Memorial Day Weekend!

Hello, Everybody!


We hope you had a wonderfully relaxing weekend this past Memorial Day. We did. We cooked out hamburgers on Sunday and hot dogs on Monday. Ellen is a gourmet cook. (Hee, hee, not really, but Sharon thinks she is.) She whipped up this most marvelous strawberry shortcake for dessert. We added a few blueberries to make this delicious dessert red, white, and blue.

As of today, there are seven more days of school! That seems almost impossible. The children are getting tired and are ready to begin summer. It seems that their place of "refuge" is the Nurse's Office! It has been quite a busy place these days. Sharon has now been retired for six years. She will continue to volunteer at Polk as long as she can.

Her progress continues to be steady thanks to the wonderful therapy she receives. Sometimes it brings tears to her eyes, but as they say, "NO PAIN-NO GAIN." Her range of motion measurements keep improving, so the therapists keep encouraging her to do more and more. Ellen is quite proud of her.

Until next time. . . . .

UTEP Graduation Weekend!

Hello, Everybody!


Graduation season is upon us, and ours began this past weekend with our UTEP graduation. Joey Charter graduated with a B.S in Psychology and a Minor in Biology. He is headed to Graduate School this next semester. Graduation was at 7:00 PM, so we had a fun cookout/swim party in the afternoon. Joey was one of the first in the pool!


Joey's brother, Jonathan, is on the left. His cousin, Seth, is on the right. Seth flew into Dallas and then drove to El Paso with Nichole and Michael. Teresa, Joey's mom, is looking quite proud! We were all celebrating Joey's achievement!

These are the "muscle people" of the family!

The graduation was quite impressive. We were able to see Erin Eastman carry in the banner for the School of Nursing. Brian Ibarra received his degree in Civil Engineering. They are the daughter and son of our two secretaries at school. We were proud of all of them!

This is always such a busy time of year, but it is usually a very happy time, too! The excitement these young adults exhibit just has to make one smile. Good luck to all of them. May they be successful and enjoy their life's path!

Until next time. . . . . .

What A Twenty Dollar Investment We Made!

Hello, Everybody!


If you aren't tired of seeing pictures of our pretty flowers, can you stand just one more? This is the Hibiscus tree that we bought at Sam's one Saturday for $19.97.

This morning, Sharon's tree had seven beautiful blooms on it! You can see for yourself.


Yesterday, we went to one of our PTA lady's home for the annual Teacher Appreciation Luncheon. They caravan the different grade levels to the home, and then bring them back to school. They (the PTA ladies) have all of the classrooms covered at all of the different times of lunch. This has been a tradition since Polk began. The theme of this year's luncheon was Chinese. They had everything decorated beautifully. It was delicious and a good time was had by all. They had a door prize and favors for all who came. Thank you, Polk Precious PTA ladies! We had a great time!

Our weather has become HOT!! We're not sure what the actual temperature is today, but it was predicted to be 99! It's only the beginning of May! If the summer is this hot, then we will be sending lots of time indoors. We haven't had rain since before January. Perhaps our Oklahoma and Dallas friends could share some of what they have had. PLEASE!! We know you would share if you could.

Tomorrow is Friday. The thought of it just puts a smile on your face, doesn't it?
Have a good one.

Until next time. . . . . .

Almost Back To Normal!

Hello, Everybody!


Yesterday at school was the annual Volunteers in Public Schools Breakfast! The Polk Staff, along with the teachers really outdo themselves to say, "Thank You" to all of those people who help at school in any avenue. It was Sharon's first day back to Polk. What a thrill it was for her to see the kids once again. The classrooms put on a little program of singing and dancing for the volunteers. It was a wonderful day for Sharon. It gave her morale a giant boost. She has been in lots of pain trying to get all of those muscles to learn to work together once again. But she is coming along quite nicely. Everyday she seems to be able to do a few more things by herself.


Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week here. Thank a teacher if you can read, write, or do anything mathematically.


Swine Flu is doing its best to rear its ugly head here in El Paso, but so far, we only have some suspected cases--none confirmed. That is miraculous in itself when you consider how close we are to the border. Ellen had a crazy, busy week in her office. Parents were calling and stopping by to ask many questions about the Swine Flu. There were several requests to "Please call down my son/daughter and check him/her out. He/she wasn't feeling real good this morning." We made it through the week; hopefully, the coming days will be a bit slower and calmer.

Did you all watch the Kentucky Derby? A horse from Sunland Park Race Track won!! He was a 50 to 1 shot. That means anyone who bet $2.00 on him won $103!! It was fun to listen to the hype after the race. No one could believe that this little race horse that cost its owners only $9,500 could win the Kentucky Derby! It was fun to see his trainer in a cowboy hat and on crutches instead of the traditional white shirt and tie!! Be sure to watch the Preakness in a few weeks. Hopefully, this little horse, Mine That Bird, will do well.

Until next time. . . . . .