Coleman cousins from Texas help celebrate.
Chicken taquitos
14 years ago
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Oliver's 4th Birthday
Some quick photos from Oliver's birthday - July 8.
It was a two day event. On Tuesday we went bowling. On Wednesday we headed to San Antonio for a free movie and birthday cake with cousins.
Oliver, Katrina & Simon take a turn
Gabriel & Abagail celebrate good scores
Oliver really liked his sandcastle cake. He also liked having pictures taken. He would ask for another picture and make a different silly face in each one.
It was a two day event. On Tuesday we went bowling. On Wednesday we headed to San Antonio for a free movie and birthday cake with cousins.
Oliver, Katrina & Simon take a turn
Gabriel & Abagail celebrate good scores
Oliver really liked his sandcastle cake. He also liked having pictures taken. He would ask for another picture and make a different silly face in each one.
A visit from Lysa and Laine
Laine is such a nice big cousin!Lysa and Laine came for a visit shortly after Amelia was born. Lysa was a great help holding the baby so I could actually get stuff done. Laine was a great help hanging out with the kids and keeping them entertained with his Wii.
Lysa and Laine also took Gabriel, Katrina, Abagail, Simon, and Oliver to 6-flags. The kids had received free passes from school and were so excited to be able to use them. I had decided that my original plan of taking the kids, with a two week old baby, by myself wouldn't work. - so Amelia and I stayed home. I was so grateful that Lysa was brave enough to attempt this. The kids had a blast.
Oliver's Mysterious Visitor
First day of school - all the big kids are gone. Oliver, Amelia and I are spending a nice, quiet day together. The doorbell rings. Normally this would send a cascade of children running for the door yelling things like, "I'll get it!" or "No! It's my turn" and ending with comments like "I didn't get it" accompanied with tears. - usually Oliver.
So this time Oliver happily runs to open the door. I check the peep hole first - no one is there. Guessing what had happened, I let Ollie open the door. A look of confusion comes on his face when he doesn't see anyone. I say, "Oh look Ollie, a package." Oliver looks down and replies, "Huh? How could a package ring the doorbell?" - totally serious.
So this time Oliver happily runs to open the door. I check the peep hole first - no one is there. Guessing what had happened, I let Ollie open the door. A look of confusion comes on his face when he doesn't see anyone. I say, "Oh look Ollie, a package." Oliver looks down and replies, "Huh? How could a package ring the doorbell?" - totally serious.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
One minor glitch...
Ok - so we had one minor glitch in our "Best Day Ever". It came at the very end of Meet the Teacher night. We had been walking around all three campuses for the 3 hours. We were hot, tired and the kids were finding new ways to entertain themselves after behaving really well - in the presence of the teachers...
Between the Jr. high campus and Intermediate school campus (where we parked) is the track/football stadium. Gabriel and I were walking along discussing 7th grade and all the fun things he was anticipating - Katrina, Abagail, Simon and Oliver were hiding behind advertising signs that hang on the other side of the fence around the track. They would jump out occasionally and say "Boo! Did we scare you?"
As we reached the end of the fence I heard Simon begin to scream. He was jumping around, but in the twilight and through the fence I couldn't see what was wrong. Katrina yelled that Simon had a bloody nose. Now, Simon often gets bloody noses and they bleed ALOT. In his panic, Simon was trying to climb over the fence to get out to where I was. (Panic, because even though this happens often, Simon still panics at the sight of the blood.) I finally got him to calm down and turn around so he could go through the gate.
When I saw him he was COVERED in blood. It was all down both arms, hands completely covered, it was dripping down his nose, all around his mouth and running down the front of his neck. His shirt had a big patch of blood on it. He had apparently tried to blow the blood out of his mouth as he even had splatters on his forehead and hair. He looked terrible. I gave him a wet wipe - the only thing I had - to help catch the blood, not clean him up - I didn't have enough wipes for that. Then Gabriel, my boy scout with first aid training, explained how Simon should and should NOT try to stop the blood. Gabe was right on too, I was so proud.
I decided to go into the Intermediate school cafeteria and try to wash Simon up in the bathroom before heading home. They were just closing up from the night's activities. A staff member I knew approached us with a big smile and began saying something about Amelia. The staff member caught sight of Simon - and he was a sight to behold. She stopped mid-word, her mouth dropped open and her eyes got wide...she had a horrified look on her face. I hastily passed Amelia to Gabe and said a word or two about "bloody nose" and hustled Simon to the bathroom. After all, I really didn't want to freak anyone else out or drop blood on the floor.
Everything got all cleaned up. No harm done. Not even a really big deal - it just looked bad.
