Monday, September 29, 2008

Grandmother and Granddaddy Tingle's House

All four of the kids spent the weekend with their grandparents. They went over on Friday afternoon. Peyton and I went to dinner at Robbie and Jennifer Baker's house. On Saturday, we were at the dragon boat races all day. When we went back to recover the kids on Saturday afternoon, Grandmother and Granddaddy asked for one more night. We gave in and settled for picking them up the next morning at 1000. When we called, they were still busy making candy. So finally, at about 1:30, they were ready to come home. They were really having a great time and didn't want to leave. Mary did say that the first night, they went right to bed. She put them down and went to check on Destiny and when she came back, they were out. The second night was not as nice. They had a little coke before bed. Now, it's an honest mistake when you aren't used to having 3 years old each night, but Grandmother said, "I will never give them coke before bed again. I learned my lesson. They were up for a long time trying to get over the caffiene."








Grandmother took Michael to the mall to pick out a new hoodie and a couple of shirts for his birthday. The girls went to Clair's with Granddaddy. Needless to say, they pulled a lot of things down. Sabrina was covered with a hat, two purses, necklaces, and a boa. Mary and Rabun really wished they had brought a camera with them. They did, however, buy a few of the items. So I took these pictures on Sunday when we picked them up. We tend to keep our kids with us on the weekends. We spend so little time with them during the week that weekends are usually theirs. We have taken two breaks from all of the kids for grownup time over the past couple of months. It's been great spending alone time together. It is a little sad though. My children are growing up. They didn't see us for two whole nights and wanted to stay longer. Starting to have those...."they don't need me anymore," moments and they are only 3, 8 and 15.

Dragon Boat Saga

When I got to work this morning, I found out that the DHL team was called back to race again in the Dragon Boat competition. However, since most of the guys thought they were done for the day, almost all of the team had gone home. Peyton and I left and went to the movies in Newnan. We went back at the end of the day to recover the grill and the tables, but by then the crowd was gone. We missed the most exciting part.

You can't say those DHL guys aren't troopers. Front of the boat: Bill Diephof and Don Shepard, Middle: Jonathan Camm and Tim Moll, and Back: Angel Martinez and Gabe Salinas. These guys ROCK. They went up against a boat of 20. I didn't say they won, but they gave it a real shot.
I can't wait until next year.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

DHL Dragon Boat Race

We enjoyed the Dragon Boat race this weekend. I don't think we put the effort into this event that it deserved. I could see this being a huge deal next year. The turnout wasn't great for a company of our size, but boy was it exciting for those of us who attended. This is the kind of event that can be loads of fun. I could see us having more than one boat and really going head to head. Domestic and Export against Import and Warehouse....or Managers against Supervisors. The Global Gladiators did not win on Saturday. Unfortunately they were elminated after the second round. Bill Diephof was the team captain. He even rowed in the first round of the competition. None of the boats tipped over. Peyton asked John Hepner to come down and help out the team...so one of our two front men was a manager from Shipco. John's family came to hang out with us too. I didn't get any pictures of Rob Lally and his family, but his girls were really cute. Tim Moll and Jonathan Camm cooked the food.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The Bead

Peyton took Destiny to the doctor last Monday. When he looked into her ears, he noticed that she had a bead wedged in her ear. He had Peyton take a look at it. He told Peyton to bring her back in on Monday morning so he could take it out. We were going to have to reschedule her appointment tomorrow, so we decided to try to get it out tonight. I had only one rule. If she said it hurt, we had to stop. We fussed with it for a little while. Finally, we got our pump for our inflatable mattress out and set it on reverse. We were able to move the bead just enough with the suction. It rolled over to the side, but it was really wedged in too much to suck it out. Peyton had a long pair hemostats that go with a model plane kit. They are really long and slender. Once the bead had changed positions, I was able to grab hold of it and pull it out. I do not know how Destiny has been able to hear for the past few weeks or months. She insisted that she didn't put the bead in her ear. I was really upset that she would lie about it when it was pretty clear that she put the bead in her own ear. Mema Shirley asked could she borrow some of the "magic jumping beans." She's never seen a bead that can jump right off the floor and into someone's ear. Finally, after admitting that she put the bead in her ear, I asked when. She couldn't remember, but she did say it was before school started back. School has been in for five weeks now. No wonder she turns the tv up so loud lately. She's had built in ear plugs for over a month.

Batman and Superman

I couldn't resist the costumes. Samantha is so crazy about Batman right now. I think Sabrina needed to feel like she had a character of her own, so she started talking about Superman this week. You can tell who is the most dedicated to their super hero. Samantha asked to wear hers to the grocery store, then she wore it the whole time Aunt Jenny, Mema, and Aunt Rosie were here on Saturday evening. Then she slept in it last night. Peyton washed it this morning, and she put it right back on after her bath. This was the best money I've ever spent on a "toy." Samantha is hooked on the bat.





