My little turkey!

Sarah has had many firsts this year and this weekend was no exception. Sarah's preschool had their annual family Thanksgiving dinner and show and she participated in her first play on stage in front of an adoring crowd. I'll bet most of you are thinking "she will be right at home on the stage, she is such a ham". Not even close. Before I get ahead of myself, I will show you photos as the night unfolded.

This is Allie. She is a little girl that goes to the same daycare as Sarah. She also attends preschool with Sarah. She is truly one of the sweetest children I have ever met!

I can safely say that this is Sarah's first best friend. Chris says that Allie is patiently waiting for Sarah at the door of Mrs. Joan's house every morning when he drops her off. Then they spend a few minutes screaming, dancing, and hugging one another until he leaves. Here is proof of their undying friendship.

We feel so blessed to have this little girl in Sarah's life. It is so gut wrenching as a Mom to drop off your children for an entire day, leaving their safety and happiness in the hands of others. We are so thankful to have a great caregiver like Mrs. Joan and wonderful friends like Allie to make our absence less of an issue.

Now, it is almost show time. Sarah's class will be turkeys for the play that is about to begin.

As you can see, Sarah is pretty excited about the night at this point. But emotions are about to change...

I moved my way into the auditorium to hear Mrs. Sabrina welcome all of the parents to the play and dinner.

They began with the ABC's of Thanksgiving.

Sarah is bringing up the rear.

Her terror is evident from the moment she walked out. She was so scared that the tears were welling up, but no sound came out. She did not move unless someone touched her.



Here is a grainy video taken from my digital camera. The teachers tried to calm her, but it wasn't working.




She did tough it out for a few minutes, but her fears got the best of her when her eyes met mine (I knew it was over). She said in a shaky voice "I want my Mommy". She came off the stage and into my lap. I tried to coax her back on stage to no avail. She said "It is so big". I was torn between telling her everything was fine, "just stay with me" and "get back on that stage". I decided to compromise. I told her that if she would walk back up on stage, I would squat down behind her. She lit up!

As you can see, I did climb on stage and sat right down behind her. She finished the play with a smile on her face! I hope this was a wise Mom moment. It made sense at the time. We shall see when the next play comes along...

Here is the end of the play. She let me go back to the front row for a photo. Check out the relief on her face. She danced off the stage saying "It's over, it's over!" I guess we don't have a budding Britney Spears on our hands (thank goodness).

Afterwards, the congregation provided the preschool families a delicious Thanksgiving feast. There are so many amazing families at North Lexington that give of great amounts of time and effort for God and friends.

We were lucky to have Amy and Mamaw Coleman in attendance. They seem to have had a great time as well.


This is Zoe, another little girl who attends Joan's daycare.

I had to include these last photos. This is Noah (or as Sarah refers to him "Baby Nono") . He is Allies little brother and Sarah's favorite little man. He is so sweet but mischevious. Here he found a nice tennis ball to play with. The only problem was, it was attached to a lady's walker!

He quickly became her sidekick all around the building until Mom drug him away from his new toy. "Shucks".

All in all, it was a fun night with friends and family. Sarah fought her fears and went home feeling successful. I cannot ask for more.

Until next time,

Movin, groovin', singin', and goofin' around

Due to the cold weather, we are spending much more time at home trying to have fun in spite of being stuck indoors. One thing that has captured Sarah's attention is YouTube. We have found a multitude of videos featuring the chicken dance, Cha Cha Slide, and the Banana Boat Song. Sarah is all too happy to dance and sing for hours as long as I play the right tune. Brandy, Caden, and Cohen came by recently for a visit, and were treated to one of these dance sessions. You can see what transpired below.




I loved Cohen in this one. Look at Sarah's cha cha moves. I am so proud!



This video was taken in a pizza place near church. When I work on Wednesdays, it just doesn't make sense to drive all the way home, only to turn right back around and drive to Lexington. The result is that we must keep ourselves occupied from 5:00 until 7:00. On this night, we hung out at the pizza place talking. When Sarah got bored, we gave her our cell phone and hilarity ensued! This went on for at least 10 minutes. She called all the Clifford characters, as well as Aunt Ashley.




Here is Sarah's attempt at a holiday greeting. She heard Dora sing this song on one of her Christmas DVDs. She asked for a microphone when she heard it on a Veggietales CD. Here is the result.
I have a ball just watching my musical toddler. I am so glad I have a buddy who likes music as much as myself!

