Jason's Graduation @ FLETC

Well, if you look at Crawford or me this week, you are going to see a smile on both of our faces because we are complete again. Jason is home. These pictures are from his graduation of FLETC or Federal Law Enforcement Training, which means, I am the wife of one of your newest Federal Agents that trained with the Department of Homeland Security. Kind of crazy, huh! I am so proud of him and so is Crawford. He likes daddy's shiny new badge. Graduation was really neat once we got through the check points where they could not find Mammy Jo's name and we were told Jason could come "claim" her later. I was almost in freak out mode, but thankfully we found her name and the nice lady gave her a pass to get in with us to the graduation. It was very surreal when driving into the place to see the gates and double fences into it. The sign at the front said "where we train those that protect your homeland". I guess I had put in the back of my mind what this means for our family. The graduation ceremony started with the candidates getting their last uniform inspection which Liz and I went to take pictures of in the 103 degree heat. I felt sorry for them standing in the blistering sun in long sleeved uniforms perfectly still. It seemed to us that it was forever, so I can only imagine what they were thinking standing out there. Jason's mom (Liz) flew in to Jacksonville, Fl and brought Aunt Vickie with her to graduation and then there was me, Crawford, Mammy Jo, my mom and daddy. It was a great turnout since we had a 17 hour drive to get there. But that is another story to come under a different title. :) It was a very interesting graduation, short and to the point so that we could get our guys back and spend some quality family time with them.

Newest Addition

Well, I would love to introduce everyone to our newest addition in our family, mine and Jason's nephew and Crawford's little cousin...Brooks Cobb Hawkins. Weighing in at 8 lbs 3 ounces and 19 inches long. He is absolutely perfect and Holly is doing great. He was born at 10:51 pm Saturday May 30th. The weekend started with us heading to VHS Graduation 2009 where two of my cousins were graduating. Colt and Seth, you guys are awesome!! Graduation was short for once and Crawfor behaved as good as he could. Afterwards he went and took pictures with the graduates. It was nice becuase EK was in and I havent seen her in forever and ever. Saturday was play day at Lolly and Grumps until we got "the call." Then we went to the hospital and waited on the baby to arrive. After hours in the waiting room the proud daddy, my brother Jerami, came out and got Ellie and Asher to take them back. At this point, we still had no idea what we had. About ten minutes later, the kiddos came out with baseballs and that is how we knew we had a nephew. Bubba gave us the name and we fell in love before we even got to see him. When we got to go back, Ellie and Asher were so excited. They got on the bed with their momma and held their new baby brother. It was love at first site. Crawford decided he wanted a baby and I told him he would have to wait a while, he needs to be happy with his baby cousin Brooks right now. Waiting for baby Brooks was Lolly, Grumps, Ellie, Asher, Aunt Kara, Cousin Crawford, Mama Libby, Aunt Jan, Doc Ingrim and Mrs. Diane. We all got to go in and see him and the beautiful mommy Holly (my absolutely awesome sister-in-law). We got to take turns holding him and he of course, was a super star and he wasnt even an hour old. Today, we went back to see him and Holly and Ellie (big sister) held him like a pro. Crawford gave him kisses and Asher set by him. We are so excited he is finally here for all of us to love and protect.

Visit With Daddy

For Memorial Day weekend, Jason took a last minute flight into IAH Saturday morning, arriving in Houston Saturday evening. It was a short visit, (he went home Monday morning), but it was all worth it. Crawford and I packed up and left Friday afternoon and headed to Magnolia to Poppy and Grammy's house. After a very long drive, (thank goodness for portable DVD players), we made it and boy was he glad to see them. He played hard, finally going to be late and then it was count down until plane landing time on Saturday. Saturday morning, we got a suprise visit from Uncle Steven, Aunt Judy, and cousin Ryan. It was fun to see them and we played out in the barn until it was time to go to the airport to get daddy. Crawford fell asleep on the way, so when Jason got in the van, he was a little shocked at first to see his daddy. (It was the one time I let Jason wake him up from a nap.) He was very excited and started spitting out words really fast to tell Jason all about everything. Sunday, Uncle Daniel and Granny and Britt came over and played. Uncle Daniel is Crawford's big monkey. He let Crawford climb all over him and pull and tug. It was fun to see them get to play together. It was a great weekend at the Roesner's, the hard part being when Crawford woke up Monday morning screaming for his daddy. He woke up today screaming for him again. Thank goodness we only have 5 weeks left until he gets back.

