and so it begins

What a little stud!

Coleman had his first ever baseball game on Saturday. Garrett is the coach (no one else volunteered--what a surprise.) Coleman was so excited. I didn't know what to expect from minor/minor, the step above t-ball. Well, it was adorable. None of the kids knew what to do--a bunch of dads stood all around the field to tell them. Every time one of them got the ball they looked around without a clue until they realized that 5 dads were telling them where to throw it. Everyone got 5 pitches, no one got out, no one kept score, everyone got to run all the way around the bases no matter what happened. Very very cute.

Waiting for his first at bat

I love how Coleman's running as if he was about to be tagged out--It's serious business!

well said

Last week we attended the baptism of a man in our ward, Albert. Well, now he's in our ward officially, but he's been coming for quite a while with his member wife. He's a great guy with a strong testimony. He's the kind of guy who greeted every single person who came to his baptism with a handshake and a thank you--and there were a lot of people there!

When it came time for the baptism our kids joined all the other young ones up near the font so they could see what was happening. When it was over there was a quiet moment--everyone was smiling and looking at Albert's happy face. Just at that moment Anson jumped up from the floor and as he was running back to us said (or rather, yelled), "MOM, that was AWESOME!!!"

Of course, there was a lot of laughing, but the woman behind us said to him, "You're right--that was awesome!" With no inhibitions or social know-how, a small child expressed what he felt watching a sacred ordinance. I'm sure the whole dunking-a-grown-man-under-water aspect of the baptism made an impression on him, but I also think he felt the Spirit, and the only way he knew how to express it was with a shout!

Thank heaven for our kids!

happy 40th chad!

The four Coleman siblings--Amy, Chad, Wendy, Lisa

Chad turned the big 40 this weekend, so we all gathered for a little shin-dig at their house. Tiffany planned a really fun "wigging out" birthday party. Everyone was required to wear a wig to get in the door. They have a lot of fun friends--no one was a party pooper about the wigs. We played games, ate good food, and gave Chad mean presents to remind him how old he is.

Tiffany, the mastermind of the party (and Chad's wife)--lovely in purple

Wendy and Lisa--both of them got lots of compliments on their hair color and style!

Do you think black suits us?

Lisa and Andy--gone red!

Mom and Dad--I couldn't help but laugh every time I looked at Dad. This was his mom's wig!
Mom looked so cute in her blond bob!

The whole party gang! Everyone was a good sport and wore fun wigs.

for jill

These are for you Jill! I'm not that great with photoshop, but I thought this helped a bit. You can click on them and save them to your computer. (For anyone else who reads this, these are a couple of old photos that my friend Jill posted on her blog that I edited for her.)

claire's hero

Claire brought this home from school today. I just had to post it.

"ghostes"

Anson woke up yesterday morning talking about "ghostes." We have no idea where this came from. I had a very difficult time getting him to bed at naptime because of the ghostes. At first I thought he might be talking about Coleman's glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs, but he said no. I asked him what color they were and he said white. I had to check out the room and bed to make sure there were no ghostes. Going to bed at night was another ordeal. I had to get a nightlight so he could see that there weren't any ghostes. He was still talking about them today. At naptime he said, "Last night I slept with Coleman and there were ghostes in my bed." We've grilled Coleman, assuming that's he's put some ideas into Anson's head, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Any thoughts? Is he really having dreams about ghosts? How does he even know about ghosts? Maybe I shouldn't let him watch any more Scooby-Doo. Then again, Scooby-Doo ghosts come in all shapes and colors. Why is he seeing white ones? It's a puzzler, but to tell you the truth, I love hearing him talk about it because it's so cute the way he says "ghostes." Is that wrong to get a little enjoyment out of something traumatic for your child? Hey, it gets me through the day!