Goodbye...for now...

On Wednesday we had our final play date with good friends Julie, Maura, and Tristen. They are moving to Georgia on Saturday for a one year activation of her husband, Brent. We will miss them so much. Julie asked us to come over in the midst of her chaos to have them play one last time. This will explain all of the boxes in the coming photos.

Here are the girls holding hands to take a photo. Believe me, this does not happen often. They are usually running everywhere, playing together for just a few minutes before going back off to play on their own. We know this will change as they grow.




I had to include this photo for two reasons. Check out Sarah playing teacher/explainer to Lily. I am not sure what the conversation was, but she thinks of herself as the "big girl" and tries to teach her friends how to do everything from pee pee on the potty to pulling up underwear, etc. She cracks me up (she is only two and three months older than the other girls)! Also, check out the photographs on the right. My friend, Brandy and sister-in-law, Ashley, took these for Julie. Don't they look great?

Here is the famous "jumpoleener." Sarah talks about this daily, and when I explained Maura was moving, she asked, "is she taking the jumpoleener to Georgia?" We are not sure where she came up with this name, but it sure is cute! I love this age!

Here is Julie with her newest addition to the family, Tristen. He is growing so fast! She is shrinking equally as fast, thanks to Weight Watchers. I admire her commitment.

Here is a rare photo of the girls playing together. They have recently become interested in "playing house." It is nice to seeing them playing with one another and cooperating
Things got quiet for a few minutes... which usually means trouble. Maura slipped into mommy's room and found her new bra! We had to take photos. Julie is such a good sport, she posted the photo on her own blog.

I am sure this is a typical experience for Julie, but I thought I would highlight her day to day experience of a newborn and a toddler. Mom's should receive combat pay for their efforts! She handles it with ease.
Sarah and Maura's last goodbye for a while.

Moms saying goodbye as well.

The Three Amigos

This picture turned out great! I plan to develop this so Sarah can put it in her room to remember her friends when she prays for them at night. Thank you God for giving us such good neighbors! We can't wait for the Allen's return.

Rainy Day Fun

Well, summer is winding down and I am preparing my new classroom for the new school year. Sarah will also be preparing to go to daycare with a lady from church. We picked out a new mat and backpack just the other day. She is so excited about being a "big girl" and getting to go to "school." Let's hope the enthusiasm lasts once the drop-offs begin. One of the projects we have been working on this summer is organization of the house. We had two gigantic yard sales in July and got rid of so much junk. (I guess this is in the eye of the beholder; it is amazing what people will pay you for odds, ends, and trinkets). After the sale, we have organized closets and we began work on organizing the garage.



One of my goals (thanks to inspiration from Jon and Kate plus 8 on TLC) is to create a play area in the garage for Sarah as the months turn colder. I have been working on this project this week. These are photos from a rainy day of play Sarah had while I was working on the shelves.





Sarah had a great time playing in the rain one morning this week. She spent 10 minutes looking for the "hambrella," And the rest of the time splashing in the water singing "rain rain go away, the old man is snoring". Isn't that cute???


I will miss our summer fun so much. Most people are ready for cold weather to set in by fall. I am not one of those people. I regularly beg Chris during the winter to consider a move to Florida.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Well, here it is folks. Many have said over time that Sarah looks more like me, but I didn't believe them. Now we have "proof". Feel free to try the Look-alike Meter with your family.

Grandparent's visit

My mom and dad came up this weekend to see my brother Jason off to China for a business trip. Mom decided to stay for three extra days to keep Sarah while I worked on my classroom. Here are some of the highlights of her stay.

Dad, Mom and I were attempting to go shopping on Sunday before Dad had to return home. We never made it to Lexington. We were stopped on the interstate due to a motorcycle accident for over an hour! We passed the time talking and listening to Dave Ramsey on the radio.

Mom passed her time in a different way. zzzzzzzz........

After one hour and fifteen minutes, we finally whipped around (illegally) and came home. Dad had to leave and believe it or not, he was caught for another hour on the Mountain Parkway due to another motorcycle accident. (Remind me never to buy a Harley!)



One evening we decided to visit Ashley at her home. Sarah found a "surf board" at the dollar store and has been pretending to be at the beach ever since. I love this pretend stage, it is so fun!

