There's Someone I Want You to Meet...

It is one of the newest Technical Sergeants of the US Air Force!  Matt sewed on Tech. about a week ago (I know, I'm a bit slow to post it), which means a rank advancement for him!   He has worked really hard for this, and I am very proud of him and his accomplishment.  Matt recently had one of his supervisors tell him that Matt was one of the very few guys he knew that could become the "full package deal," and mentioned that he's a hard worker with a positive attitude (positive attitude being a HUGE, HUGE deal), is very professional in his conduct, has natural leadership skills, uses his head and has common sense, takes responsibility for his actions, acts with integrity and upholds high moral values.  I'm sure I'm leaving some things out that he said, but I'd say his boss summed him up fairly well! 

The Air Force has a tradition that when someone has a rank advancement, supervisors, co-workers, family members, etc. all have the opportunity to help "tack on" the additional stripe.  This basically translates to punching him in the arm really hard as a way of telling him to not mess up and lose it (not worried about that with Matt at ALL).  I really wish I would have had the camera out when I was preparing the boys for what to expect at the ceremony.  When I told them they would get to hit Daddy in the arm, they suddenly stopped all movement, and looked at me with shock and confusion all at the same time.  It was actually kind of funny!  When the time came, neither boy would actually punch him - until they saw me do it.  Then Darren finally gave him a pretty good punch! 

This first pic is of the punching - Matt, his supervisors, and I trying to persuade the kids that it was actually okay just this once!   

Our first family picture with TSgt. Matthew C. Coleman!

 Mid-motion for a hand shake with the commander!

I'm proud of you, Matt!  Keep up the good work!

All About Darren!

I LOVE my little Darren!  He adds so much sunshine and adventure to our family.  He makes me laugh almost every day with all the silly things he comes up with.  His mind runs about 1000 miles per hour, and he gets pretty creative with his playing.  Here is just one example of his creativity.....

Darren has had a busy last few weeks.  He finished up his very first soccer season, performed in a special mother's day presentation at school, graduated preschool, gave his very first talk in primary (Kids sunday school at church), and is preparing to start tae kwon do next week!  He's done a great job with all of his events, and I'm very proud of him!  Here are some pictures....

For the last soccer game, the coaches invited all the parents onto the field for a kids vs. parents game.  It was pretty cute, and the kids won of course.  :)  Here's Darren and his buddy, CJ, (right side of pic) about ready to score a goal. 

 Post game smiles!!

After the game, neither Matt or Darren were ready to be done, so they had their own father/son scrimmage.  I love how they are both smiling as they are playing! 

Goalie Darren stopped Daddy from scoring! 

Darren scored!!  Yippee!! 

Father and son both had a great time! 

One of his individual "team" pics.  Gotta love the hands on his hips!

His other individual shot.  He can be pretty photogenic when he wants to be.

The Mother's Day presentation at Darren's school was sooo super cute!  They acted out the story "Are You My Mother?"  (Darren was the boat), sang a couple songs, gave the moms a little present the kids had made, and then served us muffins and juice.  I loved it, and Darren melted my heart! 

Then at church, Darren gave a talk about the church of Jesus Christ being restored.  He stood up there in front of all the kids with all the confidence of a pro!  He was not the least bit nervous or scared.  I was very proud of him!

A couple weeks later, he had preschool graduation.  His class and the other preschool class at his school sang a bunch of songs, and then received their "diplomas."  It was cute. 

Here he is, singing away! 

All the graduates.  Darren's class is the whole front row.   

Darren, his diploma, and his teacher, Miss Elaine.   

Even though Darren just graduated preschool,  Matt and I have made a tough decision....  We are going to have Darren do one more year of preschool before sending him to kindergarten.  Several things played into this decision, and it most certainly was NOT made lightly.  I'm not going to explain the many factors that played into our decision, except the most important one.  To put it simply, we prayed about it EXTENSIVELY, and Matt and I are both totally 100% at peace about it, so we know it's right.  We are going to keep him in his current preschool with the same teacher for one more year.  I totally believe that in the years to come, we will look back on this decision with thankful hearts as we watch Darren grow into the confident leader I know he can become.  I love Darren so much, and I am so glad that he is part of our family. 

Halfway There.....

