Finding Joy in Him

Through Every Season

Tag: Life w/the Colemans (Page 7 of 8)

New Year’s Eve and Princess J’s B-day

February 8, 2009 / / 2 Comments
Our friends from Birmingham came down and the kids spent the night the night before New Years Eve.

Little A helped us make Princess J’s b-day cake.

H brought some cool video games.

They were all pretty tired after staying up so late the night before.

We made Princess J a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake.

We got the idea while eating our traditional peanut butter balls for Christmas.

The cake was delicious.  Maybe the best I ever made. 

After praying in the New Year at church a big bunch of us went to IHOP.

This is my friend Hilga and her daughter.

And her husband, John.

Princess J and some friends.

The one on the right is our drummer .. he’s only 14 and great at the drums.

Some of our pastor’s grand kids.

The Joneses.

Friends with camera phones.

The boys.

After IHOP, the youth had a lock in at the church.

They had a great time.

By the time we finished with IHOP it was 2 AM… I was tempted to stay 4 more hours for the lock-in but was glad I got my sleep.

The kids slept for days after.  
Here’s how to make the cake.  
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cake
1 chocolate cake mix
Heat oven to directions on box. Prepare cake as directed. Cool completely.
Cream Cheese Peanut Butter Frosting
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
In a large mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the powdered sugar and peanut butter and mix until smooth.
To frost the cake, place one layer on a serving plate. Spread 1/4 of the frosting over the top. Place the second layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting over top and sides of the cake.

Much Ado About Christmas

February 5, 2009 / / 0 Comments
We had a very nice Christmas this year.  
Our new camera has a remote… so we use it on a tripod to take our family photo.  We must have taken over 70 shots and I still had to photoshop two together.  It’s too hard to get six people to look at the camera at the same time.  I really need to live somewhere long enough to make a friend that  I can ask to trade family photo taking at Christmas with me.  I want someone to make us stand close together.. etc.
We opened presents on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas.. so we could enjoy our gifts on our trip.  We did have a couple of surprises this year.  If we hadn’t traded names with my sisters. we probably wouldn’t have had a gift each.. it was fun having actual gifts this year and not just checks.

I got to put one gift under the tree that no one knew who it was for or what it was.  Princess J rapped her gift the minute before we opened them… she didn’t bother to use tape.  
I took photos of our decorations because we move so much that it’s hard to remember where the decorations go in the new house.

Most of our decorations went in the music room because it was the only room we could squeeze them in.

I have a collection of little trees now.  The one on the piano was a gift from Suzanne.
The one on the dresser above I got at a garage sale for 25 cents last Christmas.. it was our only tree last year.

This one Nancy gave us when we went to Thailand so we could have a tree there.
The white nativity set I got at Good Will last year.  I keep it up all year.

Our FL house had two front doors… So I put one of my wreaths on my sunroom door.

We’ve had this nativity set for many years… I love it’s ruggedness.

Here is the wreath I kept for my one front door this year.

Mom made us this advent calendar years ago.  The kids still enjoy moving the star across the days each December.

A homeschool friend in SA made this cute snowman quilt for me.

Suzanne sent me this little tricycle potter for my birthday.. I thought the poinsettias looked perfect in there.
  

I was so glad to have a tree again after no tree last year.  I was smiling all of December.   A friend in FL learned a cool decorating trick from a magazine article last year that I tried out this year.  Instead of stringing the lights round and round your tree you section your tree into little pyramids and do one section at a time.  It was much easier than going round and round but I ran out of lights… I went to 7 different stores to try to find blue and white lights to finish my tree.  I ended up having to buy a strand of white and a strand of blue.  The last strand of blue didn’t flash… I still thought it looked great and it was easy to take the lights down.
Photographing the tree was difficult.  

I was sorry there wasn’t room for our tree near the fire, but it was still fun to sit and enjoy the lights for a little while before bed each night and it was the first time we had had a tree in a front window since before Princess J was born.

Youth Band Practice

August 14, 2008 / / 2 Comments
On a typical Thursday night.

My mathematician is practicing to become my guitarist.

Princess J has to be strong to keep up with the boys.

Who else is going to load all that equipment for them?

I am driving tonight because our Pizza Maker is busy making pizzas.

 How are we going to raise that cash for our next youth trip?

Our faithful drummer.
Princess J plays bass and sings when our Pizza Maker can’t make it.
Our Sound Tech.

