Meet Brooke!

Cute little Cara from The First Grade Parade is having a linky party!  I loved her idea, and I decided to get in on the action!

Here's my bio-hopefully this will help you learn a little more about me!  I'm a 28 year old who was born and raised in Longview, TX.  I am the youngest of three children, and my two older siblings are super smart and a-ma-zing!  My brother, Bryan is a patent lawyer who definitely has the gift of gab, networking, and smooth talking.  My sister, Brandy, is a beautiful, intelligent doctor.  She is married and has two gorgeous little girls!  I am married to my college sweetheart.  We met at The University of Texas at Austin back in 2000!  We actually lived on the same floor of Jester Dormitory, and secretly liked each other for a LONG time! It wasn't until our sophomore year in college that we became better friends.  We mostly hung out with all of our friends until our junior year when he made the first move!  Porter is my best friend, and he's the reason why I started blogging!  He is so smart and technically savvy.  He works as a computer and software engineer, and he can build any classroom item I need!  We complement each other so well because he's completely technical and analytical while I'm creative and artsy.

This is a picture of my family that was taken during Thanksgiving.  It includes my parents, my brother, my sister (and part of her extended family).  

I love this picture so much!  Do you see me?

Even though you may have already seen pics of my two little ones (Christian and Solomon), I'll add a couple more (just for fun)!

(We need to fill in some empty spaces here...we would like to have 2 more kids, but we're taking it one at a time...however, twins do run in my family!!!)

{Christian will be 3 in less than a month!}

{Solomon is such a jolly fellow...especially at meal time!]

{I think this is when Christian realized that Sol was not a guest and that he'd be with us permanently...life's tough when you're a big bro!}

{Christian loves letters and numbers.  I think he'll have Porter's strong math skills!}

{Solomon has been on the move for about 2 weeks now, and boy oh boy 

does he LOVE to explore!}

So sorry about the picture overload (I got a litte completely carried away!)

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a teacher?                                             

A:  This is a tough question for me because I can’t imagine doing anything else at this point!  However, If I weren’t a teacher, I’d probably be doing something along the lines of interior design.  My dad is an architect and a structural engineer.  I am so proud of him.  He’s self-employed and licensed to work in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.  Interior design is tough, but I think if I worked alongside with him, I could definitely make it!

Q: What are your hobbies?                                                                                   

A:  So much of my time is dedicated to teaching and kids that all of my hobbies kind of stem from those two categories.  I love baking, reading, shopping (for all sorts of things-I am a thrifty shopper who’s always on the lookout for great deals), and after having kids I’ve really gotten into taking photographs and scrapbooking. 

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?                     

A:  This one’s easy!  Hands down-a teacher…My mother taught for 30 years, and now she’s a part time reading coach who works with kindergarten kiddos and teachers.  Even though she’s retired, she still can’t resist coming to visit my classroom every now and again.  While I was growing up, I remember cutting out laminated projects, helping with bulletin boards, and assisting with all kinds of classroom tasks.  I loved every minute of it (well-maybe not all the cutting), but I learned so much.  Today I stand on the shoulders of great teachers like her.

Q: What are your guilty pleasures?                                                                    

A:   Cheesecake-The Cheesecake Factory’s red velvet white chocolate is my favorite!  It’s amazing!  I also love all kinds of candy (bubble gum, chocolate, gummy worms, skittles, candy bars…)-You name it, I probably LOVE it!  I must admit that I am probably a shop-a-holic too!  I love finding bargains and deals.  Every once in a while I splurge and let myself just have a major spree on clothes, shoes, and accessories!

Q: What is your biggest fear?!                                                                        

A: This one is kind of sad…it’s dogs.  I’m not afraid of dogs when they’re present with their owner or dogs that I knew while I was growing up.  However, if I see a random dog in the neighborhood or a big dog that’s not on a leash, I panic!  Once while I was visiting my sister, one of her neighbor’s dogs escaped from the fence, and even though there were several of us walking together, that dog headed straight for me!  I have also had several traumatizing experiences where I was bitten-not to the point of serious injury, but enough to startle me.  The good new is that we are going to get a dog for Christian when he starts kindergarten.  That way, he can help with the responsibilities of caring for a pet.  I think if I have my own dog, I can overcome some of the fear from past experiences.

Q: When you’re on vacation, where do you like to go?                                     

A: I like to go anywhere where there is great SHOPPING!  I can shop all day and night for several days at a time!  I love to get together with my mom and aunts because we really do “shop ‘til we drop!” 

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?                                                   

A:  The best advice I’ve ever received is to trust in God.  By nature I’m a planner who can often become discouraged by life’s unexpected events and situations.  That’s strange to me because in the classroom those things happen every day, but in real life I really have to seek God and be prayerful about His will for my life and how to respond to each situation and circumstance.  One of my favorite scriptures is Proverbs 3:5-6.   

Q: What do you value most in others?                                                                    

A:  I value loyalty most from others.  If you’re my friend, stick with me no matter what!  Be there in the good times, the bad times, and the in between. 

Q: If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass down to your kids, what would it be?                                                                                                        

A: That’s a good one…hmmm...I think it would be different for each of my kids because already I see two totally different personalities, but I’ll have to go with persistence.  I am a very tenacious person, and I think that in life you need a certain amount of audacity to respond to tough situations.  Sometimes “no” is o.k. to hear, and you need to yield.  However, sometimes in life people tell you, “you can’t do that” or “that’s going to be too hard for you.”  I want my kids to know that they can accomplish what they’ve been called and purposed to do!

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world….living or dead…who would it be?                                                                                                                

A:  I think I would like to meet with all of my grandparents  and greatgrandparents who have passed on.  I have one grandparent remaining (my dad’s biological mother).  I never got to meet some of them, and I think I could learn a lot about myself and my family history from them.  I’d also like my grandparents to meet my husband and kids.  I think they’d be pretty proud of me (at least I hope so)!

Now tell us one random thing about yourself:

I know sign language.  I took three semesters of it in college, and I use it a lot with my students.  It forces them to look at me and give me their undivided attention.  They love it because they are learning a new language.   I highly recommend using it in your classroom!