In a Nutshell

Today I sat down and decided that enough was enough, I was going to figure out an awesome way to get pics off the camera and on the computer.

Click, click, click

I figured it out.  Now I'm loving this way even more than my old computer.  I knew there had to be a better way.  It is pretty sad that I've put it off since June.

Okay, lets get crackin.  This could take a little while.

Back in July Josie turned 16 years old!

She has been so so so busy.

Lets just say that we are both thrilled that she is driving now.

The day before school started the kids (minus Todd because he's a party pooper) and I decided to go spend the afternoon on the beach at Indian Lake.  It was nice because a lot of the other schools had started the day before so we were there pretty much alone.  Well, kind of.

While we were there some friends of ours showed up on their jet-ski and Josh took the kids around the lake for a fun ride.

Then a little while later we were sitting there I started to notice this man out in the water about 75 yards from the shore and about 200 yards down the beach.  He was walking very slowly and had headphones (the big ones from the 70's) on.  At some points he was up to his chin in the water but at one point he was up to his elbows and I could finally see what he was doing.  He was going along waving a metal detector.  It was a little freaky until I knew what he was going on. 

Here he is up to his shoulders.  I hope this isn't his major source of income because

1.  it is cold outside now

2.  i never did see him diving under the water for anything so i'm guessing there wasn't much to find

3.  he's got to have some majorly pruned skin

Then we went home and had a cookout and backyard baseball game to finish off summer vacation.

As promised nearly two years ago, we got a dog.

His name is Jimmer.  He was born on July 4, 2011.

He is an Australian Shepherd.

(our cat hates him..he just wants to play..she is 12 years old and she REALLY doesn't want to play)

About a week after school started Robert, Karen & Holly came to visit.

I'm so bugged that for whatever reason, I have no pictures of them here.  I know Holly got a bunch so I'll see if she can help me out with that.  We had fun though.  The boys went fishing with Grandpa Bob and they got to go to a football game and watch Josie in the marching band.  We had such a great time. 

Come back again soon!!

We have awesome neighbors and they all have great fishing ponds that the kids fish & swim in.  A few people have asked us if we are putting in a pond.  Um, no.  We have five that we can pick from every day.  (Just so you know, we do love our neighbors for more than their ponds.)

Then Judd had his 7th birthday in September.  My, does time fly.

He had a hard time waiting for his birthday this year.  Mitch must be rubbing off on him.

He got two of his favorite things.  A Curious George cake and golf clubs.  He loves to golf.

Here are a few more random pictures.

This is obviously what the boys do while Layne and I are at early meetings on Sunday.  I'm not sure what playing with the camera has to do with "be ready for church when I get back" but I'm sure they have a very good reason.  Because of this, we do have a picture of Justin with teeth.

Because now he doesn't have as many.

A few family members have asked what the house looks like in the summer.

I didn't get picks of the back yard.  The garden & fruit orchard didn't do too bad after we got the fence up around them.  We have so many deer (one reason why we got Jimmer) that come up to the house.  Friday night there were about 14 of them in the back yard eating grass, and a couple nights ago Josie & I had to stop on the driveway to let a beautiful buck run across.  They are pretty but not a gardener's best friend.

Here's Jimmer.  Our trusty guard dog that gets into his dog house when the deer and coyotes come around at night.  Oh well, the kids & Layne love him, and I hate to say it, but he is pretty cute. 

Want the truth?

It really bothers me how long it has been since I've posted on my blog.

The reason why is just stupid.

This past summer we had to get a new computer.  I don't like how it wants to download my pics off my camera.  I keep thinking that there is another way and I just need to sit down (preferably with Layne) and either find find a different way or just get used to how it needs to be done. 

So there you have it.  The stupidest reason in the world. 

Not because I don't have time.

Not because I don't want to.

Not because I can't.

I just don't want to change how I do things.

So, to kick off my pledge to get back to the blog, here is my newest favorite find.

Amy

She has a great blog that I love to click through.  Here is a project I thought was a great idea.

http://thenshemade.blogspot.com/2010/08/souper-storage-idea.html

Ninety nine bottles of Iron Port & Cherry on the wall.....

Our summer started out with Josie flying out to Idaho as soon as school got out.  With her all by herself and hadn't flown since she was a little girl...well, needless to say I was so happy all went smoothly in Dallas for her change of plane and very relieved when she got to SLC safely.  Her Aunt Jill & Grandma Karen met her at the airport.  Then they ran over to Aunt Josie's house (she just turned 85) to say hello.  Josie hadn't seen Aunt Josie in probably 10 years or so.  Sadly no one took a picture at that visit.

