Nothing like spring and horses in KY....

This was a busy and oh so fun weekend for the Coleman's. It is finally spring! I have enjoyed the 65 plus temperatures for the past few days. I really think it lifts every one's spirits to be able to come out of the winter cocoons we call houses, and begin to interact with the world again. Chris spent the morning working in the backyard (which, thanks to Katie, is beyond repair). I lifted the windows and happily poked around the house cleaning. Cleaning is not nearly as dreadful when you have warmth and sunlight in each room you enter. Sarah had lots of fun playing with her outdoor toys which have been off limits for so many months.
This evening we went to Maura's third birthday party. What a perfect weekend for a semi-outdoor party! The theme was "horses" and she held the party at her grandparent's house which is beautifully situated on 5 acres nearby our home. I love to visit their home...I stand outside looking at the countryside and pretend just for a moment, that I am looking off my back porch. I guarantee my blood pressure drops every time I visit. Oh well... back to reality...
Maura had a fantastic party! I will give you the "low down" in the photos that follow.

Lily arrived just after us. She is really growing up!

Sarah quickly jumped into a horse costume.


The birthday cake. My friends are all so crafty, my efforts pale in comparison. This is why I go to places like Amerisport gymnastics... I can't compete so, I just let someone else do the work!



Look at the cute stable they created for the occasion.

Here is Julie and "baby Tristan" as Sarah likes to call him. I don't think he is going to be a baby for much longer. He is so cute!

Let the games begin! Sarah brought her stick horse to the party. There was a highly competitive but highly chaotic game of horse racing in the backyard.

stick horse race from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Don't worry, everyone got blue ribbons!

Sarah was so proud of her efforts.

As was Lily.

I had a rare photo of Chris and I taken while we had the chance. Notice the blue... we are very "blue" about our beloved Wildcats dismal season.

Sarah got to hop on a real saddle. The funny part was that she couldn't understand what it was and kept saying "It doesn't have a head!"


Julie hid prizes in the hay and let the madness ensue! I think the kids liked this game the best.

Finally, the moment Sarah had been talking about all week. Smokey Joe came out of the barn to greet the kids. Here is Liam saying hello.

Maura wasn't nearly as interested in the horse (since she sees him often). She spent her time on the tractor.

Sarah loves animals. this is the closest she has been to a horse. She even fed him!

Sarah and Smokey Joe from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Seventy degree days fade quickly when the sun goes down. On go the coats.

We talked Amy into joining in the fun. Sarah calls her "my Amy". I am so glad they have that special bond. Amy loves birthday parties as much as the kids!

Time to sing for the birthday girl!

All the games and fun tired out these three year olds. Great memories for Maura and all of the kids were made today!

On a completely unrelated note, let me give you the quote of the day from Sarah "wise beyond her years" Coleman. "Let me tell you something Mom, it's not complicated for you". Enough said.

Have a great week!

Not enough time in the day!

Hey readers. Sorry I have been so absent in past weeks. I am quickly finding out that two jobs aren't for me! I have 15 more observations to do for UK before April 1st. Please pray for me! I cannot wait until I am back to just teaching and being a wife and mommy. I have photos and videos to show, but no time to blog about them these days. I will simply crunch a bunch of photos of a variety of February events into one big blog to save myself time.

I am so glad that March has arrived! I celebrated my birthday on March 1st this year (thanks to that elusive Leap day which escapes me three out of four years). I found that, for the first time, I really did not want to celebrate my birthday. I guess I have officially hit "old age" (I know my mom is chuckling as she reads that). I am more excited to see the end of the dismal winter season here in Kentucky. We have had below average temperatures here all winter. We even saw a 10 degree night on Monday night! Luckily this is all about to change. We will even hit 60 degrees by this weekend! This is just in time for Marua's birthday party, which we are excited to attend.
The past month was busy with many birthday parties. Sarah was invited to four parties last month (not counting my birthday)! Amy was nice enough to take Sarah to one and I managed to attend another with her. . Sarah had a great time at Avery's birthday party with many of her friends from church and preschool. I am sorry the photos are not great...I couldn't keep anyone still long enough for a good shot. I guess this is a mark of a great party!

This is Avery's cake. Her mom, Donia, is so crafty. She made this herself! She is also starting up a invitation and program creation business called the Blu Sash. Check her out at http://www.theblusash.com/. She is quite creative and has done work for church, birthdays, and weddings.

Here is one of the few photos I caught of Sarah. The kids spent the who time running along the "yellow brick road". Avery had a Wizard of Oz party and it was so cute.

Nico took a break under the table to escape the chaos for a moment.

Sarah decided that under the table was the place to be as well.

As you can see, watching the birthday girl open presents wasn't a priority for most of these three year olds!

Doesn't Avery look cute as Dorothy?
Here is a wide shot of the event. Thanks for a great party Simmons family! We love your little girl so much!

I have so few photos of Chris's mom and Dad, I thought I would include all of the ones I took this month. Sarah loves playing with her "Mamaw and Papaw from the street". They came by to visit one afternoon.

