The girls and I found a box of old videos today from when they were babies.  We laughed at how different everyone looks  now.  How funny they sounded when they were little and how totally cute they were.  Peyton came home and settled right down with us for the next hour and a half.  It is so amazing to look back at those little girls when they were learning to walk, to talk, to crawl.  They were so independent.  There is a video of Samantha at Dollywood.  She is crying because she can't go on an amusement park ride with me.  So sweet.  I love my babies.  I miss them being babies, but I also love the little girls they are now.  I am sure I will be overjoyed with the young women they will become too.

Summer 2013

Once again I have skipped over some wonderful stories that have happened since my last post.  I always think to myself that I need to add these things to the blog, but never seem to find the time.  Amelia has all but grown out of the baby stage.  She talks and acts like she's 7 going on 30.  Guess it's all the time she spends with big sisters that makes her seem so much older.  She had her first real haircut yesterday.  I let them trim the ends.  I'm so afraid for her to lose her little curls.  Sabrina got the most dramatic cut.  Her hair had grown out to just below her shoulders and she cut it above her chin again.  She loves the cut/short hairstyle and it suits her personality perfectly.  Samantha gave up on growing out her bangs, but kept the back long.  It's just a few inches above her waist now. 
Destiny is in the mountains with Mema and Papa celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary.  They have officially been together for 35 years now.  Rustie, Chad and Jace are in Helen with them. 

We had two award ceremonies at the school to attend this year.  Destiny received the Reading award for the Sixth grade.  She is the single most improved student.  When I think back at how impossible reading seemed for her, I get teary.  She struggled so hard with letters and sounds.  She's been in classes for extra reading help since she was in the first grade.  We buy her books all of the time.  It took me years to convince her to read for fun.  She almost always has a book with her now and it has really paid off.  She has discovered a love of reading and her CRCT scores went through the roof.  The kid who failed to "meet standards" for years skipped right over the "meets" section and is four points above the "exceeds standards" mark.  I could not be more proud.  She still has some work to do in math and with homework, but she finished the year with two c's, two a's and two b's. Sabrina was on the A/B honor roll for the first semester this year and on the A honor roll second semester.  She received her A/B and A honor roll certificate at her end of year ceremony.  Samantha was on the A honor roll all year.  She received the Principal's Honor award for maintaining her A's from the first day of second grade.  Amelia was so excited when they called the girls names and she saw them go up to get their awards.  It feels so good to have all of the kids doing so well in school now.

I worked throughout Spring Break since I took time off at Winter Break this year, but we still fit in some fun.  We made it to the bowling alley and the skating rink.  The girls are really push for a trip to Six Flags this summer and I am really hoping to be able to take them next week. 

They are all growing up so fast and I do miss my little babies, but I love the conversations and the time that I am spending with my girls now.  They are going to be amazing, young women. 

When I look at Amelia, I just see her Grandmother Tingle.  She looks exactly like Mary to me.  Sabrina and Samantha both look a lot like me, but I can see Adrienne in Samantha and Peyton (Owen,Galen) in Sabrina. 

I really want to drive by the house where Destiny's aunt lives to see if I can get my hands on any baby pictures or just family pictures.  A picture of their mom and their mom when she was growing up would be so nice to have for them.  There have to be things in that house that would be special to my kids that came from their birth family.  Picture of her grandparents.  It's crazy to think about how many things I would take out of that house if I had five minutes alone in there. 

Samantha and Amelia have both had these little nagging colds for the past two weeks.  We were driving down the road last weekend and Amelia said, "Mommy, if Samantha and I go to heaven, we won't be sick anymore."  We all really laughed at that one.  "You're right sweetie, but if you go to heaven, you don't get to come back, so let's just try to stick around here until your cold goes away."

For mother's day, Peyton got my mother's ring fixed.  It's been broken for about four years now, so it is wonderful to have it back.  There is no way to add Amelia to the ring, but we will do something special for her or I'll wait and get another mother's ring in the future with all five kids on it. 

We lost Grandma Peggy last month.  Daddy got to spend her last days with her.  He and mom were staying every night and he was coming there after work each day.  I know it helped him so much to get to say goodbye.  I was the first person to speak at her funeral.  I was shaking so hard that I couldn't stop.  I have no idea why that happened when I am so rarely nervous in front of a group.

