I am alive

really, i am. yet ive somehow managed to go an entire month without posting. i do have a lovely little meme brewing that i havent finished....and i have tons of great photos to post but it seems my suddenly overly generous husband has loaned our camera to our construction guy (umm, yes) and my oodles of great photos are off roaming atlanta with him. good thing i finally located the cord ive been missing for so long. you remember? the cord that i was searching all over the place for because i had some really great photos to download onto my computer?? yes, you remember. so here i sit with ample time to post a wonderful little ditty about my girls followed by some adorable little pics with silly little captions to fill you all in on what's been happening around here, and ive got my little cord for downloading but...um...wait...where's that thing that fits so perfectly on the end here??? you know, that small silver thing that snaps pieces of life and holds onto them for wonderful memories in years to come??? oh, that's right, it's riding shotgun under a pile of construction hoo-haw and tool belts and paint junk revealing my private family life to anyone who's interested! but i digress....

i am alive. my mom left this morning after a ten day visit and honestly, it was a good one! i say this with "exclamation!" because (without getting into too much detail) we've had our ups and downs (to say the least) and we managed to pull out a good visit this time around, which is great. the whole mother/daughter thing is on my mind a lot these days because Luxie and i have, wow, reached an interesting point in OUR relationship. im getting a heaping spoonful of what the teenage years may look like and i tell you what...she's exactly like me. it's shocking. and frightening. and i am continually baffled at how to respond! when we finished the twos i was like, "whew, glad THOSE tough days are past us" then the three's hit and i was like "WHAT? i thought those days were past us???" and now with the fours, well, let's just say, im learning my lesson the hard way. im always a bit surprised that it's tougher than i imagined, but really, we are raising up little human beings, right? i mean, it's not like im just growing some tomatoes out back and hoping a few of them make it.

the girls are great, by the way. lux is getting sooo big (at least for her) and so mature (ya know, in a four year old way.) she had shorts on the other day and she had GIRL legs, not little toddler legs like she did just last summer. i was so caught off guard i just kept staring at them wondering where i was when they grew in! and she talks so well and is so creative and imaginative it is just amazing. she is sooo full of life and energy, it is something i hope she always possesses. And Zaine, well, she has such a sweet spirit. her sister does most of the talking in our family, so zaine spends her time quietly following lux around attempting any and everything her big sister does. needless to say she has lots of bumps and bruises. the other day we came around the corner and zaine had put the footstool on the couch and was standing on top of it..on the couch! she has also begun taking off at full speed with her head tucked down and arms wide spread running across the room over and over again. not sure where she came up with it, but it is one of those things that makes me chuckle every time i see it. she's different than luxie in that she will come up to me and just sit down on my lap and relax...i think it is called "sitting still" but dont quote me on it. ive only heard other mothers talking about it, never witnessed it for myself.

that other guy that lives here, (the one who loaned out the camera to some perfect stranger...) he's doing pretty good too. working really hard these days with two albums coming out this year and running sound for our church. he just returned from the Gospel Music Awards where his group Mars ILL was nominated for Best Rap/HipHop Album of the Year, and although they didnt win it was a nice nod. and he got to meet Mandisa! other than that, we are just living.