Vacationing in the Mountains

Greetings all,

Chris and I decided to spend the last weekend shopping for Christmas presents before the Christmas rush. We thought the best way to accomplish this task was to ask my Mom and Dad if Sarah could come for another "vacation in the mountains." She was so excited, she began packing right away. We made the mistake of telling her a little too soon. She asked us every morning last week if "today is the day we go to the mountains." We also decided to take a little vacation to the Smokies. It was a great time to rest and rejuvenate ourselves and we are so glad we had the chance to reconnect for a few days just the two of us.


Let's start with a few photos from Sarah's trip courtesy of her Papaw. She went home with Mamaw on Friday morning. We met halfway home on the Mountain Parkway. She was so excited, she skipped her nap completely that day. Mom said she rolled in the leaves, chased their cat, and decorated a mini-Christmas tree, all before my dad came home from work! The next day, they treated her to her very first Circus which had coincidentally come to their town.!





These photos are a little grainy. They were sent to me via e-mail. She had a great time watching the animals. I hear the elephants were her favorite.

The circus was held at the local convention center. It is relatively new. Sarah got to visit it even before I have!

It looks like a blast! I am glad Sarah got to visit her first circus with the grandparents. I am sure they will have many special memories.

It is quite obvious that the "circus tent" theme rubbed off at home as well. Apparently this tent remained up in the living room for naps and playtime. No wonder she would not talk to me when I called on the phone. All I heard was "No, No, No, I am staying with Papaw!" Apparently she thought that I was calling to say it was time to come home! Boy, they grow up fast.

Now for our weekend vacation.
We drove straight to the Smokey's from the Mountain Parkway. We reserved a one bedroom cabin complete with a pool table and hot tub for our weekend getaway. We spent the entire first day there shopping and eating!

Here is Chris preparing to dine at the famous Apple Barn. He loves apple pie more than anyone I have ever met! Look how happy his is in this little "piece of heaven." We ended up there twice, once for dinner, and once for apple pie and ice cream! (I am more of a chocolate fan myself, but I obliged him this time).

This was our cabin. Believe it or not, the name on the address was "Hanky-Panky." Do you know how embarrassing it is to ask the lady at the front desk for the keys to our cabin and she utters the words "OK, so I see you will be staying in our Hanky-Panky cabin"? It was a nice place except for one important component. The bed. It was shaped more like a taco than a bed. Chris spent the second night on the couch! Oh well, the Coleman karma continues...

This was the downstairs of the cabin. It had a kitchen, dining room, living room with a fireplace, bathroom and bedroom downstairs. It also had a loft area with a pool table and Play Station 2! I became addicted to a game called "Columns" while there. It is sort of like Tetris. This was an obsession of mine when I was a kid. I guess being childless for a weekend brought out the kid in me. Chris had to make me stop playing at 11:30 one night so we could go to bed!

The last night there we watched the weather report just before bed. It called for snow in the upper elevations of Gatlinburg. We really dismissed it because we didn't think we were really up all that high based upon our view. We woke up to snow! We were a little concerned about the trip off the narrow and winding mountain roads in our car (we didn't think to take the Escape), but it all worked out. The scariest part was driving behind people from Indiana and Florida who are not used to mountain driving! In the mountains, proactive driving is key to not getting stuck on slick roads.

As you can see, the roads were narrow, but not that slick. The slickest part was the wet leaves!

On our way home, I noticed a spot where you could see snow capped mountains. I thought this was a beautiful photo. You don't often see fall colors juxtaposed with snow capped mountains. It seems like winter is moving in early this year!

We had a great weekend. I got the vast majority of my presents for Christmas and they are wrapped and ready to go! We rested, reconnected, and got ourselves ready for the winter rush! We have a busy month ahead, Thanksgiving, Sarah's birthday, my finals, and Christmas! Whew! I glad we rested up!

The "Coldman" I mean Coleman Family Weekend

Hey gang,
I am sorry that the blogs have been few and far between recently. Honestly, mid October-mid November has been one big blur of snot, sneezing, coughing, blisters, and general grossness. This week our lucky cold contestant is none other than Chris Coleman! He has coughed, sneezed and slept the weekend away. We Coleman's typically have about one month per year that is generally yucky and I guess this is the month. As a result, we have spent a great deal of time hanging around the house. This is great for resting up, but it is not so photo worthy. But I will share the few photos we have taken in the past couple of days.
How would you like to be cleaning house, round a corner and see this coming your way? Sarah collected some decorations that I had taken in from our front porch and decided to give me a little scare. She was very successful as you can see. (I am even spooked out just looking at this photo. I can't believe this is our little girl).

When we can't go far, we visit our local library. I snuck a quick photo of Sarah reading along with a book while characters read the story to her. She loooves books so much!

This is the machine that she is transfixed upon. Our library really is fantastic! It is so kid friendly. I am sometimes jealous of how much better kids have it today in the education arena.


