We're still Here!

Hello all of you out in the blogosphere! I bet you are wondering if I went AWOL or decided to abandon by family blog. The answer is obviously "No!". I thought that being home would give me more time to keep the house clean and keep up with the blog, but with a three and a half year old that has all but abandoned naps, I can't seem to find the time to accomplish all of these tasks. I will have to fill you in on our month with one big blog update. Sit down and hold on!

I haven't taken a great number of photos this summer. I have done more napping than anything else if I am being honest. I am not normally a sleeper, but pregnant Angie can nap with the best of them! Fortunately, Sarah has been very tolerant of all of my pregnancy "quirks". She is happy to read me books while I snooze or sit and watch "Max and Ruby". All I need is about twenty minutes to recharge my battery for the rest of the day. We haven't gone as many places as I had planned this summer (thanks to a "fantastic" sciatic nerve pregnancy complication, I can't walk as much as I used to...). We have managed to visit friends and the mall on occasion, and Sarah is not complaining. I am the one who misses all of the travel!

Here is a photo of Chris and Sarah at a department store in Pikeville. I had to snap this because Sarah is not usually a fan of shopping, but if you put her in a room full of recliners, she is as happy as a lark! I wonder who she gets it from????

Julie (my friend with double my energy at this point in my life) decided to have a luau play date with homemade goodies, hula skirts, and island music. We were happy to go over and participate in the neighborhood fun! Here is Lily eyeing a wonderful cupcake.

The other kids were more interested in playing than eating. The slip and slide has definitely been the toy of the summer for our three year olds!

Tristan, on the other hand, will never turn down food for playtime... We had such a great time. Thanks Julie!

Although I cannot explain exactly why, this playground in the mall is one of Sarah's favorite places. When I have to hit the good old Motherhood Maternity store, or the Children's Place, there is no argument from her. I can bribe her into submission with a promise of fun on the playground. There are no slides, swings, sandboxes, etc., just foam and rubber characters on which to climb. She is in heaven!

What a mischievous pose!
I look at this photo and think back to the days when I feared bringing her here because she always got knocked around by a "big kid". Now she is the big kid!

This month, we decided to work on making Sarah more mannerly and self sufficient (before baby number 2 arrives). We opened up a handy dandy responsibility chart that I bought long ago, just waiting for the appropriate time. Sarah is expected to brush her teach, dress for bed, clean her room, say please and thank you, show others respect, and the biggie for her "stop whining". She took to this chart immediately and within 12 hours, her behavior was probably 90% better than the days and weeks before. She is such a type A personality, she is highly motivated to receive her smiley face each day for the different categories. We promised her a surprise at the end of the week if she got at least 4 smiley faces per day. We wanted to make the first surprise a great one to show her how proud we were of her efforts. She has begged to go to "Kentucky Cheese" or Chucky Cheese as most of you know it. I have never taken her before, so I decided this would be a very special first reward.
She was so proud of herself, she told everyone that week that she had a new chart and earned her reward.
Aunt Amy decided to join us in the fun.
Sarah now knows that this is Chucky, not Kentucky. So much for the cute blissful ignorance.


She also earned her reward for week number two. Her new obsession is gymnastics. Chris recorded some Olympic caliber gymnastics and let her watch. She has begged ALL DAY EVERY DAY since this point to take gymnastics classes. I am still working on finding a time that will work, but they do have an open gym each week. ($5 per hour). This satisfied her need for gymnastics and is now her weekly incentive for her responsibility chart. I found her a cute leotard at a yard sale. She felt just like the "teenage" gymnasts she watched on TV. This is a win win situation if it will keep her behavior where it has been recently.

She loves swinging into the foam pit (as always).



Her new favorite is the balance beam. This is what she wanted to watch OVER and OVER on the television.


What a grin.

I am really surprised at her interest in the beam in particular.

A great dismount!

