Just a normal Saturday Morning at the Sullivan's house...

When I woke up this morning, Ty had gone and bought breakfast for us and brought it back to me and Richard (the two sleepyheads)...after we ate breakfast we spent the morning playing together. Richard wanted to play his guitar but in his words "gitar bwoke" so I pulled out his little keyboard - he has never given it much thought at all - well, not today - once he realized he could change the tempo and add different instruments he was in Heaven and was quite the entertainer. . . he thoroughly enjoyed creating different compostions for us as well as breaking every once in a while to dance for us....another one of our favorite things to do is play wrestle in order to avoid the tickle monster - as you can tell sometimes the tickle monster is 38 and sometimes it is in the body of a 2 year old. Thank you God for allowing us to find so much joy in the simple times together!!!

Girls' Night Out...

More to come once "Thing 1" emails me the pics.....

The Start of Summer...

As the pictures show the Sullivan family didn't spend our first weekend of mommy's summer break together, but we all had fun!! Ty and his dad fulfilled one of Ty's lifelong dreams - they went to Indianapolis for the Indy 500 - other than Danika getting smashed out of the race he had a blast!!! I loaded up with mom and dad right after our Higland Bluff meeting, went and picked Richard up, and we headed WAY up into Arkansas (we were only 2 1/2 hours from Branson - beautiful but NO cell service). Richard had the opportunity to meet cousins and aunts that he had never met. It is taking some work to get the little man back into the routine of sleeping by himself (he and mommy slept together), but other than that we are settling in. The past two days I have been in meetings helping to re-write the curriculum for Venture, so Richard has not been with mommy very much. Mrs. Beth brought by the CD she made of Richard and his little friends from the past year...it was FANTASTIC - what a great way to see how he has grown in the last year. Last night I broke loose for about an hour and took my friend Joy to Bruster's for a birthday ice cream. I ran up to Flowood Elementary today to pick up a few last things and turn my key in - kind of a sad feeling, but I am really excited about the years to come at Highland Bluff. Tonight I am headed to see Sex in the City with some of my girlfriends while Richard and Ty have some "guy" time. I look forward to the fact that we have NOTHING scheduled for next week - just days of playing together and mixing some housework in during nap time. Take care and have a great weekend everyone!!!

Getting Ready For Summer Time Fun...

Yesterday was a really busy day...I rolled over at 5:30 and whispered to Ty that I was headed out to the Laurelwood Day garage sales - 40 in cash and ready to go - since I was a bit early, I went and bought myself a cappuccino at Cefco and then on to find some deals! My first goodie to buy was a shelf with primary colored bins: hopefully it will work well to organize Richard's vast array of toys (if not I can always use it in my new classroom) - next I found an interactive Barney that works with you on language - my next treasure was an Elmo chair (which I have already washed and reloaded with batteries - I thought that $2 for a wiggle and laugh Elmo chair was not bad at all) - I found some plastic linko wheels for Richard since he loves to build - at a friends' house I found him a Fisher Price Pop Onz Table and accessories - I bought myself some fiesta napkins on my next stop - and I ended my hunting with the purchase of a purse and some sterling silver jewelry for myself - Ty called about 7:30 to say that they were awake and going so I headed home to pick them up to go and eat some breakfast (I had only spent $30 of my $40 so that was plenty to feed our hungry tummies!) Then we headed down Lakeland and engaged in one of our favorite past times - we went looking at houses- not that we are looking to move immediately, but we love to look at different house plans and just be aware of what is out there - we even stopped in at Aunt Catherine's house to take a break. Next we headed home for lunch and to let Richard stretch from being in his car seat. I decided to "treat" Ty since he wanted to watch qualifying for the Indy 500 so I went outside to mow and surprise him(Ty mentioned that he was going to bag it this time - so I hate to admit that I was a wimp - I only got the side, the front, and a small portion of the back done) I finished that part of the yard just in time for Mrs. Beth and Mr. Marc to arrive - WOW - they had their truck loaded with summertime entertainment - Mrs. Cindy is letting us have Emma's old house and Mrs. Beth gave us the turtle sandbox - after washing them off and assembling them all was ready for Richard to discover when he woke up from his nap. Mrs. Beth had also bought him a sand pail full of sand toys so we must not tarry in getting some sand for the turtle. The weather was beautiful so I decided to go and get our Laurelwood Day Food "to go" - craw fish, potatoes, corn, hot dogs, and hamburgers - I brought it home and we all ate outside and Richard played on his slides and his new "clubhouse." What a fun filled day we had - time for bath, night time prayers, and sleep.... I will try to upload some pictures later of Richard's outdoor fun!!! Thanks again Mrs. Cindy and Mrs. Beth! Just in time for some summer time fun!!!!!

Update on my dad...

Please keep my dad, Jerry, in your prayers especially on June 5 at 10 am. He will have his preliminary meeting with the transplant team at UMC - they will be doing some testing and basically checking to see if he can have his transplant. We continue to hope that my mom is a match. Will write more later. Thank you for the prayers....I added this pic of my dad swinging because it shows what a love for life he has (taken Memorial Day weekend).

