he was prepared to give her on his "giant" stipend. Their third year was spent with Marinda being sick and pregnant, culminating in the birth of Luke. This was also the year he had his general exam, with instructions from Amit's advisor that Marinda was to fake a labor scare if the other professors were droning on too long. Their fourth year was difficult as they battled Marinda's postpartum depression while Amit wrote his first paper, working from home for six months so he could be both bread winner and take care of his family. Their fifth year was filled with fun and friends after they moved to family student housing. At 5.25 years Amit defended his thesis, got a job at Microsoft, and he and Marinda welcomed little Jacy May into the world, and even though he already got his diploma in the mail, it wasn't really over until this final ceremony.

And now it really is over. We're done. Thank you UW for the opportunity to live through this life changing experience and thank you to everyone, all our friends and family, for your love and support over the years.

A round of applause!

A clipping from the UW newspaper listing all the graduates

Yay Daddy! The smartest Daddy in the universe!

WOOOO Daddy!

And there they are! The star couple!

Luke was so excited that he couldn't stop jumping around!
(yes Marshmallow is wearing a tie too)

Luke giving some love to the "Peanut" - or the p-orbital, take your pick

SO EXCITED! MY DADDY'S THE BEST!!!

We were so glad that Amit's family was able to come and be their on this special day

Waiting for the ceremony to begin after marching in to the Star Wars music at the end of Episode IV!

They decided to opt out of the large, university graduation and only attend the departmental ceremony.
With this one they read a short bio and statement from each student and gave them individual recognition.
Only three other students from Amit's program received their doctorate this year.

Getting hooded by his advisor

Amit with his advisor Vicky Meadows.
Thank you Vicky for all you did to help Amit archive this great accomplishment!

Amit and his grad school bride.

The Hood!
Other than his thesis, this is symbolically what the past six years were all about.

Marinda's thoughts on graduation:
"Congratulations to the best husband in the world! I can't even put into words how proud I am of him and how grateful I am that I never felt like I was put second to his degree. He literally did it all - school, work and family - and has proved time and time again that he is the most brilliant, dedicated and loving man in the world."

Afterwards we had a bit of fun with the robes before we had to return them.
(we can keep the hood, but to buy the robes would be $1000!)

Dr. Luke - Ph.D. is Awesomeness

"I'd like to thank my swaddle-me, and my pacifier
for helping me to get through these last few difficult months."

"I'm just being buried by the weight of this honor!"

Dr. Jacy - Ph.D. in Cuteness

We got this a few weeks ago, but here it is!
THE THESIS!!!!

Snazy cover with a super easy to understand title

BAM! Copyrighted!

This is where you all say "Awww......." :)

So other stuff happened this week, so you can stop here, or you can keep reading about our many amazing accomplishments. One that you don't really want to miss is the fact that Amit was on TV this week! UW had a press release for one of Amit's papers that finally got published, which in and of itself is super awesome, but then King 5 wanted to interview him! Amit is a TV star!

Marinda was busy again this week with another baby shower, this time for her good friend Jen McKell. The theme was "mustaches" and other manly stuff, so Marinda made flowers out of newspaper. You just can't stop the craftiness!

Jacy hanging out with her boyfriend James

We'd like to thank everyone who had come out to visit and help us these last few months. Specifically our wonderful mothers. Without you, Luke would have watched a ton more TV and Marinda probably wouldn't be as sane as she is now. You are all amazing and we love you!

Luke Stories:
- Luke is very specific. If you ask him where his truck is, he'll correct you and tell you that it is a pick up truck. One of the best ones though, was this week when Jejema asked if he saw a ship from the submarine. Luke looked concerned, like she had lost her mind, and said, "It's not a ship. It's a ship wreck. Ships float, ship wrecks don't." So sorry Luke!
- When Amit was explaining graduation to Luke, he told him that he was going to dress up in a costume and walk onto the stage. Then Luke got excited and told Amit that he was going to wear his monkey costume!
- At dinner after graduation we went to Ivar's Salmon House. Luke got the fish and chips, and was happily munching away on everything on his plate - including the lemon! He bit into it and his face was fine for half a second, then he threw up his arms while squinting his face and sticking out his tongue - like his head just exploded.
-Luke is starting to get into the habit of apologizing for things that aren't his fault. While driving past Ivanhoe Park, Luke said it was the "Dinosaur park" and Amit responded by saying he thought it was a Rock Park. Luke then said "Oh! Sorry daddy! It's a rock park!"

Jacy Stories:
- Jacy is making Jejema lose her hair, literally! Whenever she hold's Jacy, Jacy just twirls her little cute fingers into her hair, and then pulls! And for some crazy reason Jejema still holds her!
- She is almost laughing! She smiles like crazy and makes this little hiccup sound. Any day now that cute little laugh is going to come out, we just know it!
- If we blow in her face, she takes a sudden deep breath in - every time. It is pretty funny to do it over and over again. She has even started to smile and turn her head towards Amit like she wants him to keep doing it - what a funny girl!
- Jacy's tastes have changed, from food to clothing. If that girl is in a skirt or blanket, it will only be a few minutes before that thing is pulled up into her mouth. This is a great development and all - except that she isn't really all the coordinated yet. We might not being paying attention and Jacy will start screaming her head off because she had managed to pull her skirt up over her head and can't get it off her face. We rescue her of course, but it is pretty funny to see.