Day Two of Swimming Lessons...

You can see Richard's excitement in pic #1 as he eagerly holds his swim vest from Mrs. Kozy - then as you see in pic #2 there is less excitement and more apprehension as he realizes that yes we are back to do this "swim thing" again!! He did make some progress and would kick your feet if he got really mad - he would shout "NO KICK MOMMY" as he aggressively kicked his feet - go figure! When we got home from swim lesson we decided to spend some time in our "wonder land of fun" that we call our back yard - what more could a little boy ask for - slides - a pool - a work table - a club house - you name it! How blessed and fortunate I am to have this "extra" mommy time with him! Time for nap and then off to play with Wes. Here's crossing our fingers for day three of lessons - we will be off tomorrow and go to play with some "Mrs. Beth friends" and then back for more on Thursday.

First Swimming Lesson....

Today, Richard had his first swimming lesson - the place where we are taking lessons is from Ms. Lu - Richard and Wes were so cute sitting there waiting for everything to start: they are so grown up!! Amy took a pic of me and Richard although he wanted none of it - he was ready to play with the fish and throw the swim rings and goggles into the pool. Ms. Lu told us that she was running a bit behind, but to go ahead and get the guys in the pool and put them into rings and help them to get used to the water. She worked from student to student (there are five children in our class) - Richard liked parts of it, but lost interest in doing what he was "supposed" to be doing and wanted to "play" instead. . . Ms. Lu was very patient. For a first time of "structured" swimming it went fairly well and before it seemed possible an hour had already passed. I did manage to get this pic of him in his shades before he realized we were leaving - the last picture says it all - he did NOT want to leave!!! Although, that blows my mind because he cried off and on throughout the lesson as did Wes...today we were learning to close our mouths when going under the water and to "make popcorn" by kick, kick, kicking!! It will be interesting to see how the rest of our lessons turn out - stay tuned!!

P.S. Pleas pray for Ms. Lu - she just found out that she has lung cancer - they are saying that they found it early, but she goes back for more testing on Wednesday.

A Time For Everything...

As most of you know, I am NOT a gardener - NO green thumb - not even a green pinkie!!! I got a wild hair a couple of years ago to pull out all the shrubs from the beds across the front of the house because they didn't match (I know I am OCD) - anyway, I planted beautiful Nandinas and Euonomous (SP) to alternate and be beautiful shades of red and yellow - yeah well - they have all since died - NOW my solution is to keep the beds filled with cedar mulch! There are a few "special" flowers in my bed though - I have some Cannas that I went and retrieved from my grandmother's yard when she passed - I also had some lilies that my mom had given me - I thought that I had dug all of them up and given them to our babysitter - as you can tell from the pictures I took this morning, the canna is absolutely beautiful this morning, the lily is growing and multiplying like crazy, and then there is this "mystery" plant that I found in the front bed growing up from the rocks and mulch - it is probably a weed, but it is beautiful...I couldn't help but be thankful for the signs of life and God's beauty in areas you least expect it (my lifeless flower beds.) Then as I came in to get ready for the day, I read an email that has my heart breaking - one of my co-workers had a precious baby boy last week (Owen) we knew that he was going to have a cleft lip and possibly a few other things to deal with - when he arrived (early - Jennifer was having extremely high blood pressure) he did have a cleft lip, but they also discovered that he had heart problems - he was taken to a different hospital that is more specialized and Jennifer was able to be transferred there later - that is not the end of the story - after more testing, they have found that he has Trisomy 13 - this is a fatal situation unless God miraculously intervenes - most babies do not even survive to be born - please, please, please lift Jennifer, her husband, their older son, Owen, and family members up in prayer as they face the next few days. There is a time for everything - joy, sorrow, laughter, weeping, coming, and going - may we be mindful to look to God for the strength to face each of those times.

***I just received the news that Owen W passed away - please pray for his mom, dad, big brother and other family members.

My Guys...

