Our time with the Goodrums

We had a blast this week getting to spend some time with Patti, JT and Sarah. We hung out at Chick-fil-A for about 2 hours. Then we got to see JT play a soccer scrimmage. Here are a few photos from our visit.

PZ Kids Camp 2008

In June we had PZ kids camp for children in kindergarten - 5th grade. It was held at our church, Grace Fellowship. Parker had a great week. Here are just a few of my favorite pics of my family during that week. There are a few other pics of friends and students that I thought turned out to be fun pictures. I absolutely love hiding behind the camera. The fun part is that I got to use our small groups pastor's Nikon. It rocked! He wasn't willing to give it to me as a gift...so not nice! Enjoy!

Johnny Rockets from our cruise!

We had the best time at this place. The staff was so much fun. They did alot of dancing for us!

Our cruise vacation

Life is grand...I got to spend my 40th birthday on a cruise ship. Rocky and I went on a cruise with Gary and Raquel Skidmore last week. We had the most amazing time. We had stops in Montego Bay, Jamaica (which I advise never to go again or at least not get off the boat to see it), Grand Cayman (which has the bluest water ever) and Cozemel, Mexico (which is also beautiful). I did not want to get off the boat. We had the best service ever. Royal Caribbean is the way to go. If you want a great example of "customer friendly service" then go on a Royal Caribbean cruise. The staff was incredible. We played cards, which Raquel always seem to win, except when she did her Charo impersonation. Here are a few pictures from our week. Enjoy!

I've been tagged

Thanks Mimi!

Ok, let's give this a time...

Ten years ago...I was teaching at Pasadena High School with an infant at home with her daddy! I was coaching softball and ironically we were serving with BJ Rutledge, which is were we are at again! Too funny.

My to-do list today:
1. Work the Easter services at Grace Fellowship.
2. Watch my netflix movies.
3. Get the laundry finished before school tomorrow.

What I would do if I suddenly became a billionaire...
1. Pay off our debt.
2. Build new facilities for Grace Fellowship.
3. Get Rocky a new truck with unlimited gasoline...the 1996 Civic still lives.

Three bad habits...
1. Eating no fruits or vegetables.
2. Putting off housework til the last minute.
3. Eating lots of candy!!!

Five jobs I've had...
1. Receptionist at a medical clinic
2. Summer hand at a papermill
3. Receptionist at a travel agent
4. Principal's secretary
5. School teacher

Five things people don't know about me...
1. I hate the smell of bananas.
2. I don't eat fruits or vegetables because I don't like how it feels in my mouth.
3. I love to read but had to take remedial reading course in college due to low scores.
4. I played two seasons of NCAA softball with no errors.
5. I was a middle school cheerleader...go FIGURE!!!

Ok, I tag Sherry McCrary, Raquel Skidmore, and Jeannine Powers.

Snow Day in March

March 6th brought snow to North Texas and boy did the fun begin. On Thursday morning we headed to school with our winter clothes on anticipating a "few" snow flurries...you know the weather in Texas - it's never accurate. The snow was supposed to arrive at 3pm in our area, but God had better plans. At 10:30am I could see the first of the snow to fall and by 10:45 it looked like a Colorado blizzard outside. I tried to hide my excitement from my students. I had already told my students at 9:45 that we would not be coming to school on Friday. They looked shocked until I told them that the "power of positive thinking" would work. Then I told them to start praying for snow. We did our lesson for the day and then 5 minutes before the bell I said, in my angry voice, "Who's been praying?" They all looked at me strange and then I said laughing and dancing, "Cause it's SNOWING!" They all went wild and rushed the window. They were pumped and so was I. We had fun the rest of the day.

The funny part was that the snow was so bad that parents started arriving to pick up students. The office was sending people to get students but then the line was so long that they just started calling them over the intercom. Every 2 minutes or less they would call for students. They office workers had an assembly line and they were writing down student names and passing them to the receptionist who was calling for them. Our principal kept slipping in funny names...EXAMPLE: Coach Jennings, your mom is here to pick you up; Frosty the Snowman to the office please; Brett Favre to the office. The one about Coach Jennings was the best. The kids erupted into laughter. It was great.

I took a few pictures yesterday afternoon. We will play some more today. We got another inch last night. Here are some pictures of our fun yesterday and today!

Father Daugher Dance

Friday night brought my girls to their first father-daughter dance. The women's club of Decatur sponsored a Father-Daughter Dance for Valentine's. It was called "Denim to Diamonds." My girls chose to wear denim...go figure! They had a great time. They danced, laughed, and snacked for two hours. Parker discovered the chocolate fountain and almost made herself sick on chocolate-covered strawberries. Here are a few pictures below of all the fun they had.

Christmas Card Picture Day

Every year Rocky and I send out photo Christmas cards. We have done this for 15 years now. This year was so fun. The girls hate slowing down for photo day, but we went outside and managed to get them to smile for the camera for about 15 minutes. I put together a slide show of some of our favorite pictures. They acted silly as usual. We haven't sent out a serious photo for several years now.

Drums for Christmas

Santa brought Parker drums this year for Christmas. I am not sure who enjoyed them more...Parker or Rocky. Here are two videos of their fun. Parker was very timid the first time she played them.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Grace Fellowship Staff Christmas Party

The staff and MLT team met at Macaroni Grill for the annual Christmas party. Here are a few pictures from our fun night.