We did, however, find time this weekend to drag ourselves out of the house to watch the Movie Madagascar 2 with Aunt Amy(even my sick husband came along). Sarah loves the first movie (especially the song and dance parts) and could not wait for the next installment. Below is Sarah posing with her favorite characters.

This was the first movie that Sarah truly enjoyed the whole way through in the theater. I am so happy that we can now begin to go movie watching as a family. Chris and I used to be movie buffs in our former life (PK or pre- kids).

Amy, as always, is such a good sport. I think the adults enjoyed the movie as much as the kids! It really was a great sequel.

I had to include the video taken just after the movie. Sarah is singing the theme song and interacting with the movie characters inside the lobby.

Perhaps future blog posts will present you with a healthy and happy family. This post proves that we do manage to find fun even in the sickest of moments.

Until next time,

Trick or Treat!

On Friday, we were joined by our friends/family (or kinda both) Caden and Cohen for a night of ghouls, goblins, and trick or treating fun. It was a feat for me to get home from work, get dinner and get Sarah dressed so Brandy brought over some pizza for everyone to scarf down before it was time to leave. Unfortunately I am STILL SICK! I have not been well for the last three weeks. The illness keeps changing and I am being worn down more each day. I have a sinus infection that has left me with a fever, headache and an overall crabby feeling all over! I saw the doctor right after school and was given a Zpack. I am still waiting to feel completely better, but this is another story for another day... Back to the Trick or Treating...

Sarah is going as Casper the friendly ghost and Caden is Darth Vader (or Darth Mader as Sarah calls him)



Chris and his mom opted to stay behind and give out candy for the other neighborhood kids.

Although we never got a good threesome photo, we did snatch a quick one of Cohen, the world's smallest giraffe!

Caden and Sarah are dressed and ready for some candy!

Brandy and David Cohen and Caden joined Amy, Sarah and myself on our walk around the neighborhood.

Our first customers were our neighbors from a couple of doors down.

Our neighbor Conner is just 6 weeks older than Sarah. Now, off we go!

Cohen was so cute, he would go and sit down with complete strangers and put his hand in the bucket of candy, stealing what he wanted!

This baby was just too cute to pass up, so I asked for a photo.

I especially liked the blow up outfits. The chicken was especially cute. Sarah said it looked like the big red chicken from Dora the Explorer.

This little guy wins the award for most creative costume. He's a voting machine!

Amy the pumpkin was certainly in the Halloween spirit! We are so grateful to have her with us tonight as she is on most weekends. Sarah loves her so much!

This house won the award for scariest house in the neighborhood. They had upwards of ten people dressed up. One jumped out of a coffin! They had a mummy, fog machines, a chop house (don't ask, we had to divert the young kids eyes from this one).

Here is the mummy from the front of their house. It lit up and spoke as you walked by for candy.

At the end of the night, the three kids collapsed on our Dora couch watching cartoons and eating candy. They were in heaven! (at least until the show went off and then, back to feuding over toys). Another successful holiday is in the books!

Till next time.

The Return of old Friends

It has been over three months since we have had a chance to visit with our friends Julie, Maura, and Tristan. They moved for a temporary military assignment to Georgia around the first of August. They came up for a Halloween visit with family and friends this week. Julie invited us to her mom's home for a much needed play date for the "three amigos" (Sarah, Lily, and Maura). Here are some photos from our visit.

Maura sure has grown in the last few months.

The Bridge family's gentle dog, Mollie is a great playmate for small children. I only wish our crazy dogs would act a little more like her!

Sarah had a blast playing with Maura's cat, Thea as well.


Shortly after we arrived. Tristan (aka little Man) woke up to join the party.




Sarah has been so enamored with Tristan since he was a newborn. Today was no exception. She spent quite a while doting on him as well as giving him hugs!

Here is Sarah sharing a moment with her favorite baby. We are now back to every baby and baby doll she sees being named Tristan!

The girls had a blast jumping on the sectional in the basement. It was a perfect play place for our little jumping beans!

He has grown so much since we saw him last. At 5 months, he weighs 19 pounds. Sarah weighed this at 12 months!

We were able to stay for lunch and then this Little Man needed his Mommy to put him to bed. We packed up and said goodbye.

As we were making our way to our cars at the end of the play date, Sarah and Maura spotted a perfect spot for Ring around the Rosie.



My dream is to someday have a lot such as this for kids to play. Maura's mothers home was beautiful!



Lily and Dawn saying goodbye as well.

We know these play dates will be few and far between. We hope to make the best of Julie's rare visits between now and next summer. Then the trio will be reunited for more adventures!

Till next time,