We had a relatively laid back weekend - Ty and Richard watched the NASCAR race (well sort of as you can see LOL) - for lunch Sunday we went to Mazzio's Pizza and since Richard is in his "race car phase" Ty helped him drive the racing game - and then I just had to include this picture of Richard from this morning - he was upset when daddy left to go to work and so I took him outside to distract him: this is the look I got when he realized there was no water in the pool! Priceless! I am so thankful for my wonderful husband - he is so loving to me and so patient and loving with Richard (even as we have hit the TWOS) ... and I am thankful for Richard even as I am silently crying out "God help me figure out what to do - give me guidance!"

Splish Splash - O What FUN!!!

Richard's friend Emma invited us to come over to play - it was perfect timing - I had just gone outside to get Richard's pool ready and Cindy texted to see if we wanted to come and swim at her house - MOST DEFINITELY - backyard fun is always better when shared with a friend! Thank you Cindy and Emma. Richard was not sure what to think about the sprinkler at first, but quickly found it to be a lot of fun. For some reason Emma was fascinated with Richard's pool shoes and so the two of them shared (without mommy suggestion) and each wore one shoe - it was the funniest site! Mrs. Cindy gave the kiddos some animal crackers to snack on while they cooled off and had water as well. As you will notice, there are NO pics of me OR Cindy - we mommies have a pact you know - I won't take a pic of you if you won't take one of me ....although Mrs. Cindy made the cutest pregnant mommy in her two piece - narry a sign of baby to be on that flat tummy!! :o) Richard and Emma had so much fun going back and forth between her swing play set and the pool! Richard was cranky after about an hour and a half (I think due to lack of sleep the night before) so after repeated warnings of the behavior that was expected of him, sadly we had to leave. (Mommy also had to go to the grocery store) It nearly broke my heart as he cried out over and over for Emma. . . but this is one of those hard times where it is hard for both of us - I must set and stick to the limit and he has to learn about consequences...isn't that how it is with us: we sometimes push and push and then when God allows us to feel/experience the consequences we cry and cry and say not fair?!?!? Richard is such a reflection of myself that I am constantly learning from- who ever said being the parent was easier than being the child?!?! We had a FANTASTIC time though and look forward to Emma coming over to our house and maybe Wes and Manze can join in for some splish splashin' fun as well!! See y'all soon!!!

Two Generations of Friendship. . .

Last night we met some life-long friends at Gattis Town. I went to junior high with the two moms, Lisa and Laurie...when I married Ty I discovered that the "parents" were close friends before any of the kiddos were born, so in fact Ty and his brother Shane had known Lisa, Laurie, and Lindsay even longer than I had...small world!!! Laurie's children attend school where I am a teacher. Lisa and her family live in Alabama. After a phone call and "combining of calendars" we found a time for all of us to get together - what fun....a different kind of fun...but fun. No longer is there time to just sit and visit: when you have SIX children with the youngest being two you find yourself grabbing snippets of a conversation here and there. We enjoyed our time together and look forward to seeing y'all again before you head back to Alabama!!!

A Great Way to End the Weekend...

Sunday afternoon while Richard was taking his nap (finally) his daddy and I worked together on our latest project - a little kiddie pool for him - yes I know that we live (LITERALLY) right next door to the neighborhood pool, but sometimes it is really crowded, or there are a lot of "big kids" there, or I can't have family time for having to be "Mrs. Sullivan" and watch my "other" kids do their tricks - not good if you need to keep BOTH eyes on your two year old....so we inflated it and just for added fun we had his slide go into the pool. When he woke up I changed him into his swimming attire and lathered him in 50 sunblock and outside we went (only for him to request his sunglasses) - I never seem to have enough hands! I thought it was hilarious that he picked out his Spider man swim trunks and refused to take off his Superman shirt to start with! We had such a great time playing with him. He loved using his toys from Mrs. Beth to help empty the water out of the pool - I think there was more "watering the grass" than actual swimming but that is OK - he had fun and that was the point. After we watched him we were so hot that we decided to head in and change into our swimsuits and we all headed over to the "big" pool. We finished off the evening by grilling out. How blessed we are - thank you God for that refreshing "family" time before Ty had to head back into the work week and help me to be a good steward of my time off and accomplish things to improve our home and nurture our son.

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.