See the joy?

Mamaw and Sarah hugging.

We feel so blessed to have them living near to us now.


Now for the next of my random February post. We took a trip last Thursday to the local Mall and to my favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden. All Sarah cared about during the day was getting close to the mall play area. She is obsessed with this duck. Look at her triumphant face.

We also spotted a friend at the mall on this day. Nico! They seemed pretty ecstatic to see one another here.

More random thoughts... Sarah is obsessed with balloons. she kept this one from Avery's party. She spends hours playing with any balloon she can find. She seems to think she can blow it up bigger even though it is tied off. I wish my biggest problem of the day was trying to blow up balloons. Oh to be three again!

On my birthday weekend, we decided to drive up to Cincy to take a visit to my favorite hangout, the Cheesecake factory! We loaded up the family. (Mom went with us, Dad went with Jason and Ashley).

Sarah wanted nothing to do with photos in the car.


Mamaw was in a much better mood.
I am embarrassed to say that I took no photos of the trip other than in the car. I don't know what I was thinking!

I came to my senses and grabbed the camera at the end of the day when we stopped of at Totter Otterville in Covington. Mom, Dad, Jason and Ashley went on home.

We decided to give Sarah an hour to burn off all that energy she built up from riding in the car and shopping.

This is the view from outside Totter Otterville. I cannot wait until it is warm enough to play on the playground and let Sarah ride the train.
Inside, she immediately spotted the ball pit and slides. She was surprised when she jumped off the slide to see this gigantic elephant!
More sliding.

Here she is flying high above the crowds.

Then she moved on to the ballet room. She didn't stay here nearly as long as last time. Maybe her love of ballet is wearing thin.

She did spend a lot of time in the water area. This place is a lot like a children's museum. The best part is that adults don't have to pay!

This is another view of the outside area. They have areas to dig for "dinosaur bones." Come on spring!

It's time to say goodbye. We had an exhausting day, but plan to come back very soon.

Now, if I can just get one job out of the way, you won't be able to keep me from blogging!

Bye

Few photos, many updates

I am sorry I have not been able to update the blog much in the past months (two jobs versus one makes all the difference). It has been a cold, long winter here in the Bluegrass. I am soooo ready for Spring (I think I was saying that in the blog last November; remind me again why I live in Kentucky?). Our life has seen a lot of changes in the past months in terms of Sarah as well as our family. Sarah has turned three, naps are here there and everywhere. We as a family have been visiting different churches, meeting new and old friends, attending a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class, and working like crazy in both of our jobs. Whew! With all of this change, I love the days that I just get to stay home with my little girl. Sarah has made many new friends in the past months at church, and the teachers all say the same thing when we pick her up, "She is a hoot!" Tell me something I don't know. I have listened outside the door to hear the whiny shy Sarah (when Mom is around) turn into the life of the party! I guess I would prefer this to her whining when I leave, but it sure is draining... I am so glad she is having fun learning about God with friends.

Her latest "she did what?" moment came at a friends house last Sunday night. In front of about 20 people, Sarah made friends with a little boy, played and sang with him, and then gave him a gigantic smooch that he will likely never forget! His eyes were as big as saucers. I apologized and when I talked to her about it later, I said "Sarah, it is okay to kiss Mommy and Daddy, but boys don't want you walking up and kissing them out of the blue." Her response was, "It's okay Mommy, boys like to kiss." Ugh!!!!!! I am in for a long 15-20 years with this one. I tried to say that boys have germs and could be sick and she could get sick from kissing them, but it was to no avail (any advice out there?). I was a very shy girl when it came to boys (I said boys were "gross"), but Chris had many "girlfriends" even in Kindergarten. I guess she gets it from his side of the family. Maybe I will let him try and deal with it in the future...

Here is a video of Sarah reading her favorite book "The Polar Express". She has had a love affair with this book since last December when Ashley and Jason gave it to her for her birthday. She loves to "read" out loud, and I enjoy listening to her so much! She is especially expressive with this book. She remembers chunks of passages verbatim and other passages she summarizes or makes up a line she likes better. I hope you chuckle as much as I did watching her read. My favorite line is "it broke my heart to lose the bell of Santa's sleigh." Her accent is great! She may not grow up in the mountains, but you can't take away that mountain accent. I wonder where she gets it????


Sarah reading from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Have a great week. Pray with me for an early spring!

Happy Valentine's Day

This special Valentine ditty goes out to Sarah's family and friends that she won't be able to see in person this Valentine's Day. We love you!


Happy Valentines Day 2009 from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Ice Storm and aftermath photos

Hey everyone,
I finally posted all of my ice storm photos below. I began the post last Wednesday and finished it Saturday night. Most of the photos occurred after the Wednesday post date. Unfortunately, blogger won't let me change the date to show it as a new post. So if you are interested in seeing what happened in the bluegrass (especially those of you from other states), scroll down below my "folk singer" post to see the rest.
The weather guys says we missed getting a monster snow storm this week. Most of the time this is bad news, but I can't say I was looking forward to another week at home, so I am sorry east coast, but it's all yours. We look forward to drying out and getting back to some sense of normalcy.

