No More Pencils, No More Books, No More Teachers Dirty Looks!!

And so it begins...

Brenda and I are blessed with lots of nieces and nephews. We love them all and do take lots of pride in their accomplishments. Last weekend we headed down to Houston to celebrate the Class of '09. Amber, Barbara and Cutter all graduated this year. They are our oldest nieces and nephews and it was a blast to celebrate with so many family and friends. We filled up Becky's pool with kiddos and filled up the adults with liquid refreshment from the margarita machine.

The stars aligned just right for this weekend and ALL of the siblings were together! That has actually started happening with a bit more regularity, but this time we also had all the spouses and kids together. If I counted correctly, that makes 23 right now! That just doesn't happen nearly enough. You know you are getting old when you stop talking about "getting the family together" and you start "organizing a family reunion". Something tells me that our family reunions wouldn't look like too much the ones I went to as a kid. My family is crazy and fun and hysterical and nutty. Brenda and I left the party with big smiles on our faces and the girls were asleep before we got the to end of the driveway! Okay, so it was after midnight and Grace hadn't had a nap all day, but as I mentioned, this is a fun family.

So what's next for this fabulous trio? Amber will be going to the Art Institute to study photography, Barbara is going to take college classes close to home in Louisiana before heading off to McNeese State and Cutter will be packing his bags for Northern Arizona University in the fall. So many people think of graduation as a completion milestone, and it does celebrate your hard work and academic achievement in high school. But really, its the beginning of a new chapter. It will be fun to see what they do, and who they become over the next several years. We could not be more proud of them. There are lots of pics in the gallery, so check it out. You can access our online gallery from the link in the right hand navigation.

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C'mon Mom, it's just PB and J!

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Type 2 Diabetes - An Inconvenient Journey

I wish I wasn't the type of person that needed to get hit in the head with a 2x4 before I take action. I really do want to be the type of person who heeds the warning signs that appear when someone else is walking through a challenge and is able to apply them to my own life. I am 44 years old and I have a literal lifetime of warning signs, sounds, flags, banners, smoke signals and alerts that have been going off all around me. It isn't a news flash that obesity causes a variety of health-related issues. I took health in junior high and high school. I have been told many times by teachers, trainers, coaches, doctors, and nurses that I cannot outrun or outlive poor choices in diet and exercise. As an adult, I have read many books on topics of health and self-improvement that encourage healthy habits and stress the importance of using daily exercise to reduce stress, improve cardiovascular health and increase energy. I have read about the importance of...

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Our Fun Family

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