Sorry so late, but here are last week's results:
Jeff lost 1 pound last week- TOTAL: 14 pounds.
I lost 2 pounds last week- TOTAL: 11 pounds.
Jeff is totally blowing past me this week though. Stay tuned for this week's update later.
Here are some pics of Aaron and Caleb in action yesterday while Jonathan was at school. We have been trying to work on getting only one toy out at a time and putting it away before playing with a new toy. They practiced yesterday and these were the toys they chose. Aaron loves kicking his soccer ball around the house, and Caleb is Eskimo sugaring Blue as they dance and sing. He thinks it's funny to watch Blue move all around.
And, here's a goofy picture of Caleb, who, despite many punishments 
for misusing markers, decided to put "make-up" on his lips! Aaron also decided to join in the fun; however, he was smart enough to wash it off (mostly) before getting caught, so I didn't catch a picture of him with blue lips!
Jeff lost 3 more pounds this week, bringing him to 13 total pounds lost! I'm a little frustrated because I didn't lose any more weight this week; but I didn't gain any either. We are still sticking with exercising and eating healthy foods everyday. I'm not sure what's keeping me from losing more, but I'm not quitting. It's really become a natural part of our lives and we're loving it!
Stay tuned to hopefully hear of more weight loss (the both of us) next week!!!
Last night, we spent the evening at Jonathan's school where the First Graders presented a Valentine's program. They entertained us with some beautiful music to explain exactly what First Graders love. Some of these things are animals ("Old MacDonald"), school (their school song, "Sullivan's Kids"), our country ("This Land Is Your Land"), teeth ("Loose Tooth"), and mail ("Mail Myself to You"). One of their favorite things is to sing, and they really sang their little hearts out for their audience of parents and loved ones. This was Jonathan's first school program and it was a huge success!
How we wish everyone could have been here to watch his program, but we did happen to catch a small sample on video and, of course, a few pictures of the performance. As you're watching the video, notice how excited Jonathan looks as he's singing "Old MacDonald"; and, by the way, the girl with the pigtails you see singing her heart out and rocking back and forth, is his girlfriend, Sara.
Jonathan gave us quite a scare yesterday after school. We came through the door with armloads of groceries and dropped them in the kitchen. After giving all the boys their Valentines, Jeff and I began stocking the shelves in the kitchen. It wasn't 3 minutes when Jonathan ran into the kitchen screaming "Mama, I'm bleeding!" and sure enough he was. Blood was pouring out of his hand, and I had to let Jeff take care of this one.
Here's what happened:
One of his Valentines was a little difficult to unwrap, so he decided he would slide our sharp scissors under the wrapper, despite our many previous warnings about the danger of scissors. The scissors slipped and jabbed Jonathan right in the base of his thumb. From examining the scissors and the amount of blood on them, we suspect they went in about 1/4 of an inch. His wound was pretty deep and took forever to stop bleeding. He wasn't able to bend his thumb, so we decided it would be best to let a doctor take a look.
Off to the ER we went. I think Jonathan was more nervous than he was hurting. He was so scared to go to the hospital. The doctor cleaned the wound, x-rayed his thumb, and saw no damage to any bones or tendons. After spending all of Valentine's night there (4 hours), we came out with his bo-bo glued shut, a splint over his thumb, and orders to keep it straight and dry for 3 days.
We awoke this morning to Jonathan's voice ringing out "Happy Valentine's Day!" As he commenced to say "I love you" to everyone, I couldn't help to think that this is what love is all about. I am so grateful God ultimately showed His love through the sacrifice of His Son; but He didn't stop there. He still demonstrates His great love to me everyday through the love of my sons, and many more instances in life. How thankful I am to have such an awesome Lord and a family who loves Him so much.
Jonathan brought home a writing assignment in which he was asked to write about what love is. Of all the answers he could have used, he thought about his brothers, his best friends, his buddies for all time. This spawned an idea. I polled the three (of the four) loves of my life this morning about what love is and these are the results:
LOVE IS:
Jonathan: When my brothers share their stuff with me.
Aaron: When Mama Nance gave me that Art Kit.
Caleb: God.
As we go through the day, let's try to remember the greatest Love of all time and show that love to others. We hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day! We love you!
We were buzzing all around OS (Olive Branch/Southaven) this past Saturday with activities galore. We got an early start at the gym, then swam for about an hour. The pictures below show Jonathan jumping around playing the Trazer in Kids' Club, Caleb and Aaron watching a movie in the nursery, and everyone splishin' and splashin' in the pool.
We headed straight to the soccer field after swimming for Jonathan's first practice of the season. It was cold outside, but it didn't take long for Jonathan to warm up and shed his sweatshirt. Jeff helped the coach with practice and got a good workout too!
After getting everyone cleaned up, we took the boys across the river to Marion, AR, to spend the night with Mrs. Deby. She was so gracious to give Jeff & me movie tickets and a night of babysitting for Christmas, so we finally redeemed our gift. The boys absolutely love spending time with Mrs. Deby and were excited about the opportunity to sleep over. While there, she kept them busy with tons of fun! They played with Legos, watched a movie, made their own pizzas, and baked and decorated cookies.
Thanks Mrs. Deby for lovin' us so much! We all enjoyed the night!
Jeff and I are dropping the weight! Our healthy diet and exercise plan are really paying off. As of today, Jeff has lost 10 pounds, I've lost 8, and we feel better than ever. This week really kicked our tails as we each worked out with our trainers. Now that we have a better workout regiment, we may see faster results, although I am extremely excited about how far we've come along.
Last Saturday morning, instead of sitting on the couch watching cartoons, we got out and hit the gym. Caleb and Aaron played with the nursery kids; Jonathan ran around the indoor track and played kickball in Kids' Club; and Jeff and I got a good 1 hour workout followed by a brisk 1 mile walk. Afterwards, we cooled off with a long swim in the indoor pool. We are elated to have something new to do and look forward to this every Saturday. The boys have a blast too. We'll try to remember to take the camera along tomorrow for some fun winter swimming pics, so stay on the lookout for them.
I am awestruck at how different God made our little boys. Let me just brag on our middle son a bit. He's not the extrovert like Caleb, nor the attention hog like Jonathan. They all have their talents, but Aaron's the most creative of our boys. I love to just watch him do his thing. I hear them playing, and he always uses his imagination to make up where they are going or who they are playing with. A few days ago, he climbed inside our DVD cabinet, closed it, and sat inside for a little while. When he got out, he was at "work". He informed me that he was riding the "train" (the cabinet) to "work".
For Christmas, Aaron received lots of art stuff and an easel. He has created a book in which he keeps his artwork. I believe he's quite the artist at only 4 1/2 years old. It keeps him busy.
It took Jonathan 2 hours to go to sleep last night. He was too busy watching the snow out of his window and praying there would be a snow blanket on the ground this morning. Well, he woke us up early this morning exclaiming, "Snow is on the ground! Can we go play?" About 3 layers of clothes and 15 minutes later, we were all outside throwing snowballs and making snow angels. Caleb and Aaron could have played outside all day long, but Jonathan tired of it quickly. He wasn't too keen on the cold, and decided to spend his time curled up on the couch while the others kept covering Jeff and me with snow. Caleb realized he loved the taste of it too, and we'd catch him every now and then eating a handful! We were sure to give precise instructions regarding yellow snow.
We captured these snowy moments on camera. Enjoy the pictures.
