Happy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. Obadiah turned one month old and Rosie got to go to the Easter Egg Hunt at Church.

But the most special part was that Rosie's God Mother, Julie, came to visit and send Easter and the week with us. It's always a special time for Rosie and all of us when Julie comes to visit. I always treasure her visits and I'm so happy to have her in our family.

Rosie got gardening tools from her Grandma Miriam and Grandpa John. She was very excited about the pink gardening bag and especially the rake and shovel. As soon as she got the out of the packaging she announced " I want to go dig!". we are going to have fun picking out seeds and letting her plant and garden this year.

Hope you all had a wonderful and blessed Easter too.

Merry Christmas Day!

If you thought the pile of gifts was huge on Christmas Eve you should have seen it on Christmas day. Santa came while we were all sleeping and left some more goodies for us.

Rosie was very excited about all the presents under the tree. Her favorite part of the whole day was being allowed to pass out the gifts. She liked that better than opening them I think.  She was a perfect little Christmas Elf.

I wish I'd taken more pictures of our wonderful day but I guess I was just enjoying it too much to think about my camera.

My mom made her famous breakfast burritos. A Christmas tradition that I think we all look forward to more than the gifts. I of course woke up super early... I've never been able to sleep in on Christmas day... and started examining and shaking the presents before William caught me and scolded me.

We tried a couple new things and learned don't like when every one opens their stockings at the same time (instead of one at a time). We also learned that Lottery tickets make super fun stocking stuffers and we were all impressed that Luke got all the girls smelly lotion and that he even went into the "smelly store" to buy them him self. He must really love us.

Rosie got way too many gifts but was super excited about all of them. She got to open the first gift, a stepping stool from Nana that she now pushes around the kitchen so she can see what we're doing or help with dinner.

I didn't take pictures of all her gifts but she was totally cute opening each one and exclaiming her "ooooo" every time.

She was especially happy to get her very own bath robe ... or as she calls it her "robe bath, like mama's"

But as I said before her favorite part of the whole day was passing out the presents to every one.

The gift of the day was when William open his gift from my dad. William was very surprised and excited to get the gas mask he wanted for Christmas.





None of us really know why William wanted a gas mask... and none of use were brave enough to get it for him. But he sure was happy and excited about it and it does make for some really funny pictures.  Like this one on William's Tumblr.

It took us 4 and half hours, plus another half hour just with William and me and Rosie in our room opening gifts from William's parents. It was wonderful spending time together and eating truffles that Annie made and getting to watch each other open the gifts we'd spent months collecting for each other.

But then it was time for naps and relaxing for every one.

Rosie likes to relax by watching Peep and the Big Wide World with her Nana.


The rest of the day was spent relaxing, napping and hanging out, playing with our new toys and video games. Also, I think some people went out to the back woods for target practice.
One major highlight of the day was when Father Michael came over for Christmas dinner. Again, I wish I taken pictures of our Christmas dinner but I was just enjoying it way too much.

Rosie is such a fan of Father Michael, she was so happy that he came to her house and the rest of us enjoyed his company too. I think we made him laugh, I'm not sure he knew what he was getting him self into when he agreed to come over but I think he had fun. I did warn him that we were crazy... and I think we lived up to that for him.

Video games in the living room and a board game (Settlers of Catan) in the dinning room with lots of Christmas goodies and junk food ended our perfect Christmas day.

It was so nice to spend a day with every one and to share Christmas with my family. Every one was so generous and thoughtful in the gifts they gave and we all enjoyed watching each other opening them. It's really fun that one one minds that it takes us 5 hours to open gifts... plus Mom keeps us all very well fed during the whole day and Annie kept us all sugared up with her truffles and rum balls and peppermint bark.

I'll leave you with a couple pictures William took of Christmas Smiles.

Merry Christmas and may the magic, joy and love of the season stay in your hearts all year long.

Christmas Eve

Now that Christmas is over and we've spent a couple weeks doing absolutely nothing, I'll share some pictures and memories with you about our wonderful Christmas.

