Visit from Lysa & Laine - Dec 2011



We love it when Lysa & Laine come to play!  This time Aunt Lysa showed the kids one of her favorite "hiding" places as a kid - in the sofa.  Even though the older kids had long ago discovered it everyone enjoyed trying it out.  Unfortunately the space isn't as roomy for an adult as it is for children...so Lysa needed a little help escaping.

Dance Dancing the night away.  I love how we always have two dancers and a bunch of others dancing along for fun.  Even Amelia and Joshua were able to try it out.

We spent a day at the Sea World Christmas Celebration.  This collage is from the Sesame Street play area.  The kids watched the Elmo's Christmas Wish show and enjoyed some of the tamer rides.  This was Amelia's first time on a roller coaster - Katrina did a great job helping her feel like a big, brave girl.  Simon bounced between being Oliver's buddy on some smaller rides and going with the big kids on the big rides.  The only one he couldn't go on was the Great White roller coaster.  Simon had been growing bit by bit all year - getting closer to his "goal" of being tall enough.  Unfortunately he was still about 1-2 inches too short.

We caught the 4D Polar Express show.  It was pretty cold that day and I had no idea part of the "experience" was a burst of steam that sprayed the audience when the train rolled up...poor Katrina got more than steam...she got a nice spray of water all over her legs...made for a cold afternoon til she dried up.  The kids especially liked the "snow" at the end of the show.

Watching the Christmas dolphin show.  And braving the Rio Loco in 40 degree weather.  Some crazy family was there waiting to spray/soak the riders.  As my family went by I asked them to please not spray them.  They were nice about it but pretty disappointed as our group was the only one on the ride that late at night in that cold of weather.  Maybe we were the crazy ones...

In front of the Candy Cane Forest with Lysa & Laine.  It was getting a bit chilly by this time. 

Sea World did a great job decorating with tons of lights.  We liked the Frosty Forest with silly set ups of different snowmen - like this basketball and football scene.

Our traditional parting shot by the entrance with Lysa & Laine.  The kids were pretty cold and tired by this point.

One last parting shot with mom and Joshua.  Then off to fill our bellies at with terrible but strangely satisfying food at McD's before heading home to our warm beds.  Totally fun day!


We had such a great time with this visit - we can't wait until they come again!
This year we were able to bribe them with multiple trips to Sea World so they could get the most from their passes.  Next time maybe we can bribe them with more endless nights playing Zo-Mama and Lord of the Rings Risk.  Laine is an excellent gaming buddy!

A Change in the Air...

As I stepped out the front door this morning to head to church I instantly felt it - a change in the air. The wind was blustery...but it wasn't a hot, dry summer wind. Leaves were blowing around making that skittering sound as they rolled across the pavement. It felt so very much like AUTUMN!!!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year - always has been. Since moving to Texas I kind of gave up a traditional Fall - one that starts sometime in September and has crisp mornings, blustery days filled with filtered sunshine, change of leaves and that "something" that enters the air to let you know that Fall has arrived. Here we usually stay at near summer temps through Sept and then enter what other people experience in the summer for October and into November. Then we get about two weeks of Autumn before "winter" hits. Two weeks. That is about it. In that two weeks the leaves turn colors - some dull, some brilliant - they fall, and then it is done.

Now I know that wonderful Autumn feeling I felt won't last. It will probably be gone by tomorrow. And the leaves that were swirling around were not due to a change in season - rather they were the result of a strong wind blowing after a serious drought has dried everything up.

But for today it was heavenly and I took time to thoroughly enjoy it.

Aaaaahhhhhhh...... :)

RESET~

I feel like I just hit a giant RESET button...

School started today and it is time for things to calm down and get into a schedule. Even if that schedule is crazy and busy it can't be anything like the chaos of summer...can it???

So it is only 9:00 a.m. I have done 2 loads of laundry, cleaned all the dishes I didn't want to do yesterday, made breakfast for the kids, cleaned the kitchen, exercised and now I am ready to start some homework on my new English class.