Jennifer's Shower

The girls and I went to Aunt Jennifer's baby shower on Saturday at Jennifer's grandmother's house. The girls had a chance to play with their cousins, and I got to hang out with my sister-in-laws. I overheard a conversation between Anna, Katelyn, Samantha and Sabrina. It was too sweet. These little girls were really talking to one another. "Baby Girl Tingle" got lots of pretty new clothes. I finally got pictures of Great Grandmother Tingle with a couple of the girls. I couldn't get them all at one time, but one picture is of Sabrina, Ella and Grandmother and the second is Katelyn, Samantha and Grandmother. It was a perfect day. The weather was nice enough to sit on the deck and open the doors. Jenn's Grandmother is very nice and I can't remember the last time I felt so at ease in someone else's home. I wasn't worried about what the kids were getting into. There were plenty of people around looking out for all of the kids, but also, I had the feeling that anything that they did would have been okay with "Mom". Jennifer calls her Grandmother "Mom," and I can't say I really know what her name is. I can see how Mom is the perfect name for her. Ty looks like he's grown two inches since the last time I saw him. He really is losing the baby look and turning into a big boy. Lisa mentioned Mitchell finally having all of his teeth in when we went out to dinner earlier this week. I couldn't help but notice it when I looked at these pictures. Even he looks older. I don't know how I missed getting pictures of Destiny. She was there and she was wearing a very pretty new dress. I think she was having too much fun to stay right up under me.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Destiny Lynn: Second Grade Age 8


Destiny brought home her school pictures today. We thought she lost the order envelope this year. I was pretty upset that we didn't get to order pictures. Des and I were both shocked to see that she had a package, until Peyton said, "Oh. I sent in a check one morning for those." I don't know what we would do without Peyton. He is the glue that keeps us all together.


Destiny also got her first progress report this week. All A's and B's. Perfect conduct. She has not had to move her clip at all this year. Her teacher noted, "Destiny is off to a great start in the second grade."


I know it's not nice to compare, especially since Michael has consistently been an A/B student, but just in case he is reading this when he's all grown up and trying to raise his own kids. He currently has a terrible progress report. He's talking in class when he should be focusing on work and he has skipped enough homework assignments in Math that he is currently failing the class. His teacher's comments were: "This student could do much better." He's grounded until all of his grades are passing and likely grounded for life if they drop this sharply again. I know the first semester of high school is tough. I was there too, but I never failed to do assignments I was given and neither did Peyton....so Michael get's no sympathy votes in our house. This is usually my A/B honor roll student......

Kathy McGarity

We attended the funeral for Peyton's Aunt Kathy today. Peyton, Joel, and Danny were three of the pall bearers. Rather than have two different events, Alvin chose to have a viewing from 1100 to 1:30 and the service following. It was nice seeing everyone. I met Mary's sister Bernice and her "kids": Babs and Todd. I hope I never quit thinking of our generation as kids...we are thirty and fortysomethings, but kids all the same. Alvin was very sweet to give Mary and Bernice the two yellow roses from atop Kathy's coffin. He then gave each of his neices and nephew's wives a red rose. He saved the final yellow rose for Keith. Keith is Alvin and Kathy's son. He is fifty two years old and a resident of Georgia Regional. From a couple of Keith's responses today it was quite clear that he understood what was occuring. Keith began clapping quietly twice during the service. Once when the minister said, "Kathy, Alvin and Keith all lived together for seven and a half years." He clapped again when they began playing his mother's favorite song. He was also audiably upset when the minister spoke of Kathy's death. I remember very clearly the last time I saw Kathy. She was sitting at a table at Shingleroof, telling Peyton how beautiful our children were. She was laughing.

Kathy Patterson McGarity
August 23, 1932-September 11, 2008

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Life on Callaway Road, "The Book"

I ordered a copy of this blog in book form. It was a very simple process and only took a few minutes to setup. The book shipped one day after I placed the order. I had it in my hands seven days after the idea was born. It is a great hard back book. I'll order another one when the blog is nice and full of new things. I think a years worth of material will fit at the rate that I post. I am so excited to have a tangable history for my kids to look at. Since Aunt Jennifer is the one that convinced me to start a blog, we ordered one of "The Tingle Family" blog for her. Ty is on the cover. I picked the red cover since the theme of his room has always been UGA.

Jenn--I got your thank you card the day after you got the book. I don't know how you managed to get it out so quickly. It wasn't necessary. The book was a thank you for introducing us to the blogging world. I love that I get to watch Ty grow up....and his little sister of course...whatever her name might turn out to be. Guess we will know for sure in in one month.

Girls love clothes


My girls love clothes. Sabrina doesn't change as much as Samantha, but she is very creative with her clothing choices. She wore the sweater and hat all day. It was 93 degrees outside. Samantha has been wearing her raincoat, complete with hood, everywhere. She even convinced Mema and Papa to let her wear it to the store and to McDonalds. She would wear it in the car and then Mema would tell her she had to take it off until they left the store. No problem. Sammi took it off and as soon as they were back in the car, insisted it go back on before they buckled her car seat. They don't seem to mind the heat.