The Death of a Camera

August 13, 2008 / / 2 Comments
Shortly after the last post about my camera, it gave up the ghost.  I pulled the screwdrivers out of hiding and gave it to Mike to see if he could work a miracle.  He was unable to get the problem area open.  When my programmer found out about the operation, he was perplexed at why we hadn’t invited him to use his masterful skills.  It’s been sitting on his desk in pieces for a couple of weeks now.  Maybe I should have tried e-bay before breaking out the screwdrivers.

After much research my sweet husband picked out this new camera for me.  Happy Birthday to me.  It’s pretty cool.  I included a review in the link above.  It’s a Sony Cyber Shot H50.  My friend in Birmingham bought one recently and really likes it.  It has some pretty cool features and seems pretty easy to use.  My two favorite features so far are that you can set it to take many shots in a row and you can set it to wait for the person to smile before it shoots.  It’s bigger than my old camera (defiantly not pocket sized) but takes better pictures so far.  

  

Hair Cut Day

July 24, 2008 / / 3 Comments
Hair cut day at our house was long over due.  Two of the boys have decided to grow their hair out.  I don’t make an issue out of it.  It’s their hair and less hair cuts for me.  I do let them know that not everybody is as understanding as me and they may have to cut their hair one day to get a job.

My programmer has been asking me for weeks to cut his hair.  He doesn’t like it in his eyes.  I think the shaggy look is kinda cute on him.  This is probably the longest it’s ever been.

Princess J took lots of photos of me cutting his hair.  This is the best we could do.  My programmer was playing camera shy and had his hand in front of his face most of the time.
I am using a Robo Cutter (link above).  It’s a cutting blade that hooks up to the vacuum hose.  I was a little chicken about using my electric clippers and when the boys were little because they wiggled too much.  After I clipped a couple of ears with the scissors we decided to get the Robo Cutter to make everything easier.  No more itchy hair on their clothes and it’s wiggle proof.
We invested $50 for for the Robo Cutter 15 or so years ago and I’ve only had to replace the blades twice.  Do you know what 15 years times 12 months times 5 boys times only $10 a hair cut equals?  $9,000.  Can you believe such a simple thing can save you so much money?  I’ve even used it on myself a few times.

Ta da.  The after picture.
Back to the bathroom.
Love,
Jenny

A few loose tile

July 19, 2008 / / 3 Comments
We have been doing school through the summer to make up the time we took off for the move.  We have pretty much always schooled year round.  It’s easier than restarting after a long summer break.  Something always interrupts our schedule, so I plan to school everyday then when something comes up I can take off for it and just trust that it will all work out in the end and it usually does.  
I had one small project that I was needing to get to this summer.  There were a few loose tile in the kid’s bathroom and it was smelling moldy in there.  My plan was that while the two go-go kids were at youth camp, I would replace a few tile.
Monday morning I started on the tile.  I found a leak behind the tile.  It was in the connection from the pipe to the spout.  Easy enough to fix with some plumber’s tape but I had to take out quite a few tile where the water had been soaking the drywall.  
Mike came home and saw how many tile I had to take out and said something like.. “Wow, look how easy it would be to pull out the tub now.”  The tub coating had been scoured out and there was a couple of rusty spots in it.  
I called around and try to find someone to come repaint it.  I wasn’t too happy with the paint job we had done in FL.  I was unable to reach anyone and they never called me back.  
I asked Mike several times if he was sure he wanted to take out the tub.  We had never replaced a tub before.  It was a little scary to me, but we still had two boys at home that could help with the brute strength we needed.  
I thought for a long time and tried to remember how sore I get when doing big projects like this.  I wanted to remember and talk myself out of agreeing to do it, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember.  It must be like forgetting the pain of child birth.  Boy did I remember a day or two later.   


In order to get the tub out we had to take out the toilet and part of the wall.  I didn’t mind too much because a lot of it and some of the wood behind it had been damaged by the leak anyway.  The boys looked up a video on YouTube to learn how to take out the toilet.   
We decided to take out the vanity while we were at it.  It had been previously damaged by a different leak and the sink/counter top was ugly.  This is what we found behind it.

I am so glad we were able to find and get rid of it all.  It smells so much better in there now.

Ta da.  We have a new tub.  It wasn’t easy but we finally got it.

No more mold.  Yeah!  I bought a sheet of the new mold resistant dry wall.   I discovered a new tool through YouTube, too.  A dry wall saw.  It’s pretty nifty.  