We bought the girls a new swimming pool last week.  Peyton, Destiny and I put it together right outside the back door.  It'll be so much easier for mom.  She'll be able to see them right from the kitchen window.  Poor little Amelia fell right off of the ladder yesterday when she was climbing out of the pool.  They are going to have a great summer right in their own backyard. 

Winter Break

The girls have the week off for winterbreak so I took a week of vacation too.  We checked into the Westin on Sunday afternoon and spent the afternoon and early evening swimming in the indoor pool.  We had sandwhiches and chips in the room and watched Ferris Buller's Day off before going to bed.  On Monday, President's Day, we woke up and went back to the pool for a couple of hours.  When we checked out, we thought we were heading home, but Daddy took us on an adventure.  We went to the Varsity for lunch and then over to Piedmont Park to play for the rest of the day.  Peyton has so many memories of the park from when he was growing up.  We were surprised to see the new parking garage.  There are so many changes at the park, but it's a beautiful place.  It reminded me so much of being in Central Park.  Next year I want to take the kids to Washington, DC and to New York.  They should be plenty old enough by then.  This time, Destiny spent the night with Grandmother Tingle and is enjoying her alone time at Grandmother's house.  I hope it is still just the two of them.  She needs to spend some time with one of her grandmothers alone.  She thrives on one on one time and she doesn't get much of it around here with all of the girls fighting for attention.  I am stealing my own time with Peyton this week....taking him away to North Carolina.  I don't want to have to fight for one minute of his attention from the four prettiest girls in the world.  The last picture is of the house that my grandmother lived in on Waldo Street in Atlanta.

Merry Christmas

This is the first year that I have not written a Christmas newsletter, but I guess I need to get myself together and do one because I will only be dissapointed in me if I don't.  I love the legacy of the letter.  It detials the growth of the kids in a way that nothing else ever could.  We just had the one year anniversary of losing Papa Don on December 19, 2012.  I know it was a tough day for Mema, but she seems to be doing okay.  My mom got a very bad staff infection two weeks ago and spent the last two weeks in Rockdale County Hospital.  She came home a couple of nights ago and I am so glad.  I am feeling very blessed that things with her are not worse.  She is taking dialysis treatments and will do so for a while.  Hoping it isn't forever, just for a while.  Wish I could spend more time with her, but between the kids and work, it's almost impossible. 

Papa Don

I really miss Papa today.  I should have been calling him to say Happy Birthday.  I know it's a hard day for Mema Shirley.  It's so hard to imagine life without him.  There are times it just kills me that he isn't here to talk to anymore.  I loved my Papa Don.  It was really hard for me to talk to him in those last months because there was so much we needed to say, but it was so soon after losing Jordan that I found it hard to really discuss the tough stuff.  We did, in the end, say everything we needed to say to each other.  I'll have a Pepsi for him tonight. 

Mid-Life Crisis

I have named my new baby, Mid Life Crisis.  I have wanted a convertible my whole life and I was thrilled when Peyton said we should just buy one.  He bought me the most incredible car.  It truly makes me feel better going to work just having the top down and coming home is always an adventure.  The girls love the car, but Amelia gets a tired of the wind pretty quickly if we are on the interstate.  She's just a little too small for it.  I have the most amazing husband in the world.  Thank you, Peyton.  I love my Mid Life Crisis.  Micahel was happy to get the old Benz for his birthday. 

Tingle Kids Fall Update 2012

Destiny started middle school this year.  She's attending Fayette Middle, just like Michael.  Not sure the younger kids will ever go there since they are discussing closing the school.  Samantha and Sabrina are in the second grade at Inman Elementary.  Amelia doesn't have her buddies home with her during the day, but Mema Lorelei is keeping her busy.  I say it all of the time, but I have to say it again....they are growing up so fast.  I blink and my baby isn't a baby anymore. 

