A Teacher's Dream

Ok, I usually use blogland to boast about my precious Reagan and what a delight she is. I usually just have pictures of her and write about her newest tricks, funny things she did, people she saw, etc. But right now, I need to brag about some other kids besides my own! Actually, I kinda claim them as "mine." I do not have their permission to do so, so hopefully

they won't care!

Last weekend, David, Reagan, and I went up to the Metroplex to attend the high school graduation of some kids I had in Algebra class in the 8th grade. I have said it countless times since that year that this particular class was a teacher's dream. Seriously, the best kids you could possibly think of to have in class and get to know... I had a room full of them. Several, I have been lucky enough to keep in touch with even though I moved to Houston that summer when David and I got married. Here is that class on the last day of school, 2003.

This is Ryan, 4 years ago. He initiated a "going-away" surprise for me from the whole class... a mini-helmet signed by Troy Aikman! A Cowboy's Fan's dream!!! (I cried a lot before this picture was taken.) Ryan is one of the most talented, funny, smart, optimistic, amazing young men you will ever know!
Here are Ryan and Patrick (another one of the smartest, funniest, most talented young men ever... you get the idea. Seriously, they are just great.) presenting me my prize. :) And guys, if you are reading this by chance, I hope you can read right above Ryan's head on the board. Another reason this pic is so special to me... click on it to see it better.
And here is Ryan, all grown up, last Thursday night at the Top 20 banquet. I was lucky enough to have him invite me to attend this honor banquet as his Most Distinguished Teacher. Not sure what that all means, but he sure did make me SO proud.
Here's Randi, another one of my favorites from 4 years ago. She too is just one of my favorite people EVER! I can't brag on this group enough! Not only is she super smart, but she can kick butt in basketball!
Here is sweet Emily. She is the little bitty one I am hugging in the class picture above... she grew in the last 4 years!!! This one would kick my/your butt in tennis.
Me with Patrick, Randi, and Ryan... all graduating at the top of their class.
Y'all, I am so proud of you. There are no words to tell you how special you are to me, or how special you have made me feel. When I went into teaching, my dream was to maybe matter to at least one student someday; thanks for making me feel as if that dream has come true. Congrats on amazing years as students, and congrats on amazing futures you have ahead of you! I look forward to saying "I knew you when..."! Love you guys!

Overdue Pictures

I promised some more pictures from my 2-week trip in April. Here are some priceless moments with 2 of my FAVORITE people EVER!!! :)

Gay and Jaymie had just gotten back from the hospital from seeing little Kanyon. Reagan was zoned out after being in the car for 2 hours... but she was of course thrilled to see them! You just can't quite tell from this picture....

Jaymie with Reagan after she ate her squash and spilled it all down the front of her shirt. Reagan, that is. Jaymie didn't spill anything on her shirt! :)
GayGay, Hobbsie, or Pookie, or whatever she calls herself :) helping Reagan do some walking.
I believe that Reagan is saying "WHAT?!?! Did you say that my friend Kanyon is doing GREAT?! That rocks!" (Oh, and don't forget Ollie in the background. Right as this picture was taken, he was enjoying a yummy snack of a squirrel outside. Seriously.)
All for now! Check out Jaymie's updates on the Grand Kanyon. New pictures to see of that sweet boy!! :) Keep praying for him! Thanks!

Funny Faces of Reagan

I know I have been referring to her funny faces a lot recently, so I thought I would share a few from the last week. You can see why she just constantly cracks us up! Enjoy! :)

The tongue is always out, and always funny!
I just love her big ole belly! :)
And love those baby blues! :)
Getting her teeth brushed. Hopefully this will make Dr. Clint proud.
Big toothy grin!
Not a toothy grin! Cute all the same!
I just wonder what she is thinking sometimes!!!
Another big grin! Happy girl!!
And, the tongue again! :) Plus a little bit of cleavage in this picture too! And let me point out now that all her supercute summer clothes are compliments of her Grandmommy! She is decked out!! :)

Some Fun Pictures

Somehow, I turned around and my baby is 10 months old. How that happened, I have no clue! But she is, and she is more precious everyday. But she is also more active and mobile than ever, so I am tired! Man, I don't know how you guys that already have more than one child do it! She is quite a busy girl! And taking her pictures is quite eventful... here are her 10 month pics in her chair (thanks AGAIN Aunt Julie for my chair!! LOVE YOU -Reagan)

Yeah, she wants to stand on EVERYTHING! Rachel, you just WAIT until this summer!! :)

Happy Late Mother's Day to all you Mommies! Funny, Mother's Day is really supposed to be about my mom and my grandmothers, not me. But it was fun to celebrate this wonderful gift God has given me in being Reagan's Mommy. The "Mommy" card envelope evidently tasted really good! And Daddy did a great job "helping" Reagan shop.

