Noah the 10 year old! Wait---what?

Sigh-I guess it was inevitable. Our sweet, baby boy turned a decade. By an unfortunate quirk of the calendar, Noah's birthday fell on Mother's Day this year. While difficult for his mother to share the day with him, it was fitting since his birth made her a mother. We were scared it wouldn't feel special to him so we decided to make the day before, Noah's celebration day. 

He had a small swim meet that morning so he got some time with his buddies. Then the day became all about him. Jenna got 10 things that were either his favorite of something (i.e. candy) or an expression of a favorite. Then we put hints on strips of paper and put them in 10 balloons. He randomly got to pick a balloon, pop it, read the paper, and then collect the gift. They were all fun. He got Jolly Ranchers (favorite candy), a Camaro road sign (favorite car), a Sonic card (favorite drink), new athletic clothes that were neon green (favorite color), a caricature of him swimming (favorite sport), and on and on. It finished with favorite hobbies, climbing and gaming. For climbing we told him we were going down to Casa Pollo in Fayetteville to hit the walls and for gaming he got his own laptop. The day ending with tacos for his favorite food. It was a such a fun, creative day. Jenna was really on her game for this one. 

The weekend was also full of messages, texts, and Facetimes of Happy Birthday's. He's a lucky boy to be loved by so many. Not as lucky as we are to have him though. I couldn't be more proud of the man he's becoming. 

I can't wait to see where the next 10 years take him.......WAIT! I didn't mean that-please slow time down! I know it won't. He'll be our baby boy forever no matter what the calendar says.

image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg
image.jpg

I Did My Best

With Jenna gone, I've had to fix Campbell's hair the past two days. Yesterday morning she stood in front of her mothers vanity while I brushed it and then popped it into the ONE thing I can do-a ponytail. She turned around and said "No Daddy I'm wearing a braid today." She must have seen the look on my face because she quickly went into the explanation of splitting it into three and mimicking what to do. I'd seen it done so I shrugged and went to work. 

The first attempt had about 3 turnovers (even Google doesn't seem to know what each part of the braid is called) and it was real loose. "You have to do it higher and make sure all 3 are the same size." Her patience was amazing. I nodded and did it again. It wasn't as bad but it also didn't go straight down her head. She looked in the mirror.  

Then she turned around to where I was sitting in Jenna's chair, PUT HER HAND ON MY SHOULDER, and said, "You know I'm kind of in the mood to wear my hair in a ponytail." 

image.jpg

Hogeye 2016

Jenna ran a leg of the relay section of the Hogeye relay a few weekends back. It's always an interesting to spend a weekend around healthy people partaking in a big exercise event.  The buzz surrounding them is contagious. The kids definitely felt it too. They already circled a couple of races they can do in the coming few months. They were very proud of their momma. 

2016 Multi-Cultural Dance

Each year the kids' school has a combined Music/PE curriculum where they learn dances from different cultures. This was Campbell's first year and she got to do the macarena. Oh the memories of seedy bars in Leesville, LA and that song...but I digress. This may have been her favorite thing she's learned all year.  Noah was pretty mum until the day they got to show off what they learned for parents and then even he was excited. 

2016 Cultural Dance

2016 Cultural Dance

Uploaded by Chad Sullivan on 2016-03-17.

Uploaded by Chad Sullivan on 2016-03-17.

Uploaded by Chad Sullivan on 2016-03-17.

Hello Spring-2016

Still not officially here but try telling that to my allergies.  Everything is blooming like crazy. I think our roses will have flowers before April at this rate.  This coming weekend the kids and I are planning our garden.  Mom wants tomatoes. Cam and I want cucumbers. We all want squash. Noah wants...carrots. Not sure about that one. This past weekend was a dream. Sunshine but enough rain earlier in the week knocked most of the allergens out of the air to make outside bearable. On Sunday we went for a family bike ride to downtown Springdale and let the kids play at the park and then we ate tacos at Black Apple Crossing cidery. It was a great afternoon.

Happy 40th Jenna!

If anybody sees this hottie today make sure to wish her a happy birthday. I'm so lucky to be on this journey with you Jenna. I love seeing peoples faces when I tell them you're 40. They never believe me. I already get asked if I'm the kids grandfather, I don't think it'll be long until people ask if you're my daughter. I hope you have a day full of joy.

Boobs win!

The other day I was pretty annoyed I couldn't find my brew shirt on brew day. So I got a bee in my bonnet to take my massive piles of tshirts and refold them into stacks. I quickly realized a couple themes. Beer, breasts, places, concerts, and Razorbacks ruled the pile. So we have left to right, beer shirts-breast cancer/Komen shirts-everything else. And the tally...Boobs win! Be sure to register for this years Ozark Race for the Cure at komenozark.org.

Mad About Plaid-Daddy Daughter 2016

Our church had their first annual Daddy Daughter Night. They kicked it off with a Mad About Plaid theme. I think it's pretty obvious we had fun. 

Uploaded by Chad Sullivan on 2016-02-23.

I have to put a second edit of the video on here too. I kind of liked it but after awhile its disorienting. I showed it to Cam and it was her favorite so I'll let you decide which you prefer.

Uploaded by Chad Sullivan on 2016-02-23.

Basketball 2016

Noah is playing basketball for the first time this year. Swimming has become his current love but basketball is gaining fast. He loves it in a totally different way and he plays with reckless abandon. It's almost like I don't recognize my own kid. He dives after loose balls. He gets over aggressive trying to rip the ball away when he's tied up with another kid. Interested to see where this path goes. 

Goatfest 2015 or Undisclosed Goat Holiday

A few times all five of us from Stabbing Goat have been able to get together and brew in January and we called it Goatfest. Then a few years back we got all the families together in November and we called it Goatsgiving. The kids love Goatsgiving. The key parts are we brew, we sample, we laugh. This year life interfered in a grand way and neither Goatsgiving or Goatfest was on the docket. 

Saturday afternoon the planets started to align and 3 of us plus families convened. It was way too late to brew but we each had plenty to sample. Even the kids' schedules cooperated for the most part. The lone exception was losing a kid to Cotillion but that was after a marathon session of Star Wars Battlefront.  We compensated by adding a kid that was spending the night with Cam. 

So we aren't sure what to call this. 3/5 families made it so it doesn't feel like Goatsgiving. We didn't brew so it didn't feel like Goatfest. Impromptu Goat Hangout doesn't sound right. No matter we were lucky to share the day.  

image.jpg

Super Hero Madness

We FINALLY got to see The Force Awakens. The kids liked it much more than I thought they would, especially Campbell. Her first Star Wars movie so she was incredibly lost, but she was excited the main Jedi is a girl. They equally went crazy over a couple of previews. Captain America Civil War literally got Noah out of his seat. Cam though...she saw this poster and wanted to know why we couldn't see it "right now Daddy!"  Full Disclosure-the mimicking pose was her idea. 

image.jpg