Destiny Lynn:
--started 6th grade at Fayette Middle
--started her period a couple of days after her 12th birthday (too much info, but she'll want to be reminded of that one day)  She was with Mema Lorelei in Conyers for the weekend when it happened.
--less than two inches seperates us now.  I'm just over 5'6".  She must be at least 5'4".  She wears a size 9 or 10 shoe. (this is not working out for me since that's my size and currently my favorite pair of sandles is missing)
--She's been reading a lot more since school started this year.  It's good to see her read.  I bought her some new novels and her dad bought her "Forensic's for Dummies".  She loves in--vestigative police work and anything that looks like it might involve mixing chemicals together.  I think she'll hit her stride when she makes it to her high school science classes.  Unfortunately, she's failed to turn in several assignments in Math and Reading and a couple of her grades are really suffering for it.
--Her biggest source of pride is her long hair.
--has already been to two dances since middle school started in August.
--Is completely in love with someone named Edgar...who unfortunately, did not go to the dance this week.



Sabrina Aisling:
--started second grade at Inman Elementary. 
--loves to write books. (makes my heart swell...she looks so much like me when sits down to write her stories)  the big difference is that she looks exactly like her daddy when she illustrates them.  I could never really draw the pictures to go with my stories, but my little girl can write a story and illustrate it.
--very competative.  I won't say she's a sore loser, but she definately does not like to lose.

--"the little mommy":  The other kids get a good does of Sabrina telling them what to do on a daily basis.
--her favorite tv show is Full House....totally loving this since I've seen every episode and I loved it so much when I was growing up.
--she wants to sleep in her OWN room downstairs all by herself.  She's a bit fearless.
--watched a psychic kids show with me the other day.  An hour after the show ended, she was walking down the stairs with her tablet.  Just like in the show, she was asking our ghost questions and trying to record his answers.  I heard her say:  "Are you mean?"  Fearless....she believes there is a ghost here and she's not only sleeping alone, she's talking to it.
--She loves riding her bike and has been riding without training wheels for months now.  She wants a trick bike for Christmas. 
--sings and dances all of the time.  She is a big star in our house.  Dancing and singing are second nature to Beanie.
--straight A's on her last report card.


Samantha Ireland:
--started the second grade at Inman Elementary.
--doesn't like to do homework, but doesn't complain about it as much as she used to.
--two A+'s on her first report card this year.
--still blushes when you mention Luc's name although he is not in any of her classes this year. 
--plays very well with Amelia and likes to sleep on the futon in Amelia's room.  She doesn't like to be downstairs at bedtime.
--has the most amazing smile and laugh.
--I can always count on Samantha to tell it like it is.  She doesn't hold back and she's as honest as she can be on any topic you throw out there.
--Samantha is addicted to the computer, tablets, anything electronic.
--She likes Full House too, but her favorite television show is Goosebumps.  Another show from her Aunt Rustie's time.  I think this show is the reason she doesn't like to sleep in her room.
--swims like a fish and loves to dive into the pool backwards, sideways, any way she can that's different.  No fear in the water.
--draws the best pictures of animals.  This weekend, she drew every creature you could imagine for our Halloween party.  She's so creative. 
--Hasn't gotten a score below 100 on any of her spelling tests and does the challenge words every week instead of the regular words.  Brilliant kid.
--loves to play with Jace and still has a bit of a tom boy side to her.



Amelia Reagan:

--two and a half....don't forget the half...she is NOT two...she's two and a HALF.
--loves Callie.
--talks non-stop about anything and everything.  She's a bright one and there just isn't anything she doesn't understand.  Peyton and I were watching a movie the other night that we suddenly realized she didn't need to be watching.  The language wasn't great and she was obviously listening to the movie.  Turns out, she wasn't just listening.  She was really watching the movie and was really following the story.  There was a husband and wife having a huge marriage ending argument.  Amelia looked up at both of us and said, "it just isn't fair that they don't have a house."  I laughed so hard at her how dead on her comment was that I started coughing and couldn't stop. 
--She loves music.  She sings all of the time.  Even when we are out running errands, she is singing.  She knows the words to almost every top 40 song and again...she's two and half.
--last night:  Mommy:  Amelia, how old are you?  Amelia:  Two and a half  Mommy:  How old will you be on your birthday?  Amelia:  Three   Mommy:  When is your birthday?  Amelia:  February
(We had no idea she knew when her birthday was!)
--she skips the numbers four and fourteen when she counts.
--she loves baby dolls.  She carries them around with her everywhere.  She dresses them, rocks them, sings to them, talks to them.  She especially loves baby, "Jordan."  She has named Jordan's babydoll after Jordan and really cries if she can't keep it at our house at night.  Mema has had to let baby Jordan spend the night on a couple of occasions.
--she talks to Jordan and Papa Don, not the dolls, but them.  She got really upset when Mema tried to put a bag in the seat next to her and told her not to put it on Jordan.  (This was before she named the baby doll.)  She tells me sometimes that Papa Don is sitting on the back porch.  She also talks about a man we don't know who is on the back porch.  I don't doubt she's as close to the spirit world as she could possibly be because she's so young. 
--she has beautiful curls.  I love to look at them and to play with them.  She's my baby.  My last baby and I love her so very much. Her giggles are intoxicating.

