Memories

Click the speaker button in the top left hand corner (next to the word "slide) for sound.

Tap Dance Sensation

About a month ago, I bought Sarah some tap shoes from a local consignment sale. It has taken her a while to get used to wearing them (she slid around a lot). Now she has found her inspiration. She got to see a real tap dancer on television and she was hooked.


Notice the socks. She insisted on one pink and one purple to go with the outfit.



This is such a fun age!

Family gathering in the mountains

The Coleman trio spent this weekend in Pike County visiting the grandparents. We chose this weekend to help out with a "family workday" at my cousin Melody's house that is currently under construction.



The day started off with a bang when Sarah and Mamaw broke out their best dance moves before breakfast was even ready!

Melody's dad JB is giving her a wonderful gift. He comes up weekly and works little by little on a home for her and her husband Shannon and daughters Jessie and Tasha. Here are some photos of the outside of the house. He has done a fantastic job (don't you think?)

This is my cousin Melody in her current home just behind the construction site. She is able to oversee the action from her front porch.

This is her daughter Jesse on the right and her friend Nikki or "Noodle" as they like to call her. I had a great time catching up with Melody and the girls. I miss getting to see them more often.
This is Melody's dad, JB (or at least, his back). He is the builder/foreman for the project.

The men of the family primarily did the bulk of the work, and the women discussed paint colors and made lunch for the crew. We decided to keep Sarah home with Mamaw and Papaw until lunchtime. This allowed Daddy and the others a little more concentration time. They primarily put flooring down in the living room. They also did some painting.

Melody chose a sage green in the great room. It looks really great with the flooring. My brother Jason also took a little time out to help with the effort.

My cousin Matt brought his oldest son Gabe to help in the work effort. He did a great job.

Matt opted to keep his three year old, Drake at the grandparents for the same reason we kept Sarah off site. Toddlers and power tools don't mix! Drake did come to join in the fun just in time for lunch.

Mamaw and Papaw also brought Sarah up at around lunchtime to see the family again. She really doesn't remember the last time she saw her cousins. They live in northern Kentucky and it isn't often we both make the trip home at the same time. It has been almost a year! We tried to get the threesome to take a photo but, as usual, we just couldn't get all the kids to focus on the camera at the same time. (Ugh!!!) *Note* Drake (the little guy in orange) is 4 months older than Sarah. Can you believe the difference in size?

This is my father's sister, Nancy. She came over and provided a lot of the lunch for the hungry workers.

Sarah managed to make fast friends with Jesse. She loves older girls (especially those who will play jumping games!)
The gang managed to finish painting the kitchen and great room and flooring 90 percent of these two rooms by around 3:00 pm before calling it a day. Melody hopes to get into the house in time for Thanksgiving. We hope to be able to come in again and give her some more manpower/womanpower" to help this become a reality.Afterward, Mom and I drove home for Sarah's nap (this was futile due to the fact that she slept for ten minutes in the car and never settled back to sleep once I transferred her to her bed.)

After her "nap" Sarah Mom and I went to the Open Fork Playground (this is at the mouth of the hollow where Chris lived during high school). Sarah loved tow of the seesaw rides (she made a friend there pretty quickly).

She also loved the swinging gate. I think this is the first time she has ever seen one of these.

I was very proud of Sarah for conquering the biggest slide at the playground. This is out of character for her.


As if all the daytime action weren't enough, we came home to Papaw and Jason filthy from fourwheeling for most of the afternoon. She just had to take one spin around the house before they parked them for the night. As usual, we have many great memories from this weekend in the mountains.

Staycation 2008

Since school has started, our summer travel plans have gone by the wayside. We decided it would be fun to have a "staycation" this afternoon and go places in the area that we have never visited as well as some of our favorites. We started with dinner at Puchinnis italian place (which was just so so) and then decided to go to the UK Arboretum. We have walked the outskirts many times as college students, but never took the time to stroll through the grounds. We are sure glad we did today. It was beautiful!