On Christmas Eve William and I decided to let Rosie open her gift from her Godmother, Julie.

I'm not sure what the official roll of a Godmother is... but if it's to totally spoil a child then Julie has that completely covered.

Julie remembered, from her visit this past summer, that Rosie loves to sit at the vanity table and "put on her make up." So being the wonderful Godmother that she is, she sent Rosie her very own make up.

As you can imagine Rosie was very very excited about it. She spent hours putting on her make up. She'd even be playing with something else and remember her make up and run away saying "Rosie's make up" and go back to put some one. She carried it around the house and put it on while we watched a Christmas movie.

And in case you're wondering, it is special mineral make up made especially for delicate children's skin.

Another fun thing that we all really enjoyed was being visited by Christmas Carolers. I can't remember the last time I've been Caroled to. Not only were they friendly and festive but they could all sing really well too.

Last year we all went to a midnight Mass. But we were all so tired the next day that we decided it was better for every one if we went to an earlier service this year.

William and I have been attending the local Catholic church so every one agreed to go with us to the 5:00 mass.  Look how adorable Rosie and my dad look on their way to church.

Father Michael gives some of the best sermons I've ever heard. He also does the best Christmas services than any one I've ever encountered. It was really special that my family was willing to try something a little different and go to a Catholic Mass with us. It was also really fun that we got to take up a whole row in our little sanctuary.  It reminded me of when we were kids and took up most of an a row.

At the end of the Mass Father Michael called all the children up to the front to sing "Away in a Manger" to the baby Jesus while Father Michael played the guitar. You can see Rosie at Father Michael's feet watching him play.  She always loves it when he sings and plays his guitar.

I wanted to take a picture of Rosie in her pretty dress in front of the huge pile of presents we had before she went to bed. The pictures are a little dark but you can see how tall the pile was... it got taller by Christmas morning. Santa was very generous this year... we must have all been very very good.

Rosie LOVED having all the presents under the tree. She loved looking at them all and asking who they were for.  Annie went around and told her who each gift was for and then Rosie would remember it hours later and tell me "Nana's pesant" or "mama's pesant" she is so so smart.
She especially loved the gifts wrapped in shiny paper and the poky-dots paper.

Before we went to bed we asked Rosie if she wanted to leave some cookies and milk out for Santa. She said she did and she took it very very seriously.

Aunt Annie told her she should leave a carrot for Rudolf too so Rosie asked for a carrot and left that with the cookies.
Since Mass was so early we had time to watch a Christmas movie together before we all fell into bed. We watched "The Santa Clause."

I didn't even know Rosie was paying attention to the movie.. she was playing the whole time. But when we were putting out the cookies and milk Rosie insisted on Soy milk! (there's a scene in the movie where Santa tells a girl he's lactose intolerant so she gives him soy milk).

We couldn't believe that's what she was saying at first but she kept shouting "soy mirk" so we all had a great laugh and decided that if she wanted Santa to have soy milk than that was what he was going to get.






In the end I think Santa was pretty pleased with his cookies and soy milk and the thoughtful remembering of his reign deer because our stockings were all over flowing. 

I'm really glad I started decorating and celebrating Christmas well before Thanksgiving. I felt like, even though I'd gotten a head start on thing, the last few weeks before Christmas really flew by and Christmas snuck up on me.  It was really a wonderful Christmas season though and a very happy and memorable time with my family. We all managed to get our gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve so we were able to spend a relaxing time together.

I'd added a white candle to the center of our advent wreath and lighted it on Christmas Eve.  It was really fun to make and light the wreath and I think it's a tradition we might keep up. Here's a picture of our wreath all burned down to the very last bits of candle stubs. Remember when they were all tall and new?

Franklin Dickens Festival

 Ever year the city of Franklin, TN has a street festival in honor of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

I read about it this summer and I've been looking forward to it and counting the months, weeks and days to it since then.

