linger ..

lin ger .. (verb) .. definition:  to be slow in parting or quitting something .. this is going to be my new moto this summer .. i plan on doing alot of lingering .. i am going to linger those last few minutes at night with my kids and watch the sun set over the horizon .. i am going to linger over the last drink of chocolate milk with them in the morning before i go to work and leave them with granny .. i am going to linger after the last page of the story that i read to them at night .. i am going to linger in the shoe department .. over coffee .. and dinner with girl friends .. so .. i think that you all should linger to .. linger with your kids .. your lovers .. your husbands .. your friends .. linger over sunsets .. sunrises .. stories .. conversations .. and chocolate milk .. happy lingering ..

it's over ...

it's over .. 1st grade is really over .. how can she go from this sweet and tiny girl to a 1st grader that can read and spell 3 syllable words ..

remember open house .. when we dropped off all our supplies .. so eager and ready to learn all that 1st grade stuff ..

to the last day of 1st grade .. full of all that 1st grade knowledge and ready to take on the world .. at least for the summer ..

and yes we celebrated the end of 1st grade at Clanton's with Dennis and Melissa ... and chicken strips and mashed potatoes ..

and with the end of 1st grade comes presents from Granny .. ellie has been wanting a "just like me" doll from american girl forever .. Granny told her that if she made 100's on all her spelling tests that she would get her a "just like me" doll ..

so here is our newest addition .. meet .. Elliott .. i am sure that kit .. ruthie .. samantha .. bitty baby and big truck are going to love her .. to pieces ..

dinner .. with boys and cars

the kids and i went to dinner with ruth and isaia the other night .. ruth brought cars for the boys .. a distraction so the girls could drink their diet coke .. eat chips and salsa and have conversation in peace ..

here it comes ...

they would shake up the cars .. the cars would take off .. and then they would chase them .. back and forth .. back and forth .. back and forth ..

 boys your hotdogs and french fries are here .. dinner is ready .. the ice is melting in your sprite .. do you want ketchup .. nothing .. not a word from either of them .. just more car chasing and laughter .. from both of them ..

oh .. people .. in the way .. of our car track .. ruth .. ellie and i had a most pleasant time talking .. the boys .. they both fell asleep the minute that they got home ..

pool by day .. pool by night ..

blue beautiful sky .. i had to take a picture because i almost forgot what it looked like .. pool by day .. minus the air catching kids and swimming babies ..

the pool by night .. with soft twinkley lights and candles all aglow in our lanters ...

do you see the lawn mower in the bottom right hand corner .. yard art !

lets just say that this lovely eveing was accompanied by an adult beverage and nice music .. i think that i need just a few more eveings like this ..

catching air ..

sunday night we did a little swimming .. or alot of swimming .. it depends on who you were .. it was the 4th time for the kids to be in the pool for the day .. the first time for  jeff .. they practiced their "jumping" .. they did this all under the watchful eyes of swimming babies ..

you will notice that all these pics are from the same spot .. i could not get up from my chair .. to tired .. and yes both of them were blue when they were done catching air ..

stranded .. alone ..

stranded .. alone .. if this could happen to you .. say just for a few days .. what would you take with you .. i would have to be stranded on a monday thru wednesday because i have to work the weekends .. but if you could pick a place to be stranded and then take a few things with you .. a) where would you be stranded .. and .. b) what would you take with you ..

for my morning coffee ..

so that bon jovi could still sing to me ..

a snack ..

because it would not be any fun to be stranded without diet coke .. the elixir of life ..

my tuesday suit .. because i would want to be stranded on a warm beach were the sky was blue and the sun shone all day long ..

so that i could capture every single sunset and sunrise ..

the kids .. and a wall ..

after we ate dinner we took some kid pics.. i took about 100 and got 1 that i am proud of .. i ran a handful of actions on this one picture and came up with lots of different looks .. thought that i would share them with you .. i love the sass that kali and ellie are sending my way .. and luke showed cash how to put his hands in his pockets but leave his thumbs hanging out .. you look really cool that way ..

Happy Birthday Sammie ..

we celebrated sammie's birthday on tuesday night .. luke called me on monday night so that i would not forget to bring the birthday hat ..

a little love covererd in icing and glitter .. this is the "pretty" side of the love .. the other side got a little mushed because jeff drives like jeff gordon .. he also does not slow down for turns .. the cupcakes had a hard time with the turns ..

the group .. sammie's parents .. tom and cathy meet us there as well ...

when kali and luke are around .. everything in cash and ellie's world stops .. it is all about kali and luke .. kali got orange pop .. so did cash .. luke poured his own salsa .. so did cash .. it is to funny to watch .. they are playing a basketball game on kali's ipod .. i don't have this game on my iphone and cash is very disappointed in that ..

the birthday girl herself .. with matt

and .. for those of you who don't know .. matt and sammie are expecting in october ... a baby girl named stella .. matt is more than thrilled .. he is tinkled pink .. i hope that the rest of us get to hold her .. tom and cathy got him stella's first of many little outfits as an unbirthday present .. i have a feeling that matt is going to be doing quite a bit of shopping .. there are just to many cute girl things .. and little stella is going to have to have them all !!!