These are just a few of the gorgeous sights from the place.

Sarah had a blast playing in the fountains.

We desparately tried to take photos of us, but she was in no mood. This was the best we could get.




There were many beautiful structures on the grounds that other "legitimate" photographers were using for backdrops for engagement photos, etc.

My luck as a photographer finally changed when Sarah heard "Little Einstieins music" being played in the distance. There was some sort of reception taking place and a small orchestra was in the background. These were by far the best photos of the day.
She loves music!She couldn't stop smiling at the sounds.

Here are the musicians that were entertaining us. We had our own private concert!

Here is the foursome playing in the entry to the Arboretum. I love this song.

The Arboretum also has some cool art!

We found a beautiful pond to sit beside for a while.

Sarah decided to take a break at this point.

As we were leaving, we noticed some hollowed out tree trunks by the parking lot. Sarah made some friends and she did not want to leave.This is a beautiful place, we will definitely return soon.

Finally, we decided to end our Staycation with an old standby: Joseph-Beth Bookstore!
Sarah loves to play in the children's area, but I think she loves the "elevator" (which is really an escalator) most of all. She must ride it multiple times before we leave every time we are there.

We also took her out on the patio in front of the bookstore to feed the fish and ducks.

She made some more fast friends.

What a great afternoon and we only spent money on dinner!

Jason's 30th Birthday

August 14th has come and gone. We had a three day birthday extravaganza for my brother Jason's 30th birthday this year. The culminating night was a surprise party.

Mom and Dad were in town early in the week for doctor appointments and decided to stay and celebrate at the Cracker Barrel.

Check out my sister-in-law's muscles.

The whole family decided to take time to rock on the porch after dinner.


The next day, I had a birthday dinner for him at our house. We also invited David, Brandy, Caden, and Cohen to celebrate. Brandy decided this would be the best way to throw him off the surprise party if we went ahead and gave him his presents.

Sarah quickly saw that no toys were being opened and opted for a game of dress up.


Day 3 (Friday) we met at Jason's house before he got home from work. The gang parked on other streets so he would suspect nothing.

Here is Chris and Sarah waiting paitently for uncle Jason.

Abby and Phoebe joined in the fun.

The kids were so excited, we worried he would hear the horns before he even came in the door, so, we encouraged them to wait for the cue on the staircase. It seemed to work for the most part.

I tried to film Jason's entry but, wouldn't you know it, the camera memory said full seconds before the door opened. The still shot will have to do.

He took it in stride and didn't seem to mind the gag gifts too much.

He had a large crowd show for the occassion.

Most of the people there were either family or church family. He did have his college roomate drop in for a few minutes as well. It was a great time of Italian food and laughter.

Happy 30th Jason!

School Begins

Ready or not, here they come! School began this Wednesday at LHS. I had a pretty good day. I am absolutely loving having a room again this year! I worked on it through July and early August. Many folks have been wanting to come and take a look at the finished product, so I thought it would be easier to take photos and share with everyone.

This is the view from the doorway. The person in the photo is Mike, my "roomate" in room 240. He floats on the days I work, and it is his room on the alternate days.

I decided to use real photos and documents rather than the generic teacher "stuff" you find at parent teacher stores. I am pleased with the result.


I created one bulletin board that will be devoted to the election, and one that will be for news and placards of current units in history we will discussing. Notice the framed Ronald Reagan photo on the bookshelf? This was my grandfather's. It really hung in his living room! Close ups are found below.



Notice the flags stapled to the ceiling. This was no easy feat!

I found a great deal of placards and framed portraits of past presidents in file cabinets left by a man who retired last year. I am so glad he left these for me! They really add to the "history vibe" in the room.

I also made sure to have photos of "the king" Elvis Presley around. Mom says I was obsessed with his music as a toddler. .

I am pretty pleased with the results. What do you think? Leave me a comment if you have any other suggestions for the room.
Now for the hard part: getting eleventh graders to love history!