Sunny Days

So, my mother in law told me I was falling behind in my committment to add pictures of Crawford and send them weekly, so I guess I better add some. So, here we are. Let's see what is new in the Roesner family. Jason will be in for a day (yes, a day, but I am taking all I can get right now) next weekend. He is riding in with one of the other guys from his class. We will get to see him Saturday and Sunday and he will head back early Monday morning. I have been busy this weekend packing the house. Still no word on where we are moving as far as finding a house, but we are moving, that is inevitible. I am looking on a daily basis for houses, there just isn't much out there in the way of rent houses and we are really ready to buy, but not without Jason being home. Crawford has learned a new trick of getting on the side of the recliner and riding it like a bull. He will say "hee haw" cowboy. He also loves to play baseball outside in the afternoons. This is our new daily ritual. He has a new "buzz" cut haircut that he likes to show off. I can tell he is much cooler. It is just sad because he looks older. He is constantly talking and repeating new things. I guess I better watch what I say, huh. We are having lots of fun with the long hours of sunshine, playing until bathtime. He cries when we have to come in to eat. His new favorite food is hamburgers and if you ask him what he wants for supper, he says hamburger. His new movies of choice are Game Plan, Rookie of the Year, and The Derby Stallion. We have to have these to watch before bed. He is turning into quite the little sports boy. Other than that, all is good here in Karnack. I am finished with the math section of my program and starting on the english and language arts tomorrow. This is all getting me prepped for the TeXes in June right after Jason's graduation from the academy. So, our lives for the next couple of months is scheduled madness. Let the good times roll...

May Days

Well, let's see...Not to terribly much to report in the past couple of days. I passed my social studies part of my program, and am currently on the math section. YIKES! When all this is through, I get to take my real exit exam and pray I pass so I can get a job in the fall teaching. That would be gerat!! Crawford man is growing bigger by the second. It is really depressing. He talks in complete sentences and talks alot. He will tell you all about his day if you just ask. His new thing is sitting on the arm of the recliner with his helmet and "riding" it like a bull. He puts his Cars helmet on and goes crazy. It is fun to watch him. He is growing so fast. Still no news on the homefront as far as finding somewhere to live. I dont know what we are going to do, but it has to be done soon one way or the other. Jason's come home date is getting closer. Only 7 weeks!!! Yay! I have managed to pack about 20 boxes so far and guess what?! That is not even a dent in the house. UGH! I hate moving. We are headed home for mother's day this weekend. Happy Mother's day Grammy, Granny, Mammy Jo, Grandma and Lolly and all of our Aunts. We love you! Grammy's surgery went good on her leg, Poppy's garden somewhat survived the floods in Houston, daddy's arm is getting better, Lolly is busy chasing grandkids, baby Hawkins is on its way soon, my brothers team has a playoff game this weekend and if I left anything out, I am sorry. I will have pictures up soon. Hope you are all doing great!!!

