Forever Friends are the Best Kind of Friends!

Jill was a wonderful blessing that I inherited when Ty and I married. He and Jill worked at the Disney Store many years ago and have a special friendship that runs deep - I feel blessed to also be able to count Jill as MY friend as well! Jill came over from Birmingham for the weekend and we had a great time - rain or no rain! I had a great time shopping with her and eating at Mellow Mushroom. She brought Richard's Build-A-Bear "Sid" a grilling set since we planned to grill out. (Sid is named after Aunt Jill.) Richard had so much fun playing with her.... she went home on Sunday after church while Richard was asleep, and when he woke up from his nap he searched the house over and couldn't find her and he came over and said "Mommy I want to find Aunt Jill!" I had to explain to him that Aunt Jill had to go home, but hopefully we would see her again really soon.

Our Teeth Are Not Rotten!

MeMe offered to let Richard come and "swim" in the jacuzzi since "TS Fay" was causing it to rain and rain and rain! Richard had a great time after we convinced him that he could not jump in like he did at Lu's house and after his one unexpected dip underwater as he walked the ledge and found a "seat" that was much lower than where he had been standing. Thanks for being such a trooper MeMe. Oh, and back to the title - I PROMISE that my child LOVES to brush his teeth (especially with his singing Thomas the Train toothbrush and Wall-E toothpaste) but he is eating goldfish while playing!

Visiting With DD!

Mom and Dad were house sitting for Mrs. Gloria, so Richard and I headed over for a visit. We love to go and play with DD and MeMe...of course the alphabet mat and letter blocks are Richard's all-time favorites, but he also enjoys going down the baby slide, big slide, the motor bike, and mowing the carpet! LOL

Richard's First BIG "BoBo"

I'm not sure who needed the ER more, Richard for his bobo or Ty for almost having a heart attack! One night right after Richard had taken his allergy meds he was heading across the living room (with both hands full) to go and see his daddy - BAM!!! He tripped over a pillow and hit the solid wood coffee table full force because he couldn't catch or brace himself since his hands were full. It immediately made a goose egg - and of course Richard was screaming- I had always heard if it "popped out" it was a "good" thing, but Ty really thought we needed to go to the ER - all I could think was "I would do anything for my child, but I don't want to spend $2000 for them to tell me to go home and keep an eye on him." So we put ice on it, headed to the car and stopped by our friend Laurie's house - I figured she has THREE kids and would know if it was "bad" or not - she thought it was fine, but Ty was still unsure so I suggested we go see Mrs. Beth - she said that it was iffy - she was concerned about his right eye and if it was dilated or not - we wound up coming back home, icing it, and not letting him go to sleep for a few hours, and of course continuing Tylenol. Beth said he had to tell everyone all day long the next day about his bobo "right there" and "hitting the table" - all seems fine now and he has some pics of a really "cool" looking bruise...thank goodness our first "big bobo" has past - I HATE to think about the first time there is blood or broken bones - God give us strength!!!

Poppa's Birthday!

PatPat and Poppa came up and we celebrated Poppa's birthday together with steaks and all the fixings one day and Ichiban the next. Richard LOVED helping Poppa blow all the candles out and we had to do it at least three times! Richard also enjoyed showing Poppa how high he could build his block tower that spins. Richard LOVED the Olympics this year, especially the swimming and the gymnastics - I have NO idea what ad is playing on NBC in the background as he shows off his gymnastic moves, all I can say is "oh my" and this was network television before 8pm!! Anyway, we had a great time- have a wonderful 69th year Poppa!

A time of loss, but also celebration. . .