She stayed with Grandma Lucy & Grandpa Jay, with weekend get-aways at Grandma Karen and Grandpa Bob's.  She worked at my moms store, Mini Bazaar, and helped around the house.  She had a fantastic time and would have loved to stay longer if girls camp hadn't gotten in her way.  And I think they would have kept her too.  But we missed her and wanted her back.

While she was away we wrapped up the boys baseball seasons.  Mitch had a really fun year on a new team and they won most of their games.  He got to try the catcher position for the first time and it turns out he's really good in that position. Todd played his last year in the county league, with several home runs, but none of them thrilled him more than his Out of the Park home run.  He said he finally got to cross something off of his bucket list.  Justin's team did awesome and even won the tournament championship.  He joined a new team too, and was the youngest.  He looked so little out there, but he pulled his own weight and really improved as the year went on.  He got to play catcher too and did an awesome job.  Even though the gear nearly swallowed him up.  It was a great baseball season for the Coleman Boys.

Then we headed out to Idaho and found Josie.

Home Sweet Home

We love spending the 4th of July in Idaho.  We have big family parties, homemade root beer, homemade raspberry ice cream (thanks Aunt Ellen), yummy scones (thanks Aunt Grace), and a million other way yummy foods to enjoy.

Thanks to Frank Vandersloot, our 4th of July fireworks display is never a bummer.  Mr. Melaleuca pulls out all the stops (and $$) and gives Idaho Falls a great show every year.

My Aunt Millie and Uncle Alan came from from their three year mission in Brazil right when we got there.  So that was a fun reunion to have everyone around.

And since Aunt Millie was back home we had an emergency Hen & Chicks party which worked great for me because I couldn't make it to the one in the spring.

My mom insisted Josie was to come too and she had fun.  Now she knows that my weirdness comes from a long line of weirdness.  Thankfully for those that married into the weirdness, they either fit right in or tolerate the rest of us well.  I have the best women folk for family!  My Aunt Grace was worried that Josie would learn some bad stuff from us, but Jo said that she goes to public school and we weren't anything close to that kind of bad.  Whew, now I feel so confident sending her off to school every morning.

I also found out that my grandmother thinks I'm a "jolly good fellow".  Not sure where to go with that one.

These are some pics out at Layne's parent's house.

 

And then we got home.  Our darling little neightbor keep our flowers, bushes, and gardens alive. 

 

Layne and Todd worked hard at both my parents house and his parent's house.  We got to meet Jack (Bobbi's baby, 8mts) and MaKadee (Marcee's baby,5mts).  We got to see all of our cousins and play play play. 

Great Grandma Fern & Jack Underwood

A four generation picture.  

Grandma Fern (85), Lucy (56), Cassie (37), Josie (16)

I have one from when Josie was a newborn.  I'll have to find it to compare.

Zoey, Carter, & Mitch playing some game on the ipad at Grandma Lucy's

Todd & Tyrel

These two are buds.  I'm so thankful our kids and their cousins love each other so much.

Mitch & Grandpa Jay

I got my fill of Iron Port w/ Cherry.  It is a soft drink that you can only find *according to wikipedia* parts of Utah, Southern Idaho, Western Wyoming, and Eastern Nevada.  I also noticed that there is also a place that you can now order the syrup.  When I read that I my head got dizzy just thinking about the happiness that could bring me.  I must investigate that option.  I got several raspberry filled powdered donuts digested, and a few other things consumed that can only be found 'Out West'.  

We had a fantastic trip to Idaho.  We all agreed it was our favorite trip out West so far.  I'm not exactly sure what made it the best one, but we sure did have fun. 

 Thanks for everyone for everything!

If you're lucky (and not sick to death of this long post) I'll find the other pictures I wanted to post.  Humor me, this is as close as I get for journaling these days.

Plus:  We had family pictures with both the Simmons Fam & the Coleman Fam.  So I'll post them soon too.

More on our trip at my mom's blog.

More on my Aunt Millie's return to Idaho at my cousin Becca's blog.

Movin On Up

As usual, May gets too busy and goes by too fast.

Justin finished Kindergarten and even enjoyed it. 

It helped that he ended up with a crush on his teacher, Mrs. Johns.  



Front & Center

I love listening to the Kindergarten classes sing.  They have the funniest little songs. 

He had such a fun year...after he decided he didn't hate school.





Justin & his best friend (since birth) Micah.

Somehow they were lucky enough to get in the same class.

Go Class of 2023!!



Kelsie, Haley, Annalyn, Josie, Todd, Ben, Jonathan, and Jorie at the Modest Prom church dance a couple weeks ago.  This was Todd & Jonathan's very first dance.  Neither one of them wanted to be there, but their moms made them go.  I don't know how it went down at Jonathan's house, but Todd was NOT happy with me and wouldn't even speak all the way there.  By the end of the night they had a good time.  (Mom's do know best.)