I am officially halfway through this pregnancy.  I am 20 1/2 weeks to be exact.  Aside from all the typical pregnancy complaints, everything is looking good so far.  There is no hiding the baby bump anymore - in fact I am already measuring a bit bigger than average (no surprise here).  I am being brave and actually posting a belly pic.  In previous pregnancies, I have not been very compliant with requests for pregnant belly pictures.  I don't like how I look when I'm pregnant.  So, the fact that I'm actually posting this at this stage is kind of a big deal. 

About a week ago, I had the traditional 20 week ultrasound.  It's looking like this baby is already full of personality.  At a 13 week ultrasound, baby stuck his tongue out at us.  Last week, we watched him jab  himself between the eyes with his hand, and just wouldn't cooperate for the poor technician.  I had to get up and walk around to try and get baby to move positions 3 times during the ultrasound.  He finally cooperated just enough for the technician to be able to get the pictures/measurements she needed.  When the doctor came in to talk to us, he said everything looked good.  Baby is weighing in at just under a pound, which is a little big for his gestational age, but not alarmingly so.  Lengthwise, they didn't give me a measurement, but they did say he's measuring about a week ahead of schedule, and has really long arms and legs.  I'm not surprised - my other two were the same way.  He also has the same head shape as Matt and Joseph, and his side profile looks pretty similar to my other two kids' ultrasound pictures.  At the very end of the ultrasound, he finally let us verify gender.  At an ultrasound at 13 weeks, we were able to see what appeared to be BOY parts.  This time, he still appears to be a boy.  Consistency is good! 

See that white, semi-horizontal oval shaped blob above baby's neck?  That's his hand, and this picture was taken right after he jabbed himself in the face with that hand.  This little guy is already pretty strong, and moves ALL the time.  I can already SEE some of his kicks and punches if I watch my belly long enough.  Both boys are so excited to be getting a little brother - though Darren has made it clear that he still NEEDS a sister (Ha! I'm not promising anything!).  Anyway, we are all anxious to meet this little guy in just over 4 months. 

The Singing Debut Of.....

Joseph Porter Coleman

Here are 2 little clips of Joseph singing 2 of his favorite songs...  The first is "Wee Willie Winkie" and the second is his slightly own version of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."  He just turned 2 1/2, and even knows to take a bow when he's done!  I love this kid! 

A couple more years, and he'll be ready for a real live audience!

Soccer Time!

Darren has been super duper excited to play soccer ever since I asked him if he wanted to start playing this year.  So, I signed him up, bought the gear (thank you Craiglist!), and has wanted to put it on every day.  Here is one day that he did so......  Although he doesn't have his team jersey yet, and he put his chin guards over his socks instead of underneath.  I love this picture, because it shows his excitement to play like the big kids. 

Well, he had his first practice this week, and well.....  it was entertaining!  Matt and I were the loudest parents on the team.  :)  We both kept hollering about something - usually something along the lines of:  "No hands!  Put the ball on the ground!"  "Listen to your coach!"  "Wrong way, Darren!"  "Pay attention!"  Darren was continually distracted by the other teams on surrounding fields (he's ALWAYS been super curious!), and just wanted to kick the ball around.  His coach seemed to have a really rough time keeping the kids rallied together.  Several kids kept running off in just random directions.  One of the drills was running/kicking the ball down the field, and then kicking the ball into the net.  Darren's version was pick up the ball with his hands, run to other end of field, set ball down about 3 feet in front of the net, kick the ball in, raise both hands high above head and excitedly exclaim:  "Score!!  I did it!"  We couldn't help but laugh and shake our heads.  I think I want his confidence!  It was similar stuff to this throughout the whole practice. 

My favorite part of practice was the last 5 - 10 minutes.  It was an unofficial scrimmage - no teams, just one ball, and kids were given instructions to try to kick it into a goal.  We learned a few things from watching this:

1.  Darren is a ball-hog. 

2.  Darren will do just about anything to get the ball - he even reached his hands into the middle of a few kids trying to kick it at the same time, picked up the ball with his hands, and moved it away from the others so he could kick it. 

3.  Darren LOVES to be "Leader of the Pack,"  and keep others entertained.  Actually, we already knew that about him, but it was pretty evident on the field.  