Ty's grandmother, Mamaw Irma, passed away the week school started. We had known that the time was coming, but were unsure how quickly it would come. Mamaw's health had continually deteriorated in the ten years that Ty and I have been together - the past few have been especially hard on the family as she no longer recognized any of us. Dr. McCool was supportive and I worked a full day Tuesday and then headed down to Baton Rouge when I picked Richard up so that we could go to the wake that night and the funeral the next day. It was soooo hot!! Although this was a time of "loss" it was also I time of celebration as everyone celebrated Mamaw's 90+ life. It was also a time of reconnecting with cousins and for the little ones, the first time that they had ever met. I kept Maddie, Grayson, and Richard during the service so that Greg and Tiffany could participate in the service. Richard did not take long to "warm up" to his new cousins and they had a great time playing "cars" in the kitchen and also reading together at the restaurant. Note that Tiffany also made herself into a "bridge"for Richard and Grayson to roll the cars under! LOL I left Richard with PatPat, Poppa, and Ty so that I could work late and make up for the time I had missed - it was the first time that I had been separated from Richard for more than 24hours - thankfully they came home Saturday = I really appreciated the time that I had to work by myself, but was glad to see my two guys when they came home.

Random Thoughts....

1 - Thank you mom and dad for the GREAT visit this afternoon at the "big house" I am glad y'all were housesitting on this side of town and we were blessed to scoot over and have such a long visit with y'all.

2 - Just for the record: Now that TWO of the five moms at the sitter that our kiddos go to are pregnant, I just thought I'd go on record and say we are NOT pregnant!!! Kozy you already have two, so I think we will let Robin go next in this ongoing trend~ LOL!! ONE child that doesn't sleep well and isn't potty trained is enough for me at the moment - I still have a little time - the deadline Ty gave me was "before he is 40" and he is still just 38!

3 - Happy Birthday Sarah Katherine and love to Abby and Doug and Steph! Today is her birthday and Aunt Michelle got home too late to call and wish her a happy birthday...p.s. Abby, thank you for the little bear you made and sent to Richard - he is holding it tightly as he gets ready for bed! (This is the niece who was having the birthday party last weekend that mom and dad were attending when they got "the call" - no new calls on that subject - still just waiting)

4 - School is DEF back in full swing - we had "drama" just as we entered the cafeteria for lunch - a fifth grader had pulled the fire alarm so out to the parking lot we trekked for the next half hour in the heat of the day - hey at least we know that the alarm works and NO ONE could miss the screech that it produces.

5 - I am thankful for my job - I am so blessed to have my "own" room - first time in EIGHT years - shared five years here in RCSD and three in Clinton I was in a HALL - I am very tired at night, and have some quite "interesting" characters in my classes, but I am really thankful to be where I am and for the year God has in store for me - may I heed His prompting.

6 - I am making beaded lanyards to wear your work ID badge - we have to wear them in order to get in the building - I will try to post some pics soon but just drop me a comment if you are interested.

Can Disapointment and Thankfulness go hand in hand?

The answer is YES! Right now I am filled with emotions ranging from disappointment to thankfulness. You see, my phone rang at 2:12 today it was mom saying that they had received THE CALL! THE CALL, for those of you that don't know my daddy's situation, is the call saying he has three and a half hours to get to the hospital because there is a donor kidney available. One slight issue for mom and dad is that they were in WEST MEMPHIS ARKANSAS - they had gone to my niece's birthday party and to make one last trip for a while. I got myself together and just waited till I knew they would be closer to Jackson, my poor daddy is the one who was calm and collected - poor mom....anyway....I headed down to UMC about 4:10, got my car parked, and waited for them to arrive so that I could park their car as well. Soon they arrived and I did exactly as planned and met them inside the ER, we were hurried through and upstairs to a room where the nurses began getting daddy's stats and laid him down to draw blood, THEN the phone rang AGAIN - it was the nurse from the transplant team saying that the transplant doctors had examined the donated kidney and it was not of donation quality.... :o( So many emotions came flooding in... you see, daddy has only been on the waiting list for seven weeks and one day - that is an unusually short amount of time. We are disappointed that he did not have a transplant today, but thankful that he did not have one if the kidney was not the quality it needed to be. I am also thankful for the unnamed donor who was willing to donate his/her organs...please be in prayer for that family as they are going through this time of loss. Also, please pray that God will continue to be in control and in HIS time bring the perfect match for daddy.