Wall destroyed and all we decided to strip the painted/bubbling wall paper.   This was the worst part of the whole project so far.  A bunch of the drywall paper came off with it.  Made a huge mess.  I am not good with joint compound and if I never have to skim another wall, I will be so happy.  It took me days and days of skimming and sanding.  
Our lowest day was the day that Mike decided to try and take out the old tub faucet handle.  It was so corroded that the valve broke off and we had to call a plumber.  Our plumbing is so out dated that he had to replace a whole big part.  Sweating pipes is a little out of our league.  The new plumbing is pressurized.  When someone flushes the toilet it won’t change the temperature of your shower.  Pretty cool.  Right?
A floor tile popped out while replacing the tub, so we decided to pay the boys take it out.  It was cracked and we were needing to replace the laminate flooring in the hall, too because of an air conditioner drain leak that we had a the beginning of the summer that warped the boards.  One boy went a little crazy with the hammer and did this to my bran new tub.  🙁 

We told him that for his penance that he had to re-enact the crime for my blog.  This is his interpretation of an re-enactment.  He said he wanted to add to the drama but I think wanted to remain nameless.
See my blue walls?  We are working on tile now.  
J

Tub Party Tonight

July 17, 2008 / / 2 Comments



Our pool has been this nice shade of green most of the summer, pretty much ever since we switched to a salt system in April.  Mike was able to get it clear for about two days twice.  
The salt system is supposed to be easier to care for.  All the chemicals are right.  
We’re about ready to look up that pool guy’s number.

In the mean time, Princess J would like to invite you to our backyard tub swimming party.  
🙂

Youth Small Group

July 16, 2008 / / 6 Comments

 We decided to start light and do a Super Man Bible study.

Mike and our youth pastor, Jon.  I forgot to get a picture of his lovely wife, Jennifer.

Two of their three kids.

Fun in the pool.

Safety in a floaty.

Or maybe not so safe.

Making waves.

Watch out!

Got ya.

My Camera

July 15, 2008 / / 1 Comment

See the shadow around the top edges?  The lens snapped out of place.

If I bang it around a little, this is as centered as I can get it.
I hid the screwdrivers from Mike and my Computer Programmer.  They both couldn’t wait to get at it.  That brings up another hard thing about moving so often.. you never get to know where the honest local camera shop, or car shop, or plumber, pool guy, etc. is.  
Picture taking and I are not getting along too well.  I forget to bring my camera.  I forget to get it out.  I am not patient enough or have enough room in my brain to learn how to use the camera properly.  I am shy.  I don’t like to get in people’s faces, so I don’t take the time to get a good picture..  Then my kids are always ducking out of and running away from the camera.  I leave the camera at a friend’s house.  I drop and break the camera. 
Blogging has motivated me to battle the dragon and take more pictures.  Thanks for getting me into it.  
Jenny

First Car Experiment

June 22, 2008 / / 4 Comments
You know, everything you do with your first born is an experiment.  When we were young parents of 4 and got strange looks and funny comments about having so many, we used to say.. “With four there is never a dull moment.”  Having moved from those childhood years into the young adult years the saying has held true and intensified.  We do get a few peaceful moments away now, but they can’t be considered dull because they are filled with the reverberations of so many intensely exciting moments.  There’s quite a difference between getting your first tricycle and getting your first car.  
 

Look!  Mom.  I bought a new Saturn.  
The last couple of years our Scientist has been steadily working and saving his money for college and a car… huge steps toward his calling.  He saved over $10,000 in insurance cost by waiting until he actually needed a car before getting a driver’s license and a car.  He has patiently waited for God’s direction and timing.  I am very proud of him.

I was asking God this morning for the right word to describe what it is about our Scientist that makes me feel so proud.  He is faithful, hardworking, persistent, patient, kind, attentive and so many other things.  God gave me the word “fortitude.”
Mamalene blessed me with a copy of Webster’s 1828 dictionary several years ago.  It’s one of his first published dictionaries.  If you want to really know what a word means, look it up in this dictionary.  You’ll be blown away by how rich our language is.  There is actually an searchable version online.  I included the link below.  It makes a great Bible study tool.  

Below is what it said about fortitude.  It’s a very good description of our Scientist (of course, God knew) and I know that as our Scientist leans into God for fortitude that he will find the grace to become exactly who He wants him to be.
FOR’TITUDE, n. [L. fortitudo, from fortis, strong.]
That strength or firmness of mind or soul which enables a person to encounter danger with coolness and courage, or to bear pain or adversity without murmuring, depression or despondency. Fortitude is the basis or source of genuine courage or intrepidity in danger, of patience in suffering, of forbearance under injuries, and of magnanimity in all conditions of life. We sometimes confound the effect with the cause, and use fortitude as synonymous with courage or patience; but courage is an active virtue or vice, and patience is the effect of fortitude.
Fortitude is the guard and support of the other virtues.

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