Year: 2010 (Page 5 of 7)

Trains by the Ton

April 4, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

Mike choose to camp near Chattanooga for two reasons.

One he wanted to ride a train.

Two he wanted to eat at…

So we went to the..

It was pretty cool.

They had nice collection of trains…

One was open to explore

It told a little about the history of trains in America

Judi’s my Vanna White

James and Joel are a little less enthusiastic.

The engine room.

We had some time to kill before the train arrived.

Their across the tracks ended in a tie.

The real ticket office..

was in the gift shop.

This one’s for show.

The train’s a coming.

It’s pretty grand.

Mom, did you ever think you’d see your luggage in a museum?

We road 3 miles through part of Chattanooga and a tunnel.

Then we stopped at this train yard and turn around.

The turn table was the highlight of the show.

They said back in the day

4 guys would turn the train by hand

Now it’s powered by the little red engine room in the left corner.

The train balances on some mega bearings.

And turns all the way around..

While the engineers hooked it back up to the other end of the train..

We got to look around the yard.

They keep everything they can for parts as there aren’t any new parts in production.

The kids thought this “hippy” train was cool

and actually asked me to take their picture with it.

Some More S’mores!

April 4, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 3 Comments

For Mike’s Birthday

He chose camping

Which means fun in the out of doors

Roasting Marshmallows

And making S’mores

Judi brought her music theory homework.

A full moon.

I wasn’t up for camping in tents this time. So we got cabin J.

Most of the campers brought their RV’s.

See the reflection in the window?

Joel noticed that no one was outside while we were making s’mores
and playing games and asked where they had all gone.
I answered, “In side.. watching TV.”
We agreed that that wasn’t real camping.

Our cabin had two rooms. One for Mama and Papa bear.

I was sure to bring plenty of blankets.

And a room for the kids with two bunk beds.

You can’t see it in the pictures but the cabin had a pretty good amount

of floor space where we played a game of chicken foot.

Our oldest didn’t come, so Princess J stole his mattress to make a double thick one.

She was very proud of this trick that she learned

from her youth pastor, Tammy, in Florida.

It was cold the first night and we were very glad to have space heaters.

The second night a rain storm blew and blew all night

and we were very glad to have a real roof over our heads.

The best weather for tents is warm and dry.

Birds Around the Lake

April 3, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

The ground here stays pretty wet when it rains and the ducks and geese

found plenty to eat in our yard. I am glad Sally doesn’t mind them.

There are a bunch of geese that fly around to different lakes and ponds in the area.

The ducks live here. One of our neighbors raised them from ducklings up.

Love,

Playing With Rocks and Things

April 3, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

I decided this dresser needed a little something.

Wana come play with my rock sculpture?

I shopped around the house and garage

to find some more rocks and things to add to my fireplace.

The kids got the drift wood as a gift from one of their friends years ago.

I don’t think they want it anymore.

These candle holders were half off at Hobby Lobby this week.

I used them to display my sand and shell collection from FL.

I love the way my Texas photos look in the bathroom.

It’s the one room that I can’t look out the window to the lake.

They are like little windows into TX.

Another window ledge for rocks and shells.

This is the window we used to sneak into the house when it was being built.

I think Mike gets to look at this one more than I do.

I have one last window scape to share with a new scripture photo

and photos from our trip to DC in mason jars over my kitchen sink.

Love,

More living room pictures..

March 24, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

To the right of my piano is this wall. The dresser is full of photos.

I re-did Mike’s family pictures a few weeks ago.

My book shelves are on the other side of the entry way (same wall).

I ran out of wall space so I put a few photos up there, too.

This is our living room fire place..

the fire place with the trees is in the “hearth room” connected to the kitchen.

I still like my painting from WalMart but I think this fireplace looks a little boring.

I’ve never gotten around to buying candles for my pillars.

If I ever get to paint, I’d like to paint the wall the fire place is on an accent color.

It’s a little corner wall. See the ceiling lines?

I need to take some wide angle views for you guys.

Piano Photos

March 24, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

I spent Spring Break working on photos around the house.

I made these scripture photos of the kids for the hall of our last house.

They looked great there in their red mats and I love reading the verses over and over,

but ever since I hung them over the piano in our new living room

I’ve been very unhappy with them..

The frames looked dirty next to my builder’s paint wall and

although I love red, most everything in this house is green.

I re-matted them in some scrap charcoal-gray mat board, and still didn’t like them.

Then I saw some similar frames painted my favorite color green

and was inspired to buy some paint a few weeks back.

It took me a while to get up the courage to actually try painting them.

Before and Afters

It was a cloudy day and my picts could have turned out better.

I watered down the paint quite a bit

then wiped off the bronze highlights so they would show through.

They don’t quite look like the ones I saw but I like them much better now.

They go better with the wall and I think the pictures stand out more now.

I may regret painting them if I ever get around to painting some color on my walls.

I bought these glass frames for a dollar each last week.

I used as many pictures as I could find with a music theme.

I used Savannah’s fb picture matted with this verse:

More house picts to come…

Spring Snow?

March 22, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

My poor little tree heard a rumor that it was spring and began it’s job of budding in the nice 70 degree weather that we had Saturday. Now it’s snowing again.

Spring Break Fun

March 19, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

My precious girl is making as many plans as possible

With her new found friends this Spring Break;

Nights over, bowling, youth group hopping, ice skating and movies.

All music to her soul.

High pitched voices travel across wood floors and through

Paper thin walls very well in our new house.