Have a great week.

The Folk Singer

Last night was an interesting night at the Coleman household. We have been stuck in this house for almost 5 days, and we are all going stir crazy! I think all of the pent up energy Sarah has been saving manifested itself in an hour and a half bedtime routine. She picked up her guitar, and sang for 30 straight minutes! I chose one (of the many) video clips I got of the concert she put on for me (I think it was to keep me from putting her PJ's on, boy she is clever). She calls this "Shelly's song". It is about our dog who has been in the house more this week than in the past year, due to all of the inclement weather we have been having. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!



Sarah the folk singer from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Ice World 2009

This has been the weirdest weather week I have ever witnessed! Mother Nature has thrown every possible type of precipitation in her arsenal at us and (so far) we are living to tell the story. I was scheduled to work Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week but did not work one day! One would think that I would be excited about this turn of events, but in my 32 plus years of wisdom, I know that I would rather be home when it is 80 degrees and sunny than stuck in the house suffering from cabin fever!

My one consolation is that I am getting to spend so much quality time with my little one. She is so much more agreeable now that she has turned the "big 3" and her comedic personality is shining through. I am so amused by her current discussions of " Mommy, let me ask you a question." "Mommy what is a question? and "Was that a statement or a question?" She also loves to say "Mommy, I've got an idea....Let's pretend to be..." and a million different things pop out of her mouth. I truly love age three. I begged to teach three year olds when I worked day care and this is why. They are little adults with wants, needs, preferences, and personalities.

After this incredibly long week, I am officially tired of eating at home, and am ready to go back to a regular workweek (I cannot believe I am saying this). Here are some photos of the week.

Day 1 (Tuesday) We already had received an inch of snow from the day before (which canceled school but shouldn't have). On this day, the snow turned to ice, and later freezing rain. Here is the view from my front porch.

Out back, my bushes were suffering the effects of coating after coating of ice.




This is a beautiful tree behind my wrap around porch. One just like this bit the dust during the last ice storm in 2003. Will this one suffer the same fate?



Tuesday night, all of the snow topped with a half inch of ice made the entire neighborhood look like a beautiful skating rink. These photos do no justice to it's beauty.

On Wednesday, we were pounded with ice and then inches of snow. This is the view out back of my poor bushes.

Well, I guess this tree bit the dust just like the last one.

Our neighbors escaped some costly repairs on Shelley's Camry by moving the car to the left spot late Tuesday night.

Wednesday turned out to be a much worse day than Tuesday. With heavy snow the entire day on top of a very icy night, it was very difficult to travel. My car was encased with a skeleton of ice and its very bald tires wouldn't be moving over the deepening snow for days. Long story short, Sarah and I were home bound! Chris drove the Escape to work each day and we waited patiently for his return. For those of you who have watched the video of her folk singing, this was the kind of thing that we did to stay occupied all week.

Brandy, Caden, and Cohen came over on Thursday. Brandy lost power during the storm (as of this post it has still not returned). Notice the milk jug in the foreground? She brought food over and kept it outside so it wouldn't ruin. She is currently staying at Jason and Ashley's until power gets restored. Her entire family in western Kentucky is in a lot worse shape. They are all out of power, heat, and water, and virtually no business is open. They are traveling from town to town looking for necessities. Please pray for the families out west.

Sarah and Caden decided to use the time while Cohen was sleeping to have a little backyard snow play.

Sharing is difficult at this age (as you can see on Sarah's face). They worked things out shortly after this photo and got along fabulously the rest of the day.



On Friday, I was still out of school but couldn't get the car out of the driveway. My lovely husband offered to catch a ride to work with Jason so that those of us with cabin fever could find life outside these four walls. We went over to Mollie's house and picked her up to head to Lexington for some grocery shopping. Here is the view from Mollie's house. From destruction shines God's handiwork. I must say, I have never seen the bluegrass more beautiful than in the past few days. It feels like we are living in a crystal world. Mollie says "Everything sparkles like Edward" for those of you who are fans of the Twilight saga.

Ice and snow are dangerous but make a beautiful combination.



The blue sky, the sun and the ice just magically sparkle.

This is the view of the pond entering Mollie's subdivision.


A photographer was outside taking photos of this fence. He was kind enough to give us tips on capturing a cool photo.

This is the icy entrance to Georgetown College

The trees are so stressed, I am concerned for what damage the thaw will bring. There is such beauty in destruction.
The view leaving our subdivision.

This has been a trying week. I am conflicted, because I have enjoyed the time off with my girl, but I am anxious to get back to normalcy. I want my time off this summer! Please Superintendent Silberman, ask the state for calamity days so we don't have to make all of the snow days up this year. If winter stays on this track, we may not have a summer vacation!

Stay warm and safe,