Waking up at 4:30 a.m. isn't fun but it sure allows for a productive morning...

Had my first wave of kids/dad out the door at 6 a.m. for Seminary and Cross Country practice. Then it was just Simon, Oliver, Josh and I for school prep and bus at 7:15. Amelia awoke in time to help me with some laundry, put Josh down for a nap and do jumping jacks with me - although she enjoyed lifting the weights more.

I'm sure the day will hit snags - and that every morning will not be as smooth...so for now I'll just enjoy the peace and quite and feeling of something actually accomplished - and being somewhat in control for once.

Love my kids...loved having them home for the summer...love having them back in school too. :)

Grub Club

I have a new job - and it is so much fun!

A friend who owns a local dance studio started the Grub Club for her kids - and others - to have fun learning / practicing cooking skills. She emailed me one day asking if I would be interested in teaching the class.

So each week in August I had the chance to teach kids to cook. It was a big family effort to make this happen. Abagail was my assistant. Katrina was my babysitter. Simon and Oliver attended class with me. Gabriel hung out at the library or various spots in town - enjoying a bit of freedom.



These are a few pics of my kids at the Grub Club. We made all kinds of stuff. My kids said the best part was having to practice all the recipes each week so that I could get them down for class.

Starting in September I get to do a "Mommy and Me" class once a week for moms and their pre-school aged kids. Amelia will be my demo assistant for that one. I'll also be doing a Saturday class for ages 5-12 once a month. Hopefully starting in October I'll be going into some private pre-schools in town to do classes twice a month. That plan is still in the works. I am actually really excited about this. It goes really well with my education / career plans that I have started working on.....

For those I haven't told - I start school tomorrow for a new focus in my life. I am going for an Associate of Science in Biology Nutrition. I will be online for a couple of years - yes, years - so that I can be home with Amelia and Joshua. Then I'll have to finish on campus. My goal is to complete the associates and then transfer to Texas State and get a Bachelors in Nutrition - to be a Registered Dietitian. I don't know if I'll ever make it that far - but that is the plan.

So this Grub Club is kind of a way to practice - I try to keep the recipes healthy, fun, and tasty. And while we prepare recipes we talk about good food choices vs bad food choices. It is very part time - about 6-8 classes per month - but I enjoy the prep and classes.

Final Summer Sea World

Allen took a day off work to go with us one last time to Sea World this summer - before the water park closed. With Josh and Amelia I haven't been able to take the kids alone...it wouldn't be safe. So we needed a Dad to come along.

The only sad part about the day was when we heard an announcement at 6pm that the park was closed for the day. We thought they just meant the water park...alas, I had not checked the schedule. Guess enough schools were in session that the had already begun shortening their hours...it was a bit of a bummer. Oh well - we will just have to go again this fall...

Oliver was so excited. He went on his first "big" water slide this trip. He was nervous at first. We waited in line for about 30 minutes. After finally getting to the top he took a look down the chute and asked me to "escort" him down. So back down we went. As soon as we reached the bottom he decided he would give it another try. This time he triumphed - and went about 8 times in a row. He loved it! The top pic in the collage show Oliver and Allen at the bottom of the slide.

Morning at the Temple

We spent a beautiful August day at the temple a couple of weeks ago. Katrina and Abagail were able to do baptisms while the younger kids and I hung out outside. I think it was the only cloudy day we had in a long time - making the heat a bit more bearable.

Afterwards we headed over to McD's for sundaes. It was a nice way to spend a morning.

RAIN!!!

Rain!!! I never really realized how much I appreciated it until it was absent for MONTHS. (no joke.) We haven't had a really good rain scince around January. I mean sure its sprinkled a couple of times, but it never gets harder than that, and its only for a couple of minutes. Today however, it rained pretty good for a half-hour and now, an hour later, its still lightly raining.