I'm so excited Todd let me take his picture.  That doesn't happen very often.

Todd graduated from 8th grade Tuesday. 

It was 92° F outside and probably about 100° + F in the auditorium.

He worked hard all through Middle School and was in the Straight 'A' Club all four years.

Now he's off to High School.

Class of 2015!!

Mitch graduated from Elementary School yesterday.  Next year he'll be a big Middle Schooler.

Here he is with his friend Garret.  He worked hard and had lots of fun.  He's excited to get to do all the fun things Todd & Josie got to do in Middle School.

Go Class of 2019!!

Josie just finished up her Sophomore year with flying colors. 

At some point she was sure her AP class (European History) was going to do her in, but she did great.

Now she is headed to Idaho for the summer.  She claims she is going there to visit, work and help Grandma Lucy with a few things, but I'm pretty sure she just wants a time out from her bothers brothers.  I'm starting to miss her already.  

Go Class of 2013!!

As dumb as it is, I have no pictures of my baseball boys.  We've been to a baseball game every night (except Sunday) since April and I haven't taken one picture.  I've only got a couple weeks left, so I'd better start click'en.  All of the teams are doing well and they are having fun.  Mitch has been able to try out the catcher position for the first time this year and LOVES it and is even pretty darn good at it.  Justin is the youngest on his team and looks pretty little out there with those big kids, but he can pull his own just fine.  Todd's at an age that the games can get intense and are fun to watch.

Ahhh, fun times for the Coleman Family.

Truth Hurts

found at 'Fred's Place'

Layne and the boys have decided that if we are to have a shed they would have to give up on waiting for the rain to stop and just get busy.  (It has literally been raining non-stop since March.  I'm not kidding.)
Today they loaded up some wood and got to work. 

Here is a conversation I had with Mitch this afternoon.

mitch - "Mom, come look!"

me - "What's the problem?"

mitch - "What is wrong with my hand?  Something is on my hand!"  He started to sound a little paniced.  He's always been a little worried about having some abnormality.

me - after looking at his hands.  "Oh, that is just a callus.  You'll be fine."

mitch - "A callus!  What's a callus!"

me - "Something that happens to your hands when you work without gloves on.  Especially when  you don't do hard work with your hands very often."

silence.............   ....................    ....................

mitch - "So, now there is physical proof that I'm kind of lazy?"

me - "Guess so."   Couldn't argue with the truth.  He is a master of getting out of things he doesn't want to do.

Sheeeesh. What happend to April?

This is all we wear now days.

Mud Boots.

April 2011 went down as the 2nd wettest April in Ohio history.

It has rained nearly everyday.  Not to mention the sheer line winds, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. 

I'm sick and tired of my shoes and pants went & muddy, so I've resorted to wearing my mud boots and capri's.  Mitch almost cries everyday when I pick him up from school & I giggle everyday when I pick him up from school.

We have a garden again.  That was one of the top things we missed last year. 

With all of the rain (and a little more heat) things have started to turn green and our garden is growing nicely.  Well, not our 'garden garden'.  We can't get out into that yet.  It is just way too muddy, but our square foot garden boxes are looking great. 

Layne is chomping at the bit to get the plants we put into the ground and our fruit trees in.  Maybe May wont be quite so wet.  We've also got to get some fencing up because we have deer that come right up to the house at night to eat grass and pretty soon our garden is going to look like a beautiful salad.

I feel bad for the farmers.  They can't get into the fields and they need to get the corn and soybeans planted in the next couple weeks or it will get too late.  Although, the winter wheat is so pretty & green right now.

Easter was wonderful to celebrate, as always.

Here Mitch & Judd are coloring eggs.  I guess the other two got too old for it.  They didn't come running when we announced it was time.

But they did show up for the egg hunt Layne put together between rain storms.  Everyone wants to find the two eggs that have $5 in them.

This year Mitch and Josie got lucky.

*We also had a birthday boy.

Todd turned 14 on April 18th.  For some reason I don't have any pictures to put up. 

I'll have to find them and update that soon.

*Baseball has started up in full swing.

Once again, every night of the week (except Sunday) has a game. 

It is fun to catch up with all of our baseball family friends.

We love it....till about July.  Then we are ready for a break.

*Justin got the chicken pox (he wouldn't let me take a picture because most of them were under his pajama bottoms...if you know what I mean.)  Yes, he had the shot and he still got them.  He started up with them the day before they went back to school from spring break, so he got another whole week out of school.  He thought that was awesome.

*One sad note:  I was sick in bed on April Fools Day and I didn't get to celebrate the best day of the year.  Next year I'm going to have to make up for that.  The planning has begun.

Happy Spring Everyone



The awesomely awesome watermelon we had at dinner tonight.
Ahhhh, watermelon season is back.  It is like getting oxygen.