I can't believe she is already flipping on the trampoline. For those of you who knew me in middle and high school, "Like mother like daughter".


Preschool is just about to start, our summer fun is drawing to a close.I adore getting to spend quality time with my girl (just the two of us). Pretty soon, this will be a rarity. I hope she is making lasting fond memories as well.

Slip, Slidin' (Cold) Summer Days

Busy summer days in the bluegrass. This is how I would describe this summer. School was out relatively late this year, we took a mid-June vacation, and returned for the 4th of July and the arrival of baby Alena! Whew! Our last few weeks have been spent organizing the house in preparation for the arrival of our little one this fall. It has been a slow process due to my growing belly and the arrival of the dreaded sciatic (spelling?) nerve pain. (Yuck!) We have also spent quite a few days playing with friends, celebrating birthdays and going on road trips. Here is a recap of the month's events.

Mom stayed with Ashley and Jason for a few days after Alena's arrival. Dad came to pick her up and stole some precious moments with grand baby #2.

Julie invited us over for an evening of swimming, sliding, and grilling-out. Fun times!

Tristan especially enjoyed the baked beans. Yum!

Julie also dragged out the ultimate in kid fun...A slip and slide! This is Sarah's first time with one of these. Needless to say it won't be the last!

slip and slide from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Wheeeee!

Later that week, Maura and Julie joined us for lunch at Firehouse Subs. This has become one of my favorite stops. It is adjacent to the UK campus. Aren't the hats cute?

Our goofy girls!

Next summer event: Chris's birthday.

Chris was born on July 16, 19...... (I won't out him...) He mentioned that in all of his years on this earth, he could not remember a cooler birthday. Brandy is even wearing a jacket!

Chris cleaned up the backyard and moved the playhouse into the "forest" for fun playtime.

But the kids had a better idea...turning over rocks to look for bugs and worms. I wonder who came up with this one hmm... Check out the hands on hips. Sarah is such a girl!

Cohen had other secret plans. He jumped into our pool clothes, shoes, and all. How cold it must have been! He wasn't complaining.

Jason came over to inspect the mischief.

Soon after, the pull of the water became irresistible for even the older kids. I was cold just watching them!

They weren't in long. Notice the blue lips on Caden.

Burrrr.......
Cohen was the only one who did not complain. Happy Birthday Chris!

The past week has been quite busy for the Coleman clan. I have made no less than three trips to Cincinnati in search of a mini-van as well as furniture for the toy room (I know, I am nesting). The first trip resulted in the wrong color furniture making it's way back to Kentucky. I asked my friend Julie if she and the kids wanted to make a run back up to good old Ikea for a return and exchange followed by some fun at Totter Otter ville. Julie and the kids never pass up an excuse for playtime, so they agreed! Sarah is striking a pose while she drives a baby around Totter Otter ville in a stroller.

ballet class from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Maura and Sarah sharing their very first "ballet" class.

The cutest event of the day was when the three kids decided to cook for their Mommies. It was so sweet!

Untitled from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

We also moved outside for some "fishin'" Maura was proud of her catch.

Sarah quickly moved over to excavate some "dinosaur bones".

Overall, an otherwise cumbersome trip became lots of fun thanks to good friends. By the way, the third trip to Cincinnati was a charm: we now own a mini-van! Photos to come soon.

Welcoming Alena Lynn!

She's here! After a pretty rough week of contractions that never seemed to regulate, Ashley finally went into labor on Monday morning! It was an all day event, culminating in the arrival of Alena Lynn McReynolds after 10 pm Monday night! I stayed long enough to see her arrive in the nursery after 11 pm to get a first look.

She had some fluid on her lungs (poor thing). The nurses suctioned her nose numerous times and had to use a rubber hammer type thing on her back (ouch!).

But it was all worth the effort to have a healthy baby girl to take home. Isn't she cute?

The next day, I took Sarah to meet her first ever "real" cousin. Here is video of the meeting.