The weather reporters have been predicting rain FOREVR, but the dark clouds always go away by about 10 or 11a.m., so this time nobody really got hopefull. But when the clouds just got thicker and darker instead of disappearing, we started getting exited. Then, at about 4:30 while we were running errands, we could see sheets of rain in the distance and wondered if it would hit our house at all. Sadly, when we got home, it didn't look as if it would keep raining. Then the heavens surprised us and i sarted lightning, thundering, and raining!!! I happily danced in the rain for 5 minutes and came inside, DRENCHED. Hopefully, it will keep raining for long enough to pull us out of our drought!!!

POSTED BY KATRINA COLEMAN :)

Watermelon Overload...

I love summer and I love watermelon. This year was unlucky for us in the watermelon cultivation department. I tried three times and failed three times to get it to grow. After the bunnies taking the entire vine the last time I decided "three strikes - I'm out". So this summer I have relied on the grocery store for our favorite summertime treat.

Last week I was very blessed. A good friend gave us an extra watermelon she had purchased for a church event. Then the girls carved watermelon at YW. Wish I had a working camera and had snapped a photo - a visitor said - hey, is that like a watermelon jack-o-lantern? Abagail carved a swan and Katina did a fancy name plate. However, three watermelon in one week is a bit of an overload - even for a family of our size.

What to do? Get creative.

Today I tried a recipe I found for Summer Fruit Gazpacho. Pureed watermelon topped with various berries and a yogurt/honey mix. The reviews were not real good. So I poured it all into the blender with more frozen berries, added more yogurt and PRESTO - watermelon smoothie. Same ingredients - different texture - REALLY good. I poured extra into a freezer bag for another day.

The good thing is next time I get my watermelon patch growing I'll have yet one more outlet for all that delicious, juicy, red goodness.

Survival Week

As if my life isn't crazy enough...

The 3rd week of June we had three different activities taking place at the same time each day.

Gabriel attended driver's ed from 8-10 a.m.
Abagail attended tennis camp from 8-10 a.m.
Katrina, Simon and Oliver attended Art Camp from 8-12 p.m.
Now to make things more complicated Gabriel would return to town from 1-4 p.m. most days for driving time with the class.

That meant 4x's a day I was running round trip to town...while also trying to study for my class and entertain Amelia and Joshua. Sometimes more if we also had an evening activity thrown in the mix. Needless to say we were all quite exhausted by the end of the week - but the kids had a blast so I guess it was worth it???

The kids had a great time at the art camp. They had classes in Mexican arts and crafts, dance, theater, and creative writing. The last day was a mini-recital for parents. The kids performed the dances they had learned. I have a couple of photos and video clips of them.





Oliver's group prior to the "Dance of the Old Man". Oliver is third from the left.

Video clip of Oliver's dance. He is third in line.

Video clip of Katrina and Simon's dance. I thought it was interesting that they placed Simon in the oldest age group; Simon was the youngest and Katrina was the oldest in their particular group.

Bribery? You Betcha

So...earlier this spring my sister, Lysa came to visit us. As part of her visit we invested in tickets to Sea World. The idea was that if we got Sea World passes Lysa and Laine, her son, would want to come back a couple of times throughout the year to use the passes and "get their money's worth".

Fast forward to June. I get a call one day from Lysa. She asked if we were busy that weekend. After a bit of shuffling of plans we became available and Lysa and Laine came out for a really quick weekend visit and day at Sea World.

Did my bribery work? Yep. Will it work again....hope so! Remember Lysa, the park is open all the way until Christmas...hint...hint.

(Disclaimer: unfortunately during this trip my camera finally died. So some of the photos are terrible quality from my cell phone. Anyone have a suggestion for a new camera???)

At the end of a really hot day with Lysa and Laine. (The wheelchair was just an extra ride we picked up for the photo.)

We unknowingly picked an EXTREMELY busy day to visit. A really large grocery chain was sponsoring an employee day. I am so glad we got into the water park when we did...the line to enter the water park in the afternoon had an hour + wait.

Following are some photos from the water park...lots of wet fun:

As a side note: it is amazing how much editing/cropping I had to do of the water park photos. There were lots of bikini clad rear ends that were less than photogenic sharing the frames with my children. What I ended up with still has some people in the background but it is WAY better than what I started out with!