Gingerbread Houses

We got together with the Power's children and made gingerbread houses this year. Here's the slide show from our day of fun! The enjoyed eating the icing and candy as much as they did decorating.

Christmas

We spent Christmas morning at our new house in Texas. Santa was very good to the girls this year. Parker received drums...what was Santa thinking? Anna Beth got an ipod nano. The girls were both so excited about their gifts. Rocky enjoyed the drums almost as much as Parker. Here's a few videos and pictures of our morning.

Our kids

Here's a picture of our Rutledge children. As you can see they are no longer children. The story goes like this: BJ Rutledge was Rocky's youth minister in Bossier City, LA. Rocky was BJ's youth intern when he graduated high school. Rocky became a youth minister and served with BJ in Deer Park, TX. Jeremy and Julie were in Rocky's ministry...Josh was a 5th grader then. Since that time, we have seen Jeremy graduate high school and college; Julie graduate high school, college, and marry; Josh graduate high school and start college. Now, Jeremy is Parker's children minister and Josh is the youth intern and works with Anna Beth. Isn't that too cool? As for Julie, well, I get the privilege of hanging out with her as a newly wed. That brings back fun memories. I get to see her in that role and she gets to see me as an "old" mom. She gets to see other things about me and I'm not sure how good that is for her!! Our relationship is very similar to the one I have with her mom. Ten years ago it was Janet and I in the boat...me - a young married girl with no children and her - the mother of three. Now I get to be the mother of TWO not three and Julie the young married girl with no children. The next time we head to the hospital (they were all their for the birth of Anna Beth) I will be the one video taping instead of being the one on the other side of the camera...thanks BJ. This time I get to play "aunt" and Janet will be "grandma."

I took this picture today after church. Yes, we are all at the same church. It is so good to have them all in the same town again.

EC Late Night

Tonight was our first official "late night" with 5th and 6th graders. Remind me why I teach middle school and then go hang out with them more til 11:00pm at night? We had a great turn out...about 40 kids. They were goofy all night. Here are a few pictures of some of my family getting goofy. I can never just watch when the inflatables arrive. You would think by now I would learn my lesson. Rocky and I jousted. He cheated and won. Then I got revenge...wrestling the old-fashion way.

Fun with the McCown's

The McCown's, our friends from Nacogdoches, TX, came to see us this past weekend. Tracy led a preschool training for us at church. Our kids were in rare form as always. They had a great time playing guitar hero, the Wii (which by the way, left me sore for two days...how pitiful is that) while we waited on Rocky and Tracy to finish their training. Enjoy the slide show!

Staff Development at Camp Thurman

This has been a long week for me. It was a week filled with staff development. However, on Friday our principal took us to Camp Thurman in Arlington for team building activities. It was a great day. We had so much fun. We also had fun getting to know one another outside of school. I packed my camera and took as many pictures as I could while we were performing activities. It was the best staff development I have had in years. Just the fact that we didn't have to sit through another meeting was the best part. It was hot, but well worth every minute. I hope you enjoy seeing some of my collegues hard at work.

Anna Beth's Birthday

It finally happened. Rocky and I finally gave AB her birthday party. Her birthday was June 21 and we were in Chicago. She had a family birthday party in Louisiana and has been asking to have one with friends. We finally were able to fit it into our schedule before school started. She invited four friends to "Let's Jump" - an indoor facility with large inflatables. We left our house at 10:15am. Upon arriving at Let's Jump the girls went crazy. They were sweating after about 15 minutes. We jumped until noon and then headed for Chick-fil-A for lunch. After lunch it was back for more jumping. We left to head home at 2:30. It was a full day of jumping, but I think they had a blast. Rocky and I had fun just watching them and taking pictures. Check out the pics and a video of all their fun.

Sunday Fun

Sunday was a great time for fun in the sun! After church we ventured to the Rutledge's house for burgers and swimming. There were several families there. We had a great time. Chris and Debbie taught our girls to dive off the diving board. Parker and Anna Beth both learned to do a cannonball...alot of swimming firsts for the girls. They had a great time and we had a great time watching them.

After everyone left, we hung around to play cards. However, we ended up playing dominos...after we made our Dairy Queen run! You know "everybody likes parfaits." Chris was the winner of mexican dominos and BJ was the "green weinie." The boys kept us laughing the entire game.

Vacation...Camping in Louisiana

Our family went camping for a week in Louisiana at Lake Bruin. We had a great time. The girls enjoyed riding their bikes, swimming, riding the tube, fishing, playing with Corbin (their cousing that they just met), and playing with Gus...the dog. Rocky enjoyed fishing. He always enjoys that. We were sure how our week was going to go when Parker hooked herself on our first day there. It was not a fun time. She hooked her leg while carrying her fishing rod. Rocky and I had to hold her still while my dad pulled out the hook. Luckily, she was fine. We did have a relaxing week camping. However, I am not sure if Rocky and my dad thought it was very relaxing fishing with me. Just call me the "high maintenance" fisherwoman. I had to keep them on their toes.

Here are a few pictures of all the fun we had.

Our new house

I finally got enough boxes cleared out of my house to take some pictures. We have officially been moved in now for two weeks. My garage is still full of boxes. I am slowly going through each one and boxing back up the items I want to rummage. We are so thankful for our new house and are enjoying every minute of it. The girls are especially enjoying the pool in the subdivision. I will be emailing out our new address and phone number soon!
<