Welcome Alena! from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Sarah was a trooper. She is really calm and speaks quietly to the baby. She even holds her for 20 minutes at a time. I am impressed! Isn't it interesting how females are hardwired to be drawn to babies?

The happy family (plus one little squirt).

Sarah is soooo proud to have a baby cousin!

Here is that "motherly" look in action.


Ashley is exhausted (I am sure). She is doing a great job as a new mommy.

I even took a turn with the baby. Notice Sarah remained perched right next to her the entire time we visited the hospital.

She is beautiful.

Mom moved in for a close up.

Here is the best photo I snapped of her face today. Get ready of many more photos of my first niece!

Food, Music, and Family Fun

Happy Independence Day America! This year the Coleman family decided to stay close to home to celebrate our nation with food, music and fireworks. The reason was two fold. First, we were very tired from all of our recent travelling (see earlier posts) and second, because my sister-in-law Ashley was due to deliver baby McReynolds to the world. My parents came up hoping that she would go into labor while they were here. We had a good weekend, but no baby yet. We spent part of the weekend with our "extended" family at Brandy's with her brother's family and her father who is recuperating from knee replacement surgery (ouch!). It was an interesting weekend with all the kids running around like crazy people! It was so busy I didn't get any photos. Ashley sat in the corner for most of the day being very quiet (I later found out that she was counting contractions...but this is for my next post). On the fourth, we decided to head out to Transy to watch the Lexington Philharmonic in action.

Sarah has been here before, but she doesn't remember it. She seems to be having a great time with the family.
The crowds were huge! We thought we got there early, but still had to find a less than ideal location to watch the musicians.

Mom and Dad came up this weekend in hopes of being here when Ashley "pops".

Transy has a beautiful campus. I was interested in seeing how the philharmonic sounds with a brand new conductor.
Sarah was more interested in hanging out with "Mamaw and Papaw from the mountains."

Notice the comfortable seat the guys have on the street curb. They look thrilled.

Amy also came to join us. I couldn't get my goofy girl to straiten up for a photo for the longest time!

This is the best I could get.

We left at intermission to go to our friends Mollie and Daniel's to watch his fireworks display. Dad stayed a little longer and took this pretty photo. We were glad we left. Daniel's fireworks were the only ones we watched this year. The 4th was a total washout in this area. It rained ALL day.

4th of July at Transy from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

Here is one of my favorite tunes that they play. I get teary eyed whenever I hear it.

On Sunday we went to church followed by a family meal at our favorite pizza place in Lexington, Smashing Tomato.

We love our little cutie. Pretty soon, there will be another little cutie in the photo! And hopefully my belly will be a bit smaller!

But my midsection did not compare to Ashley's on this day. She is ready to go at any time.

Sarah was commenting on the roundness of Ashley's belly.

Ashley let her feel for a kick.

What a sense of humor! Who knew that she would be in some pretty intense labor by this time the next day...

Mamaw and Papaw steal a cute photo with Sarah. This is the last photo they have as the grandparents of just one grandchild. Stay tuned for the next post...

My little Taylor Swift

Sarah is really turning into a little girl before our very eyes. She has taken a lot of interest in fashion, jewelry, and even music recently. Her favorite singer is Taylor Swift. Her absolute favorite song on the planet is "Love Story". She calls it "Marry me Juliet". She pretends she is Taylor when she sees her on a music video and in the car, she belts out the tune as loud as is possible for a three year old. In the 50 or more times we have listened to this song in the last two weeks, she has managed to learn virtually every word to the song.
This morning, she gave me an impromptu rendition of the song when she caught Taylor singing "Love Story" on the show "Crossroads" on CMT. She was wearing her Ballet attire while serenading me. Could she be any more girlie? Check this out. Don't worry about the "private symbol". Just click the photo and enjoy.

Untitled from Angela Coleman on Vimeo.

My girl is truly one of a kind.