More #ParentswithPizazz here for you today. We can’t seem to get enough of them. Enjoy! And don’t forget to hug your very own!
I want to highlight my mom, Olga Valdez, she is the one with the orange blouse. I want to share this photo of my grandmother, sister and myself because there are three generations shown here and since I was a little girl, my mom has always showed me that family is the essence of love. She came to this awesome country very young and brought with her all her culture, beliefs and her spirit for love. She has and is my rock. Since this picture was taken, my dad and my grandmother have passed, but my mother continues to inspire me with her beautiful strength for life and family!
-Linda Barfield
Both of parents are full of pizzazz. They both do crazy awesome things that most people can only dream of doing. My mom, Tracy, hardly has any free time in her schedule during the week because of all the fun jobs she does each day. She is a Jazzercise instructor at Abilene Jazzercise and teaches several classes each week. At night, she is always learning new routines to popular songs. Since she really loves to dance, she also teaches ballet classes at Ballet Abilene. In addition to teaching, she takes classes and even performs with the company. She has been in the Nutcracker for many years now and has performed several different roles. Other things she enjoys doing include helping with children’s choir at First Baptist and helping organize the Children’s Art and Literacy Festival. My dad, Coleman, also does some pretty awesome things. He is a professor at Hardin Simmons and is in charge of the Leadership Studies Program. Each year, he takes his college students on many fun trips. Just this past week, he went rock climbing with them. He also helps put together the Bike Ride Across Texas with his students as a part of one of his classes. This year will be the third time they have done this. Outside of school, he teaches karate and fencing at Texas Martial Arts Center, the school he started several years ago. He is also a big fan of collecting musical instruments. His collection consists of saxophones, clarinets, guitars, trumpets, a marching baritone, a trombone, two accordions, and several other things. He can play almost all of these, and right now, his favorite is the accordion. For all of these reasons, I believe that my parents should officially be named parents with pizzazz.
-Kirsten Patterson
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