It must be contagious...

I am always giving my friends a hard time if they don't update their blogs every few days - well, it must be contagious because I too am guilty....where on earth did the past two weeks go? I have some really cute pics to upload and journal but for now I will just check in, give an update, and look forward to setting apart some time to REALLY post.

The last few days before school starts are always hectic - true to form they were this year as well, but even more so because we were not allowed in the school building till the last minute because the builders were not finished.

This past Monday morning we received the call from Baton Rouge that we had been expecting - Ty's grandmother had passed away (truly a blessing for she now has a NEW body in Heaven) so that meant Richard and I packed the car and headed to Baton Rouge after I finished work on Tuesday - funeral Wednesday (missed work) then I headed back that night - Richard stayed with his grandparents (note I have only been away from Richard for twenty-four hours ONCE in two and half years) - I worked till 8:30 on Thursday night and 4:30 Friday in order to "catch up." - then I met my friend Catherine at Salsa's and then we headed to her house to make beaded lanyards ($12 if anyone is interested) - they turned out great if I say so myself tee hee hee - Saturday I ran errands and mowed the grass - Ty, Richard, Poppa, and PatPat came in town for supper - I had marinated steaks - YUMMY - Sunday Richard was not feeling very well so Ty took his parents to Pinelake - we met for lunch at Ichiban to celebrate Poppa's birthday - back to the house where EVERYONE took a nap - birthday cake and ice cream to complete the day and then the Sullivan's headed back to Baton Rouge - it was at that point Richard appeared to have fever - yep - LONG night - mom came and kept him this morning so I could go in and finish creating a media presentation for tonight's GRAND OPENING for Highland - came home played with Richard who apparently felt like a brand new child - went to see Dr. Tony - sixty three dollars later we know what we knew before -he needs to be tested for allergies to see what preventative measures we can take to improve his quality of life. Time to call the babysitter and see if she can come down to watch Richard till Ty gets home and then I need to get dressed for Open House and the Grand Opening - I am looking forward to ten o'clock tonight or sooner if possible to crash into bed!!!

That's it folks - no time to upload pics but I will as soon as possible - we enjoyed meeting cousins in Baton Rouge for the first time and look forward to scheduling a trip to Texas for more playtime.

P.S. A HUGE thank you to our music teacher, Jason B, for all of your help with making the movie this morning - I could not have done it without you.

The Fun Must End...Or Does It????

I have to admit that I was impressed by the performance. Richard really enjoyed every bit of it and was mesmerized. He was so sad and pouty when we were in the car ready to head home, but we encouraged him to think about the show and you can see that the "happy thoughts" improved his mood. He was so wound up from the show that he did not fall asleep till almost eleven o'clock. Thankfully he did not wake up through the rest of the trip, filling up with gasoline, picking up Ty's car, or transferring him from the car to his bed. When I went to check on him this morning, his new friends were tucked firmly in his grasp as he lay there sleeping. He carried them around until it was time to leave to go to Mrs. Kozy's house....you can see that they have been properly introduced to Big Bird and Barney! LOL

Okay - I am TRULY exhausted - I went to the school and unpacked a few boxes today - ran a couple of errands - picked Richard up from Kozy's house - took Richard to get his hair cut (ALWAYS exhausting) - came home and absolutely could not fall asleep with Richard no matter how badly I wanted to - met Kozy, Claire, Kate, Amy, and Wes for supper and playtime - came home finished cooking our supper - and then the usual night time routines...again I find myself keyed up and unable to sleep and I am supposed to be at the car dealership in less than six and a half hours - YIKES!!! I hope that "today" works out where I can get a nap before the school/faculty picnic at Becky's house!!!

Great Entertainment...

The show was GREAT!! A HUGE thank you to my brother in law, Shane....he called Ty the day before to tell him that The Wiggles would be in Shreveport on Wednesday - Ty got on line but couldn't find any good tickets - so after more searching he found that they would be in Mobile a day earlier and got us some pretty good seats for less than twenty four hours before the show - we were only a couple of rows off the floor. As you can see Richard acquired some new "friends" from the show.