Michael is doing well.  He's still living with Nick and working with Peyton and Rabun.  Peyton gave him the Mercedes on his birthday and he appears to still be driving it.   He doesn't seem to be interested in finding any other work, but with the winter settling in and the hours growing scarce, he better start thinking about it.  He hasn't learned how to plan for these periods when work is slow.

Lake Lanier Take Two

We had seven tickets left for Lake Lanier Islands that we did not use while we were on vacation.  Amelia is too young to need a ticket, so we had just enough for me, Rustie, Momma, Jace, Destiny, Samantha and Sabrina.  We had a great day albeit a long one.  We made it to the park at 1130 and left at closing time, 2000.  Mom and I spent a lot of time in the wavepool with Amelia.  Rustie took the big kids on most of the rides.  I ventured out on a couple of them myself, but I have to be really careful with my back on the slides.  The talkest one had three humps, my legs flew up and I landed back down pretty hard.  I videotaped the ride and it's pretty funny to see me go flying.  Samantha and Sabrina were not afraid to ride anything at the park.  They are amazingly brave and they swim like little fish.  I am so proud of those two.  Destiny has never been afraid of any of the rides either. We had dinner at Sunset Cove before heading back to the wavepool to finish out the day.  It's been a long time since we've had the chance to spend the day together.  They always play music in the pool area.  As we got up to leave the pool to walk down to the lake, Jordan's song, If I Die Young, came over the speakers.  It was louder than any other song and was the first that we heard.  Without a doubt, she was there with us.  We all miss her so much that it's physically painful sometimes to be be together and not to have her there.  Our sweet Jordan....life can be so unfair. 

