Love Thursday

I love it when out of nowhere he'll look at me and give me this sign...

Gone fishin'

I tell you what, we really did have a great weekend, another fun thing we did was to go fishing with Aunt Katherine. We didn't catch anything but to quote my eloquent sister..."that's why it's called fishin'and not catchin'..."

Hey Mister...

My sisters taught my kids that the best way to get beads thrown to you from the Mardi Gras floats was to yell "Hey Mister, throw me some beads..." I wish you could have heard my babies yelling that all weekend! Lou, actually sat up Sunday a.m., still asleep and said "Hey Mister..."

My sister has a great loft in her house & Amy-Lee insisted on having a party, which meant he, Lou, and my Mom & Dad stood upstairs and threw the rest of us beads when we yelled "Hey Mister..."

Mardi Gras!

We thought it would be a great idea to take the kids to Mobile for some Mardi Gras parades. Afterall Mardi Gras began in Mobile! We had so much fun! I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we had! We were able to hit up 3 parades in 2 days! Nevermind that it was cold and rainy, we had a blast! You can never have enough beads, stuffed animals, and moon pies, and damnit I'm fighting the kid next to me to get mine!

Amy-Lee & Lou decorated their masks last week, I think they did an awesome job!

Congratulations!

This weekend we travelled to Mobile & Dauphin Island to visit with my dad who was home from Iraq & to attend the Mardi Gras parades...what we didn't expect was another celebration... My sister's engagement! That's right. . . Ben asked Jamie to be his bride. . . how exciting! The really amazing part is even after spending the weekend with my crazy, and I mean crazy, family he STILL wants to marry her...he must be crazy!

Here they are the Happy Couple!

This is my favorite part of this story...Ben actually asked Jamie to marry him TWO years ago. . .unbeknownst to her. . . Fastforward to Friday when Ben actually had a ring and officially asked Jamie to marry him. Here's how it went down. . . .

He gave her this card, a Valentines Day card that he had originally given to her TWO years ago. . . a card with a secret message. . . the first letter from each sentence spelled out "Jamie will you marry me?" On Friday he just went through and highlighted the letters to make it easier for her to decipher...how romantic & cool is that?

Four

Here's my four year old boy... I've figured out a way to take a picture of him...ask him to pose...

This is the look I get when I ask to take his picture.

Mean!

Surprised!

I love this one...Tired!

Sporty Cat

Here's Peppa lounging in all of Amy-Lee's new baseball equipment! Thanks Westmorelands for the great gift!

This old house...

I loved the way our pretty little house looked as I made my way home from our sledding adventures!

Alrighty...I promise this will be the last picture from our "snowstorm." But come on, ya got to give me a little break seeing as how the last time it snowed was about 6 years ago! I mean if I have to wait that long until the next snow Amy-Lee will be *gasp* 10 and Lou will be *gasp* 8!!!

Snow Ruminations

You knew this was coming right? The Southern version of a SnowPerson.

Here are a few things we learned about raising children in Georgia (the state, not the country)...

*although the idea of snow is a novel one...the reality is...it's cold and babies born & raised in the South have a low tolerance for the cold...

*babies born & raised in the South appreciate a good snowman...on TV...

*Snowmen (or women for that matter) look better when made from snow versus snow-mud-grass...

*sledding down a hill is much more fun with at least an inch of snow...not the above mentioned "snow-mud-grass..."

*and last but not least...children born & raised in the South DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT enjoy the cold, icey snow...or at least I should say our children do not!

**In full disclosure...I photoshopped the heck out of this snowperson.

The BIG Day!

Shew...whatta party! We've milked this day for all it was worth...here's the recap...

1st it started with the best birthday present EVER!! His 1st snow! We were so freakin' giddy about this we could barely contain ourselves.

Making his birthday wish...

Proof that he enjoyed my work of art!

We had more fun with a few cans of Spiderman Web (aka Silly String)

Remnants of our fun...

Spidey...

I am so proud of this damn cake that it's getting it's own post.

Birthday Countdown...

What a good day at Montessori!
Amy-Lee celebrated his 4th birthday with his classmates today! The teachers have a nice ritual for the birthday boy or girl that involves the child "revolving" around the Sun (aka candle) as many rotations as they are old... The children are also asked to share pictures to show how much they have changed in past few years (we didn't have a problem coming up with that request...) Amy-Lee was so sweet, he insisted his sister participate in the entire celebration, he was very concientious about including her in everything.

Afterwards the kids all ate popsciles and listened to a story.

And then he got to be the all important "line-leader"...what a good day!

God I love that little boy...

Unbelieveable!

I cannot believe that my baby will be four years old in a couple of days! FOUR YEARS OLD! When did that happen? I'm not prepared to be the mother of a four year old...

Sleeping babies...

Doesn't she look precious? perfect? obedient? angelic? Not at all like a little girl who drew on her brother's new drum set, tore pages out of a bible, and bit her little friend...all before noon...



*On another note...you must, must read this blog by my dearest friend, Emily...she & her beautiful family live in Bangladesh (say it with me folks, BAHNG-la-desh, not BANG-la-desh...one more time...BAHNG-la-desh) and she updates her friends & family via this blog. This particular entry is hilarious...maybe it's hilarious to me because I know them so well and was actually one of their travelling partners in the past, but I still think it's worth a read! ***warning***it is a long post.

Imi pare rau...

Birds

It was a beautiful, yet non-eventful day for the Lingenfelters! A ball was thrown, scooter ridden, sand sifted, groceries bought, burritos eaten, rugs vacuumed, friends visited, and a humongous flock of birds flew over our heads...sans poop! What did you do on your sunny Saturday?

Thoughts

Tonight, Amy Lee hit me with a question that I didn't know how to answer or honestly didn't want to have to think about... "Mom, how do our bodies get out of the grave after they bury you?"

A couple of things...where does he come up with these thoughts and more importantly, it kills me to think about how frightening that idea must be to him. . .buried in a hole & you can't get out of it... What would you have told him?

They're here...

I know in a few, short, loud day's we'll rule the day we thought this was a good idea, but in the meantime we'll just relish in our boy's delight!

Under the Influence...

Like her brother before her, Lou has discovered the intoxicating thrill of the spin...at least it's legal...

conflicted...

Is how I feel when I see this picture...my boy is so happy with his bow & arrow...

My Girl

Mini-Me

Wanna know what I look like when I work on the computer? Here ya go...I nearly gasped when I saw her...too real! She really looks like she knows what she's doing, very engaged in whatever she's doing...or thinking to herself..." just act like she isn't there & she'll go away..."

Sweetest Thing

We brought our two dogs inside tonight because it's suppose to be too cold for them to stay outside. Well, Amy-Lee decided he wanted to sleep with them and set up this camp. I honestly didn't think he'd fall asleep in our kitchen next to two of the foulest smelling creatures, but he did and he's there now as I type, sound asleep. Trust me, it's killing me to let him sleep in there on the floor, but what's a mama to do?

Happy New Years!

That's right, there's no picture from New Years Day, why? Because I was throwing my guts up all day long! Before you rush to judgement, it was a bug...I swear a bug...What a way to celebrate the 1st day of a new year, it's not a bad omen is it?

I will show you a picture of me & my sweet husband on our way out last night, taken by our sweet babysitter, Meghan!