The Graduate!

Mrs. King presented Triston at CHA's Graduation ceremony last Friday (5-22-26):

Very proud to be his Aunt!

The Fam, minus Jaceman who was very busy chatting with someone!

I asked ChatGPT to add him in and make him a little taller than me... so it made him 7-foot! lol  Naturally, he loves this pic and assures me he'll be that height someday soon! lol

This = me telling mom to raise her phone camera... higher angle is always better! lol

Rach with all four Parrish kids (whilst Jace borrows T's grad cap)!

Parrish Siblings!

Wendy, Triston, and JoBug

Mamaw, Tman, and Grandpa

The passing of the green jacket as Josh Bullard handed over the Headmaster role to Mr. Schapansky

J&K are fans of him, so I hope that continues as he steps into the leadership role!

Reese Kufahl, Kyndal (who wore her best OSU colors in honor of Reese and Laynie, both future Cowboys), and Tman!

Brook's side of the family:  Shauna, Maggie, Mason, Pat (Nana), Shirley, Carter, and Carter's friend who likely didn't know he was signing up for a 2-hour ceremony! lol

I had a good talk with Megan Elizabeth just before the ceremony!  Her oldest nephew was also graduating... her dad (Hudson's grandad) got to present him, and he was the first third-generation student to graduate from CHA (his mom and dad and maternal grandma all graduated there, and his parents and grandad are all currently on staff)!

JB complimenting Jaceman on how tall he's getting!

❤

In a fascinating turn of events, I could tell that Mrs. King (who presented Triston at the ceremony) seemed to know me, and she looked very familiar..... she's one of Triston's favorites on the CHA staff, and she's a mom with a daughter in Kyndal's class who's one of K's good friends.  

She is ALSO a 1997 CHA grad who was part of the 2006 faculty trip to Boston...

I would never have joined their entire class trip, but my four favorite seniors from that class missed their scheduled class trip due to competing in Mock Trial Nationals... so they joined the CHA faculty for a summer trip to Boston, and I was OVERJOYED to join them for that!

This = me, the famous JoshuaMichaelMartin, Sarah Bliss, Evan, and Ms. Audra Wolfley (who later married and became Mrs. King) outside before the Boston Pops Sound of Music sing-along!  Bottom pic is her joining "the Fab 5" (Evan, Josh, Me, Zana, and Sarah) for dinner at the Wayside Inn!  She was friendly and fun and the youngest member of the faculty 20 years back, so she hung out with our group a lot and knew a very-JMM-obsessed version of me! 

Her (after taking our photo repeatedly):  "You two make such a cute couple!"

Josh:  "Oh, we're not together, just best friends."

Me:  "Not yet, and THANKS!"

Hot. Mess.

Here's hoping that's all filtered right out of her memory. lolol

Anyway, she's really kind, and yay for finally making that connection exactly 20 years down the road!!

❤ ❤ ❤

The Christian Citizenship Award!

On her final day of elementary school, the lovely Mini Miss K won CHA's highest honor, the Christian Citizenship Award!  She's the first in our family line to receive that, and so very deserving!! ❤

Pic with Mamaw!

Pic with her Mom!

Pic with Ellery, her bestie!

Pic with Olivia, her fellow honoree and good friend since Pre-K!

She wore her graduation dress again but went with different shoes this time =)

Rach got confetti poppers for them again, but they were still wrapped when K and her friends were trying to set them off during the assembly... sad day

So after some help from their adult teachers and friends, they had a belated confetti send-off!!

K-Faith and Dylan!

Knox, Ellery, Storey, Kyndal, Titus, and Colin

Pool party at Mamaw's after their last day!

Ellery and K

They're so fun!!

Sadly, I missed every bit of that thanks to an all day (remote) protest hearing in the Tulsa courtroom.

I'm mostly JK on the above meme, but I obviously would've loved to be there for that award moment!

I was on the phone with Rach later that night, and Kyndal chimed in saying she was ready to go to bed early because it was really hard work being the highest award winner! lol  She's always got jokes.  But kudos and congrats to Miss Kyndal Faith, a great student and faithful friend with strong Christian character!!

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Block Party #7!!

Chet's 7th Annual Client Appreciation Block Party was a vibrant success!!