Sure wish I could find a place to sleep.

:-]

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Me

March 14, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 2 Comments

I am not sure I get how to play the game.. but here are 10 things about me that you might not know.

1) Everyone knows just about everything about me.. because I so rarely get to talk to people that when I do I tell them everything. I think I am easy to read too. If someone asked me something and cared to know what I thought they’d be able to read it in my face.

2) The one thing I think only Mike knows about me is that I can’t sleep naked.. because when I do I have those dreams where you’re naked in public places.

3) My family enjoys watching me cry during sad moves.. they don’t even pay attention to the movie they just look at me to see if I am crying. Today we watched “My Sister’s Keeper.” I almost ran to my room to sob into my pillow.

4) I admire my sisters. Tell everyone I meet about them. Wish they lived closer and I could see them every day. I get jealous when my sisters and my parents get together without me which is a lot since they live in the same state and I live a couple of states over. I am happy for them too and I am starting to get over being jealous. I think they need to appreciate their time together a little more.

5) I cried for a week when I found out we were moving away from TX because I so enjoy being an aunt and I was grieving over not getting to be involved in my nephews’ and niece’s lives.

6) I’ve always wanted to send $5 to my nephews and niece for their birthdays but haven’t because I didn’t know how. Seems kinda silly to send a check for such a small amount and I know I wouldn’t want to go to the bank to cash it. I recently had an idea: I could get them a gift card to Walmart and their parents could buy it from them so they could spend the cash where ever they liked. What do you think?

7) I only dust once a year. I’d like to clean my bathrooms weekly, but more often it’s whenever guest are coming. I haven’t had guest in a long time. I won’t tell you how often I wash sheets. Mopping.. humm.

8) I homeschool for many reasons. Here are some selfish ones:
a) I love my kids and I want to spend as much time with them as I can before they start lives with out me.
b) I love the books we read together. If it wasn’t for the great books we’ve read, I may have quit. I love the discussions they inspire.
c) I love the art and music, too. I love learning new things with them. They make Spanish, Math, Science and every other subject fun.
d) I love shopping days with Judi.. if she was in school 8 hours a day we’d miss out on all that girl time together.

9) I have no idea what I am going to do after Judi graduates. If I think about it for too long, I become a nervous reck. There are so many things I think I might enjoy doing including going to college, getting a job, starting an Etsy shop, or volunteering. But I want to do the right thing; the thing God has for me. It’s hard being patient and waiting for God to tell me. I keep thinking it must be something that’s going to take a lot of faith or He would have already told me.

10) I love God more than I love anyone else. It hasn’t always been this way. But I learned to ask Him to help me love Him more.. to increase my hunger for Him whenever I feel like my desire for Him is fading. He LOVES to answer that prayer. Almost immediately when ever I pray it I am overcome with longing for Him. So much so that it almost makes me physically ill. I think it must be the way He feels about us. The more I see that He loves me unreservedly the more I love Him. He is passionate about us. Sometimes I feel so passionate about Him that I don’t know what to do with it.

Did I leave anything out??

December, January, February, March Attire

March 2, 2010 / Jennifer Coleman / 1 Comment

It’s taken me a while to adjust to the weather here.

After five years in SA and four and a half in FL, my blood is pretty well thinned out.

I actually enjoy 90 plus degree weather especially when it’s humid.

I won’t complain about the snow. I love sitting next to the fire.

When we told the kids on Saturday that they were predicting

more snow this week they replied, “Again?!?”

I think we are getting all the snow this winter

that we’ve missed over the last nine years.

We’ve lost count.

The ice and I had a run in our first day in the new house..

I came away with a scraped knee,

and quickly learned to avoid the sidewalks.

I’d just hide inside all day, but we have a dog.

This is the first house that we’ve had no fence at all

and I’ve had to take take a “walking Sally” shift.

Part of the reason I agreed to adopt a dog was to force myself to take daily walks.

Now, nine years latter, I am finally having to do more than open the back door.

I am being super nice, too, by taking the 7AM shift so the kiddies can sleep in a little.

Meaning that I usually get the coldest shift, too.

It’s taken me a while to discover what I need to keep warm on my shift.

Until a week ago, when I finally started wearing two pairs of gloves,

my hands were still freezing.

I started out wearing a coat and gloves over my regular clothes.

Some days I wasn’t sure I’d make it all the way around the block.

It was so cold!

Then I started wearing a hoodie, and Wendy’s leather coat.

That was better, but the wind was whistling through my pants and around my ears.

I decided to buy some of those valour pants.

Once I doubled those up and knitted myself a scarf

to wear with my hat over my hoodie I was finally on my way to being warm.

The weather warmed up from 14 degrees to 24 and I saw for the first

time a neighbor while out on my walk.

You’ll never guess what THEY were wearing:

workout pants and t-shirt.

I tried to console myself a couple weeks later when

I saw a pair ladies out walking dressed more like me.

They are probably not much more than 20 years older than me.

I not sure how much further they walk than I do.

I plan to start walking 45 minutes a day instead of 25 –

once the weather warms up a bit.

On days like today, when it’s 36 and snowing,

it doesn’t seem like I am as over dressed as it does

when it’s 24 and sunny. How is that?

Here is the kicker – to make sure I keep up my walking routine through

the snow, rain and sleet – we are adopting a puppy this summer.

I have a friend that’s offered to give me one of her mini beagle puppies.

I had to make a deal with Mike to get him to agree.

He gets a kitten.

So much more fun than a treadmill.