FINALLY, this weekend was the weekend to get bundled up and wander the historic streets of downtown Franklin in search of Father Christmas, Tiny Tim, Scrooge, roasted chestnuts and apple cider.

(Rosie and her Nana are like two peas in a pod, bundled up and ready to be festive)

 The day did not disappoint. People of all ages we dressed up in costumes from the 1800's. Some were actors with specific rolls to play, like Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the ghosts, and others were just people who decided to get into the spirit of things and dress up.

There were street performers all over the place. I really liked this girl who played and sang songs from the 1800's.  There was also a group of kids who did scenes from Oliver, as well as a stage where an Irish Dance School really captivated Rosie's attention.

Besides street performers there was lots of great food, including hot chocolate, chestnuts, apple cider and meat on a stick. And to top it all off there were booths and booths of artisans and crafts people selling unique Christmas gifts.

There was also a horse drawn carriage that I was very excited about.  Every time the carriage stopped to pick up and drop off passengers this dog would climb out and stand on the horse. It was very funny and very cute.

Even the Police officers on duty got into the spirit of things and were dressed in Victorian inspired uniforms. 

AND we met Father Christmas! He was very nice and actually got Rosie to talk to him and smile at him.

Here's a random family that decided to come dressed up. Aren't they cute!  

We also found a stand that was selling Sugar Plums!  We each had one and yes.... they've been dancing in my dreams ever since. Even Rosie liked them. 

Rosie is such a cool baby in her sunglasses. She loves wearing them.
She also really loves to watch people dance. Here she's mesmerized by all the dickens characters dancing 300 year old dances in the street.

 Our favorite part of the whole day was when all the Dickens Characters got together in the street and danced traditional dances for the 1800's. It was so much fun to watch them.  Even Rosie couldn't take her eyes off them.  You can even see the Ghost of Christmas Past (in the white dress) dancing with The Ghost of Christmas Present. (the Ghost of Christmas yet to come isn't much of a dancer apparently.)
It made me want to learn how to dance all those all dances... and dress up as a Dickens character.

It was a wonderful day with yummy food and fun things to look at. A lot of the churches had performances in them too but there was so much to see we couldn't do it all in one day. With a toddler and a pregnant lady in tow we were pretty tired and had to go home to sleep. But I'm very much looking forward to going again next year, and hopefully next year we can go both days of the festival and attend the Christmas All Sing in the town square.

For information about next years event and other Festivals check out www.historicfranklin.com

Wonderful Thanksgiving Part 2

 Our Thanksgiving was so wonderful it deserves two posts.

By the time Thanksgiving Day finally rolled around Ross and Jenny had taken us bowling, feed us great food, took us shopping and the boys had played on the farm with the ginormous tractors. We'd also put up the Christmas tree and watched Christmas cartoons and old classic movies.  AND we'd made friends with the cat, who wasn't so sure about us sometimes but was really loved by Rosie.

We decided that we should have Thanksgiving Supper instead of a Dinner/Lunch so that my mom, who was flying in around 5 pm, could eat with us. So that meant we didn't have to get up early to start cooking. It also meant that we needed to decide what we wanted for lunch.

Since Ross had shot a deer the day before you can guess what we decided on. Yup. We had venison steaks wrapped in bacon for lunch on Thanksgiving day. This was William's favorite part of the whole trip.

 Not only did we have venison for lunch but Ross is an excellent meat cooker and it was cooked to perfection. Yeah. it was amazing.

 Then it was back to work on Thanksgiving Supper. William and Jenny did most of the cooking while I washed dishes. We also had the pleasure of "watching" Seven Brides for Seven Brothers while we were cooking since Jenny has a TV in her kitchen. This meant we spent the day singing show tunes as well as cooking.

Jenny planned a completely Gluten Free Thanksgiving dinner. Everything on the table Rosie, my mom and I could eat. Even the stuffing. I can't remember the last time I had stuffing. It was incredible.

My mom's flight came in a little early and we all had Supper together.