Fun At The Park

This afternoon when we left Mrs. Beth's we went to one of Richard's favorite places....Winner's Circle Park! Thanks for the suggestion Amy. We met Wes, Manze, and Emma there to play in the dirt!!! Their faces say it all...the innocence of childhood! They laugh heartily - love fully - and fight vehemently (even if there is more than one shovel)....but you know it is so sweet to see how they may fight over a shovel one minute or having to take turns going down the slide, but they are giggling together two seconds later and crying when one of them has to leave and go home. What is the saying about learning all you need to know in Kindergarten - maybe even the two year olds have it right - thank you for the reminder Richard, Wes, Manze, and Emma - life is short so live it to the fullest!!!

***Update*** I found out this afternoon that I will be at Highland Bluff - I am sssoooo excited but sad to be separated from so many of my friends - maybe I need to remember to be a two year old and just jump right on in!!!!!

Not Always As Planned...

This was a super busy week for me. My students are finishing their creative chess sets - ssooo cool I will have to post a couple of pics. I also had Art In The Park for Thursday - our original day was rained out....Friday we also had Field Day - then I was supposed to go to the movies with a friend - go home and pack and we were headed out of town to a wedding - one of Ty's cousins married one of my high school classmates - SMALL world - wellllllll - things don't always go according to plan - things NOT planned on for the week:

1) I hurt one of my closest friends and made her mad - she now will have no contact with me...

2) We had a "snake" incident at Art In The Park - 3 1/2 to 4 foot snake that was eating a HUGE frog right there in the amphitheater area where our kiddos were - 5 of the 7 who saw it swear that it was a moccasin - diamond shaped head - skinny neck - slanted eyes - SCARY most of all! Got terribly sunburned at AIP and as I mowed our yard in an attempt to surprise Ty.

3)At dismissal time, Dr. McCool handed out sealed envelopes to each of us - with a tight chest I accepted mine knowing what was inside - the much anticipated teaching assignments for next year - which campus would I be at - Flowood or Highland - GUESS WHAT!?!??! Mine gave me NO new news - instead a handwritten note from Dr. Mc saying no decisions regarding Venture had been made yet...

4) My movie plans(made over a month ago) were cancelled and we went to see mom and dad and got some pretty "heavy" news - the plan is to now TOTALLY skip dialysis for my dad and do a transplant as soon as is possible - WOW- not knowing about my teaching assignment doesn't seem very important now!

5)We headed to Louisiana for the wedding - which I didn't even get to see ANY of it because Richard didn't have any interest in it so I sat in the foyer entertaining him instead :o(

6)We headed back to MS for me to try to catch the 3:15 flick at Tinseltown only for my friend to call me at 3:10 saying she was there and the Internet was wrong and we couldn't see the movie because it started at 2:35 - ok fine - we head home with a cranky child who has refused to take a nap the WHOLE trip - we decide to drive by ParkPlace Theatre on the way home to check out their movie times - hmmm they have a 4:10 which means we could go and she could still make it to church - I call and tell her - we decide to run home let me get the other car and go back to meet her - I look over - guess who finally decided to fall asleep at 3:34 - no prob - go home take sleeping child to his bed - get in other car - go back to meet her - buy ticket and snacks - it is 3:50 so plenty of time to get settled in you think - NOPE!!!! The theatre is dark and the movie has started and is obviously pretty much underway - what the heck -so we go out to talk to someone - he says we can get free passes or a refund - cannot even begin to tell you how frustrated we were at just trying to see a movie - a LOT of perturbed women were beginning to accumulate in the corridor as they would walk in and then walk straight back out - the manager explains to us that the (his words) kid running the movies must not have been paying attention and he accidentally started our 4:10 movie at 3:40 and has NOT started the theatre next to it - so we saw Baby's Momma instead and hope to go back sometime this week to see Made Of Honor.... I headed home - find Richard STILL asleep - OH NO - it's gonna be a LONG night - go wake him up - realize I can't find my license or debit card - double OH NO - last memory of it is in BR at my in-laws house - go to the car to look for it - find it about 30 minutes later - come inside only to find the tornado debris of blocks, books, and little people scattered all over the house that Tornado Richard has left in his wake - TOTAL FRUSTRATION - deep breath....


....has the week gone as I had so carefully planned or hoped - NO, definitely NOT - but you know what - all that seems sssoooo very HUGE right now will one day seems as if it was barely the blink of an eye - and it is definitely not important - what is important is the way I handled myself - am I pleased????

NOT 100% -
I am so sad that I hurt and angered a friend - in hindsight I think God was working in the situation to provide safety to those involved.

I really do have a peace concerning work: I will be wherever it is that God has a plan for me.

The medical part of daddy's transplant is scary and whether or not mom is a match makes me hold my breath, but it too is in God's hands.

I am glad that I made contact with some old classmates and hopefully was a positive representation of how God can work in someones life through tumultuous twists and turns.

I am glad that I didn't take my frustration out on the totally blameless movie manager.

It is so easy to be filled with emotions that fill us up and overtake us and then we don't filter them as they spill out of us and to those around us - God please help me to be better at "filtering" before "spilling" - YOU are the only on that can direct my path in the BEST direction for me...because you know what lies ahead of me.