Just look how fun and colorful! ❤

Debbie manning the Check-In table, handing out the new swag bags and drink tickets, both improving a bit on last year's party plan!  (Karli Marie made the awesome balloon arch and I made the fun check-in poster - my strong guess is that not everyone officially checked in, but there were over 100 people on the list that did!!)

Prepping for the flower bouquet bar - and yes, I did stop and smell the roses - I do that literally every time I see them anywhere! lol

Yay for my chalkboard sign from yesteryear still going strong! lol

Parker and I were very happy to be in matching pink shirts! ❤

Balloon columns by Chet and Karli... they added a lot to this year's photos!!

Tate and his friend playing with anything they found in the garage! lol

My very-quickly-made water and not water signs! lol

Yay, Kristin Renee and the Foster fam!

Pink Ladies! ;-)  A stair-steppy height pic of me, Lindsay, and Kelly Marie!

Yolanda and Cody, a "Wilson fam" reunion! lol

Friend group pic by the balloon arch!

Sarah comforting Parker when she was deeply distraught about her sparkly balloon popping. Presh!

Ellie, Margot, Kelly, and Elizabeth

Steve complimenting Parker's hair flower (which he put in for her)! lol

Kate holding Paige Evelyn! ❤

The indoor crew - me, Teresa, and Laura! (It was very hot and windy, and I needed Vivian to stay intact!)

Parker was back in a happy mood with her new balloon collection!

Pic with Laura Allison by the fun balloon column!

Shane showing Tate the kettle corn process!

Tate drew this for him and gave it to him at dinner - he couldn't find a yellow marker so he wrote yellow with an arrow to the popcorn. lol  Love it!

New patriotic bows from Mom for the Wilsons and for me! ❤

Friend trio pic from the last three block parties!

I adore the Wilsons, and I love being in the group that comes early to help and stays late to hang out - we did Whataburger dinner then Andy's custard, also becoming a tradition at this point!  In other news, I need us all to wear colorful shirts more often - these pics spark joy for me! =)

That's my third and final post for today - I'm all caught up on photos!  I've been reading an exceptional book and may share some deeper thoughts in the next day or two!

Happy Monday, gang!  And in case no one else reminds you, Jesus loves you and believes in you, and He is with you and for you today!!

❤ ❤ ❤

Annie & Eddie

SO HAPPY to have this photo with my podcast besties!!  Eddie said he loved my hat (he is genuinely a fellow Swiftie), and I was happy to be in matchy blue with them both! =)

Okay, starting from the beginning, I drove down early to Keller, Texas on Friday.  Annie put out a tourdetastebuds website where they recommended certain restaurants and coffee shops for their tour stops, which led me to my lunch stop at Acquario Pizza!  Then I grabbed Sugar Llamas for a snack because when I travel, even for a day trip, I feel like I need to eat fun foods!! #noragrets

A pic with Katie Boatman, the co-founder of Single Purpose League on Annie's team!  I listened to a podcast this week that I really appreciated and talked with her about that (HERE).

My new book with a bookmark and autograph from AFD, and a Waffles Kaufholz sticker ("Go wash your hands" was Annie's pandemic sign-off line, and "Bye, Buddies" was Eddie's, hence, The Buddies Tour!)

I also bought the t-shirt and changed into it immediately, because why not!?

It made me happy to see Annie's fiance, JW, there as the DJ hyping up the crowd! lol

They jumped right into talking about all manner of nonsense, along with a few serious topics!

I'm such a fan of them both... their walks with God, their long-term friendship, their sense of humor, their love/hate of running, their love of SNL and pop culture, their health goals and struggles, etc.

Their dynamic (the mix of personalities, the earned mutual respect, the consistent jokes and entertaining rants, and of course, Annie being single while Eddie is married with a wife and children) often reminds me of my friendship with Chettles, and it's nice to see that modeled somewhere!

I'm also a long-term follower of Annie and appreciate the way she models being a single woman who has a vibrant life and walk with God... I'm a fan, so much so that I bought this dress when she sold some items from her closet earlier this year! lol  (It looks pink on her and coral on me, but it's definitely the exact same dress - fun!)

The show was so fun - lots of laughter and good memories and words of wisdom!  In spite of the insane random traffic jam I faced on my drive home, it was very worth the trip!!

Till next time, "Bye, Buddies!"

❤ ❤ ❤