I didn't realize until I was relating the story to my mom later that the staff member who had frozen at the sight of Simon covered in blood was the school nurse. - I guess I'll have to tease her about that when I see her next.
Between the Jr. high campus and Intermediate school campus (where we parked) is the track/football stadium. Gabriel and I were walking along discussing 7th grade and all the fun things he was anticipating - Katrina, Abagail, Simon and Oliver were hiding behind advertising signs that hang on the other side of the fence around the track. They would jump out occasionally and say "Boo! Did we scare you?"
As we reached the end of the fence I heard Simon begin to scream. He was jumping around, but in the twilight and through the fence I couldn't see what was wrong. Katrina yelled that Simon had a bloody nose. Now, Simon often gets bloody noses and they bleed ALOT. In his panic, Simon was trying to climb over the fence to get out to where I was. (Panic, because even though this happens often, Simon still panics at the sight of the blood.) I finally got him to calm down and turn around so he could go through the gate.
When I saw him he was COVERED in blood. It was all down both arms, hands completely covered, it was dripping down his nose, all around his mouth and running down the front of his neck. His shirt had a big patch of blood on it. He had apparently tried to blow the blood out of his mouth as he even had splatters on his forehead and hair. He looked terrible. I gave him a wet wipe - the only thing I had - to help catch the blood, not clean him up - I didn't have enough wipes for that. Then Gabriel, my boy scout with first aid training, explained how Simon should and should NOT try to stop the blood. Gabe was right on too, I was so proud.
I decided to go into the Intermediate school cafeteria and try to wash Simon up in the bathroom before heading home. They were just closing up from the night's activities. A staff member I knew approached us with a big smile and began saying something about Amelia. The staff member caught sight of Simon - and he was a sight to behold. She stopped mid-word, her mouth dropped open and her eyes got wide...she had a horrified look on her face. I hastily passed Amelia to Gabe and said a word or two about "bloody nose" and hustled Simon to the bathroom. After all, I really didn't want to freak anyone else out or drop blood on the floor.
Everything got all cleaned up. No harm done. Not even a really big deal - it just looked bad.
I didn't realize until I was relating the story to my mom later that the staff member who had frozen at the sight of Simon covered in blood was the school nurse. - I guess I'll have to tease her about that when I see her next.
The Best Day Ever!
The kids and I celebrated the end of summer with what Simon called, "The Best Day Ever!".
We began by going to Katrina's orthodontist appointment.
Keep reading - it gets better.
After this we all headed over to our favorite bakery where the kids picked out a treat. We had made this a tradition after dentist appointments since it is within walking distance. (It took me awhile to not worry about the concept of getting nice, clean teeth and then eating a nice, sugary donut.) Since our dentist office moved we haven't been back to the bakery - so the kids were very excited to go. (I love that my kids are "very excited" about simple things...)
We then headed to Landa Park to kill an hour playing on the new playscape. It was REALLY muggy. I sat in the shade with Amelia and worked on completing thank-you cards for those who had sent gifts and food when she was born. (For those of you who haven't received yours yet, I am still working on completing those...) The kids ran around and got really sweaty. They found a Teeny Tiny frog hopping around. They created a swampy area near a water faucet so it would have somewhere cool to live.
After the park we headed over to the bowling alley. This was our last opportunity to use our free summer pass. Simon prevailed as the family bowling champ on this day. We cheered and high-fived and snacked and had a great time.
Our next stop was home to prep for Meet the Teacher night. I pulled out all the school supplies that I had been so organized to get ahead of time. They were already separated out according to child, ready to be labeled. I had a passing thought to check the school website and make sure we had everything. I was surprised, not pleasantly, to see that the teachers had changed their supply lists. I ended up having stuff we didn't need and needing to purchase tons more stuff. Ah well, so much for being organized. We sat down and began the process of labeling each pencil, crayon, marker, notebook...you've been there, you know... By the end my family room was a big mess of piles, trash, backpacks, and whatever else the kids had dragged in there.
Meet the teacher night was upon us so we hastily at pizza and headed out the door (after restoring some order to the family room of course). We visited 3 campuses, spent 3 hours, met 10+ teachers, asked a million questions and finally got everything done.
By now it was bedtime but we were far from done with our celebrating. We topped the fun off with ice cream and a "movie theater" - this is where the kids pull out the sofa bed in the game room and stay up late watching a movie, then they all camp out for the night.
We began by going to Katrina's orthodontist appointment.
Keep reading - it gets better.
After this we all headed over to our favorite bakery where the kids picked out a treat. We had made this a tradition after dentist appointments since it is within walking distance. (It took me awhile to not worry about the concept of getting nice, clean teeth and then eating a nice, sugary donut.) Since our dentist office moved we haven't been back to the bakery - so the kids were very excited to go. (I love that my kids are "very excited" about simple things...)
