Vegas Tingle July 21, 2002- Feb 20, 2009

This weekend has been very difficult for us. We lost our precious Vegas on Friday. He was hit by a car. The girls have been very sad. Destiny had nightmares the past two nights, which is very odd. She has never had a problem sleeping. Samantha lost her best friend. She has been dragging Vegas around since before she could walk. She would crawl with her arm around his neck. He even let her pull him around by his tail. I miss him so much. I am heartbroken. He met me at the door almost every afternoon. He just started sleeping with us again a couple of weeks ago. He kept his distance when Pixie first arrived. Just this past week, I saw Vegas and Pixie sleeping nose to nose at the foot of my bed. Vegas was here when Destiny arrived and he and Mac were her first real pets (Dingo and Tater were here too, but they have always lived outside). I have never been quite so emotional over the loss of a pet. I've loved many throughout the years, but Vegas was special. He was born during our wedding ceremony, which is how we ended up with him, and how he got his name. We named him before we even saw him. Our first pet together as a married couple. Mac seems to be doing okay, but Samantha is worried about her. She broke my heart this morning. She came into the kitchen and Mac was crying at the back door. Samantha said, "Oh, Mommy. I think Mac is looking for Vegas. She doesn't know where he is. She's very sad." I can't seem to quit crying over this one. Vegas, you were the best pet. You snuggled with me and were my baby before I was a mommy, you played house with Destiny before she had sisters to play with, you helped Michael feel at home when he moved in with us by sleeping with him each night, and you watched over Sabrina and Samantha from the moment we brought them home. I remember you sleeping at the foot of their car seats and lying between their feet in the baby bed. I was never afraid that you would hurt them for a moment. We love you and we miss you very much. There will never be another kitty cat like you.

Peyton's T-Shirt Art

I can't believe I forgot to post these last weekend. Peyton sat down at the kitchen table and made new shirts for all of the girls. They were really excited. We've washed them at least three times since Daddy made them. Peyton is so talented. What a great gift from their Dad.

Fayette Library

Pictures from our trip to the library. We were there for over two hours. The girls were very well behaved. Samantha did pitch a very loud fit when it was time to go home. Sabrina started to sing outloud towards the end of the trip. We realized they were getting tired and hungry...but WOW....two whole hours of sitting around reading quitely.....it was SOOOOO nice!!!! Peyton and I are both readers. We love books. In fact, the books on his nightstand were one of the reasons that I knew I was dating the right person when we first met. We don't get to read as often as we used to, but it looks like we are turning the corner on that one. We brought home 29 books on Saturday. Most of them were for the kids, but I would guess at least 3 or 4 each for us. I spent about an hour last night reading Truman Copote's 'Music for Chameleons'. He's the most arrogant writer of all time. I love it that I can see him smugness as I turn the pages. A true elitist, but a talented one. It started for me with Breakfast at Tiffany's. After I read, "In Cold Blood," I was hooked. He fathered the "nonfiction novel." Many of the true crime books today are written in this style. My kids are going to have an incredible love for books...especially Sabrina. She gets so excited when she opens a book for the first time.

Family Reading Night at Inman Elementary

Destiny played "Monkey" in her school reading of a traditional Puerto Rican tale. She did a great job. She didn't miss a single word of her ten or so lines. The Tingle twins were thrilled to be in big kid school. They got to use scissors and glue and to hang out at the reading table. Each of the girls made a puppet and brought home supplies to make more puppets. It was a good

evening. Samantha and Sabrina still struggle to use water fountains. They are a little too short. We are considering putting them in pre school at Inman next fall. We will go through the lottery process. If they are chosen, we'll decide what to do about after school care and wether or not we really want to have our all four of our kids going to school everyday. It's a lot more work than just letting the girls get up when they feel like it. Right now they get to stay in their jammies all day if they like.

Valentine's Day Brunch

I got my roses very early this week. They arrived on Wednesday. Peyton wanted to make sure I had time to enjoy them before the weekend. On Saturday morning, I made a Valentine's Day brunch. It was great. All of the kids helped with the cooking. Samantha and Sabrina made the cheese biscuits. Destiny and Michael helped with the eggs and the sausage. We brought out the 'bubbly' glasses and Peyt made a Valentine's Day toast. The girls each got a card, candy and roses from their Daddy. I got Michael a box of candy too. He is doing so much better lately that I want to make sure we keep him engaged in all of our activities. I have my A, B honor roll student back for the moment. I think he realizes that we are dead serious about his grades. He can keep them up, or he has no life. After brunch, we all went to the library and then to Walmart so Peyton could pick up his glasses. (Maybe it's because it's different, but he is SO hot in these glasses. I'm finding it difficult to keep my hands to myself.) I haven't posted in a while for a couple of reasons. Work has been a nightmare so I haven't felt like sitting down and re hashing it all at night or on the weekends. I've had to lay off staff and I'm heartbroken over it. I've also been on Facebook. It's insane. I got one invitation and before I knew it, I had connected with 60 people...most of whom I haven't spoken to in years. Kim Downing and I had a nice phone conversation the other night and will get together in the next week or so. Sha Moore is planning a reunion for the first Saturday in May for my old youth group. I've even had an exchange with my old youth minister, Brian Foster. I have to find my box of pictures so I can post some of them to our shared site. I realize that I used to have a huge, diverse group of friends. They're all still out there. They're just school teachers, ministers, restaurant owners, bartenders, retail manags, accountants, musicians, writers, stay at home moms and doctors now. It's so cool to see their children. The other night, we got into an instant message session. I laughed so hard, I cried. It's been 16 years since graduation. It took Peyton a couple of weeks to decide to join, but I think he spends more time on FB than I do now. He's been out of highschool for 25 years so it's really nice for him to reconnect. We did go to his reunion about five years ago....so I've met a handful of his friends. I'm sure he has over 40 by now that he's interacting with. Peyton even started a group for everyone who grew up in Camelot. We have one for my old neighborhood too. From the sound of it, our old neighborhoods were both magical kingdoms. We don't have the same kind of connection with people the way we did when I was growing up. I even have parents of my friends on my FB friend list. I hated the idea of My Space and could never quite get behind it. This is different. We both have the application on our Blackberrys, so it's easy to update and post from anywhere...random thoughts and information about your life. No one can see your information until you have selected them as a friend and then everything you post is open to all of your friends. It will never replace the blog. This is all about my memories. Though, there is a link to the blog on my FB page....and strangely engough, Peyton put a link to this blog on his. I'm proud that he would want his friends to read about our life through my eyes.

Ruskin Joseph Bloodworth

The past few days have been very sad. Ruskin Joseph Bloodworth was born yesterday at 5:18pm. He was several months early. I am told he was beautiful, but he wasn't ready for this world. My heart and prayers are with Briana and Ben as they struggle with their grief over losing their son.