April Days

Hey everyone! Just wanted to get some updates on here about what Crawford and I have been up to lately. Last weekend was the Crawfish boil that I referenced in the last blog. It was a wet, fun time. It had been raining for two days straight, but Uncle Nickey was determined we were going to have that boil one way or the other. So, I bought Crawford some new rubber boots and off we went. With a little help from Cousin Asher, Crawford found the biggest mud puddle in Uncle Nickey's yard, and dove in. That started a whole new game and Garrett, Asher and Crawford were set for the night. So glad we had a change of clothes with us or Crawford would not have been allowed back in Lolly's car. They had fun though, which is all that matters. This week was a hard one for all of us. First, we were planning mom a suprise 50th birthday party that was this weekend and everyone in Van, Tx knew about it but her.And if you know Van, that is a feat in itself. Somehow, we made it without her finding out. The party was a success, with many of her friends from school and her supper buddies there to suprise her. It was fun getting one over on her because she really had no clue, yet she would have easily found out if she would have paid attention. My dad's cousin, Vicki and her husband Trey came all the way in from Abiline. She was most suprised when she saw them. I think daddy still owes her that steak dinner though. I have been up to my neck in Region VII schoolwork. It is the program I am in to get my teaching certificate and right now it is 2 lessons a day at about 2-3 hours a piece. I am not getting much sleep at all. I have to wait until Crawford gets to bed so I can do it, because he needs and wants my attention all of the time when he is awake. I am on the social studies unit right now, fighting my way through all the information from the fourth to the eighth grade. Guess what, that was forever ago!!! I have my first big test on Saturday. It is going to be hard. Studying for social studies 4-8 should be easy since I have been in those grades before, right? Well, let's just say...I have slept since then. (Like 16 years worth of sleep!!) I think it is all going to be worth it though. I spent a day with fifth and sixth graders last week at a school here in Marshall and it was wonderful. I have so many hours I have to observe for this program. It was great. I was with a reading teacher that was working on TAKS tutorials for students that had not yet passed. It was amazing to see how hard those kids try. I wish them the best of luck this week as they tackle the TAKS. Jason has had about three tests in the past week, so he is busy studying there as well. We counted down last night and we have 9 weeks until he gets back. The church has given us until he gets back to get out of our house, so I am currently looking hard at all of our options to get us out of the house we are in. I have been packing slowly and getting things in boxes we dont need right now. So goes the days of our lives...

Spring Time Fun!

Well, its been a couple of weeks, so I figured I better get with it and update you all on our crazy, busy lives. On the 12th our niece, Ellie turned 6. Can you believe it? So, she celebrated her birthday early with a party at the jumping house in Tyler. Boy was that fun. If you havent been to one of those, you need to head to one. I think my mom had more fun than we could have ever imagined. Crawford didnt really like it because it was so loud, but he enjoyed playing basketball with the other kids. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter. We did, even though Jason wasn't here for us to spend it with. It was a busy weekend. We started out by spending Good Friday with Mammy Jo and Papa Pete in Rockwall. We took Papa Pete for a belated birthday lunch and then played in their backyard for hours. For Easter, we went to two chuch services, the sunrise at 7 am (yes, am) and then the early service where Grumps played the bass guitar as he does every Sunday in the praise band. Then it was time for Easter fun at Grandma Libby's house with the Crow family, where we actually were only missing two of our family tmembers (Jason and Erin K). So, it was a loud Easter. It started out really cold and nasty and just when it was time to hide the eggs, it got sunny and a little warmer. It was great. Crawford, Asher, Baby Philip and Garrett had a blast getting eggs and giving them to one another. For those of you who dont know, those are the four boys that were born within 8 months of one another, with Crawford being the youngest. It was great seeing them all play. We even had little Lilly Ann out for the big day. Last week, we found out that we have to be out of our rent house by the end of June. (Originally it was May, but they are giving us an extra month untiol Jason gets home,) so we are currently trying to decide what to do about a home for the next couple of months until I get a teaching job (hopefully) in the fall. My teaching program is going great. We start the reviews for the test here in the next week, so I will be back to the books for a 4-8 generalist test. Whoopie! Tonight, we had mom a suprise dinnere at the Country Tavern in Kilgore where Ellie, Asher and Crawford performed for everyone around. They were dancing to the juke box. We had lots of great food and great company. She was so suprised when she walked in and saw her oldest sister Aunt Jan, Uncle Phil, Uncle Bubba, Aunt Marla, and Seth there. It was great to see her smile because all she wanted for her birthday was a family dinner. Oh, did I mention she is 50! This weekend we are headed in for the big annual family crawfish boil in Van. Robby and I realized that this means our family will be spending two weeks in a row together like we used to. Fun times! (We decided all that can be thrown is crawfish heads and tails, no oatmeal this time!) That is another story, just ask mom or Aunt Lana and they will be sure to fill you in. This weekend is Grammy's birthday and I think they have a big trip planned themselves. Jason is doing great at training. Acing all of his tests both physical and mental. It has been really intense for us all the past couple of weeks, so please keep us in your prayers. I told him if he is nice, I might give him our new address! Hee hee! I will be posting pictures soon.