love

What difference a day makes!

My boy tells folks he's coloring for Obama! He's helping to make a change too!

Do you think he knows that after he's asleep I crawl in bed and whisper to him how much I love him? Or will he only remember the harsh words I spoke before he fell asleep?

It's been a crazy busy weekend. Granna visited & helped out alot! More pictures later! Have a great week!

a project

the kids helped me with a special project today! We're working to change the world!

Blogging...

I don't have picture for this blog, and I hesitated even writing about this, but I am... see I'm addicted to blogs - I read a lot of blogs, most of the blogs I read are about parenting, photography, crafts, and shopping on etsy (that's a whole other blog entry...) One of my favorite blogs is NieNie dialogues. It's about a 20 something woman who lives in Arizona, is a Latter Day Saint (Morman to some of you), a vegetarian, awfully crafty, has four children and is deliciously in love with her husband. You can imagine my shock when I read her blog the other night & found out that she & her husband had been in a private plane crash. A fellow who was on board with them perished and Stephanie (NieNie) and her husband, Christian were seriously hurt and burned. Now remember, I don't know these folks from Adam, they could bite me in the ass & I wouldn't recognize them, but because I read her blog every day, see pictures of her beautiful children every day, watch ad nauseam as she sends her husband love letters via cyberspace, I feel this profound loss and sadness for NieNie & her family. It's heartbreaking.

It amazes me that there's this community of people, who only know each other from a few pictures and glib words, whose relationships are often one-sided, but who can affect and sadden me so deeply.

**You can catch updates on Stephanie & Christian via her sisters blog (also another one I read daily) cjanerun

Princess P

My princess in a sea of princesses...

Harvest

I'll admit our garden has produced alot more this year than last year, but come on...we have harvested about 4 eggplants and more look like they're growing, and once our tomatoes kicked in they've been producing a decent crop, albeit small tomatoes. Thank goodness for basil - it's been plentiful! The yellow squash was doing great, until these nasty white worms bored into the stem and I'm not even going to mention the strawberries,beans, cucumbers and okra that were a no show to our garden fete'.

Our tiny little garden boxes truly give me a better appreciation for the fresh fruit and veggies that show up at our farmers market. Grow on!

Lucy-Lou

Let's be honest...right or wrong, that dimple will take her places...

This one is for you...

You know who you are... I love that the we got to spend time together - we miss you!

Parenting 101

Life Lesson's you'd think I would have learned by now...

1. Just because they offer lots of it doesn't mean you HAVE to drink it...

2. Kids don't care what time you got home, how much fun you had, what you imbibed...they still wake up at the crack of dawn.

3. You still have to take care of your kids when they wake up regardless of what time you got home, how much fun you had, what you imbibed...

4. Hangovers seem to last a lot longer than they use to...

5. One of you should remember these rules at all time...

6. No matter how cute your kids are - they still are a buzz kill...

**feel free to add your own...

Boy: When can I see God's face?

Wise Parents: You can see God's face everywhere...trees, the sky, flowers, your beautiful face...God is inside of you...

Boy: Can God do whatever God wants?

Wise Parents: Yes

Boy: Then that means I can do anything I want since he's inside me...

Window shopping

I just found this picture today while working on my friend's pictures...aren't these girlies too cute? That's Lou in the middle of her two precious girls.

Us

Can I tell you how much I hate family portraits? More specifically, Lingenfelter Family portraits? I swear (pun intended...) everytime that I am through with these portraits. The husband gets irritated with me, the kids get whiney, fidgety and silly and I'll be damned if this time the wind was blowing about 55 million mph! I finally admitted defeat and realized that what's more important isn't the picture perfect family but instead the real picture!

Trouble

Right now as I type my son is in his room crying - he's sobbing because he's going to miss his sister when he leaves us to move in with the Mazzolini's... He's leaving us because he got into trouble and he's decided that it's more fun at the Mazzolini's. Do you understand what I'm saying to you? My FOUR year old son is threatening to run away from home... FOUR! What am I going to do with him? The funny thing is that listening to him reminds me of when I was upset and threatening to run away. Any advice out there for a mother without a clue on how to raise a rambunctious, single minded, cheeky, too smart for his own pants son? Thank God he's cute!

Plato

One day we spent an awesome afternoon with my Aunt & her wonderful friends, on their boat! My kids had a blast, actually we all had a blast! I can't thank Dianne & Conyers enough for giving my kids that opportunity!

I know that everyone thinks their kid is special...I know, I know... but let me tell you what my little Plato had to say to his Aunt Dottie... We were still on the boat, having spent several hours riding around, looking for dolphins, bouncing in the ocean, enjoying the beautiful low country scenery...

Aunt Dottie - I have to leave tomorrow.

Little Plato - Why?

Aunt Dottie - I have to work.

Little Plato - Why?

Aunt Dottie - I have to work to make a living...

Little Plato - but, you're living right now...