Happy Birthday Sabrina and Samantha

We have just returned home from three nights at The Lake Lanier Legacy Resort.  It was as relaxing a time as we could possibly get with a 2 year old in tow around that much water.  We truly did enjoy ourselves.  We arrived on Saturday and spent the afternoon swimming at the hotel.  We had dinner at Bullfrogs and then watched the Dive In movie by the pool.  They were playing Ratatouille.  Amelia watched most of the movie before falling asleep in my lap.  Destiny watched about half and Sabrina watched half.  Samantha played in the pool the entire time and when it was all said and done, Peyton and I are the only two Tingles that actually watched and enjoyed the movie.  It was our tenth wedding anniversary...what a way to celebrate (only a touch of sarcasim).  We slept in a bit the following morning and went to Windows for Sunday brunch before heading to the water park.  The girls rode almost all of the waterslides with their Dad.  Amelia and I played on the beach and in the wave pool all afternoon.  She loved the waves.  I had a tough time getting her out of the water.  Her little toes were completley wrinkled prunes by the time we left on Sunday night.  We spent the early part of the evening at Sunset Cove having dinner at the Sunset Cove Cafe and Club.  I was so impressed with the restaurant.  The kids were able to play in the water and ride the craziest water slide I've ever seen (The Vortex) while we waited on our dinner.  If you know me at all, you know the one thing that I am always going to stop to enjoy is a man with a guitar.  If he's remotely worth listening to, you will have to drag me away from the scene.  We were sitting directly in front of the stage and there wasn't one song that he played that I did not love.  This was the dinner I wanted for our anniversary and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Amelia was dancing behind my chair and hiding from the "man with the guitar."  She's so shy.  When dinner was over, I found a shady spot to read (Fifty Shades Freed, the 3rd book in the 50 Shades trilogy) while Peyton played in the water with all four of the girls.  They eventually found me and we walked down to the beach where all of the boats were docked.  I can see why Sunset Cove is party central for Lake Lanier Islanders.  What a crazy fun atmosphere.  I watched at least five volleyball games while the girls played in the sand and Peyton and I waded just off shore.  Amelia is not afraid of water.  She thinks she can swim without her vest.  We had a tough time convincing her that she must have it on to keep her head up.  I can't remember the last time I felt as relaxed as I did at Sunset Cove.  We went to Publix after leaving the waterpark to pick up a birthday cake for our little angelic monsters.  They quickly agreed on a cookie cake---I was so surprised that they were able to agree on anything.  We picked up some fried chicken and sub sandwiches for their birthday dinner and headed back to the hotel.  We were all so exaughsted.  They opened their presents:  WAY too expensive Galaxy tablets that they have yet to put down.  It almost put a bit of a damper on the trip because they wanted so much to play with them the next day.  On Monday, July 23, we went back to Windows for breakfast.  I hope the girls will always remember the Chocolate Chip covered Belguim waffles that they made with their dad.  I doubt I will ever forget the amazing breakfast buffet this place has, not to mention the windows overlooking Lake Lanier.  We were scheduled to check out, but we decided we needed one more day, so I went to the front desk and checked us back in.  It was officially their 7th birthday.  It brought tears to my eyes remembering and recounting the night before they were born.  The anxiety that I felt about giving birth came flooding back.  There is a picture of Mema Shirley sitting with me on a bench outside of hospital admissions at 5:00 on the morning of their birth.  You can see the fear and worry in my face.  As much as I wanted these precious little girls, I was terrified to go through another hospital stay so soon after my back surgery.  The doctors had given me every possible scenerio and the worst case scenerio was a vaginal delivery for baby A (Sabrina) followed by a C section for baby B (Samantha).  I believe that God knew I couldn't handle the recovery from a C section because the best possible outcome occured.  I was induced mid morning and by 5:42, I was holding my first little girl, followed by baby B at 5:55.  My labor was easy by most accounts and the girls were happy, healthy, beautiful little angels. I don't know how life could be any sweeter.  After breakfast, we were going to go back to the waterpark or for a swim.  With two girls who just wanted to play on their new tablets, we ended up staying in the room too long to go to the park.  Not to mention that even though we used a whole bottle of sunscreen, we were sporting six varying degrees of sunburn...mostly just noses, under eyes and shoulders.  No one had the energy to venture back out into the sun.  We waited until just after noon to head down to the pool...not the brightest idea to go at the hottest part of the day.  We played for a couple of hours before heading back to the shade and air conditioned room.  Around 4pm or so Peyton took us all out for a walk.  We walked around the grounds and found the perfect/secluded little beach with beautiful white sand and a great place to fish.  All of the girls went fishing with their daddy.  No one was dressed for it, but it didn't stop us from jumping right into the water.  Who knew that such a short distance from our room we would find such an ideal place to play.  In hindsight, we would have spent most of our time there had we found it sooner.  Destiny and Peyton caught one fish together.  It was the only fish of the day.  Amelia and I made a break for the room and hiked (literally) back up the side of the cliff (slight exageration, but with a 2 year old in my arms, it could have been k2) to the room.  We were just finishing up a great bath when the others arrived all covered in sand.  After everyone was showered, we went back to Bullfrogs for dinner.  The third dinner in a row with live entertainment...and it was a Monday night. I ordered ribs for the first time in my life.  Peyton reminded me that ribs were not a great "date" food, in fact they are the ulitmate no-no.  I figured after a full decade of marriage, it couldn't hurt to eat ribs in front of him.  He's seen much, much worse.  He ordered his final Texas Gold Margarita of the trip and I settled on something called a Leap Frog (lime juice, Tanqueray, and sprite).  It was so good, I had to have one more.  We went back to the room and watched American Gladiator until eveyone fell asleep from pure exaughstion.  This morning, I woke up feeling amazingly refreshed.  We loaded the car and headed back home. I have a full three days left off of work and I couldn't be happier than to spend them at home getting things ready for the new school year.  Sam and the Bean will start second grade in two weeks and Destiny will be in middle school.  Poor little Amelia will be home alone again during the school year with no one to play with...so goes life as the baby of the family.