At one point during the scrimmage, Darren picked up the ball with his hands, and just took off running.  EVERY. SINGLE. TEAMMATE followed him in a single file line.  Darren went ALL OVER the place, to include running through the middle of a couple games in progress.  He had the BIGGEST grin on his face, it was priceless.  I was laughing so hard (so were several other parents), it hurt.  We really have a lot to work on with explaining to him how the game works, but his first practice was pretty entertaining.  We'll see how the rest of the season goes.  ....... 

I Need to Vent

Alright, this post is primarily for venting purposes.....  It may be wise to take into consideration that I am pregnant, and therefore, hormonal.  Forgive me if I'm over reacting.  Anyway, it is no secret that my boys love to run (FAST), are great climbers, and are pretty good little escape artists when they want to be.  Fortunately, Darren has FINALLY outgrown the running away stage.  However, Joseph is right at the peak of it (at least I hope it's the peak!).  Anyway, there were a couple times just within this last week that I just wanted to cry and scream at the world/society (okay, I actually did, but within the walls of my own home - and now on here). 

Incident #1:  Earlier this week, we were getting ready to take Darren to school, and I had a bunch of errands to run after.  My arms were VERY full with everything I needed that day.  Before I opened the front door (which I could barely do) I gave the boys VERY CLEAR instructions to go directly to the car, climb in, and start working on their seat belts while I unloaded my arms. Usually, they listen to those instructions, because they both like going places.  However, this morning was different.  Joseph ran around to his side of the car like normal, but instead of opening the door and getting in, he took off running as fast as he could go.  This might be a good time to mention that my neighbor 2 doors down was standing in her driveway talking to a friend, both were facing our direction, and watching our every move.  Also, my next door neighbor was outside smoking - also watching things unfold. 

As soon as I realized that Joseph was not going to get in the truck right away, I akwardly opened the door as fast as I could, and literally just threw everything in.  It's a good thing Darren wasn't in yet, or he would have been hit with something for sure.  Then I took off running after Joseph, who already had a pretty good lead on me.  This whole time, I'm calling (shouting) for him to stop, and come back, which actually just made him run faster.  I couldn't catch up to him 'til he was almost a whole block away.  I caught him in the knick of time, too, as there was a car backing out of their driveway (obviously didn't see him) just a few short feet away with no intention of stopping.  Probably needless to say, I was a bit of a wreck, with my heart POUNDING like crazy.  I was also pretty upset that there were THREE people just 2 steps away from his path, saw the whole thing and NOT ONE even batted an eyelash.  All it would have taken was for ONE of them to bend over a little and grab him, or take 2 little steps sideways to block his path, which would have at least slowed him down.  I should make it clear that I DO NOT expect others to do my parenting responsibilities for me, but come on!  Everyone can use a helping hand once in a while.  If I was an observer to a similar event, I would have TOTALLY tried to stop the kid for the Mom.  Isn't that the decent thing to do... the RIGHT thing to do?  What would you do?

Incident #2:  Today was a GEORGOUS day outside, and of course the boys wanted to play in the backyard.  So, we all put our shoes on, and got ready to go outside.  Before we went out, I reminded them of the backyard rules (stay away from water faucet, try to keep all balls in our yard, no climbing the fence, keep the gate closed, no throwing gravel).  I also reminded them of the consequence of breaking any of those rules (have to go in - no more outside).  So, we were all happy - Darren wanted to do a little soccer scrimmage with me, Joseph wanted to go down the slide.  Perfect!!  After awhile, the boys had migrated to digging in the gravel next to our house, and Darren suddenly had something he wanted to show me. 

In the 10 seconds of attention I gave to Darren, Joseph had silently slipped around the corner of the house, and climbed up and over our chainlink fence.  (I'm tellin' ya, this kid is FAST!!)  By the time I got over to that section of fence, he had already started off in a sprint.  The gate has a lock on it, and would have taken way too much valuable time to unlock it, so I hurdled that fence as fast as I could (not a pretty sight to see a pregnant woman jumping a fence).  My flip flop got caught on the way down, and I totally fell on my face and skinned my knee pretty good.  By this point, Joseph was already out IN THE STREET, so I just jumped up, sore, slightly bloody knee and all, and of course chased after him as fast as I could go.  Once again, he got nearly a block away (opposite direction) before I was able to catch up to him.  Fortunately, there were no cars this time, but once again, all the neighbors were outside, and saw the whole thing.  This time though, Joseph's path made it totally impractical for any of them to intervene.  However, the looks I received from nearly all of them, were anything but kind.  Every face I saw had a harsh, cold, judgemental expression on it.  I felt SOOOO embarrassed and humiliated.  Why do people have to be like that?  I certainly don't want any sort of a pity party (NOooo, THANK YOU!), but just ONE short, simple, understanding smile would have gone a very, very long way!