The Wiggles...

If you are not familiar with the Wiggles, they are a group of four guys from Australia that children seem to LOVE and parents come to LOATHE (if their kiddos watch them obsessively - as was the case with Richard for a VERY long time - we don't loathe them, I just detest falling into bed exhausted and not being able to sleep because songs about fruit salad or hot potatoes are ringing in my head! LOL) Anyway, I digress... Each of the men wears a signature color: Murray: red, Anthony: blue, Jeff: purple, and Sam: yellow. I list Sam last because that character changed recently (the former "yellow" singer Greg retired due to health reasons) and for the longest time Richard would NOT name Sam because he was mad that Greg was no longer on the videos...he seemed to quickly get over his being miffed as they all appeared on stage and he got to see Sam up close and personal!!!

Yes,,,, you guessed it!!!!

Yesterday afternoon after lunch, Richard was getting REALLY sleepy but I wouldn't let him go lay down - we had to load the car - he was being such a grouch - so I asked him if he remembered going to meet Elmo (which he did) - so I asked him if he would like to go and see the Wiggles - he proceeded to get this HUGE grin and began naming each of the characters to ensure that indeed I was referring to THE Wiggles - too funny - he quickly helped me load the car and hopped right on into his car seat. We met Ty and began our journey to Mobile, AL. All went well till we hit H'Burg - there was a HUGE storm cell - nonetheless, Ty safely navigated us through the bad weather and to the Arena in perfect time. Richard patiently perused the program and before we knew - the lights dimmed and the show began...he didn't care too much for the "extra" dancers that opened the show, but was thrilled when the Big Red Car came chugga chugging on to the stage...of course Henry, Dorothy, and Wags were there and the Captain made a GRAND entrance repelling down out of the Wiggles castle.

HMMMM - Where Did We Go.....

Here are a few hints via some pics - BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER ---- couldn't share many of the in between or that would TOTALLY give it away. Let's just say we began pondering our "mini-trip" day before yesterday - made a decision about midnight Monday - went and had a FABULOUS time last night - and less than 24 hours after first hearing about the opportunity we were CRASHED in bed absolutely exhausted and worn out but ssssooooo worth it because of the sheer JOY Richard expressed!!!

More to come - gonna drop Richard at a friend's house and run up to the school to at least feel like I have accomplished something towards getting ready for the new school year (since we have NOT been allowed to work in the rooms yet - YIKES!!!)

P.S. YES, I know that Richard's arm is not in the carseat correctly - I had already begun to get him out and thought about taking a picture - he was in a safely parked car!! NO reporting me to the authorities!!! LOL

Game Two. . .

Baseball for a two year old can be a lot to ask - so there was a lot of "entertaining" going on under the trees in our cheering section. Richard had fun blowing bubbles with PatPat, coloring with his color wonder markers, and eating snow cones. If you look carefully at the picture of Joshua warming up, you will see Ty in the background in his "Joshua jersey" taking pictures as well. A really beautiful dragonfly with blue hues lit on PatPat's hand for the longest time and Richard had the chance to fully inspect it before telling to to go byebye! Joshua is always so sweet to take time for Richard regardless of the difference in their age. Afterwards we went to Middendorfs for supper and spent the rest of the weekend in Baton Rouge.

Cousin Joshua says "Play Ball"

Ty's brother Shane has a son named Joshua who is a FANTASTIC baseball player - he plays catcher, pitcher, and third baseman...his team of ten and eleven year olds made it to the play offs so we headed to Louisiana to watch him play. Ty took off of work early on Friday so that we could see the first game. Poppa and Pat Pat had us shirts printed with Joshua's number and name. Game one was a lot of fun, but really hot and unfortunately a loss. We headed to Baton Rouge and spent the night with Poppa and PatPat.