Having a blast at the Shamu Show! It was so packed that each show was closed when there was only standing room left. We snuck into the night-time rock and roll show. That one was very fun to watch. The photo with Simon and Oliver looking like they are bored to tears is from the evening show...they really did like it...

We went to a gift shop to get out of the heat. I came around a corner to see Amelia embracing a huge pile of whales. She loves whales and was loving each one. I finally had to get the kids out of there - they were touching everything and driving me crazy!

Before heading home we made one last stop at the Sesame Street Bay of Play. Laine took Simon and Oliver on the Shamu Express. He was BY FAR the biggest person riding. All three boys had big grins when the ride was over. Katrina and Abagail took Amelia on the carousel. Technically Amelia was too young to ride without a grown-up but she was buckled in so I hoped she would be safe. She sure loved it.

One last parting shot with mom.

Ugh...

Oh the absolute tedium of getting photos ready to post. Edit...edit...edit... No wonder I never get any new posts done.

Hopefully I'll get through a photo batch soon and be able get back on track. The kids love checking out what I post about their adventures...maybe I should just let them have a crack as "guest" posters.

Signs of Summer

Ahhh...

It seems there are certain signs that occur in nature each year to let me know that summer is officially here. No - it is not the temp soaring into the 90-100 range. That often happens way before summer. But it does have everything to do with the outdoors.

Yesterday I pulled fresh onion, potatoes, zucchini, and corn out of the garden for a delicious Memorial Day BBQ. Today I made my first batch of scrumptious zucchini bread. I also pulled a few apples off the tree - just to test them. They were perfect: juicy and tart. I also had the nicest visitor - a neighbor brought a basket full of sweet, juicy peaches straight from his tree.

All these wonderful gifts of nature have signaled that it is time to celebrate summer - having the kids home, making wonderful memories, lazy days playing games and reading, busy days running from activity to activity, perhaps a trip to the beach, hopefully a visitor or two - all the things we love and look forward to.

So - WELCOME SUMMER - we've been looking forward to your arrival!

Open Your Mouth Joshy...

So...I'm distracted doing stuff on the computer. Amelia and Joshua are hanging out on the floor. I hear Amelia speaking to Joshua in her sweet big sister way but I am not paying attention to what she is saying. Some words begin to penetrate...mouth...Joshy...open - in about that order since she was repeating herself.

The thought hits: perhaps I should pay attention to what she is doing.



I look up and my lovely little girl is feeding her baby brother. Both were completely happy as could be.

There was, however, one tiny problem...the food was dry rice cereal - flakes.
Amelia had found the bowl in the diaper bag and decided Joshua was hungry and she was going to help him out. My biggest worry (after the fact that he might have inhaled and choked) was: If I add water to him will he bloat???

It was sooo cute that I took the following clip. She kept telling him "good job" and "I'm so proud of you".

She's such a good helper!

Hoop Time

Simon LOVES to play basketball. He really wanted a b-ball standard for our house. He kept asking Allen and I to get one...unfortunately they were not really in our budget.

I looked at garage sales for about a year but couldn't find anything that wasn't a total piece of junk - for free - which was my price range. We finally settled on a solution. The kids get $1 a week for allowance (yes - we are cheap). Around September I suggested to Simon that he find a sibling that was also interested in buying a b-ball standard and see if they could save together to get one. Now you may think that would take FOREVER - but - at this point I hadn't paid out the allowance all year. So...Simon talked Oliver in to putting his money towards the b-ball standard.

Black Friday presented the perfect opportunity to purchase a standard at a good price - although it was WAY more than the free I had originally been looking for... Although we purchased it the boys had to wait another whole month before they finally had accrued enough $ to pay for it - and we didn't take it out of the box until they paid for it.

The kids were so excited!!!! The best part was how proud Simon and Oliver were of their new "toy". I was proud of how Simon saved his measly $1 for months to work toward a goal he wanted to achieve. And I was very glad that Oliver decided to be a part of it - otherwise Simon would still be saving...