I should add that on BOTH occasions, Darren remained perfectly obedient, and stayed right where he should have.  That's HUGE for him - a year ago, that would not have been the case. 

Now, lest you think Joseph is this insane, difficult, sneaky child, let me tell you of some of his other qualities.  He is the snuggliest, cuddliest kid I know.  I seriously get about an hour of just snuggle time with him most every day.  He is very observant and sensitive to the feelings of those around him.  If someone he knows gets hurt or is sad, he is the first one there to hug and kiss them until it's all better.  He's also a great little helper.  When he sees people working, cleaning, picking up, he frequently just joins right in without being asked.  He's also great at sharing - even treats like an ice cream cone or sucker.  Joseph is such a loveable kid, and is usually pretty laid back and easy going.  I just love him!! 

Anyway, I feel better now.  I really had to get that off my chest; it's been bugging me all day (probably mostly hormones).  Thank you for "listening."

Homesick

Lately, I've been homesick.  Not for people, but for nature.  I grew up in a city, but in just a few minutes drive, we could be on hilly country roads, headed toward the mountains.  At the time, we lived in Salem, Oregon.  If you've ever been to the Northwest, you know just how green and lush it is.  Paradise (if you can handle the rain).  As a teenager, we moved to Utah, where there are mountains all around, and many opportunities to go hiking.  In fact, the summer Matt and I started dating, I had made a goal to go hiking in the mountains at least once a week, all summer long.  I accomplished that goal!  I even carried it over into the fall a little bit.  Hikes in the mountains when all the leaves are changing colors, it absolutely gorgeous!!  Towards the end of the summer, Matt and I tested our stamina by hiking Mt. Timpanogas.  I'm pleased to say we both made it to the very top, and back down, and loved it.  During that summer, I saw some very beautiful scenery, and gained a great appreciation for nature.

Matt's first official duty station was at McChord AFB, in Washington.  I felt like I had gone home to my childhood.  While we were there, Matt and I would just spontaneously pack up the car and head into the mountains to go camping and of course, hiking.  When the weather was good (summer) we would go at least once a month.  We had our most frequently visited campgrounds, and our favorites.  Unfortunately, our favorite - on Mt. Rainier, was destroyed by a mud slide, and is no longer there.  :(  The everyday drive to our house was lined with luscious green trees, and was just beautiful.

Then, in Alaska, there is so much wide open space, the biggest mountains I have ever seen, and unbelievable scenery - largely untouched by man.  Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 summers we were there, I was in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy, and in no condition to be doing any hiking/camping.  Even though pregnancy made it a bit tougher to keep with our traditions, I still fell in love with all the natural beauty.  I cannot even begin to describe the breathtakingly beautiful scenery we were blessed to enjoy nearly every day.  We had a forest behind our house (kind of), and woke up to looking at a beautiful tree line every day.  We could see the Alaska Mountain Range in the distance, and the drive to get there is simply gorgeous. 

Now, we live in Florida.  It is totally flat here, with palm trees everywhere.  There are no rolling hills to give you a different view of things, I have yet to find a decent hiking trail, and there really isn't anywhere to just go for a drive, escape traffic, people, life, etc.  Florida is pretty in it's own way, it's just totally different from everywhere else I have lived. 

I am homesick for lush greenery, tons of trees that actually provide shade, mountains, little babbling brooks, and just being able to go on a drive to just enjoy nature.  While we have made some really great, close friends here, I long for the day that we can enjoy mountains and hiking again.   Here are some of my favorite pictures of our adventures in nature. 


Fishing Trip

 Same fishing trip, a little different spot

Just out for a drive

This was our back yard

 Hiking

Out on another drive

We took this the first week we were in Alaska - this is on base.

 Our backyard