Mom took a walk to the pond behind Jason's house.

Sarah quickly decided to join her to feed the fish.

She just loves the water.

Next she and ashley threw balls to one another (sort of). Mostly Sarah just tossed them into the air and chased them where they landed.

Finally, it was time to meet Dad on at the rest stop on the Parkway to pick mom up and take her home. We picked up some Wendy's for him to eat after work.

Sarah was showing Papaw her "goofy woofy dance". She is a hoot!

Dad walked her around the rest stop for a few minutes.

Sarah found a moment to "rest and read the paper" before going home.

She had a great time with the grandparents. She looks forward to going to their house to visit soon.

Summer fun

Sarah and I have been very lucky to be able to spend a lot of time at home this summer (being a teacher is very challenging but does have its perks). We have been fortunate to have a lot of visitors coming over to visit or play. On this particular day, we had two visits. Papaw Coleman came down the street to help mow the front yard and later Brandy brought the kids over to play. So I guess you could call this a typical summer day in the Coleman household.

This is a photo of our home. As I was snapping this photo, I realized two things. One, I can't remember ever taking a photo of our house from this vantage point and two, our tree has gotten gigantic!

Sarah was so excited to see her Papaw Coleman! She had to check out his ride for herself.

He then decided to take her for a spin around the house.

You couldn't wipe the smile off her face!

Here is Cohen exploring my rolling crate. Yee Haw!
Caden began trying on crowns which led to...
Caden and Sarah decided to play dress up. Sarah kept running around the house saying "Where's my prince?"
Brandy says we will be showing these at the wedding rehearsal someday!

We loooooove summer and hate to see it end soon.

Fun in Midway

We have a favorite family restaraunt...Darlin' Jeans Apple Cobbler Cafe in Midway. Doesn't it have a nice ring to it? Chris and Sarah love their pizza and I love just about everything on the menu. We take any family or friends that will go with us, just for an excuse to go! I thought I would let you all in on this great little secret (but don't tell too many people, otherwise it will get too busy). Here are a few photos of our previous trips.

Here is aunt Amy joining us on one extremely hot afternoon.

Recently we invited our friends Julie and Maura for their first visit to the place.

Just outside the restaurant, there is an old railcar. We always go inspect it after eating. On this occassion, we were joined by Brandy, David, Caden, and Cohen, as well as Julie and Maura.

It was nearly impossible to get all the preschoolers to pose for a photo.

Sarah and Maura hugging... I just can't believe they will be moving away in early August. :>(
Sarah has recently become obsessed with Caden. She wants to do everything he does and follows him around like a little ducky! (Thanks to Julie for some of these photos).
When I was a kid, my brother and I walked the railroad tracks in front of our home almost daily during the summer. This walk reminds me of those days...
Our little girl is growing up. She looks so big in this photo with her big girl backpack. We have quickly realized that a potty trained child is so much easier in terms of packing for outings. I won't miss those diaper bags at all! We love visiting Midway, not just for the food, but the atmosphere as well. We always have the best time there.

Trip to the Louisville Zoo

This year, Chris opted for a two week vacation during the month of June. We spent the first week working on the house, and the second week traveling (as you have already seen in earlier blogs). We worked ourselves silly during the week, and decided to take one day off for a road trip to the Louisville Zoo. We had a great time this visit. Sarah is so much easier this year due to her ability to walk (most of the time) and her ability to focus on the animals for longer periods of time. It is amazing to me to see how much she has changed since last fall. (Her first long term memory occurred last September when we visited this zoo). She still loves animals just as much as she did then.

** Note** As is the custom with the Coleman family, we forgot our digital camera on this visit and had to stop by the Rite Aid to pick up a disposable one. Sorry some of the photos are a little fuzzy...**






This was Sarah's favorite animal during this visit. You can tell from her expressions below....



Sarah was very content staying with the giraffe as long as we could.



Another highlight of the trip was the train ride. Sarah generally talks about the train long after our trips to the zoo and this one was no exception.

Unfortunately for Chris's back and neck, he spent a lot of the day walking around like this. This seemed to be Sarah's favorite vantage point for most animals.

We ended our trip with a ride on the carousel. This has become one of Sarah's favorite rides of late.

We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back! Summer is definitely our favorite time of year.