The mascot for the kid's elementary is the Huskey. Each week a kid in Cam's kindergarten class brings him home for the weekend. They are supposed to take him with them everywhere they go and then they journal everywhere he went. Cam went above and beyond making him a new home and a new rocket ship.
Holidays 2015
The way Christmas fell this year was odd. With it on a Friday the kids had 6 days off school before the big day. On paper that sounds like a great relaxing time. The reality was our procrastination struck and the week was full of errand running and last minute buying. <sigh>
We left for our south Arkansas tour on Christmas afternoon. A big mistake. "Here kids enjoy all the wonderful things you just got for Christmas........now pack them up and lets go on a 5 hour car ride." We should've foreseen that. We could've prepared before Christmas, but again our procrastination runs deep.
Campbell's Christmas was Monster High overload. She loves her iPad too but I think her little Vtech smartwatch was the biggest hit over the holidays. I think her favorite part of the holiday was having so many girls to play with. Our neighborhood is boy heavy and with her cousins in Texarkana and in ElDorado being predominately female, the tables were turned. She spent the night in the same house as us once the entire trip.
Everything Noah got paled next to his PS4. It took him all of 3 days to become better at FPS games than me and I'm no Halo slouch. I don't really mind him being better than me but he's become pretty adept at trash talking. His teachers are going to be in for a shock when he shows up to school with a controller in his mouth. There aren't many boys down south but he really liked being the big kid and teaching JI everything he knew from Skylanders to Minecraft. He also likes being the agitator for the girls. In fact I'll say he relishes the role much to his mother's dismay. Boys-what are you gonna do?
As always it was nice to see everyone let the kids be with all their extended family at once. We were only gone a week but it's an exhausting week. Totally worth it.
Cam's First Watchdog Dad Day
I'm so fortunate to see the kids at school so often, but being a Watchdog Dad takes the excitement to a whole new level.
Happy Thanksgiving 2015
Hope your day is great...and warm.
Halloween 2015
Guess I forgot to post this a few weeks back. This year's Halloween was a glimpse of the future. Noah and his buddy Jackson decided they didn't want to Trick or Treat very far. They wanted to come back home to hide and scare kids coming to the front door. So we did the 'hood and crossed over to Thornbury where there is a house that is half haunted house. We'd be back before you could blink. Until...
About the 5th house they ran into 3 girls from school. Immediately both boys' IQ dropped 40 points each and the decibel level of the girls' giggling raised about the same proportion. I asked if they were ready to go back to the house and scare kids and the lights just weren't on upstairs anymore. 2 miles and 40 houses later we arrived at the girls' final destination. The boys gave ALL their candy to them and sauntered on home. Can't imagine what it's going to be like in a few years when they like girls.
Meanwhile Cam, ran into her best friend while we were still in our hood. Jenna went with her and we maintained visual contact for a bit but eventually they went to a party while I kept hoofin it. We reunited at bedtime. Good times.
Photo by Amber Lanning
Fall 2015
We aren't in full orange and red yet but fall is definitely in the air. This year at the corn maze/pumpkin patch the kids and I splurged and went for a helicopter ride. It was amazing. Watching the video now, all I can think is how much better it's going to be in a couple of weeks when the colors of the trees explode.
Wonder Cam
Better follow the rules.
Pretty Solid Weekend
A 3-day weekend is nice but we don't always take advantage of it. This weekend we nailed it.
Best Stage Ever
Campbell is in that stage where she just LOVES everybody. She gives out hugs like the sun gives off light. She can't walk near you without holding your hand. She can't sit in the room without being either in your lap or right next to you. I love it.
On the flip side, Jenna gets tired of having a shadow and constant commentary 😀. More than once the past week I've left the house with Cam chatting to her about something, for me to return and I'm not sure Cam inhaled the entire time I was gone.
It's not just the loving she gives. She's quick to compliment and even quicker to tell you she loves you. She's a star at school too. Every time I'm in her building for work I have someone come up and say how much "I love your little girl!"
Just makes a proud dad. If I can figure out how to make it last I will let you know. Of course there will be a nominal fee...on second thought it probably wouldn't be that nominal.
If It's Not Written Down It Didn't Happen OR 10 Years of Blogging
It’s hard to remember the world ten years ago. It was way back when you paid for long distance and you paid by the minute for your mobile phone. It was before apps. It was before texting was easy. Facebook may have been invented but it was far from a thing.
When Jenna became pregnant with Noah, we had zero family living close by. Every time something new happened, we’d have to share it multiple times with each family member. Whoever we spoke to last got the short end of the stick. So I had a brilliant idea. Let’s start a website. A blog. It’s this new cool thing people are doing. We can post news and everyone can go to their computer and see what happened! As always Jenna was skeptical about anything I’m excited about, but she went ahead and gave me her blessings.
On September 1, 2005, I made the first post. Today, I make my 863rd post. I had to manually add them up because I didn’t think the statistics page was correct. 863! It has grown just like our little family over the past ten years. It went from a way to keep grandparents up to date on doctors appointments to a true history of our family.