 Jenny started the meal by reading Psalm 100 and Ross prayed for the meal and then we all age to our heart's content and drank 3 bottles of Sparkling Apple cider.

It was  perfect and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Rosie loved it too. Her favorite was the Turkey leg. This is the only picture I remembered to take during the meal, because I was enjoying it SO much.

Afterwards, Rosie played "horsie" with William, we sat around and talked and then opened Christmas presents.

Rosie loved looking out the airplane window

 The only part of our trip to Ross and Jenny's that we regretted ever so slightly was having to leave so soon.  We flew out the day after Thanksgiving, which by the way is an awesome day to fly if you don't like busy airports.  But it also means you miss Black Friday shopping, which was especially sad because Jenny is much fun to shop with, and have to get your Thanksgiving left overs at breakfast time.

Ross and Jenny are some of the most hospitable and welcoming people we've ever visited.  Not once did we feel like we were in their way or like we'd stayed too long. They are so much fun and laid bad. And did I mention they fed us really really? It's not easy or cheap to feed a pregnant lady and a toddler but with Gluten Allergies... but Ross and Jenny managed it. Thank you guys.

The most wonderful Thanksgiving Part 1

My family "adopted" Jenny a number of years ago.(you may remember I attended her wedding last summer). She's really more of a member of the family than a friend. She's spent Thanksgiving with the whole Coleman gang a number of years now and she's also been inviting all of us to spend Thanksgiving at her house, in South Dakota, for a few years now.  So this year William and I and my mom and dad decided, whether she meant it or not, we'd take her up on her offer. And off to South Dakota we flew.

Luckily William and I still had frequent flyer miles we collected while flying back an forth from China. This trip was our last gift from China.

We used the tickets well.

This was also Rosie's first time to have her own seat. She's over two now so can no long fly free as a lap child. She was very proud to have her own seat.

She is such a good traveler. She especially enjoyed the toys in both the Nashville and Dallas airports and she enjoyed looking out the window on the airplane.

We did so many fun things with Ross and Jenny.  The first night we were there Ross's family generously included us in a family birthday celebration and took us bowling. This was Rosie's first time Bowling and William and I haven't been since the Halloween before we were married... 7 years ago.

Rosie LOVED bowling and got a better score than I did. Actually I was so bad I just let her play most of my turns. She giggled and danced and cheered for every one all night long.

 Rosie also really loved playing Jenny's piano. Jenny is a wonderful musician and sings and plays amazingly well. I've always loved listening to her. This trip she had her Christmas song book out and would stop and play something almost every time she walked passed the piano.

Rosie thought this was splendid and loved playing the piano too. We may have to get her one.

My favorite part of the trip was our girl's shopping day. Jenny is wonderful to shop with. She's so much fun.
While the boys played on Ross's ridiculously large farm equipment we girls when to town, got Starbucks, and went shopping.

Jenny took us to Sephora and taught us how to shop there. I've always been completely intimidated by that store and have never gone with any one my own age, gender, and color. (the Sephora in Shanghai had nothing that would match my skin tone. Everything was too yellow or too pink.)

I've never had so much fun in that store before and now I feel much more confident about going back. Rosie also loved shopping in Sephora. She loves make up and loves colors and walked around and looked at everything with Jenny while I got a make up consultation.

In the end we came away with a little black and while bag that Rosie was very proud of and they even gave her some of her very own samples. She was so proud of them she wouldn't let them go the whole time we walked around the mall.  She is such a good little adorable shopper.

After some very productive shoe shopping it was time to meet up with "the boys". We'd left it to Ross and William to pick up my dad from the airport and then we headed to Falls Park, on the Big Sioux River. (that's where the city if Sioux Falls gets its name).

 We went there because it was magically decorated for Christmas and Jenny knew we would love it.

ALL the trees were covered in lights. It was so fun and magical I kind of forgot how cold it was.

We then ended our wonderful day with Gluten Free Pizza and hot tea.
Doesn't Rosie look so grown up with her own cup of tea?