A little side note: Poor dad was the one who had to assemble the thing...in the freezing cold...in the dark...so the boys could get in some hoop time before bed. He was very nice.

Earnest prayer

I love hearing Amelia pray. She is so sweet and serious. The other night her prayer was very simple she was thankful for:

- playing outside
- pretty toes that we can make pretty (with nail polish)
- pretty bed to sleep in
- and dad

Love it.

A common theme in her prayers is gratitude for playing at the playground - and for dad to come home safely. Such a darling.

Joshua - My Wiggly Baby

Joshua is 6 months old. He is so wiggly. He 's a busy, busy boy - pretty much moves all the time.

This little guy is packed FULL of energy. Wish he could share some of it with me!

For the record: I love, love, love him! He is so sweet, and cuddly, and happy, and fun.

Praise Wave at Sea World

The last weekend of April, Sea World hosted a concert called Praise Wave.

This was a series of about 10 concerts performed throughout the day by various Christian bands. I thought this would be a great event for Gabriel, Katrina, and Abagail since they were familiar with many of the bands playing. Plus - concerts are fun -

We spent 1/2 the day playing at the park. Joshua did tag along so I was on the sidelines watching the kids have all the fun. It was rather strange to be there with no younger children to corral. At first it was even a bit boring and I wished I had brought my *gasp* homework to study. That didn't last long though. I decided I would do my own thing while the kids did rides and Josh slept. Stuff my eyes couldn't do while they were darting around after lively little ones - like check out the plants, sit and relax, watch a behind-the-scenes type show. I just took my time and did what I wanted...it was kind of nice.

The lines early in the morning were almost non-existent so the kids got to ride the few rides quickly and then head to the water park. By this time they were all wanting me to ride the slides with them. So - they took turns watching Josh while I did the water slides with them. We had a blast!


"Before" - be sure to scroll down to see the "After" photo! :)

(Don't they look sooo excited?)

Around 3 p.m. we headed over to the concerts. This was our line-up:

- Rapture Ruckus

- Bebo Norman

- Chris August

- Francesca Battistelli

- Kutless

- Newsboys

Two of the bands we watched. The favorites were Rapture Rukus, Francesca and Newsboys.

I love the bottom middle photo - Abagail is showing Josh what the noise is all about.

About the time Francesca started playing it was a bit loud for Joshua - with Kutless we had to totally leave the amphitheatre. So Josh and I spent the remainder of the concert across the "road" on a nice grassy place where it was still loud but at least we weren't vibrating. Abagail and Katrina joined us for awhile. Gabriel - however - spent the entire last three acts up at the front by the stage - rocking out. By the time the Newsboys played I convinced Katrina and Abagail to join Gabriel. See the following photo to see what they thought of the day after the concerts...

"After" - Think they liked it???

I was informed before we even left the park that we would be doing this again. I've got to admit - the final song for Newsboys was pretty amazing. The drummer was on a circular platform, it was lifted way up into the air, tipped almost completely forward (perpendicular to stage), and spun around in circles like a ferris wheel - with the drummer playing all the time. Add the light show and rockin' music and it made for one very cool ending!

The kids and I heading home after an awesome day playing together!

Happy Easter!

I know it is a little shocking for me to do a post in such a timely manner. It is not because I am turning over a new leaf and will be on top of blogging now...it's because I do not feel like making dinner so I am procrastinating.

Be that as it may...here is a glimpse into our Easter fun...


Oliver was so nice to teach Amelia how to color her eggs. They were soooo careful too.


Showing off their finished masterpieces.


Easter basket treasures.

My kids lament that they only get the amount of candy that they do. "Normal families" get waaaay more than they do - according to them. However, in reality they should count themselves lucky. They get waaaay more than I or dad think they should get. If they ever learn to not inhale each piece within the first 5 minutes of getting the candy they may one day get more to enjoy....slowly. We have also heard them complain about the "stuff" their hidden eggs are filled with - fruit snacks and crackers - again, not like the candy "normal families" get.

Poor, poor kids.


The hunt is on.

Story time with Dad.