It has become a historical document to us in a way I can’t explain. It has been there for two births, hundreds of small victories, a couple of huge victories, and a few moments that threatened to crush us. It has also seen it’s fair share of deaths and chronicled the pain that goes along with life. Without knowing it or even trying, I created a written account of our adventure.
I am thankful for everyone who has ever visited. I am thankful for a life where I get to wake up the two greatest children in the world each morning, watch them stretch, and hear “Good morning Dad.” Mostly I am thankful for my beautiful wife. She is and always will be the star of my story.
Campbell the Kindergartener
Pride bursting in smile,
Ready for her next chapter
Our sweet baby soars.
The kids' first concert
My first concert was the Gap Band with Midnight Star opening for them. I don't remember the year but I've never forgotten the concert. My big sister let me tag along with her and her friends. No one ever forgets their first concert. Noah and Cam got to go to really cool laid back one. Amos Lee and David Gray had an outside concert that was perfect. It was all lawn seating. The view was great. The music was perfect. We love Amos Lee. The kid's have grown up listening to his music and Noah could sing along to about a third of the songs. David Gray was a mystery to me. I haven't really listened to him since his first album but his show was awesome. He was a great performer. Hopefully it made an impression with the kids. I'm glad Amanda and Sue got to share it with them. Come to think of it, I'm glad their parents got to share it with them too.
The Swoosh
Last time we were in Portland, I got a tour of Nike's campus from Amanda. This time the kids were bigger so we all decided to take a peek. Coming from 2 people who work in school districts, it seemed like a foreign country. We were there during lunch time and the amount of people working out was astonishing. The culture of health was unlike anything we experience. If you workout you get an additional 30 minutes of lunch. I don't know logistically how every company can emulate that but what a service for your employees. Everything from the tennis courts, to the gyms, to the pool, to the soccer field was being used. Jenna loved seeing the soccer field where one of her Nike Training Club app's trainer's had a bullhorn and was putting about 200 employees through a crazy workout.
The kids enjoyed it in different ways. Campbell just thought it was a town with cool art. Noah just looked at the banners of all the athletes. They got to run a lap on the track and see museum worthy things they won't appreciate until they are older. This trip to Portland really opened Noah's eyes to a lot of sports. Lacrosse seems to be his new "favorite" sport. My personal favorite moment was seeing a group of engineers (or whatever they are) putting a group through workouts as they tested Sparx gear.
Thanks to Sue for taking us there on her day off, even though people kept trying to stop her and engage her in work :)
Oregon 2015
What an amazing trip. We crammed in as much of the Pacific Northwest as we could but still left feeling like we missed a lot. I'll document the different adventures we had one by one. The trip started on a high note with Campbell flying for the first time that she can remember. The look on her face as we took off was awesome. Then we landed at Amanda and Sue's resort. It needs a name like Shangri La or something. Then we hit the coast, we hit the woods, we hit Nike, we hit the waterfalls, we went to the kid's first concert, we brewed beer with an airshow flying overhead, and mostly we recharged our batteries. Our hosts were amazing and for the second time in as many trips, Jenna was checking job openings in case we decided to stay :)
Dubsmash giggling
Dubsmash is funny. I've seen some well done ones and some not so much but most of the time you'll get a grin from me. The kids saw their first ones this weekend from their cousin Jana and I'm not sure I've heard giggling like that...ever.
Cam's preschool graduation
She was pretty excited. The day was a logistics nightmare with (mandatory) dress rehearsal for her ballet scheduled 30 minutes before! With a little elbow grease and changing in the car we made it on time. Very proud of her cooperation. We'll miss all the classmates that are going to different schools but a new adventure awaits our little girl. We've had a kid at Children's World for 6 straight years. Jenna and I are so thankful for the teachers and staff there. Not sure what we'll do without Mr. Robert in our daily life.
Growing pains
Not from the kids but from their parents who wonder where their babies went.
Oliver + Bee =
We actually don't know what bit/stung him but a quick trip to the emergency vet fixed it. Why does this never happen during our vet's hours?
A Little Non-holiday Surprise
It's always nice to have visitors. Last week we were lucky to have Amanda visit from Oregon. We see her every Christmas generally but we were able to score a visit in April. Noah had a fundraiser for Odysey of the Kind and south Arkansas came through in a big way. For delivery Magga and Amanda came up for one quick night.
Can't Wait for April
Usually April is a tough month on the Sullivan's. Work paperwork piles up on both of us and it ends with the Race for the Cure so it is a lot of time I'm away from home.
This year we will make an exception though. Cam cracked her head open and got 4 staples in her first visit ever to the ER. Noah had a mystery ailment that sent us from missed school, to the doctors office, to parents trying to stay calm when the scary words like thyroid disease, liver failure, and leukemia are put on the table, to an eventual joyous diagnosis of mono after having 3 vials of blood taken from his arm. Then back to the ER to remove staples on the girl. An enlarged spleen and restricted activities for the boy. Now Jenna is home with Campbell who proceeded to redecorate our bathroom floor at 2:30AM with her partially digested dinner. Jenna realized today between the kids various ailments and a smattering of snow days she has not worked 4 Wednesdays in a row. Last year I took 2 sick days the entire year to take care of kids. This year I've used 6.
Ugh.
