A crazy day, not-so-nice welcome home!

We arrived home from our FL trip around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, had to go back out to run some errands and got home around 6 for dinner and an early bedtime. Around 10:30 (around the time I fell into bed), our power went out due to an ice storm. We snuggled down assuming that it would come back on shortly. Tom and I awoke around 2am to hear a child screaming. We both were so tired and had a hard time figuring out what was going on. We had slept in 4 different places over the last 2 weeks and the first thing out of Tom's mouth was "Where are we?" I had just realized that we WERE at home, and that sound was OUR child. Tom got up first and thankfully had a flashlight to grab since the power was still out. I rummaged around trying to find some clothes in the dark and I hear from Will's room a tirade of questions as Tom tries to figure out what happened... then I hear "Where did you land?" "There's antlers there!" then "Oh, oh... Amber!!!" As you can imagine, my heart was pounding and my mind was racing... I couldn't imagine what might have happened and was whispering prayers as I still sorted through things in the dark. Then Heather comes in and says her tummy hurts. Then Tom brings Will in and shines the light on a big gash in the side of his foot and said that he fell and LANDED on an antler that was on the floor (!). I managed to run enough water to clean up the blood and try to get a look at it, then got it covered and moved him back to bed. Somewhere in the midst of this Rose came in saying that her tummy hurt too. We gave the girls both bowls and I think Tom snuck them some antacids - thankfully they were fine, no throw-ups which would have pushed me over the edge I think. :-) After working a bit on cleaning the carpet in his room, I gave up and checked on the girls and then headed back to bed. We three slept fitfully through the night and woke up to still no power, so we all packed up and took what little food we had in our fridge up to the shop where, thankfully, there WAS electricity and a hot plate for b'fast. After a busy day including sorting a food co-op delivery, delivering the foods, having lunch with a friend, picking up our dog Molly from another friend and getting home just in time for dinner... we are all pretty spent. I cleaned up the (still) beloved antlers and placed them safely up high, Tom moved Will's mattress off the loft bed and onto the floor, we soaked Will's foot and re-bandadged it and now children are settled into bed. I am feeling a bit better from my head cold/chest congestion but now have a headache because I didn't have my cup of coffee today!!! Going to brew one now and climb into bed myself. Whew... welcome home...

For more info on Will's injury (and some pics) click here.

Visit with G'ma and G'dad

We stayed at G'ma and G'dads the afternoon/night before we left for home. We need to figure out a way to get more time with them next visit. While there the kids rode around on scooters around the neighborhood (daddy and G'ma rode bikes), played marbles and Lincoln Logs, had yummy pecan pancakes for dinner, and did Karaoke on G'dads computer - very cool! We are glad we got that time with them.

Our time at Bryan & Cindy's

We spent 2 nights at Bryan & Cindy's (which I think we all decided was not enough). Friday Tom did some plumbing work and we all played and had dinner together. Saturday morning we attended Gavin's soccer game, made a dumpster dive for coupons and then went shopping at Publix (great fun!). Saturday eve Dave & Kerry came over for a wiener roast and s'mores. Aunt Kerry made some tiered skirts for all the girls which they kindly posed in. There was a lovely sunset. We all went to church together Sunday morning and then had to say goodbye.

Field Trip Day in FL

We went on a homeschool field trip on Thursday. All 12 children and 6 adults! It was an 1800's Re-enactment Fair. There was lots and lots to see and do. Here is a big slideshow to show you!!!



After the Re-enactment Fair we went to some friends of Bryan and Cindy and got to pick our own oranges, tangerines, and grapefruit! It was so much fun. They have lovely home full of children and a beautiful yard. The kids played on a swing, jumped on a trampoline, rode on a zip line AND picked baskets of fruit.

Visit to the Manatees!

On Tuesday, Kerry, Cindy and I took the kids to see the Manatees at a Tampa Power plant where they have a viewing area and small museum. This is free of charge and was enjoyable. It was actually cold that day - which is a perfect time to see the Manatee as it brings them in to the warm water around the power plant. Dave works at TECO and was able to log in to see a live cam of us on the viewin platform and we were able to wave at him - that was pretty cool!

Beach Day!

Today, we enjoyed a beautiful day at the beach and then dinner and visiting with some wonderful friends.

Visit with Dave & Kerry

We spent the first part of our vacation with Dave and Kerry at their house. We enjoyed our time there. The kids love riding bikes and scooters in their cul-de-sac, there was also board games with Uncle Dave, story times with Aunt Kerry, running in the sprinkler and catching frogs. Sammy took quite a liking to Uncle Tom, he cracked us up by saying "hi guy!" whenever Tom walked in.

Tom worked the first 3 days we were there to provide for our trip, which was wonderful but we missed him. In the evenings the adults enjoyed a movie, chatting time, a Rook game, but mostly falling asleep wanting to do more, LOL! We got up early several mornings so didn't have very many late nights.

Sullivan Christmas Slideshow

Pictures from the Sullivan gathering. We all exchanged our gifts on Jan 17th, very patient people! :-) It was such fun to have everyone together again.

Car Trip

Pics of our 14 hour drive to FL. We had a very smooth drive and enjoyed the trip. The kids did great. I got some bags of Jelly Belly jelly beans and they had a great time figuring out the flavors. Rose even made a list of the color and flavor descriptions while Heather and Will ate theirs so that when she ate hers she would know what they were. Pretty funny! When we got to SC they were thrilled to see palm trees... Will looked up and said "Where's the coconuts?" :D LOL It was 7 degrees when we left home, we really enjoyed watching the temperature rise as we got farther south. It has been very pleasant here.

Vacation!!!

We are getting ready for a vacation. We are very excited. We will be visiting Tom's family, some of whom we have not seen in 2 years, one we have never yet met!

We have animal care and housesitting lined up, children have started packing, I have all my lists made - just have to put them in action now. :-)

Tom is going with us, which is very exciting. We all really need this time away. Hooray! Please pray that all goes well with the business here, that we have safety in travel, that the van operates well, that gas prices don't climb much more, and that we have a good relaxing time. We leave on Friday and will be gone about a week and a half. Thank you!

Recent posts

Wanted to let everyone know that I haven't posted here in a bit - but have made updates to the health page, the homeschool page, and the kid's pages! :-)