We then headed to Landa Park to kill an hour playing on the new playscape. It was REALLY muggy. I sat in the shade with Amelia and worked on completing thank-you cards for those who had sent gifts and food when she was born. (For those of you who haven't received yours yet, I am still working on completing those...) The kids ran around and got really sweaty. They found a Teeny Tiny frog hopping around. They created a swampy area near a water faucet so it would have somewhere cool to live.
After the park we headed over to the bowling alley. This was our last opportunity to use our free summer pass. Simon prevailed as the family bowling champ on this day. We cheered and high-fived and snacked and had a great time.
Our next stop was home to prep for Meet the Teacher night. I pulled out all the school supplies that I had been so organized to get ahead of time. They were already separated out according to child, ready to be labeled. I had a passing thought to check the school website and make sure we had everything. I was surprised, not pleasantly, to see that the teachers had changed their supply lists. I ended up having stuff we didn't need and needing to purchase tons more stuff. Ah well, so much for being organized. We sat down and began the process of labeling each pencil, crayon, marker, notebook...you've been there, you know... By the end my family room was a big mess of piles, trash, backpacks, and whatever else the kids had dragged in there.
Meet the teacher night was upon us so we hastily at pizza and headed out the door (after restoring some order to the family room of course). We visited 3 campuses, spent 3 hours, met 10+ teachers, asked a million questions and finally got everything done.
By now it was bedtime but we were far from done with our celebrating. We topped the fun off with ice cream and a "movie theater" - this is where the kids pull out the sofa bed in the game room and stay up late watching a movie, then they all camp out for the night.
I finally dropped into bed dead tired around midnight. Some of the kids were still awake. I don't know where they get the energy, but I wish they could share some with me. It was all worth it as I heard them excitedly telling about their "Best Day" to their dad, friends and cousins over the next couple of days.
Baby Sister!
Amelia Grace Coleman was born on July 22, 2008. She weighed in at 7lbs 2oz. She is loved and snuggled on a continuous basis by her older brothers and sisters. If I can figure out this whole "adding pictures" thing I'll try to get some on with this post.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Introducing us
I thought I would start by posting a brief intro to my family.
Allen and Jen (me) have been married for 14 years. We met while attending college in Provo, Utah. We moved to Denver, Colorado - where we began our family. We had three children in Colorado - Gabriel (12), Katrina (10), and Abagail (9). We relocated to Seguin, Texas in 2001. While here in Texas our family has grown to include Simon (6), Oliver (4) and our newest sister, Amelia who is almost 1 month old.
I was going to do a bit of an intro to each member of the family but realized that it would be too long and take too much time. I think most people reading this know us well enough. If you haven't heard from us for quite some time then I'm sure my entries will provide you with more than you care to know about us...
Allen and Jen (me) have been married for 14 years. We met while attending college in Provo, Utah. We moved to Denver, Colorado - where we began our family. We had three children in Colorado - Gabriel (12), Katrina (10), and Abagail (9). We relocated to Seguin, Texas in 2001. While here in Texas our family has grown to include Simon (6), Oliver (4) and our newest sister, Amelia who is almost 1 month old.
I was going to do a bit of an intro to each member of the family but realized that it would be too long and take too much time. I think most people reading this know us well enough. If you haven't heard from us for quite some time then I'm sure my entries will provide you with more than you care to know about us...
Jumping in...
Welcome family and friends.
I am going to attempt to do a Coleman family blog. Most of you know that blogging isn't my "thing". This attempt may be a very slow process - it has taken me a couple of hours just to get this far. - with having to interrupt my progress multiple times to snuggle and love and feed and burp baby Amelia.
Hopefully blogging will be kind of like taking a swim in a cold mountain river. If I stand on the bank and dip my toes in I'll feel the frosty water and decide to stay on the bank, only wading occasionally. The only way to truly enjoy the swim is to close my eyes, plug my nose, and jump in - and get moving so that I am not tempted to jump right back out again.
I am ready to take the plunge.
I am going to attempt to do a Coleman family blog. Most of you know that blogging isn't my "thing". This attempt may be a very slow process - it has taken me a couple of hours just to get this far. - with having to interrupt my progress multiple times to snuggle and love and feed and burp baby Amelia.
Hopefully blogging will be kind of like taking a swim in a cold mountain river. If I stand on the bank and dip my toes in I'll feel the frosty water and decide to stay on the bank, only wading occasionally. The only way to truly enjoy the swim is to close my eyes, plug my nose, and jump in - and get moving so that I am not tempted to jump right back out again.
I am ready to take the plunge.
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