Here we are as we headed to church on Mother's Day!
One of our favorite things about ReaganBear is the fact that she makes the funniest faces! And she has so MANY different funny faces! You will continue to see them throughout this post. Here, she made a few faces while telling her grandmothers "Happy Mother's Day" on the phone.

We love our neighborhood. In the summer months, there is a free outdoor concert in the park down the street from our house every Friday night. We LOVE that! Everyone from around town brings out lawn chairs, ice chests, and blankets with their families. It is way fun. Reagan attended her first concert there last week. Here she is enjoying Daddy's Sonic drink.

Funny face at the concert. :)
She discovered my sunglasses. Too cute! And a few more funny faces to go with them.



Another first: Reagan went swimming for the first time out of my tummy. Aunt Mary and Uncle Kyle still have their apartment with a pool, so we took her swimming. It was short-lived... a storm came through. But we managed a bit of time in the water and some pictures in her hoochie-mama bikini. Thanks Alicia! I LOVE her strawberry swimsuit!!!!





We look forward to MANY more pool pictures throughout the summer. This little girl LOVED the pool and her jet ski. :) I plan on spending lots of time working a tan for the first time in a few years while playing with her at the pool. FUN!!

Lots to Share

Reagan and I went on a whirlwind tour of the great state of Texas over the last 2 weeks. David was in Japan of all places for 13 days, and I decided that I would rather spend 15 hours total in the car... with an infant... by myself... than stay and home and miss Daddy. So we spent a few days with the fam in the HEB area and had some much needed time with friends and family. Unfortunately, I do not have those pics to show you. They are all on my mom's camera and I haven't gotten them from her. (David took our camera across the Pacific.) Actually, due to SOMEONE'S goof, I don't have several pics from my big trip because they were left in the card reader at SOMEONE'S house in Paris. But hey... that is a whole other blog. Literally. I'll have to split up my trip into multiple posts.

Trip Part One: Hurst.

Trip Part Two: Paris.
We left the HEB and drove to Paris to stay with Rachel, Clint and Roselyn. Kendra and Cassidee made the trip as well, so we had all the BFFs together.

Rachel posted a ginormous amount of pictures on her blog, so I will just have you head on over to her link on the right and check them out. Here are some of my favorites, but we took so many and they are SO CUTE! I'll let her do the work on this portion of the trip with the 30ish pics she posted. (Come right back here though to see more of our trip!) OK, Welcome back! I have to give a shout out to Dr. Clint for his work on my teeth! I kept telling him that I can't believe that I was letting a guy who once duct taped me to a tree work on my teeth, but y'all, he really is a real dentist! :) They are squeaky clean! For the record, no cavities. Kendra wasn't so lucky...

Trip Part Three: Longview.
Reagan and I made a pit stop in Longview to see Jaymie and Kory. Didn't get to make it to the hospital to see Kanyon, but I don't think I could go in anyways. We had a GREAT but short visit. I just was glad to get to hug her neck! These pics are on Gay's camera... and she says she doesn't know how to get them to me! Don't worry, I have Rachel on that. So those pics will be coming soon.

Trip Part Four: Caddo.

Our annual spring trip. The weather was gorgeous, and we had so much fun just doing lots of nothing. It was so entertaining to just watch the kids have such fun together. Hopefully one of these upcoming years we will have everyone there at once. But here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Addison wearing her moss wig. Isn't it beautiful? If you have never been to Caddo lake, this stuff is everywhere! Corbin, Katie, and Elizabeth doing a little fishing. I know it is hard to believe from this picture, but Katie is quite a character! :) Some of my favorite kids on the planet...
Amie and Brady. He is such a cutie!! Oh, and Amie, you are too! :)

Elizabeth, Katie, and Adley putting on their makeup. Elizabeth, Katie, and Adley putting on MY makeup. Actually, Elizabeth did my lips, Katie did my eyes, and Adley did my nails. Fabulous. Reagan just took it all in.
This was how Corbin spent the weekend.... being the chauffer for all the "ladies" on the 4-wheeler.
Sweet picture of Daddy with Adley.
Another sweet Granddaddy pic, this time with Reagan. She was getting a bite of something yummy...
It was SO fun for me to see all the kids and how sweet they were to Reagan. Elizabeth probably told me a hundred times that she "really liked my baby."

This was pretty much Reagan's entire weekend. She loved the playpen, and loved standing and looking out of it. The girls even got in there with her some! Wait... I thought I put that picture in here. Oh well...
LOVE this picture. This is MY Granddaddy, Reagan's GreatGranddaddy. This was their first time to meet each other, and it was love at first site. He is 89, and he is IN LOVE with his great grandkids.
Here are 4 generations. My GrannyJo's health isn't that great, so she stays in the RV. But Reagan went to visit her alot. They love each other!
This look on Reagan's face pretty much sums up how she felt after our long trip. She adjusted back to normal schedule pretty easily though. I was SO proud of how well she traveled!